14 THE FOREST FLORA AND CONDITIONS OF 



pine lies in the counties forming the northern half of Bast 

 Tennessee, but extends in a more or less scattered growth 

 clear down to the southeastern corner of the state. A 

 great deal of the best timber has been culled years ago by 

 portable sawmills, and considerable is being milled now 

 at several points, while there still remains some of the 

 finest white pine to be seen anywhere. Much of this pine 

 is already old, in some localities has ceased to grow, and 

 on one or two tracts I saw the best timber was rapidly 

 dying. The peculiar soil conditions under which white 

 pine grows in Tennessee points very strongly to an age 

 limit of from one hundred and fifty to about two hundred 

 years of profitable growth. 



Approaching these limits, then, there are general signs 

 of ceasing growth and final death, in no case due to nat- 

 ural enemies or accidental injuries. I recall now one 

 tract of white pine in Johnson County where the timber 

 stands in a broad alluvial valley of level and rolling 

 land, where, at their age limit, thousands of big pines 

 are dead and dying. This slow but sure destruction is 

 all the more to be lamented, since this timber is of the 

 finest quality and will give an acre-cut not excelled in 

 any other state. Perhaps the Northern capitalists who 

 are holding this valuable timber believe that added age 

 will give greater value; but it should have been cut twen- 

 ty-five years ago. 



Compared with Northern pine land, the precise forest 

 conditions under which white pine grows in these moun- 

 tains are interesting as indicating the great adaptability 

 of the species to varied soil and moisture conditions. 

 The bulk of Tennessee white pine occurs alike in the 

 narrow valleys and on the long, sharp, steep, mountain- 

 like ridges. The vales and coves are all well watered 

 by innumerable small streams, and the soil is a rich, 

 clayey loam; while the ridges have a dry, rather thin, 

 gravelly or clayey loam soil, with underlying slaty shale ; 

 in some cases entirely exposed. In rarer instances this 

 pine occurs in deep, rich, sandy loam soils of the broad 

 mountain valleys, in a few cases sharing with the black 



