THE FORESTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



541 



not luxuriant, and at the best can only supply a limited local demand with inferior lumber. It is probably no 

 exaggeration to say that west of the pine belt, and with the exception of the small amount of hard wood found on 

 the bottom lands near the coast, the forests of Texas do not contain a single tree fit to manufacture into first-class 

 lumber. The pine forests, therefore, of eastern Texas and western Louisiana are important factors in the future 

 development of Texas, as well as of the treeless northeastern provinces of Mexico, which must draw their building 

 material from these pineries. The position of these forests, therefore, with reference to an enormous territory 

 destitute of timber, although adapted to agriculture and grazing, and which must soon be covered with a considerable 

 population and a net-work of railroads, their richness of composition, and the facility with which they can be 

 worked, give to them perhaps a greater prospective value than that possessed by any body of timber of similar 

 extent in the United States. 



During the census year 599,359 acres of woodland were reported damaged by fire, with an estimated loss of 

 $273,990. Of these fires the larger number was set to improve pasturage, in clearing land, or through malice. These 

 returns do not include the large areas burned in western Texas by prairie fires, checking the growth of the mesquit 

 over a great extent of territory. 



Small amounts of cooperage stock and woodenware, principally for local consumption, are manufactured in the 

 eastern counties from oak and cypress. Manufacturers report an abundant supply of material. 



The following rough estimates of the amounts of the three kinds of pine standing in the state May 31, 1880, 

 were made by multiplying the average stand of timber per acre by the county areas occupied by the pine forests, 

 these being obtained by deducting, from total areas of the county, estimated areas covered by clearings, bottom 

 lands, swamps, etc. : 



a Including 30,290,000 shingles. 



