FORESTRY SURVEY 193 



from grazing animals. There is also the presence of many 

 rare or fastidious herbaceous plants that will not endure 

 any prolonged pasturing. Among these are the coral root, 

 ' ay-blades, habenarias, showy orchis, yellow lady's slip- 

 per, rattlesnake plantain, shin leaf, bloodroot, drop-seed, 

 wild ginger, bellwort, maidenhair fern, Clayton's fern, and 

 others equally as intolerant of "civilization" as manifested 

 in the browsing cow and rooting swine. 



A more extended and careful study of the map will 

 show well-marked topographic zones of the particular spe- 

 cies, which we may call forest types. The high and dry 

 summit elevations are occupied by white oak and shagbark 

 hickory, the former almost pure stands in some places. 

 The white oaks are 60 feet in height and from 10 to 18 

 inches in diameter and represent the growth of from 40 to 

 70 years. The original virgin white oak forest had trees 

 from 2^ to 5 feet in diameter, 80 or more feet in height, 

 and from 300 to 350 years of age. The writer is informed 

 by old settlers that in those days there was very little 

 underbrush except in moist places, and that one could ride 

 in any direction through the timber without difficulty. 

 Mixed with the white oak in the proportion of one in fifty 

 is the shagbark hickory, which is always a striking tree 

 with its bark in great loose strips. This tree is a slow 

 grower, averaging not more than a foot in diameter in 100 

 years. 



A zone or belt lower down than the white-oak-hickory 

 zone is almost entirely occupied by an oak which the 

 natives call pin oak or black-jack oak. Uj) to a few years 

 ago this was called scarlet oak (Quercus coecinea) by bot- 

 anists, but it proves to be the Q. eUipsoidalis of Prof, Hill. 

 By the former names, however, it will always be known 

 to the country folks. The upper level of this zone con- 

 tains many red oaks, white oak, red ash, and an occasional 

 wild black cherry (Prunus scrotina). The largest of the 

 pin oak trees are about 24 inches in diameter and about 60 

 years old. This particular belt is alwaj^s considered good 

 soil by the farmers. The red oaks are of the same average 

 size and age. In patches of nearly pure growth in the "pin 

 oak" zone the two native poplars are found, each attaining 

 a height of 70 feet and a diameter of about 16 inches. The 

 large toothed aspen (Popuhis grandidentata) is considered 

 much more valuable than the trembling aspen (P. tremu- 

 loides) for construction purposes. 



