3° 



CHAPTER IV. 



PROPORTION OF LANDS IN FORESTS. 



In most countries it is reasonable to examine the area occupied by 

 forests with a view to an intelligent determination of how much land is 

 to be or should remain permanently cleared to secure the largest agri- 

 cultural returns. We have seen that in the countries of the temperate 

 zone this question has been looked into with the average result of a de- 

 termination that one-fourth of the total area should be in forest for the 

 highest crop results. This determination is without regard to the agri- 

 cultural value of the land held in forest. In other words one hundred 

 million acres of agricultural land in a body would produce more annual 

 crop for periods of ten years with one-quarter in forest than all under 

 the plow. Topography and climate alter these judgments. An amount 

 of clearing on level land that would be advantageous to the general 

 producing power would on steep mountains like our Sierra Madre be 

 without any possible benefit and would be certain to Increase torrent 

 action and diminish springs, and so diminish the output of the true 

 agricultural lands. 



If we should take the east line of the principal mountain chains of 

 Southern California and consider the land between this and the Pacific 

 ocean we will realize what a large proportion is unavailable for agri- 

 culture because of its mountainous character. Part of these 

 mountains is covered with chaparral or brush; part is in 

 trees and another part is either very scantily and scatterlngly 

 covered with brush growth or is bare of any verdure at 

 all. The nearer the sea, other things being equal, the denser the 

 growth. This growth is usually brush on the lower hills and moun- 

 tains. On the higher levels open forests of spruce, pine, fir and cedar 

 exist. The golden live oak is prominent on the lower edge of these 

 forests and is replaced by the black oak higher up. Portions of this 

 mountain area, always above the four-thousand-foot level, show a prom- 

 ising tendency to renew themselves in forest when occasion occurs to 



