SHORT-LEAF AND PITCH PINE FORESTS. 213 



The eliestnut, chestnut oak and the white oak can be relied on 

 for reproduction from stump and stool-shoots, the chestnut sprout- 

 ing most vigorously and from the largest-sized stumps, and the 

 white oak least vigorously and from the smallest stumps. The 

 locust frequently sprouts from small stumps, also from suckers 

 under a thin cover. 



SHORT-LEAF AND PITCH PINE FORESTS. 



The area in which tiie short-leaf and pitch with the scrub 

 ( Jersej' ) pine are the dominant resinous trees, embraces the basin 

 of the French Broad river in Buncombe and Madison counties, 

 the river-hills of the Swannanoa, those of the French Broad in Hen- 

 derson county, and the lower hills in Haywood, Swain, Jackson, 

 Macon, Cherokee and Graham counties, lying below an elevation 

 of 2, SCO feet above sea level. The surface of this area is broken 

 and rugged, the hills often steep, between them, along the rivers 

 and smaller streams, lying narrow alluvial tracts. The lowest 

 elevations are found on the eroded slopes of the Asheville basin 

 and along the waters of the Little Tennessee river, where at the 

 lowest limits the altitude is not over 2,000 feet. 



The upland soils are stiif, mostly even-grained loams, rarely 

 sandy. Although generally deep and derived from disintegration 

 hi sit'' of gneiss, or, in Cherokee and Graham counties, slates, 

 they are, on the whole, not fertile ; those of the lowlands are rich 

 sedimentary loams witli much ve*getable matter along the smaller 

 streams ; along the larger streams are loams similar to those on 

 the smaller ones, but more sandy and less fertile. 



The hills erode rapidly on their shoulders when unprotected. 

 Old fields, liowever, are generally quickly seeded in native grasses, 

 which form a retentive turf, and after a longer time pines appear. 



The short-leaf, pitch and scrub (Jersey) pines are the character- 

 istic conifurs. The broad-leaf trees which grow with them are 

 <'hietly the white, black, scarlet and chestnut oaks, eliestnut, and 

 hickory. Of these the white oak is first in numbers and import- 

 ance. It forms from .1 to .5 of the entire forest, being most 

 abundant along the slopes; black oaks and pine superseding it 

 towards the crests; other broad-leaf trees toward the bottoms. 



