CUMBERLAND—BELL AND HARLAN COUNTIES. ‘e) 
300 barometric feet below this walnut belt I noted a bed of 
outcropping coal sixteen inches thick. The walnut itself is 
growing on a very rich loamy soil, partly detritus and partly 
decayed vegetable matter, about two feet deep, almost en- 
tirely devoid of undergrowth of trees, but perfectly matted 
with a rank growth of forest weeds, fully ten feet high in 
places. This walnut-growing belt winds along the mountain 
as far as I had time to trace it (which was not very far, how- 
ever), always at about the same height above the river below. 
I noticed that it was just under the top crest of the mountain, 
and crossed precisely at the heads of the various little streams 
that flowed from under that crest and made their way to the 
river below. One of the many magnificent walnut trees that 
I found in this peculiar belt was fourteen feet six inches in 
circumference, with a curling but straight and beautiful trunk, 
sixty feet in length. In an area of twelve hundred and fifty 
square yards in this belt the principal timbers were: ; 
liaeik Tyallinls 2a acne 6; averace diameter.) .) a. 40 inches. 
Eee eee Mamet AR At the. 6) fone) 0) ode. Gye SUG oe NT (retention, fol Be 20a 00° 
DSERCEISUMNe Ys i) Us) Say 8 ee Sle es 3; one of them with diameter 34 ‘* 
LinJhu. 24) 0 Seite Saga er 6 waverave/ diameter nai yeitents 2am oF 
But this plot of ground was a choice one. There isnot such 
an average of walnut as that even in the belt here spoken of. 
Another case of peculiarity in the growth of certain tim- 
bers which [| noted, is that of the hemlock (Adzes canadenszs) 
of Eastern Kentucky. In this part of the country the hem- 
lock is confined wholly, so far as I know, to Conglomerate 
formations; so that the presence of this timber, in any local- 
ity in this part of Kentucky, is a guarantee that the geolog- 
ical formation there is Conglomerate. Of course, in other 
parts of the country, hemlock grows on other than Conglom- 
erate soils; and of course, too, not all Conglomerate soils of 
Kentucky grow hemlock. Through all the coal regions of 
Western Kentucky I never saw a single tree of it. But not 
only is the hemlock of Eastern Kentucky confined to Con- 
glomerate formations; it is also never found very high above 
local drainage. In the whole course of Cumberland river, 
from Cumberland Gap to near its head waters, and on all the 
87 
