190 THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN FORESTS. 



12,000 feet B. M. of merchantable timber per acre, and about 15 cords of hemlock 

 bark. The slopes and crests are scantily timbered and will not cut more than 

 500 to 1,000 feet B. M. per acre, and yield in addition from 10 to 15 cords of 

 small wood. 



Demand. There is at present slight demand for timber, there being no local 

 building and no available market for shipping. Common stumpage sells at from 

 50 cents to $1 per thousand feet, but good grades of timber bring more. Only 

 the choicest logs of white pine, yellow poplar, and oak are cut. 



Accessibility. The distance from the nearest point on these streams to Dills- 

 boro, on the Asheville and Murphy Branch of the Southern Railway, is about 

 22 miles. The wagon road, however, is good, except in a few places, and there 

 are not many hills. 



Cutting. Much of the best timber on the lower part of Norton Creek has 

 been cut and floated down CuUasagee River to the mills at Dillsboro. The cost 

 of floating was found to be too great, however, as the bed of the stream is very 

 rocky, and many men were required to prevent the formation of jams. There 

 is at present no mill on either creek cutting timber for shipment. 



Fire. The upper slopes of Shortoff Mountain, Yellow Mountain, and all the 

 higher surrounding ridges are badly burned. Frequent fires consume the brush 

 and litter in nearly all of the hard-wood forests, which are thin and open on this 

 account. 



Reproduction. Scarlet oak, chestnut, white oak, and sourwood reproduce 

 abundantly on burned land from stool shoots. These species also seem to seed 

 frequently and germinate freely, even in the most exposed situations and on the 

 poorest soils. 



Second growth. The undergrowth of young trees of the dominant species is 

 generally scant, because of the fires. In localities where there have been no fires 

 in several years there are masses of vigorous stool shoots, chiefly of chestnut, 

 scarlet oak, and sourwood, but in most places there is very little second growth. 

 One or two small fields which have been abandoned support thickets of vigorous 

 white pine. 



Undergrowth. Beneath "the hemlock forests there is a dense undergrowth of 

 laurel and Kalmia., but the rest of the forest is generallj^ open. 



Rate of growth. On account of the high altitude and the poor soil, growth 

 is slow. Hemlocks 200 years old do not average more than 2 feet in diameter, 

 breast high, and 100 feet in height. The growth of hard-wood seedlings is also 

 slow. Chestnuts 100 years old are not more than 18 inches in diameter and 60 

 feet in height. On account of the openness of the forest, which is due to the 



