18 THE FOREST FLORA AND CONDITIONS OF 



The sugar maple, which we expect to find in perfection 

 only in a Northern forest, is represented here in great 

 numbers and in the finest development; so too is the 

 familiar beech. The little-kno^n yellow buckeye (sEscu- 

 lus octandra) is nowhere else surpassed in its great 

 height and diameter growth. But the one timber tree 

 which is worth an arduous journey to see in its greatest 

 perfection is the almost unknown tiswood the snow- 

 drop, or silver bell tree, of Southern gardens, the halesia 

 tetraptera of older botanists. For the sake of making "it 

 easier to remember, the modern upheaval in plant names 

 has called this tree Mohrodendron carolinum. Its nat- 

 ural range is from the Virginias to the Gulf, where it is 

 mostly a small tree, but rises to commercial importance 

 in the rich mountain forests of East Tennessee. Here its 

 common dimensions are from sixty to one hundred feet 

 in height, with a diameter of one to four feet. Its dense, 

 heavy, mahoganylike wood is practically unknown to 

 commerce, but must prove to be a valuable cabinet wood. 

 The cucumber magnolia (Magnolia acuminata), a rival 

 of the tulip-tree in the appearance and excellence of its 

 timber, occurs plentifully and of large size in these for- 

 ests, together with the much-valued white ash. It is re- 

 freshing at this day and date to see white ash trees three 

 to five feet in diameter with sixty feet of clear trunk. You 

 look at the rough bark of some other tall, straight trees 

 and are surprised to find they are yellow locusts (Robinia 

 pseudacacia). They are so much larger and taller than 

 elsewhere that you do not at first recognize the common 

 locust of fence corners. Here too the Southern white- 

 leaved basswood grows to fine dimensions, scattered in 

 small and large groups throughout the region. It is one 

 of those useful trees that, to supply the present demand 

 for excelsior, carriage, and furniture wood, it should grow 

 in dense forests, but has an aggravating habit of occur- 

 ring only in groups. The abundance of big chestnut tim- 

 ber in this region makes the large chestnut of the coast 

 region look small. You lament the fact that they grow 

 old and die in a single century, instead of growing on for 



