200 FORESTS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



a sharply defined limit between the loose gray loams and the com- 

 pact red loams, one gradually passing into the other ; more often 

 the areas of compact red loams have sharply defined limits. The 

 more sandy soils prevail, however, in Alamance, Orange, the west- 

 ern portion of Chatham and in Person counties, in the southern 

 portion of Mecklenburg, and the southern parts of Cleveland and 

 Rutherford counties. 



The gray loams are loose, even sandy in places, with the subsoils 

 stiifer and bright-colored, deep, well drained, but fresh or moist 

 and well'suited for tree growth.' In a few places they are rocky 

 or even bouldery as in portions of Orange and Alamance counties. 



In general, the forests are quite similar to those of the compact 

 red loams ; but the Spanish oak to a large extent replaces the black 

 oak ; there is more post oak, and the standard of excellence is not 

 so high. 



The composition of the original forest may be said to be of white 

 oak, Spanish oak, post oak, black oak, white hickory, and scarlet 

 oak, in relative abundance about in the order named, and forming 

 over three-fourths of the growth ; beneath these trees is a selection 

 of underwood, where it has not been suppressed by pasturage, which 

 shows a fair representation of the dominant trees, and with these 

 the dogwood, sourwood, haws, and thorns. Dogwood, however, is 

 not so abundant as on the compact red loams. On slopes facing 

 the north and cool hillsides there is but little ash and red maple, 

 and only occasional trees of the northern red oak, but yellow pop- 

 lar is more frequent. 



Pine, though infrequent on the stiffer soils and confined to the 

 ridges, forms on the looser a not inconsiderable element in the 

 woodland, from ^ to 2 per cent, of the mature trees often being 

 pine, these being large and tall, but scarcely overtopping the hard- 

 woods. 



Where the soil is poor and sandy as in southern Mecklenburg, 

 there is a reoccurrence of the pine, post oak, and black jack oak 

 growth, with the pine as an upper story and the broad-leaf trees 

 as a lower. The area of such sandy land, however, is limited, and 

 it is generally largely cleared for cotton culture, with the greater 

 part of the woodland hardwood coppice and pine regrowth. 



