FOREST PROBLEMS OF THE STATE. 25 



companies, it is true, complete permanent improvements and leave 

 the region in at least as prosperous a condition as they found it. 

 They dispose of the cut-over land for agriculture at very good prices, 

 but this results, nevertheless, in the increased settlement of the region. 

 Much pine land is suited to agriculture, though much also is too 

 sandy. It is not difficult, however, to separate the poorer from the 

 fertile areas. One large lumber company, which in the course of its 

 operation constructed a permanent railroad system, has built in the 

 center of its lumber holdings a modern town, around which a pros- 

 perous agricultural district is planned. 



Of the approximately three and a half million acres of cut-over 

 pine land in the State, perhaps 80 per cent is well adapted to agri- 

 culture, yet much of this area will not be brought under cultivation 

 for a great many years. Meanwhile, it remains practically unpro- 

 ductive, and the soil, mainly clays and sand, is badly gullied. Re- 

 peated fires prevent the young pine which has come in from getting 

 a start, and the land produces nothing of value. Could the land be 

 put at once to agricultural use it might be questioned whether it 

 would be sound policy to grow young trees on areas which would 

 produce annually a half a bale of cotton per acre. As it is, however, 

 the land lies idle, and to grow timber on it until such time as it can 

 be cultivated would put it to profitable use. To grow pine timber on 

 these lands it is only necessary to keep out fire for a period of 10 

 years or so after lumbering. 



FOREST FIRES. 



In Louisiana the forest-fire problem is important chiefly in the 

 longleaf-pine region and the shortleaf uplands, a total area of 

 7,500,000 acres. It is especially important, however, on the 3,500,000 

 acres of pine land that have been cut over. Fires are rare in the 

 alluvial region, and those that do start in the dry bottoms are con- 

 fined by numerous bayous and swamps to small areas. The bluff 

 region is largely in cultivation. 



In the longleaf pine and upland regions fires burn over the ground 

 almost every year, consuming the fallen timber, litter, and young 

 growth, and keeping the forests in their characteristic parklike con- 

 dition. Each fire does a certain amount of damage to the mature 

 trees and opens the way for decay. Successive fires finally weaken the 

 trees to such an extent that they are thrown during a windstorm. 

 Where the trees are boxed for turpentine the fire danger is, of course, 

 greatly increased. Fires in the pine region are often set by stock 

 owners or owe their origin to sparks from railroad locomotives. A 

 large number also are the result of carelessness and indifference on 

 the part of hunters and idlers in the woods, who start fires to drive 



