West  of  the  region  of  heavy  forest  the  country  is  covered  with  an  open  growth  of  upland  oaks,  among  which
the  most  prominent  are  the  post  oak  and  the  black-jack.  These  forests  are  interspersed  with  prairies,  often  of
considerable  extent,  which  gradually  occupy  the  whole  country  outside  the  bottom  lands.  Farther  west,  between
the  ninety-seventh  and  ninety -ninth  degrees  of  west  longitude,  the  "  cross-timbers  "  enter  the  territory  from  the
south.  They  are  composed,  as  in  Texas,  of  a  stunted  growth  of  post  oak  and  black-jack,  and  extend  northward
across  the  territory  in  straggling  patches  into  southern  Kansas.  The  main  belt  of  the  "cross-timbers",  about  70
miles  wide  at  the  Texas  boundary,  gradually  becomes  narrower  toward  the  north  and  northwest,  disappearing,  at
about  longitude  99°  west,  upon  the  ridges  south  of  the  Cimarron  river.
No  returns  of  the  amount  of  lumber  manufactured  in  the  territory  have  been  received,  nor  other  than  the  most
general  information  in  regard  to  its  forest  covering.
AEKANSAS.
Heavy  forests  cover  the  state  of  Arkansas,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  isolated  prairies  principally  confined
to  Prairie  and  Arkansas  counties,  north  of  the  valley  of  the  Arkansas  river,  and  the  western  borders  of  the  state.
North  of  the  Arkansas  river  the  forests  are  mostly  composed  of  the  deciduous  trees  of  the  Mississippi  basin,  through
which  isolated  belts  occur,  often  of  considerable  extent,  in  which  the  short-leaved  pine,  the  only  species  found  in


544


THE  FORESTS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.
