CLASSIFICATION OF THE FOREST. 25 



best development, which takes in, with northwestern Louisiana and 

 southern Arkansas, the northeastern counties of Texas. In these 

 counties a shortleaf forest of considerable extent originally stood. Of 

 it Doctor Mohr wrote: "North of the Sabine River, from Longview 

 through Cass and Bowie counties, the shortleaf pine forms compact 

 forests over many hundreds of square miles. ,5< J Most of this pine lias 

 been cut out. 



On the vastly greater area where the pine is more or less diluted by 

 hardwoods more remains standing. Much of it is too scattering to 

 support an active lumber business, but patches of almost pure pine 

 bring up the average. But despite the fact that most of the territory 

 is on the border of the shortleaf pine belt, the noteworthy size of the 

 individuals shows that the conditions are favorable for the growth of 

 the tree. Veterans over 3 feet in diameter are frequent, and appar- 

 ently reliable reports speak of trees with a diameter of <> feet and 

 more. 



Shortleaf lumbering began earlier than that of longleaf and loblolly, 

 because the first railroads cut through its territory. In 1880 the out- 

 put of shortleaf .was 146,420,000 feet, against 61,570,000 of longleaf. 

 To-da} T it can hardly amount to one-tenth that of the longleaf. The 

 very large mills, like those at Texarkana, do not depend to any great 

 extent on the Texan supply. Smaller mills, with a daily capacity of 

 20,000 feet, more or less, arc clearing up the lesser patches and the 

 large trees scattered through the mixed forest along the lines of the 

 railroad; but all the better bodies of pine have been logged. 



In the pure pine forests very little promising timber was left stand- 

 ing, and the land was usually overrun by oak thicket. In the vicinit} T 

 of Texarkana, however, a good cut of pine has recently been made on 

 land logged over thirty-live or forty years ago, and in the northeastern 

 counties there are rather frequent thickets of second growth, and a 

 good deal of scattering pine saplings. Still the prevalence of scrubby 

 oak forest everywhere gives the whole an unpromising look. In the 

 mixed forest a heavy oak timber is already on hand to take the place 

 of the pine. In every case, after the removal of the pine the forest is 

 of small commercial value, capable of furnishing little but find and 

 coarse construction material. 



Left to itself, the forest reconquers its territory aggressively. Even 

 the pine is a good ground-gainer here, and with a reasonable amount 

 of assistance could be made a valuable resource on many an unpromis- 

 ing acre. But wherever there is a loamy soil, undoubtedly it is better 

 cleared and put under cultivation. This is taking place even to the 

 length of sacrificing some excellent patches of almost pure shortleaf 

 (see PI. II, fig. 2). Much of the inferior forest may very properly be 



« Timber Pines of the Southern United States. Bui. 13, Bureau of Forestry. 



