544 



TPIE FORESTS OF T^E UNITED STATES. 



northern Arkansas, is mixed with the hard woods. The southwestern part of the state south of the Arkansas 

 river and west of the broad, level plain of the Mississippi is covered outside the river-bottom lands with an almost 

 continuous forest of pine, in which the short-leaved species occupies the high, dry ridges and the loblolly the 

 moist soil above the bottoms. Great bodies of cypress cover the extensive swamps that stretch along the eastern 

 border of the state or line the bottoms of the White, Arkansas, Washita, and Eed rivers. The hard-wood forests 

 of the state are hardly surpassed in variety and richness, and contain inestimable bodies of the finest oak, walnut, 

 hickory, and ash timber. Black walnut of large size is still widely scattered over the state, and is particularly 

 abundant in the valley of the Eed and other southern rivers. The pine forests are almost intact. Settlements 

 made for agricultural purposes have been confined to bottom lands, and only during the last few years has 

 pine lumber been manufactured in the state, except to supply a very limited local demand. Recently, however, 

 comparatively small quantities of lumber manufactured at numerous railroad mills, principally established south of 

 the Arkansas river, have been shipped north and south out of the state. 



The forests of Arkansas have received comparatively little damage from fire. Pine generally succeeds pine 

 even on burned land, although upon certain gravel and clay soils the second growth is largely composed of black 

 and red oaks, or, in the southern part of the state, the sweet gum replaces other trees on bottom lands. During 

 the census year 858,115 acres of woodland were reported devastated by fire, with an estimated loss of $259,470. 

 The largest number of these fires was due to the carelessness of farmers in clearing laud, or to hunters camping 

 in the forest. 



Industries consuming hard woods are still in their infancy in Arkansas, although doubtless destined to attain 

 an important development. Eough white-oak staves are largely manufactured in the White Elver country and in 

 the northeastern part of the state for eastern and European markets. 



A considerable traffic exists in the southwestern counties in the wood of the Osage orange, used for wheel 

 stock, and more recently as pavement in Saint Louis and other northern cities. 



The following estimates of the amount of short-leaved pine standing in Arkansas May 31, 1880, were prepared 

 by Professor F. L. Harvey, of Fayetteville : 



SHORT-LEAVED PINE (Pinus mitfs). 



TENNESSEE. 



The western counties of Tennessee are covered with heavy forests, similar in distribution and density to those 

 which occupy the Yazoo region of western Mississippi. The river swamps in this part of the state still contain large 

 bodies of cypress, while the hills are covered with oaks, hickories, and other hard- wood trees. The central portion 

 of the state, now largely cleared for cultivation, was once covered with forests of hard wood, remnants of which 

 are still found upon rocky ridges or land unfit for agriculture. Nearly through the center of this middle district, 

 extending north and south, "the cedar glades" occupy an extensive region of Silurian limestone. Here the 

 characteristic growth consists of red cedar (Juniperus Virginiana), often forming stunted forests of considerable 

 extent, to the exclusion of other species, or is mixed with the honey locust, a characteristic species, also, of this 

 well-marked region. 



