182 FORESTS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



the Piedmont plateau contain the greater number of species that 

 are representative of the sylva of the coastal plain. 



The distribution of the economic forests, however, is deter- 

 mined largely by the character of the soils. 



The forests of tlie lowlands are of relatively small extent and 

 importance; while those of the uplands are extensive and vield 

 nearly all the timber suitable for construction. 



THE FORESTS OF THE PIEDMONT LOWLANDS. 



The lowlands of the Piedmont plateau region instead of embrac- 

 ing broad swamps are conhned to narrow borders of sedimentary 

 origin along the streams. Their forest growth is composed 

 entirely of broad-leaf species except in the eastern bordei- coun- 

 ties, where occasional loblolly pines are found mixed with the 

 hardwoods. ^ 



The lowland forests may be divided into (1) those in the hol- 

 lows and bordering the smaller streams, where the soils are sandy 

 loams containing a large proportion of organic constituents ; and 

 (2) those contiguous to the larger and more slowly flowing streams^ 

 which are bordered by flats having silty soils, containing tnore 

 clayey ingredients and less vegetable matter than those of the bot- 

 toms of the smaller streams. These two classes of forests and 

 soils, sharply defined where a small stream flows into a large one,. 

 gradually pass the one into the other in ascending the rivers. 



The changes in the character of the growth along the larger 

 streams take place gradually as the changes in the composition of 

 the soils, there being usually, no abrupt transition in the kind of 

 growth of different portions of the some swamp, as occurs in the 

 swamps of the coastal plain region. Many species, almndant 

 along the lower edge of the region, the southeastern, become less 

 frequent as the streams are ascended ; others, less common to the 

 eastward, increase in number as the soils become more loamy and 

 the Blue Ridge is approached. 



The loamy alluvial lands contiguous to the smaller streams 

 have-in all parts of the region very nearly the same kind of growth: 

 beech, red oak, and white oak, maples and yellow poplar, while 

 with these are associated many smaller trees: the hop-hornbeam. 



