FORESTS OF THE PIEDMONT LOWLANDS. 



185 



■stream, and back the water for some distance above, killiiiii; most 

 •of the mature trees whicli may be on the adjoining bottom, as well 

 as a greater part of the yonng growth, l)v Hooding their roots. 

 Dense and fast growing thickets of elm and ash, and rarely blacdc 

 glim, appear in snch places, and continue unmixed until the bed 

 ■of the swamp is sufficiently raised to allow other trees to grow. 



The oaks on all of these bottoms show very little young growth, 

 if the water oak to the eastward and the swamp chestnut oak in 

 some localities be excepted. Where oaks and other trees have 

 been culled, chiefly maples and sweet gums have taken their 

 places, so that the promise of the bottom lands for the future is 

 not bountiful, nor do they now contain any large supply of mer- 

 chantable timber. 



IMPROVEMENT OF THE FORESTS OF THE LOWLANDS. 



The forests of the bottom lands have in nearly every instance 

 been excessively damaged by constant pasturage. -The white oaks 

 liave in consequence not reproduced as al)uudantly as other 

 ■species whose foliat'e and seed are not so largely interfered with 

 by stock. To the eastward and ahuig the stiffer-soiled bottoujs 

 the overcup oak and swamp cliestnut oak are the most worthy of 

 ■extensive reproduction ; to the westward and along the smallei' 

 streams M'here the soils are more loamy the white oak is more 

 desirable. Protection must be accorded these in same way as was 

 indicated in the case of the oak flats of the coastal ]>lain i-egion, 

 and regeneration should be secured in the same way. 



Abandoned fields and closely culled spaces on the wetter soils 

 of the bottom lands are ((uickly sown in a mixed growth of light- 

 seedetl trees, chiefly birches, willows and sycamore, and among 

 them soon appear ash and elms and other species demanding a 

 light shade. 



Sometimes, espe(;ially along fence rows, black walnuts appear, 

 and these are worthy of protection. In open or thin places in 

 the woods, on the drier bottoms, this tree could well be exten- 

 sively introduced artificially. In the western and northern part 

 of the Piedmont plateau it will reach a large size, but as with 



