FRENCH BROAD RIVER BASIN ABOVE 8KYLAND. 151 



coarsest lumber. There is about one cord of hemlock bark to the acre in the 

 upper part of the creek. There is some excellent oak-tie timber in the lower 

 part of the basin. Besides the timber suitable for milling, there are about 15 

 cords of small wood per acre in the lower part of the basin and nearly twice 

 as much per acre in the upper part. 



Demand. Ash, oak, yellow poplar, and linn, and some white pine, are the 

 kinds of timber now being cut. Only the best is taken, and this commands a 

 price of from $1 to $3 per thousand feet. 



Accessibility. It is from 10 to 15 miles from the upper part of the creek, 

 where cutting is now being carried on, to the nearest station on the Southern 

 Railway. The wagon road is not good climbing many hills and being badly 

 washed in places. There would be but little difficulty in building a road to any 

 body of timber, except in some of the deep gorges of the gulf. 



Cutting. There are at present three mills in operation on the creek, which 

 are cutting hard woods and some of the best white pine. Their combined capacity 

 is about 20,000 feet per day. 



Fire. Much of the best white-pine land has been badl}^ burned, and many 

 trees that would have otherwise been sound have butt rot, or hollows caused 

 by fire. The dry and sandy black-pine lands are also burned at frequent 

 intervals, and the j^oung growth is suppressed or reduced to stool shoots, so 

 that these woods have a stand seldom more than one-half normal. 



Reproduction. The pines reproduce freelj^ especially in abandoned fields 

 and sunny places in the forest. Hard woods seed regularly, and reproduction can 

 be easily secured b}^ aflFording the proper light conditions. The hemlock does 

 not reproduce so freely. 



Second growth. Where cattle are excluded there is an abundance of young 

 trees of the species forming the forest. A great part of the land, however, is 

 pastured. Reproduction is scant on burned areas, being largely limited to 

 chestnut and oak sprouts, with occasional white pines and sourwood. 



TJndergrovjth. The upland woods are generally open on account of the cattle 

 suppressing the young growth. Dense thickets of rhododendron occur under 

 the hemlock on the moist lands. 



Rate of growth. The trees grow rapidly, even on the thin, sandj^ soils. The 

 hard woods, however, do not become large on the sandy soils or where associated 

 with the pines. 



Water power. ^There are several excellent locations for small mills on the 

 stream, but the power that could be secured is not large, though it would be 

 fairly constant on account of the streams rising in deep north hollows and the 



