Cat-Over Pine Lands in the South. 17 
in cutting off the merchantable timber and not in the future devel- 
opment of the lands. However, some have undertaken very cred- 
itable projects in developing their land. The lands covered with 
stumps, unmerchantable logs, and crowns left from logging are not 
attractive to buyers. The amount of land taken up by the native 
people as needed for farming is not extensive. Colonizing schemes 
have failed in most instances and the cheap land has not attracted 
the cattlemen. Sales of large tracts of cut-over land have frequently 
been made to land-sales companies whose chief interest was to make a 
handsome profit by resale in smaller parcels. 
While the ownership of lands in large tracts has retarded develop- 
ment in the past, at present it is an advantage to the building of a 
cattle industry, as large tracts of cheap land can be bought and a 
wide choice can be made of lands particularly adapted to individual 
uses. 
RECOMMENDATIONS. 
Because of the newness of the cattle business along improved 
lines and the small number of practical demonstrations it is difficult 
to give recommendations based on well-established practice. There 
are many points, however, which should receive the attention of the 
present owners, of these lands, beginners in the cattle business, and 
outsiders who are contemplating the purchase of land but who are 
not familiar with the region. 
The immediate conversion of the great body of cut-over lands 
into small farms is not advisable even if it were possible. A redis- 
tribution of the ownership of the lands and their use for agricul- 
tural purposes is desirable, but the process should be gradual. The 
present use and development of the lands as a whole must be in 
large tracts consisting of several thousand acres. The lands are not 
improved to an extent to make them desirable as farming lands, and 
not until they are improved and their possibilities demonstrated 
will they find a ready sale at a fair price. The utilization of these 
nonproductive lands for reforestation and grazing purposes is the 
only logical solution in the near future. 
Colonization has been a failure except in rare instances, and 
always will be so long as land is sold at high prices in small tracts 
to clerks, conductors, mechanics, and other city people who are 
allured by brilliant literature describing the possibilities of the 
country in an impracticable manner. The capital of such people is 
usually taken up by the initial purchase, and they are left without 
sufficient capital to develop the land sufficiently to make a living 
income. What the region needs is farmers with sufficient finances 
or backing to establish permanent homes and develop the land. The 
141959°— 21— Bull. S27 3 
