CLASSIFICATION OF THE FOREST. 31 



telegraph and telephone poles, ties, house blocks, sills, and all man- 

 ner of rough construction. 



The cedar brakes have more than a commercial value. Cedar can 

 grow on the most soilless limestone debris, and its wide, low branch- 

 ing 1 and thick stand make it a close cover which collects soil, prevents 

 washing, and holds back the water to a marked degree. It is also a 

 strenuous ground holder and ground gainer. It comes up quickly 

 after tire and cutting, and would soon renew itself everywhere were it 

 not that steep hillsides, with loose friable limestone, wash too much to 

 permit a new growth to start well. In Bell County a characteristic 

 cedar brake has succeeded a stand of Texas mountain oak, having 

 occupied the ground exclusively after the removal of the latter. 

 Near Austin cedar brakes that were cut close twenty-five years ago 

 are now being cleared a second time and are yielding a vast amount of 

 fuel, although too young to furnish much split wood. (PI. IV, fig. 1.) 

 On the other hand, a very competent observer testifies that toward 

 the southwest, in the more arid part of its range, the cedar recovers 

 very slowly after clearing, and almost not at all after fire. Here it is 

 succeeded by oaks. 



A deplorable loss of cedar has taken place from brake fires. For 

 half a century jbhese have periodically occurred; areas which have not 

 been burned over are the exception. Every old settler can tell of big 

 tires which burned for days. In Juty, 1901, a very disastrous fire 

 occurred near Marble Falls, in which about 600 acres of valuable cedar 

 were destroyed. 



OTHER HILL TIMBER. 



In addition to the cedar, other species of the hill timber are con- 

 stantly being drawn upon for fuel and the rough construction material 

 in demand on ranches and farms. While this demand results in the 

 denudation of many arid hills upon which timber growth will be rees- 

 tablished only with great difficulty, on the whole the consumption is 

 not keeping pace with the spread of the timber area. An interesting 

 ease in point is furnished by conditions along the line of the Austin 

 and Northwestern Railway, between McNeil and Burnet. In the 

 vicinity of the former town the country is being rapidly denuded of 

 timber to furnish fuel for the limekilns. But immediately beyond 

 this, large tracts of dense thicket exist where formerly were fields or 

 pastures, and so on up the line it is manifest that the hill timber is 

 encroaching rapidly upon the prairie. On the other hand, the areas 

 being denuded are left in an exposed condition where erosion is immi- 

 nent, and the soil accumulation of } T ears may thus be suddenly lost. 



To sum up, then, the timber of the Edwards Plateau is gaining 

 ground, but is also losing possession of some of the steeper hillsides. 

 Its immediate value consists in the amount of fuel and rough con- 



