38 FOREST FIRES IX XORTH CAROLIXA. 



of the regular appropriation for the work of the Board available, but the 

 Board is able to accept subscriptions or donations of money from private 

 individuals or organizations for the purpose of buying State forests. In 

 fact, this is clearly contemplated by law. A State forest of a few hun- 

 dred or even thousand acres Avould be a worthy monument to any in- 

 dividual or event. Why should not one or more of North Carolina's 

 patriotic and public-spirited organizations take the lead in a movement 

 to accumulate funds for such a purpose ? "Will not Mount Mitchell State 

 Park be a nobler and more enduring monument to Dr. Elisha Mitchell 

 than any one which could be erected to him in metal or stone ? There 

 is room in this State for a number of such monuments, and the per- 

 manent benefit from their establishment would be incalculable. 



SOME PROBLEMS TO BE SOLVKD. 



Some idea of the variety of questions which can be solved most satis- 

 factorily by the State or National Governments can be gathered from 

 the following quotation from Press Bulletin 142, "Demonstration For- 

 ests for North Carolina," North Carolina Geological and Economic 

 Survey : 



There are five iirincipal forest regions in North Carolina, (1) The Spruce, 

 (2) Mountain Hardwoods. (.3) Piedmont Region, (4) Coastal Phiiu, (5) The 

 Banks. Some of these can well be divided again hito smaller subdivisions. 



(1) The Spruce forests on the slopes of our highest mountains are of the 

 greatest importance in regulating stream flow and for park purposes. Lum- 

 bering operations as at present practiced result in their total destruction. It 

 will pay the State to demonstrate that lumbering can be done in these forests 

 without such devastating waste. A State forest in this type could at the same 

 time be used as a State park, and for the protection of the important moun- 

 tain streams. 



(2) The aiountain forests, which now contain the greater part of our old- 

 growth hardwood supply, are being cut in such a way that the more valuable 

 kinds of timber trees are rapidly disappearing. Landowners should be shown 

 how to cut so that the proportion of the poplar, chestnut, linn, and other 

 valuable species will be increased in the second growtli, rather than dimin- 

 ished. 



(3) The original growth pine has been so largely removed fi-oni what were 

 the mixed hardwood and pine forests of the Piedmont region that the second 

 growth now consists almost entirely of the much slower growing oak. How 

 best to increase the proportion of young pine timber in these woods is a prob- 

 lem which can be decided by experiment, and can then be conclusively shown 

 by demonstration. 



(4) The rehabilitation of our once large turpentine industry depends on 

 second-growth long-leaf pine. This tree has been practically exterminated 

 over large areas, and little effort is being made to bring it back, even in the 

 districts best suited to its growth. Experiments on the ground would show 

 that much so-called waste land could profitably produce long-leaf pine. 



