THE FORESTS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 217 



and sycamore. Chestnut is abundant in the moun- 

 tain j)ortion of the county, and a considerable amount 

 of wild or black locust. Our woods, especially " old 

 fields," as they are called here, also abound in dog- 

 wood. When our ancestors '^tvore out'' a piece of 

 land and abandoned its cultivation it never failed to 

 bring an abundant crop of ••' old field " pine. It has 

 very little heart, and for exposed parts is not durable, 

 but still it is quite valuable for many purposes, grow- 

 ing very tall and thick on the ground. We also have 

 the persimmon, a very hard wood. Walnut is scarce 

 here, though there is a little black walnut in the 

 mountains, and a few domestic trees around the 

 farms. The prevailing growth is yellow pine, a vari- 

 ety of oaks and hickory. Taking the whole county 

 over there is about 50 per cent, in virgin forest. 

 With the lands covered with second or old field 

 growth there may be 60 or 65 per cent, in timber. — H. 

 F. S. 



Cumberland. (950 square miles.) — Fa3^etteville, 

 Aug. 25, 1882. — I have, with the aid of others, with 

 some care made an approximate estimate of the prin- 

 cipal woods of this county, statement appended : 



Number of acres, 4*^5,000 



Long-leaf Pines, 350,000 



Converted into lumber would make, 350,000,000 ft. 

 On same lands Short-leaf in bottoms 



and swamps, 50,000,000 " 



Poplars, 150,000,000 " 



Cypress, 400,000,000 " 



