REPORT ON THE TIMBERS OF THE NORTH Cuge@ 
BERLAND—BELL AND HARLAN COUNTIES. 
The method of study pursued in investigating the timber 
of the North Cumberland necessarily differed somewhat from 
that indicated in a former report on the timbers of Grayson, 
Breckinridge, Hancock, and Ohio counties.* The reason is; 
that the latter counties are comparatively level, are largely 
settled, and their timbers had to be studied with reference to 
the effects which clearing away the old forests would have 
upon the future timber growth of the counties. In the pres- 
ent report, on the contrary, the country is almost impassably 
mountainous; comparatively a very small proportion of land 
has been cleared, and the mountains are still crowned by their 
vast and primitive growths. The end to be attained in this 
report is, evidently, to give a conception as clear as possible 
of the present condition of these timbers. I have, therefore, 
not done so much plotting of ground and numbering of trees 
as was given in the former report; for it is manifestly very 
difficult, if not impossible, for the mind to pass from the con- 
sideration of a few detached and poorly representative plots 
of ground, of a few hundred square yards each, to the com- 
prehension of a vast forest whose area comprehends millions 
of acres. 
Another difficulty lies in the way of giving a clear impres- 
sion of the timbers under discussion. They grow upon a per- 
fect net-work of mountains. There is no regular gradation of 
timbers on these mountain chains; so no fairly representative 
one can be chosen and studied which will give data for a re- 
port upon, and a clear comprehension of, the whole. On the 
contrary, the mountains are sharply divided into those whose 
forest must rank among the finest in this or any other coun- 
* See report on the timbers of those counties, 
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