AGENCIES WHICH TEND TO REDUCE THE TIMBERED AREA. 21 



cleared. Where the soil was deep enough and rich enough to make 

 cultivation continuously profitable, this was the best use to make of the 

 land. The cases in which mjury has been done are those in which 

 timber has been cleared from thin-soiled, stony slopes in order to cul- 

 tivate in a slovenly fashion for a few seasons, after which the land is 

 worn out and abandoned. These clearings constitute the little cotton 

 patches or cane and truck patches of mountaineers. 



THE DEMAND FOR FUEL, POSTS, TIES, AND OTHER CLASSES OF TIMBER. 



We have seen that the commercial value of the timber, particularl}^ 

 of the cedar, results in a heavy drain on the supplies. So long as 

 small owners depend in large measure for their income upon the sale 

 of wood, the temptation will be strong to denude rough, thin-soiled 

 hillsides which would far better be kept with a protective timber 

 covering (PL II, fig. 2). While it is not to be expected that the 

 private owner will ever wish to maintain a protective forest cover in 

 behalf of the community at the sacrifice of personal profit, there is 

 nevertheless room to hope that private owners will eventuall}^ find they 

 can make more in the long run if they cut conservatively. Under the 

 pressure of public sentiment and with the guidance of a practical object 

 lesson, these timber owners may find it possible both to sell the mer- 

 chantable timber and at the same time to maintain a protective cover- 

 ing for the hills. In this, fortunately, they will be assisted b}^ the 

 natural tendency of this forest to reoccupy lost ground. 



CEDAR BRAKE FIRES. 



There are few types of forest which more invite destruction by fire 

 than the cedar brakes of dry central Texas. It is probable that during 

 the past twenty-five 3^ears far more cedar timber has been burned than 

 has been marketed, and vastly greater areas denuded by fire than b}^ 

 the axe. A cedar brake during the dry season is almost as likely a 

 mark for fire as a prairie covered by tall dry grass. The evidence of 

 fires recent or ancient is always near at hand. Some hillside has been 

 swept bare, or a whole succession of formerly cedar-covered hills has 

 been denuded of timber. The writer has not attempted to collect in- 

 formation about cedar brake fires methodically, but conversation with 

 old residents reveals the fact that each community has had its fires. 



The most destructive fire reported in several 3^ears was that which 

 raged for over two daj^s near Marble Falls, in July, 1901. The fol- 

 lowing extract from a correspondent's statement in the Austin States- 

 man of Jul}^ 7 will indicate the local interest: 



Intelligence has just reached here to the effect that a great deal of valuable cedar 

 land in the immediate vicinity of Marble Falls has been destroyed by fire. * * * 

 The conflagration has been burning since Friday. * * * The residents have 

 made heroic efforts to block the course of the fire, but so far they have not suc- 

 ceeded. * "Kr * Qi course a great many people living there are interested in those 



