FOREST CONDITIONS. 351 



where the soil becomes sandy, the drainage being 

 rapid, are to be found extensive pineries composed 

 of these frugal species to the exclusion of the more 

 fastidious hardwoods. In the rich loamy soils of 

 the central agricultural states — Ohio, Indiana, Illi- 

 nois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri — the coni- 

 fers are of less importance or mostly entirely absent, 

 the hardwoods in greatest variety and most excel- 

 lent development occupying the ground exclusively. 

 The North Atlantic forest, north and east of this 

 purely hardwood region, originally contained every- 

 where the valuable White Pine among the oaks and 

 maples, Beech, and Basswood, to which farther 

 north the Yellow Birch, replacing the oaks, is asso- 

 ciated. But now the merchantable pine areas of 

 importance are confined to the northern part of 

 Wisconsin and Minnesota, with a remnant in Mich- 

 igan, although some scattered pine, especially young 

 growth, is found in all the other Northeastern states, 

 and small bodies of old timber on the AUeghanies 

 even as far south as North Carolina. Similarly, 

 hemlock is distributed over the whole area, but the 

 large bodies are mainly confined to western New 

 York and Pennsylvania, soon to be exhausted, while 

 the spruce, so much prized for paper-pulp, is found 

 in quantities mainly in the northern New England 

 states and the Adirondacks of northern New York. 

 The northern parts of this white pine region 

 furnish also a valuable yellow pine, the so-called 

 Red or Norway Pine, which is often included in the 



