CLASSIFICATION OF THE FOREST. 27 



dominant post oak. Westward not only the pine but most of these as 

 well disappear, except on areas where the soil water is held available, 

 as in the Cross Timbers and along the Pedernales at* Fredericksburg. 

 In general, in going westward not only is there a sifting of the moisture- 

 requiring species until there remains only the one or two species of 

 barren oak, but also these oaks themselves change their appearance. 

 Instead of standing with their crowns in contact, they become isolated, 

 with very short trunks and rounded crowns, so that the forest presents 

 an open, park-like appearance, with a prairie-grass floor. 



The post oak is not a timber of much commercial value— even less 

 so the black jack. But since the former attains a rather large growth, 

 there being quantities of it 15 to 24 inches in diameter, with a clear cut 

 of 10 to 15 feet, it is available for certain large construction timber, 

 and has especially been extensively used for ties. This, however, has 

 been chiefly on new lines through post oak timber. As a fuel the post 

 oak is a great source of supply, and lj T ing, as it does, beyond the region 

 of pine and other hardwoods, and in a region where fuel is extremely 

 expensive, it is marketed in enormous quantities. The supply would 

 seem to be inexhaustible. The post oak belt, where it is crossed by 

 the Houston and Texas Central Railroad, reaches from Elgin almost to 

 Rrenham, a distance of 60 miles. On the International and Great 

 Northern it begins at Rockland and extends to Neches, 230 miles, 

 before the shortleaf pine begins noticeably. 



In the writer's observation the post oak makes habitually an irreg- 

 ular, imperfect growth, and is very much affected by disease, espe- 

 cially by the infection of certain fungi which cause diy rot. To such 

 an extent is this true that its value for fuel is very seriously impaired 

 because of the doty wood. 



Agriculture in the post oak country. 



The part of the Lignitic Belt on which grows the post oak forest 

 lying to the east and southeast of the Black Prairie — that is, the west- 

 ern part — has been brought more extensively into cultivation than the 

 eastern, which has the shortleaf timber. This means, of course, that 

 the oak timber has been or will be cleared from such tracts as have 

 loamy soil, or any soil upon which cotton can be raised. The timber 

 will very properly be restricted more and more to the poor soils; but 

 its economic value ought to be unproved in proportion to its restric- 

 tion. Of course it performs the functions of soil protection and 

 moisture conservation to a considerable degree, but this could be 

 accomplished equally well by timber of better quality. It must be 

 possible for shortleaf and loblolly pine to flourish over much of this 

 region— certainly as far west as the tract of loblolly pine on the 

 Colorado at Bastrop. With the increase in agricultural and related 



