22 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE OF TEXAS. 



The shortleaf pine region has become an important agricultural sec- 

 tion. The best lands are being put under cultivation. Fruit growing 

 is increasing. Abandoned farm areas are being reclaimed. Large cut- 

 over forest tracts are being divided into farms. Woodland areas are 

 coming more and more to be looked upon as farm woodlots. An ad- 

 justment of land areas to their best use is taking place. With increas- 

 ing values of land and forest products and the division of large areas 

 into smaller farms, the woodlot is being recognized as a necessary and 

 important part of each farm. The study of market conditions and the 

 "better management of farm woodlots are lines of work which the farmers 

 and woodland owners in this region will be ready to undertake in the 

 near future. 



Bottomland Forests* 



The rivers and streams which flow through the Lignitic formation of 

 Eastern Texas have worn broad channels upon which rich alluvial soils 

 liave been deposited. These bottomlands intersect the uplands of the 

 shortleaf, longleaf and loblolly regions from the Red River to the lower 

 Sabine and Trinity Rivers, and extend westward along the lower courses 

 of the Brazos, Colorado, San Antonio, Guadalupe, San Bernard, and 

 other streams. Along the larger rivers these bottoms are frequently 

 five miles or more in width. In the aggregate they cover thousands of 

 square miles of area. The soils are deep and fertile and are overflowed 

 only for short periods following heavy rains. Large areas of these bot- 

 toms in Eastern Texas are already cleared and under cultivation. Along 

 the streams farther west clearing has been far more extensive and the 

 majority of bottomland areas are more or less devoted to agricultural 

 uses. 



These bottomlands were once, and in many East Texas counties they 

 still are, covered with magnificent hardwood forests. Eemote from 

 railroad lines and wagon roads stands of timber may be found which 

 are unsurpassed in the size and quality of their trees. Nearly all of 

 the species common to the Atlantic States are found in the bottoms of 

 eastern Texas. West of the Trinity Eiver the bottomland species grad- 

 ually become fewer and of less luxuriant growth. The bottoms of the 

 Navasota Eiver, a tributary of the Brazos, mark the western limit of a 

 number of species of commercial importance farther east. On the 

 Brazos, Colorado, and Guadalupe Rivers, and the streams west of these 

 within the Cretaceous formation, the trees of the Atlantic type of 

 bottomland forest disappear, except in specially favored situations. 



The removal of timber from bottomland forests has been a constant 

 process extending over many years. The more valuable specimens of 



*For further information concerning Texas hardwood species see the following 

 publications of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. : U. S. 

 Forest Service Bulletin 58, "The Red Gum"; U. S. Forest Service Bulletin 80, 

 "The Commercial Hickories"; U. S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin 24, "Cot- 

 ton wood in the Mississippi Valley"; U. S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin 

 299, "The Ashes: Their Characteristics and Management." 



