Cut-Over Pine Lands in the South. 7 
being the character of the agriculture, the occupation of lumbering, 
and the cattle tick. 
The character of the agriculture of the Piney Woods region has 
had considerable effect on the number of cattle produced. Like 
other portions of the South, the section followed largely a one-crop 
system, growing cotton for a cash crop, and neglecting the raising 
of winter feeds and the saving of hay. Clearing the land of stumps 
was the main difficulty in preparing land for cultivation, and such 
small areas as were cleared were planted to cotton, sugar cane, pea- 
nuts, and sweet potatoes, grass being fought as a deadly enemy. 
From the middle nineties until the present time the lumber indus- 
try has overshadowed all others ; considerable numbers of the people 
turned from farming to lumbering as an occupation, and farms were 
often neglected. Lumbering did not diminish the area of grazing 
lands, but the quality of the ranges deteriorated. With the removal 
of the virgin pine a thick undergrowth of scrub oak or young pine, 
depending upon the kind of soil, rapidly covered the land ; " down " 
timber left from logging covered much of the ground and fires 
became more destructive, destroying most of the " switch " cane, on 
which the cattle depended for winter grazing, and preventing the 
spread of desirable pasture plants. The chief demand for cattle 
during this time was for work oxen. 
As large tracts of the cut-over sections are owned by lumber 
syndicates and sawmill companies which have been interested chiefly 
in the timber value of their lands, efforts have been made in rela- 
tively few instances toward agricultural development. The cut-over 
lands were left open and were used for grazing the native cattle, but 
the system was not one that would induce large operations or en- 
courage the entrance of outside cattlemen. 
The cattle tick has not only been responsible for large losses of cat- 
tle, but the quality of the cattle produced in ticky territory and the. 
necessary restrictions placed on their shipment have affected the mar- 
ket for cattle from these sections to such an extent that there was 
no inducement for greater production. Before the Revolutionary 
War, restrictions were placed on southern cattle being driven into 
the Northern States, as it had become known that they carried a dis- 
ease which was fatal to northern cattle and which afterwards became 
known as Texas fever. 
Even under such adverse conditions considerable numbers of cattle 
were maintained and in many cases they furnished the chief source of 
income. Prior to the building of the sawmills, the Piney Woods 
region was frequently referred to as the " cow country. With the 
disappearance of the sawmills in cut-over sections, interest in farm- 
