206 FORESTS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



oak is spreading most rapidly under culling, especially where the 

 cutting is heavy or where the woods are coppiced ; so that large 

 areas where fuel is regnlarly cut show a growth which has dete- 

 riorated, so that while it formerly consisted of mixed oaks and 

 hickory, now it is of scarcely other trees than the scarlet and 

 chestnut oaks. Both of these trees, however, are well-suited for 

 coppice-cutting on account of their rapid growth, vigorous sprout- 

 ing, and the long persistence of the stools. 



The increase of the red maple in culled woods is also rapid. 

 Under the protection of the light shade so afforded maple seed- 

 lings can be found on all classes of soils from the driest to the 

 most moist. On the moister soils they seem to be incorporated 

 as a permanent part of the growth : but where the soils are dry 

 they grow more slowly and are overtopped by the oaks when 

 eight or ten inches in diameter, put up sprouts from around the 

 base of the trunk, the main stem becomes weakened and dies. In 

 like manner many seedlings of the yellow poplar appear; those 

 on the drier soils soon succumb ; those on the moister persist for a 

 long time*, if on a north slope even becoming large trees. 

 Black gum seedlings, which are frequent on the drier soils, con- 

 tinue to grow for many years, but the specimens never become 

 more than small-sized trees. 



The regrowth in the old fields is uniformly pine, except in a 

 few local areas of compact red loams, where it may be red cedar 

 or scrubby broad-leaf trees as vvell as pine. The pine in old 

 fields is usually the short-leaf; but in some sections it is the scrub, 

 especially where adjacent to the mountains, or where thickets of 

 that pine occurred in the original growth, as along steep river 

 hills or the thin soils near granite knolls, the so-called " flat-rocks." 

 Less frequently white pine forms the old field growth, and then 

 only at the base of the mountains where mature trees of this 

 species occur. Beneath pine regrowth of all kinds, unless the 

 cover is exceedingly heavy, sourwood, red maple and dogwood 

 appear. 



MERCHANTABLE TIMBER OF WESTERN PIEDMONT PINE BELT. 



The forests of the western pine belt now yield more timber than 

 those of any other part of the Piedmont plateau region, and 



