The Dawn of a New Constructive Era 161 



and bulk of the winter their carrying capacity is so reduced that 

 if a man speaks of them at that time, it is doubtful whether 

 anyone could approximate the amount of land it would take to 

 carry an animal. In fact, I have a letter from a lumber company 

 in Southwestern Louisiana, in which they put the question to 

 me, "How much of this land will it take to carry an animal the 

 year round?" I answered them, in effect, that while it was satis- 

 factory pasturage in the late spring and early summer, in the 

 heart of the winter I did not believe their whole parish would 

 carry a small herd satisfactorily, simply because there is nothing 

 on that cut-over pine land after the frost has killed it. There 

 are a few wire grasses; and the cattle having access to the win- 

 ter-growing grass which we occasionally have, or to the cane 

 swamps, which are very limited in extent, may do well. Tf con- 

 fined strictly to the cut-over lands where it is open and the yel- 

 low pine growth has had full sway, there is so little on that land 

 in the winter time on which cattle can subsist that the carrying 

 capacity is reduced almost to zero. 



Now, if this problem is to be looked at from the grazing 

 standpoint, and does not involve forage production and the feed- Forage Pro- 

 ing of those herds 'in the winter time, when the pasturage is at duction 

 its lowest ebb, we certainly cannot have a cattle industry which Essential 

 can be at all satisfactory. 



I need not discuss the question of the hog industry, because 

 it has. been considered by everybody in the South that the day 

 of the range hog is past — that he would certainly have the poorest 

 chance to graze the year round on these pine woods. It has 

 produced a type of hog which did not exist before, and which is 

 rapidly going out. Hog raising is on a better basis now, and we 

 do not expect anybody to undertake range hog raising in the 

 pine belt. 



But there is another class of animals which has been dis- 

 cussed — and I do not wish to anticipate what anybody else will 

 say of the sheep industry — but that should go hand in hand with 

 the cattle industry, and on the same basis. In fact, I am not 

 sure if many of these grasses are not better suited to sheep than 

 cattle. The feeding problem would probably be less serious in 

 winter, and especially so if Prof. Tracy's advice is taken as to 

 providing plenty of velvet beans for winter grazing purposes. 



I might discuss this question of forages at considerable 

 length, but it has already been discussed by representatives here. 



