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I
lived in an oak forest in Central Texas, east of Austin, for years in the late
sixties and most of the seventies (where I met Scott Pittman in 1968, by the
way) and it had sprung up as a result of the land -- mostly sandy loam --
being "cottoned out" in the late 1800's. After cotton takes almost all of
the nitrogen out, the only thing that will grow is sweet potatoes and
watermelon, and radishes which will grow in pure sand. That wasn't enough
of an economical return on the labor so the land fell into disuse. When
they quit plowing the land, the pin oak trees took over. My guess is that
the forest is 75 to 100 years old. Was that before the juniper and
mesquite had gotten a foothold?
It
seems to me that what fosters and maintains the juniper and mesquite and keeps
out the pine and oak is cattle ranching. But that's just an educated
intuition.
Good
luck with your research. I'd like to know more about it,
myself.
Carla
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