CONDITION OF UNLUM BKRKI) WHITE CEDAR SWAMPS. 177 



deep shade, are almost impenetrable thickets of young trees and 

 shrubs. The forest floor is a thick humus or is deeply bedded in 

 sphagnum. On the sandy flats bordering the streams, trees of 

 white cedar occur scattered in a rather open growth of small 

 gums and bays, and reach a height of 30 to 50 feet and a diameter 

 of 15 to '2^ inches; the humus is thin and the undergrowth 

 thickets of small bushes. 



In most localities the cedar swamps have been exploited, or the 

 removal of the cedar is now in progress. Except where yellow 

 poplar forms a portion of the wood, the white cedar is the only 

 valuable tree, and it alone has been removed, all specimen? usually 

 being removed that have a greater diameter than 8 inches ar the 

 stump. Where the greater part of trees are cedar, the cutting is 

 nearly clean, and the few small trees that are left, having very 

 slender stems, are snapped off by the first severe storm ; where 

 there are more broad- leaf trees present, these afford protection to 

 the young growing-stock too small to cut. The bays and gums 

 that are left make rapid growth after lumbering, and for some time 

 retain undisputed possession ; the extremely small white cedar 

 seedlings beneath them, although at first making slow growth in 

 the shade, finally re-assert themselves, make rapid height-growth 

 and break through the cover above them, and struggle with, the 

 broad-leaf species for the light. If the swamps are burned, as is 

 frequently the case after lumbering, and the burning is not so deeply 

 in the soil as to injure the roots of the broad-leaf trees, they will 

 sprout vigorously from stool and root; the fire-tender white cedar, 

 however, will be entirely destroyed, and only after a great many 

 years will it again be introduced by wind-sown seed. If the soil 

 is peaty, and is very deeply burned, its ability for supporting a 

 growth of white cedar may be entirely ruined. 



Only a small proportion of the area of the cedar swamps has 

 been deforested for agricultural uses, such areas being the best 

 drained of the peaty soils with yellow poplar as a part of the 

 growth, and such cleared lands lie chiefly in Dare and Pamlico 

 counties and those counties which penetrate the Dismal Swamp. 

 Agriculturally these lands are among the most productive in the 

 State. A few other areas may in time be drained and reduced to 

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