THE FORESTS OF TENNESSEE. 23 



Nearly all the western counties of Tennessee were 

 originally covered with heavy forests in which many 

 species were nearly evenly distributed. The tulip-tree 

 (locally, poplar), the white oak, red oak, hickory, gum, 

 black walnut, wild cherry, basswood, ash, elm, and beech 

 are interspersed with one another, while cypress abounds 

 in the swamps. 



Hardin County contains a larger acreage of timber 

 than any other county in West Tennessee, amounting 

 to over 200,000 acres, and probably the forest growth in 

 this county contains a larger number of varieties of 

 timber than is found in any other: for in addition to the 

 usual deciduous trees that abound in other counties, there 

 is a large area covered with a growth of pine. 



In the counties of Weakley, Hardeman, McNairy, Hen- 

 derson, Carroll, Henry, and Benton there are between 

 150,000 and 200,000 acres in each attached to the farms. 

 In Obion, Dyer, Gibson, Haywood, Tipton, Shelby, Fay- 

 ette, and Madison Counties there are in each between 

 100,000 and 150,000 acres in timber attached to the farms. 

 Dyer, Obion, Tipton, and Shelby, in this group, once con- 

 tained the most densely wooded area in the United States, 

 with the single exception of that of the state of Washing- 

 ton. It was not unusual to find white oak trees eight feet 

 in diameter and poplar or tulip trees of almost equal size 

 rising to the height of two hundred feet. 



The counties of Crockett, Lauderdale, and Chester have 

 each between 50,000 and 100,000 acres in woodland at- 

 tached to farms. The excellence of the timber in Crock- 

 ett and Lauderdale is not surpassed by that in any other 

 county in the state. The large poplar log that was in 

 the exhibit of the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis 

 Railway at the Centennial Exposition (see cut), measur- 

 ing in diameter at the larger end ten feet four inches, 

 came from Crockett County; and, while this particular 

 log is of unusual size and length of body, there are thou- 

 sands of trees in that county, consisting of white oaks, 

 red oaks, and poplars, that will measure from four to five 

 feet in diameter. 



Coming to Middle Tennessee, we shall find the supply 



