APPALACHIAN AND WHITE MOUNTAIN WATEESHEDS. 21 



of that which is underground is carried ou in the ancient crystaUine 

 rocks, which do not require timbering. The influence of such mining 

 upon the forests is not very important except in a few instances 

 where great damage is done. The most pronounced example of 

 injury by mining is at Ducktown, Tenn., where sulphur fumes from 

 the roasting and smelting of copper ores have Idlled all vegetation 

 for a number of miles around. The perfectly bare surface has eroded 

 with wonderful rapidity. It is a striking illustration of the com- 

 pleteness of destruction that may result from erosion in this region 

 when the protecting forest cover is once removed. 



In the Alleghenies and Cumberlands the mining of coal overshad- 

 ows all other mining operations. This is one of the richest coal field's 

 of the United States. The great niines which have been developed 

 require annually millions of feet of timber, and will continue to require 

 great quantities so long as the coal supply lasts. 



Coal mining does not necessarily conflict with the proper use of the 

 forest. It requires the use of usually less than 10 per cent of the 

 surface, and this generally in the valleys. All the rest can be kept 

 in timber. Moreover, the ownership and control of the surface do not 

 necessarily go with the control of the coal rights. In many cases the 

 companies which work the mines control only enough of the surface 

 to enable them to operate the collieries. 



AGRICULTURAL POSSIBILITIES. 



In the northern part of Virginia the Blue Ridge is composed of 

 sandstone which gives rise to the DeKalb stony loam, for the most 

 part a poor, thin, stony soil. The summits are rough, rocky, and 

 sharp-crested, while the slopes are steep and rocky. Probably 95 

 per cent of this type is uncultivated, and is valuable only for the 

 timber it supports. The Blue Ridge, with its outlier. Short Mountain, 

 is well defined, and soils suited to agriculture come to its base. Im- 

 mediately across the Potomac, in western Maryland, similar con- 

 ditions prevail. Farther south, in Virginia, the Blue Ridge soils are 

 much more productive, and it is only the steep upper portions that 

 are unsuited to farming. These higher areas are so steep, rough, 

 and rugged that they are adapted only to forestry. 



In western North Carolina, east of the Blue Ridge, lies a succession 

 of foothills with moderately precipitous slopes and with small, valleys 

 between. 



To the eastward lies the great agricultural Piedmont Plateau, 

 from which little valleys follow back through the foothill region and 

 into the mountains. At first these valleys are adapted to general 

 farming, but as the region becomes more rugged they are pinched 

 out and the soil is unsuited to cultivation. 



ONLY SMALL AREA ADAPTED TO ORCHARD GROWING. 



Where the Blue Ridge supersedes the foothills, many orchards 

 have been planted on the better soils, and it is these in part which 

 have given to western North Carolina the reputation of producing 

 good fruit — a reputation justly deserved and capable of being much 

 extended. 



