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NATURALIST'S GUIDE TO THE AMERICAS 



This is a limestone area, fertile and 

 mostly cleared and under cultivation or 

 devoted to the raising of stock. Wild 

 game is scarce, though the streams 

 afford good fishing; there are fewer 

 sources of pollution from industrial 

 plants than elsewhere in the state. 

 The streams in this region drain north 

 into the Potomac. 



The characteristic trees are oaks, yel- 

 low poplar, and sugar maple. 



The Appalachian Ridges lie between 

 the Valley and the boundaries of 

 Kentucky and West Virginia. Here 

 there is more virgin timber than else- 

 where in the state, and the native wild 

 life is not so scarce. In this respect, 

 the same remarks apply here as to the 

 Blue Ridge Region. 



The white, red, and chestnut oaks, 

 chestnut, yellow poplar, maple, beech, 

 bass wood, hickory, white pine, short- 

 leaf pine (Pinus echinata), and hemlock 

 are common trees. 



In this section, and in the Blue Ridge, 

 are the National Forest areas, which 

 afford the best prospects of maintaining 

 undestroyed the native wild life, both 

 plant and animal. 



Of the state as a whole, approximately 

 54% is wooded. Of the forested areas, 

 43% is softwood, 57% hardwood. The 

 softwoods predominate in the eastern 

 section, hardwoods elsewhere. The 

 dominant softwoods are the pines 

 (loblolly, shortleaf, and Virginia), while 

 among the hardwoods the oaks pre- 

 ponderate, especially the white oak. 



The condition of the forests is given 

 in some detail because it furnishes the 

 best indication of the condition of the 

 native wild life. Where there is virgin 

 forest, wild life is abundant and rela- 

 tively unaltered, but where the forests 

 have been cleared, cut, or burned over 

 the wild life has largely disappeared. 



NATURAL AREAS 



Lynchburg City Forest. (C3.) Com- 

 prises 7000 acres of land situated north- 

 west of the city on the Blue Ridge. See 

 American Forestry, 2: 238. 



Stony Man Mountain Summit. (B3- 

 C4.) Comprises 16,500 acres of moun- 

 tain deciduous forest. It protects the 

 watershed of the Shenandoah River and 

 a portion of that of the Potomac and 

 James Rivers. On the area and still 

 intact are trench systems constructed 

 during the Civil War and under the 

 supervision of Stonewall Jackson. It is 

 preserved by the nation. See Science, 

 October 4, 1918: 342. 



Rockingham, Augusta, Bath and 

 Highland Counties, Va., and Pendleton 

 County, W. Va. J. W. H. 



Natural Bridge Ravine. (C4.) Is a 

 long rocky river; it was presented by 

 George III to Thomas Jefferson in 1774. 

 See Harshberger, John W. : "The Forest 

 at the Natural Bridge of Virginia. 

 Forest Leaves, IX: 42-44, June, 1903. 

 Natural Bridge (Rockbridge Co.). J. 

 W. H. 



Great Dismal Swamp. (A2-B3.) 

 Formerly about 1000 mi. of coniferous 

 (Chamaecyparis thyoides and Taxodium 

 distichum) and deciduous forest, now 

 being much restricted by drainage and 

 deforestation, so that its exact area at 

 the present time cannot be given. It is 

 a large peat bog, the best developed of 

 all the bogs in unglaciated North 

 America. Within its area are hygrophile 

 deciduous forests, swamp or juniper 

 land, and numerous sluggish streams. 

 Near the center is Lake Drummond 

 tapped by a canal (known as the Feeder 

 Canal to the main Dismal Swamp Canal) 

 deep enough for good sized motor boats. 

 The juniper grows in the moister parts 

 where the subsoil is sandy and porous. 

 These areas are held by lumber com- 

 panies. The hardwoods occur in areas 

 which under drainage make very good 

 farming land. The progressive drainage 

 of this area is threatening the existence 

 of the swamp as a whole. Much of this 

 land is held by the Norfolk County farms 

 and is for sale. 



The Great Dismal Swamp is the most 

 important wild life area in the state. 

 Its preservation, at least in part, is the 

 most immediate duty and most vital 

 need in Virginia. Not only are there 

 large stands of virgin forest, but in the 

 tangled thickets and along the sluggish 

 streams are found many of the animals 

 formerly common and now disappearing. 



