46 FOREST RESOURCES OF TEXAS. 



trend of land speculation at the moment is to transform these pine 

 lands into farms and orchards and, where oil is indicated, into oil fields. 

 If these circumstances continue there might seem to be little opening 

 for forestry, the purpose of which is not to substitute a worse crop 

 for a better one, but to secure the best use of all kinds of land. Not 

 until it has been definitely established that the region is an agricul- 

 tural one can this be decided. 



Even if this is true, however, the dependence of the agricultural 

 interests on the retention of a certain amount of forest growth in 

 this region furnishes reasons for not abandoning the forest altogether 

 to the play of the private interests directly concerned. It is a very 

 serious question whether in the long run it would not be found to be a 

 mistake to transform pine barrens as a whole into farm lands. There 

 can be no doubt that the retention of forests on the rougher, poorer 

 land would prevent deterioration of the better tracts by erosion and 

 by the lessening of the water supply consequent upon a general 

 removal of the forest. 



It has been suggested in somewhat similar connections that perhaps 

 sufficient protection would be afforded by the practice among private 

 owners of reserving woodlots or larger timber tracts upon the poorer 

 ridges or barrens. It will in an}- case be many- years before the land 

 is denuded of forest growth, and before the effects of forest removal 

 will be felt upon agricultural operations. Meanwhile there is time 

 for a campaign of education which would interest private owners in 

 the rational practice of forestry on their own lands, at least so far as 

 to protect their farms and raise their own timber supply. 



There is, however, another point of view, which is that the State 

 should by utilizing its present holdings, and by actual purchase of 

 other tracts, establish a forest reserve in the longleaf pine area. 

 Sound arguments for this course would seem to lie in the following 

 considerations : 



(1) This longleaf area is capable of producing a continuous supply 

 of high-grade timber, on the margin of a vast territory practically 

 incapable of growing timber supplies of high grade. 



(2) A considerable proportion of the area is scarcely suited to the 

 continuous production of anything except timber. 



(3) The better tracts, which would include especially alluvial bottom- 

 lands, would be benefited by the retention of forests on the poorer 

 ones, especially upon the upland sand barrens. 



(4) The welfare of the community in the long run, subserved by 

 retaining this valuable forest land, would offset the objection to the 

 State's acquiring at considerable expense temporarily nonproductive 

 land. Omitting the views of private holders immediately concerned, 

 it is believed that the people of the State would be unanimous in their 

 desire to see the longleaf pine area a permanent forest. This is not 



