PEOTEOTIVE TIMBERLANDS. 49 



effectof adrought. The forests, with their leafy litter and intermixture 

 of humus, change the character of the soil sufficiently t<> raise the 

 water level. Their removal would be followed by the washing away 

 of the debris, loss of the organic matter from (he soil, and a conse- 

 quent sinking of the water level to a depth which would seriously 

 affect the How of springs and streams, as well as the crops. The 

 result would be to make dry seasons, like that of 1901, far more disas- 

 trous and more common than they have been in the past. 



It does not follow from this that clearing for agriculture should be 

 restricted. The amount of heavy timber throughout the Lignitic 

 Belt is so great and the land reforests itself so vigorously that danger 

 from forest destruction is not at all imminent. In time, all of the 

 land which can be brought into successful cultivation will be farmed. 

 But there is much land which is too poor for permanent cultivation. 

 The tendency in the region is to regard the timber as a nuisance, 

 owing to its constant tight for possession and readiness to encroach. 

 But for the good of the farms the poorer land on hills and high slopes 

 should be kept timbered. 



Under State ownership the quality of the forests needed for protec- 

 tion in this region would be greatly improved. It has already been 

 said that there is no opening here for private management on a large 

 scale to raise commercial timber. The heavy pine forests have been 

 for the most part cut; more than half the area has no pine at all, and 

 the prevailing upland oaks are of no value except for fuel and farm 

 timber. State management, the occasion for which exists primarily 

 in the fact that the interests of the community as a whole call for 

 protective forests, would make possible a farsighted plan to secure 

 the gradual replacement of the more valuable shortleaf pine. In this 

 way the State would eventually have a large reserve area, which, 

 besides being protective forests, would yield a revenue from the sale 

 of valuable timber. 



PROTECTIVE TIMBERLANDS ALONG WATER COURSES IN THE 



PRAIRIE REGION. 



Unfortunately for Texas, her larger rivers have their sources in the 

 arid plains at the base of the Rocky Mountains, where a protective 

 timber growth is impossible. Several hundred miles of their upper 

 courses run through treeless plains, upon which rainfall comes in 

 sudden downpours amounting often to cloudbursts. Apparently, by 

 far the larger part of the water so falling runs off in stream floods, 

 carrying along enormous amounts of washed soil. The characteristic 

 diocolate-colored floods rush aw r ay to the lower levels of the Coast 

 Plain, where the slight fall in the water courses allows them to spread 

 out over the valley, and when, as not infrequently happens, the streams 

 26268— No. 47—04 i 



