FOREST PLANTATIONS AT BILTMORE, N. C. O 



into successful stands, the majority are composed of white pme or 

 short leaf pine. 



If all this planting were summed up on the basis of area planted, 

 the total might be as high as 3,000 acres, though this can never be 

 more than a rough estimate because so few traces remain of the plant- 

 ings that failed. Some early failures, inevitable because of the new- 

 ness of the work in this region, occasioned considerable replanting. 

 In addition, stands of native hardwoods were to some extent under- 

 planted. The records of these operations obscure the facts as to 

 total area planted, but it is probable that well-marked stands of 

 planted timber never covered more than 1,000 acres in the estate. 

 Stands which have been cut to make way for agriculture or were on 

 land which has since been separated from the estate are not considered 

 in this publication. 



The literature dealing with the estate plantations and the other 

 forestry work is practically confined to three small publications. In 

 1916 Verne Rhoades, 3 of the United States Forest Service, prepared a 

 booklet for the First Southern Forestry Congress, at Asheville, 

 which discussed very briefly some of the more significant work. In 

 1908 Doctor Schenck 4 issued a booklet entitled "A Forest Fair in 

 the Biltmore Forest," giving an account of the planting completed 

 at that time; and in 1908 and 1909 there appeared in the American 

 Lumberman an article by an anonymous writer entitled "Three 

 Days' Forest Festival on the Biltmore Estate." 5 Previous to the 

 writer's field work on this study, most of which was done in 1921 and 

 1922, observations had been made for the Forest Service by W. H. 

 Lamb in 1913, by Verne Rhoades in 1915 and 1916, by E. H. Froth- 

 ingham in 1916, and by C. R. Tillotson in 1920. 6 



STATISTICAL SUMMARY OF THE PLANTATIONS 



The plantations upon which this report is based are listed in Table 

 1, together with the dates of origin, area, size of the average and 

 dominant trees, and the species of which the plantations are com- 

 posed. The distinctive names given the plantations are either those 

 by which they are locally known or else relate to some notable 

 feature connected with their history or composition. Many of the 

 plantations consist of groups of separate stands, designated by num- 

 ber in the table. The locations of the plantations, (excepting those 

 at Brown town, which were not mapped), are shown in Figure 1. 

 Besides those listed in Table 1 are a good many stands and some 

 plantations which for one reason or another have not been studied. 

 Some, for instance, have been cut down, some grew so poorly that 

 they could not be found, and many are white pine stands differing 

 very little from others that were studied. 



3 Rhoades, V., representative biltmore forest plantations. 9 p. Privately printed. 1916. 



4 Schenck, C. A., a forest fair in the biltmore forest. 55 p., illus. Biltmore, N. C. 1908. 



5 Anonymous, three days' forest festival on the biltmore estate. Amer. Lumberman, (1750: 

 35-37; (1751): 43-44; (1752): 43-45; (1753): 50-52; (1754): 54-55; (1756): 52-54. 1908-9. 



« For a great deal of additional information the author is indebted to C. A. Schenck, who generously 

 supplied original notes on the planting work and many helpful suggestions. 



