NEW RIVER BASIN. 59 



Fire. Fires have done but slight damage, except on the upper slopes and 

 on the spur extending south from Pond Mountain. 



Second grmvth. Saplings are abundant wherever the forest is thin enough 

 to make room for them. 



Undergrowth. Laurel is abundant, and the hollows are almost impassable 

 without cutting a way through it. On the ridges there is much brush of other 

 species and there are also many seedlings and sprouts of timber trees. 



Reproduction. Free, except where too brushy or where there has been too 

 much fire. 



Rate of growth. Rapid. 



Water power. Limited. 



Occupancy. About 35 families are now living in this basin. 



Prices of land.- (^ove land now under cultivation brings from $30 to $50 per 

 acre, while mountain land, unimproved, is worth from $2 to $10 per acre, 

 according to soil and timber. 



HORSE CREEK BASIN (aSHE COUNTY, N. c). 



Area. Total, 49.50 square miles; cleared, 23.75 square miles; wooded, 25.75 

 square miles. 



Surface. Hilly to mountainous. 



Soil. In the lower portion of the valley red loam derived from limestone; 

 on the higher foothills and the mountain side, a more pourous and lighter- 

 colored soil derived from gneiss and schists. 



Agricultiiral value. Grass is the principal crop, but corn and the small 

 grains do well when the land is newly cleared. About 10 square miles are 

 adapted to diversified farming. 



Timber trees. Oaks, 60 per cent; chestnut, 20 per cent, other species, 20 

 per cent. 



Yield. Ijog timber, 50,720 M feet B. M.; small wood, 223,200 cords. 



Demand. Owing to poor roads and the distance from market the only 

 demand is for local use. , 



Access Ih ility . The center of this tract is about 18 miles by a very rough 

 and hilly wagon road from the nearest railroad point, either Damascus or Chil- 

 howie. The land has very steep slopes and there is much laurel brush. 



Fire. Recently there has been very little fire, the woodland being protected 

 by clearings. 



Second growth. In general there is an abundant stand of saplings. 



Undergrowth. Dense laurel thickets line the ravines and cover the moist 



