208 THE SOUTHEEN APPALACHIAN FORESTS. 



oak, white oak, chestnut, chestnut oak, and, below 3,600 feet, black pine are the 

 common trees. 



Yield. The south slopes and hills will not cut more than 1.500 feet of 

 merchantable timber to the acre; the north slopes and hollows from 3,000 to 

 4,000 feet, except at high elevations, where the growth is open and the trees are 

 small and short-bodied. 



Demand. The best ash, oak, and poplar find ready sale at %\ per thousand 

 feet on the stump. 



Accessibility. The mouth of the creek is 10 miles, by a rough wagon road, 

 from Almond, a station on the Asheville and Murphy Branch of the Southern 

 Railway. Tennessee River, into which Tellico Creek empties, can be driven. 



Cutting. There is at present one small portable sawmill in operation. Much 

 of the best timber has been culled from the lower part of the creek, and nearly 

 all of the merchantable timber has been removed from the low hills for domestic 

 use, so that the forests now consist largely of young growth, seedlings, and stump 

 shoots. 



Fire. ^The hill country and the south sides of the mountains have been 

 badly burned, and in consequence the forests are thin, the growth short-bodied, 

 and many of the trees defective. 



Reproduction. The important species seem to reproduce freely from seed 

 wherever there are no fires and the light conditions are suitable. Chestnut, oak, 

 sourwood, and hickory, and, to a less extent, the black pine sprout when the 

 top is fire killed or cut. 



Second growth. In the culled woods of the hill country there are many 

 saplings of" scarlet oak, black pine, and sourwood. Grazing and fires, however, 

 suppress most of the young growth of desirable species where the light conditions 

 are suitable for germination and growth. 



Undergrowth. In many places there is considerable undergrowth of sourwood 

 and huckleberries, which rapidly sprout when the old trees are killed by fire. 



Rate of groiath. Fair accretion is made b}^ most trees, except on the driest 

 southern slopes, which are frequently burned. 



Water power. The stream is not large enough, being only 6 miles long, to 

 furnish more than a small power. 



Ownership. Nearly all the land is owned by resident citizens. There are 22 

 families on the creek. Much of the timber has been bought by lumber companies. 



Prices of land. The best farming lands sell at $20 to $40 per acre; hillside 

 farming land, at $4 to $10 per acre; woodland, at $1 to $4 per acre, according to 

 the quality of the timber and its situation. 



