SOILS OF THE PIEDMONT UPLANDS. 187 



relative proportion of the pure pine growth is already large, it is 

 more desirable to reclear these old fields, on account of the ease with 

 which these pine lands are made tillable, from the great absence 

 of lateral roots in the pine growth and the quickness with which 

 the stumps and roots decay in the sap trees, if cut in the spring 

 when the beetles attack them, and the presence of the sap invites 

 fungus diseases. 



The body of the upland forest is composed of oaks with more or 

 less hickory, and in places with short-leaf pine scattered among 

 them. Other trees of industrial importance enter but slightly 

 into their composition. This is the composition of the original 

 forests as they now stand. The second growth, on the other hand, 

 which in local cases is an exceedingly important element in the 

 woodland, has pine for the forest body generally, and hardwoods 

 as subordinate. 



SOILS OF THE PIEDMONT UPLANDS. 



The soils of these counties, unlike those of the coastal plain 

 region, are very largely primary ; or at least are not secondary in 

 the sense of the transported drifts of the sands and loams of the 

 uplands and the alluvial deposits of the lowlands of the east, but 

 are derived from the decay of rock or rock-forming material in 

 situ. This material generally forms the subsoil, which is covered 

 superficially, to a depth of three to eighteen inches, by a top-soil,, 

 differentiated by natural elutriation of the finer, more adhesive or 

 clayey parts, so as to be coarser in texture and not so stiff or 

 brightly colored as the subsoil. This top-soil, unless its depth is 

 ten inches or over, has very little influence on the kind of tree 

 growth. 



GENERAL CONDITION OF THE FOREST. 



The woodland presents a general view of wide stretches of for- 

 est of broad-leaf trees, usually with irregular and broken cover, in 

 places much culled, and with no undergrowth where pastured, 

 and young pines or cedar appearing at intervals through them. 

 This broad-leaf woodland alternates with small groves of pine, 

 usually rather open or thinly stocked, the pine being the short- 



