512 THE FORESTS OF THE tJNITED STATES. 



covered with a heavy growth of pine, hemlock, white oak, cherry, yellow poplar, and other northern trees; over 

 the region extending east of the mountains oaks, principally black oaks, once formed the prevailing forest growth; 

 through these are now mingled long stretches of various pitch pines, occupying exhausted and barren soil once 

 devoted to agriculture. The eastern counties are covered with the forests of the Maritime Pine Belt, generally 

 confined to the Tertiary deposits of the coast and extending inland to the head of tide-water of the principal 

 streams; along the western borders of this pine belt the forest growth is nearly equally divided between the pines 

 and the broad-leaved species. 



The inaccessible mountain region in the southwestern part of the state still contains immense quantities of the 

 original oak, hickory, walnut, and cherry, the scanty population of these mountains having made but slight inroads 

 upon the forests. Eailroads have hardly penetrated them, while the streams which head here are uusuited tocarry 

 to market the hard woods of which this forest is largely composed. The most valuable hard-wood forest remaining 

 on the continent exists in southwestern Virginia and the adjacent counties of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, 

 and North Carolina. From the central and eastern portions of the state the original forest has almost entirely 

 disappeared, and is iiow replaced by a second growth, in which the Jersey pine and the old-field pine are characteristic 

 features, generally replacing more valuable species of the original growth. 



During the census year 272,319 acres of woodland were reported ravaged by fire, with a loss of $326,944. Of 

 such fires the largest number was traced to the careless burning of brush upon farms and to locomotives. 



The manufacture of cooperage stock is increasing rapidly in the western part of the state, and great quantities 

 of staves are exported thence directly to Europe, as well as oak, yellow poplar, and walnut in the log. The 

 manufacture of tobacco cases from sycamore lumber is an important industry iu the neighborhood of Lynchburg 

 and other tobacco-distributing centers. Considerable quantities of hand-made shingles are produced in the 

 cypress swamps which occupy a large portion of Norfolk and other eastern counties. A large amount of second- 

 growth pine (Finns Tceda) is shipped from the different Virginia ports by schooner to New York for fuel, and this 

 second-growth pine furnishes the principal building material used throughout the state. The grinding of oak and 

 sumach bark and the manufacture of tanning extracts are important and profitable industries of the state. 



WEST VIRGINIA. 



The forests of West Virginia, with the exception of the belt of pine and spruce confined to the high ridges 

 of the Alleghany mountains, are principally composed of broad-leaved trees, the most important of which are the 

 white and chestnut oaks, the black walnut, the yellow poplar, and the cherry. The white pine and spruce forests 

 reach within the state their southern limit as important sources of lumber supply. 



The forests have been largely removed from the counties bordering the Ohio river, and the most valuable hard- 

 wood timber adjacent to the pricipal streams, especially black walnut, cherry, and yellow poplar, has been culled in 

 nearly every part of the state. But slight inroads, however, have yet been made into the magnificent body of 

 hard-wood timber covering the extreme southern counties, which still contain vast quantities of oak, cherry, and 

 poplar. 



The black walnut found scattered everywhere in West Virginia is least plentiful in the northwestern and Ohio 

 Eiver counties, and most abundant along the upper waters of the rivers flowing into the Ohio through the 

 southwestern part of the state. Yellow poplar is found throughout the state, and is still abundant about the 

 headwaters of nearly all the principal streams. Large bodies of cherry are found in Greenbrier, Nicholas, Webster, 

 and other counties immediately west of the mountains, and a large amount of hemlock is scattered through the 

 valleys and ravines of the northeastern part of the state and along the western slopes of the Alleghanies. The 

 area still occupied by white pine is estimated to extend over 310 square miles, and to contain about 990,000,000 feet 

 of merchantable lumber. The principal centers of lumber manufacture are along the Kanawha river at Konceverte, 

 in Greenbrier county, at Parkersburg, and along the upper Potomac. 



Partial returns of the hoop-pole industry gave a product during the census year of 3,549,000, valued at $146,000. 



Dnring the census year 476,775 acres of woods were reported destroyed by fire, with a loss of $155,280. Of 

 these fires the largest number was traced to the careless clearing of land for agricultural purposes, although many 

 had their origin in sparks from locomotives. 



The manufacture of cooperage stock is fast increasing in importance, and seems destined, with the exhaustion 

 of the more accessible hard-wood forests of the country, to assume a much greater development than at present 

 Large quantities of black walnut, yellow poplar, and oak in the log are shipped to northern markets and to Europe. 



The following notes upon the forests of West Virginia are extracted from Mr. Pringle's report: 



"Entering West Virginia at Keyser (New Creek) by way of Cumberland, Maryland, we find ourselves in one 

 of the narrow valleys lying among the low abrupt ridges of the northern Alleghanies, among which we have been 

 traveling since we reached the vicinity of Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Coming south from middle Pennsylvania, 

 however, the forest growth covering the long mountain chains within view from the railroad becomes heavier and 

 heavier, the evidences of fire and ax largely disappearing. On the hills above Keyser fewer evergreens appeared 

 than I had previously seen. A few slopes were principally occupied by pine in variety, but the mountains of this 



