Seek? ON. THE TIMBERS OF THE. DISTRICT 
Wrst OF THE TENNESSEE dived. 
GENERAL REMARKS—GEOLOGY AND TOPOGRAPHY. 
There is probably no part of Kentucky where topography 
has more, and geology less, to do with the distribution and 
general character of the timbers than in what is known as the 
Purchase—that -is, that part of the State lying west of the 
_ Cumberland river. From this it may be inferred, at once, that 
the species of timbers met with are pretty much the same 
throughout the entire seven counties which go to make up. 
the region under discussion. There are upland timbers and 
lowland timbers, but there are few of those marked changes 
in forest growth which one meets with where timbers are 
more influenced by geological structure than by topography. 
Of geological change, if we except one or two spots where the 
limestone extends across the Cumberland river, there is none 
sufficient to affect timber growth. The whole of this Pur- 
chase region, with the exception mentioned, is apparently of 
tertiary age, and consists of more or less rounded whitish or 
reddish pebbles. In what may be called the bed-rock of the 
region, these pebbles are cemented together with clay, contain- 
ing a good deal of iron, into an extremely hard and tough 
reddish conglomerate, called by the people 2702 cement. Over- 
lying this cemented rock there is a bed of loose pebbles and 
sand varying from a few inches to fifty feet thick. Where the 
pebbles themselves form the surface of the soil, it is needless 
to say that the timbers consist of black jack and scrub oak. 
There are no mountain axes in this part of Kentucky to 
diversify the topography, but, owing to the peculiarity of the 
formation, a difference of level of only a few feet will, in 
most localities, completely change the character of the timber. 
From this it follows that the number, size, and distribution 
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