252 THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN FORESTS. 



and 4,931 feet on Whitesides to 1,000 feet, at the junction of Tallulah and 

 Chattooga rivers. Many of the peaks and spurs are extremely bold, and there 

 are numerous deep gorges and canyons, and along the creeks, especially along 

 the upper Tallulah and its tributaries, are alluvial bottoms of considerable area. 

 Nearly all of the cleared land (11 per cent of entire tract) of this system is on 

 creek bottoms. 



The tract has an area of 348,588 acres, of which 89 per cent is wooded. 



Soil. Derived from gneiss and granite, the soil is generally of good physical 

 composition, except in the foothills, where a stiff, red clay pred9minates, which 

 erodes readily and is hard to cultivate. 



The bottom lands are loamy and fairl}^ fertile, but the ridges have T)een so 

 much burned and washed that on them the soil is light colored, thin, and poor. 



Agriculture. Corn is the principal crop. Grass, except in the higher 

 altitudes, does not hold. Sweet potatoes, cane, and cotton are grown along the 

 southern limit of this tract. Peaches do well in the lower altitudes, and apples 

 are grown on the mountains. 



Erosion. The impervious clays of the foothills are frequently barren and 

 gullied, because left uncovered. The mountain ridges have man}^ stones and 

 pebbles in their soil and resist erosion much better than the clays, but this 

 advantage is counteracted by the steepness of their slopes, and the bed of every 

 rivulet is eroded to the underlying rock. The creek bottoms are hardly less 

 liable to damage. Sudden downpours of rain (11 inches have been known to fall 

 in forty-eight hours) often cause such rises in the creeks as to cover the tields 

 with gravel or cut them away. 



The forest. All this tract is forest land, except the creek bottoms and a few 

 mountain coves, which have been cleared, and together amount to 11 per cent 

 of the area. The denser portions are in the coves at the higher altitudes. The 

 tract contains .505,050 M feet B. M. of log timber, and 4,601,745 cords of small 

 wood. 



There is a noticeable contrast between the forests of the interior mountain 

 region and those about the headwaters of the Tallulah and Chattooga rivers. 

 Here the oaks are in greater predominance, and the hickories and southern pines 

 are more abundant, while beech, birch, maple, buckeye, and other lovers of cool 

 air and abundant moisture are notably less. White pine and hemlock hold to 

 the higher altitudes, but are notably absent along the foothills. 



Proportions of timber species in Tallulah- ChcMooga River basin. 



Per cent. 



Oaks 55 



Hemlock 5 



Hickory " 



Shortleaf pine ^ 2 



