56 FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 



FOREST CONDITIONS IN THE SEVERAL COUNTIES. 



Ashland. — The northern one-fifth was formerly a pinery on red clay 

 soil with a thin sprinkling' of inferior hardwoods, some hemlock and 

 occasional cedar and even tamarack on the more level areas. South 

 of this a mixed forest of hardwoods, henalock, and pine on gray loam 

 and clay lands stocked both slopes of the range as well as nearly all 

 parts south of the range. In places, especially along streams, pine 

 was predominant, as was also the case on the small sandy tract 

 along the Flambeau river in the southeast corner of the county. The 

 pine timber along the lake, except that of the Indian reservation, is 

 cut and the pine has been culled from most of the mixed forest and 

 is estimated, all told, at only 300 million feet. Small patches about 

 the mines have been curt clean of all timber. Generally the hard- 

 woods and hemlock are culled and with a yield of 4 M. per acre 

 amount to about 700 million feet of hemlock and 900 million of hard- 

 woods, of which birch and basswood form fully 60 per cent., while 

 oak is hardly of economic importance. Fires have injured Ashland 

 county only in the pinery along the lake and thus even the swampa 

 are fairly well stocked with cedar, tamarack, and some spruce. 



Barron. — The northern one-third, a gray loam and gravel land, was 

 stocked with a mixed forest of pine and hardwoods, the pine prevail- 

 ing, except on the ridges of the northwestern part of the county. In 

 the central part on a variable sandy loam, was a pinery with a thin 

 mixture of hardwoods and occasional better hardwood bodies. (See 

 "Soo" Line from Cameron west.) The southeastern one-fifth of the 

 county was sandy and bore jack pine and oak openings. The pine 

 is cut, except in the northern and northeastern towns; the hardwoods 

 are culled and in nearly all parts of the county damaged by fire. The 

 standing pine is in isolated bodies and is estimated at 150 million 

 feet. The scattering bodies of better hardwoods are believed to repre- 

 sent a stand of about 250 million feet in which oak, basswood, birch, 

 and maple enter in nearly equal proportions. The few swamps of 

 this county are reported bare of merchantable timber in larger quan- 

 tities. Large tracts of cut-over and burned land occur in nearly all 

 parts. 



Bayfield. — A belt of red clay, 6 to 10 miles wide, skirting the lake, is 

 pinery with a light mixture of scrubby hardwoods and some hemlock. 

 The southeastern one-third, occupied by the basins of the Nemakagon 

 and White rivers, is a mixed forest of pine, hardwood, and hemlock 



