FOREST CONDITIONS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. 25 



thinness and its low price, little is being peeled. Seedlings and sprouts 

 of white oak are very sensitive to fire and unless the forests can be pro- 

 tected from this scourge, the black oaks will replace it in future stands. 

 Though it is slow growing, it should be encouraged on favorable areas. 

 Because of its special value for staves, prices will no doubt increase 

 enough to justify growing it for this use. 



Post Oak. — Post oak is common on certain areas in the plateau type, 

 but it is nowhere important. It is used for rough saw timber and in 

 some cases for posts, though locust is preferred. This tree grows slowly 

 and its reprpduction is nowhere good, so that only on dry, poor ridges 

 should it be encouraged. 



Yellow Poplar. 



Yellow poplar grows in the coves and lower slopes all through the 

 mountain region, though nowhere forming more than 15 per cent 

 of the forest. It is rarely found above an altitude of 3,500 feet, at or 

 near which elevation it attains its best development. Practically all of 

 the stands, however, have been severely culled, so that it constitutes, 

 on an average, not more than 8 per cent of the forest. The best 

 timber now remaining is in the most inaccessible situations, Graham, 

 Clay, and Swain counties probably containing the best. Seedlings of 

 yellow poplar are very sensitive to fire, but where fire is kept out repro- 

 duction is abundant, especially where plenty of light has been let in by 

 logging. Tree for tree, yellow poplar is more valuable than chestnut, 

 but its distribution is more limited. It is a rapid grower when young, 

 and finds a ready market for pulp even as a small tree. Its use for pulp 

 should not be encouraged, if it is growing under conditions which favor 

 its attaining saw timber size. 



Hemlock. 



Though forming more than 7 per cent of the entire stand of this 

 region, hemlock is much more restricted in its distribution than the 

 abundant hardwood species. It grows chiefly on the higher slopes 

 and north coves of the mountains, especially above 3,500 feet, though 

 extending in scattered trees along the streams down through the chest- 

 nut slope type. On the cold, north "benches," and in the moist coves 

 and bottoms where it often forms from 35 to 50 per cent of the stand 

 over considerable areas, it constitutes a distinctive sub-type. In such 

 situations the trees grow to a large size and produce a good quality of 

 lumber, though large old trees in situations exposed to the wind are apt 

 to be windshaken. Stands of 10,000 or 12,000 feet to the acre are not 

 uncommon. Because of the demand for hemlock bark for tanning pur- 



