482 BOTANICAL SURVEY OF DISMAL SWAM!' REGION. 



his "Voyage a l'ouest des monts Alleghanies," published in 1804. I 

 qiiot<^||jB&0:; to '2QC> of (ho English translation, "Travels to the 

 wvsuyj |the Alleghany Mountains," which was printed in the 

 folloJ™™^ 



fe States [Kentucky and Tennessee] they appreciate the degree of 

 p land by the different species of trees which grow upon them; thus 

 of a lot of land is advertised, they are careful to specify that such 

 of trees grow on such or such parts, which is sufficient information 

 iser. This rule, however, admits of an exception with respect to the 

 , soil of which, as I have mentioned, is very fertile and on which, 



nevertheless, there are found the Scroby <><tk, t^uercua nigra, and the Juglans 

 hickery, which in the i^est are evidences of the worst soil. Supported by this 

 mode of estimating the^Lctmdity of the soil by the nature of the trees which it 

 produces, I shall meutinn^^ery remarkable observation which I made as soon as 

 I arrived in this State, Iiimmtncky and Cumberland 1 independently of a few 

 trees which are peculiar to th^ countries, the mass of the forests in lands of the 

 first class, is composed of thoseTfoeeies which are very rarely met with to the east 

 of the mountains in the most fertile soils. These species are principally the fol- 

 lowing: Cerasim virginiana, cherry tree: Juglans oblonga, white walnut: Pavia 

 lutea, buck eye; Fraorinus alba, nigra, cerulea, white, black, and blue ash; Celtis 

 fottiis villosis, hackberry; limits viscom, slippery elm; Quercits imbricaria, black- 

 jack oak; Guilandina dioica, coffee tree; Gleditsia triacanthos, honey locust, and 

 Annona triloba, papaw, which rises to the height of 30 feet. These three last 

 species, in particular, denote the richest lands. In cool mountainous places and 

 by the sides of the rivers which have not steep banks, there are also found the 

 Quercus macrocarpa, over-cup white oak, the acorns of which are as large as a 

 hen's e^g; the Acer saccharin nm, sugar maple: the Fagits sylvatica, beech; and 

 also the Platanus occidentalism plane; the+Liriodendrum tulipifera, white and 

 yellow tulip tree, and the Magnolia acuminata, cucumber tree, the three last of 

 which attain to a circumference of IN or 20 feet. The plane, as has been men- 

 tioned before, grows to a larger size. 



In the lands of the second class are found Fagus castanea, chestnut; Quercus 

 rubra, red oak; Quercus tinctoria, quercitron; Lauras sassafras, sassafras; Dios- 

 piron virgin iana, persimmon: Liipiidambar si yraeifhta , sweet gum; Nyssa rillosa, 

 gum tree, a tree which neither yie'ds gum nor resin, as its name seems to imply. 



Those of the third class which are generally arid and mountainous, scarcely 

 produce any but the black and red oak; the Quercits prinus montana, rocky oak, 

 some junes, and sometimes Virginian cedars. 



Mr. W. W. Ashe (Bull. X. C. Geol. Survey, vol. 5, pp. 14 to 16) 

 describes as follows the; natural vegetation on different soils in east- 

 ern North Carolina: 



The timber over the entire section is, on the highlands, largely of two species of 

 pine; one, the loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.), more confined to the counties north 

 of the Neuse River and to the moister soil; the other, the long-leaf pine {Pinus 

 pal list ris Mill.), to those south of this river and to the drier, more sandy soil. 

 Beneath these trees, where the soil is not too dry and sandy, is a lower growth of 

 small white and post oaks, dogwood, haws, and the narrow-leaved crab apple, 

 while where the soil is very sandy and dry there grows, either with the long leaf 

 Pine or where it has been removed, a small worthless oak. the sand black-jack or 



"' in the United States the name of Cumberland is given to that part of Ten- 

 nessee which lies west of the mountains of that name. " 



