FORESTS OF THE SLATE SOILS. 195 



leaf pine rising to a height of 50 to 70 feet; the lower story of 

 small post and black-jack oaks, with more or less Spanish and 

 white oak and white hickory, has an average height of 40 feet, 

 individual trees acquiring a diameter of 14 to 18 inches. The 

 trees are often shrubby, and there is very little young growth. 

 As the soil becomes poorly drained the pine decreases, until on 

 the " willow oak flats " the growth becomes restricted to black- 

 jack and post oaks as a lower story, slightly overtopped by willow 

 oaks, a growth capable of yielding only a limited number of ties, 

 and felloe and hub-material. 



In Davidson, Stanly and Union counties mines have been worked 

 for many years, requiring large amounts of fuel and posts which 

 have been gotten from the neighborhood. Such deforested dis- 

 tricts are now generally covered with a coppice of good stand, 

 often with many young pines and some seedling oaks intermixed. 

 Along many of the river hills through here thickets of the scrub 

 pine may be seen. It appears to be spreading eastward from the 

 granite knobs above along the rivers, occasional trees yet being 

 seen in culled or coppiced woodland as far to the eastward as 

 Orange county. 



There is a comparatively large part of the area of these coun- 

 ties in forest and only a small amount of second growth woods ; 

 and as the woods have been but little culled a correspondingly 

 large amount of merchantable timber, pine in places and oak suit- 

 able for ties and wagon-material. These forests have in many 

 places been badly injured by frequent and destructive fires, but 

 during late, years the woods have been better protected and the 

 adoption of laws requiring the confinement of live stock in several 

 of the counties has tended to diminish the evil and at the same 

 time improve the general condition of the woodland. 



The soils of the first division are on the whole too shallow to 

 make large-sized broad-leaf trees. The most valuable tree is the 

 short-leaf pine ; next the post and white oaks and white hickory 

 and dogwood. The pine will make medium-sized mill-logs ; the 

 oak scarcely more than railway ties and smaller material. 



Fires should be rigidly excluded, as their damage to young pine 

 is great. In most places cattle should be excluded. Improve- 



