20 FOREST CONDITIONS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. 



case, and all this type, amounting to some 100,000 to 150,000 acres of 

 splendid forest land will very rapidly become barren mountain tops. 

 On certain areas that have already been cut and accidentally burned, 

 grass has been sown, the owners claiming that the land will pay better 

 in pasture than in timber. There are, however, only limited areas that 

 are suitable for pasture, and most of the land is so steep and so rocky 

 that once the dense forest cover is destroyed the soil will soon wash away 

 and leave only the bare rocks. In the opinion of well-informed men, if 

 this happens the land will eventually revert to the State for unpaid 

 taxes. 



HARDWOOD FOREST. 



The hardwood forests, which occupy all but the highest peaks, vary 

 considerably, according to soil, aspect, and elevation. They can be sepa- 

 rated into four important types: plateau, chestnut, red oak, beech, and 

 maple. 



Plateau Type. 



Along the valley of the French Broad, in Henderson, Buncombe, and 

 Madison counties, below an elevation of approximately 2,500 feet, and 

 in the southwestern half of Cherokee County, and on some smaller sim- 

 ilar areas in several of the other counties, there is a type of forest very 

 similar to that in the Piedmont section adjoining the base of the moun- 

 tains. The greater part of this forest is composed of oak of several 

 species, usually in mixture with shortleaf pine, or with pitch pine, scrub 

 pine, and occasionally white pine. From one-half to two-thirds of the 

 forest, however, is oak, and the principal species in order of abundance 

 are: scarlet, black, Spanish, white, and post oak. In general, this type 

 has been severely cut over, because of its accessibility, and, for the same 

 reason, has often been severely burnt over. In consequence of these con- 

 ditions there is little merchantable timber left. The mature oaks are 

 fit for little besides firewood, since they are generally defective, the black 

 and scarlet oaks are stagheaded and wormy, and the white oaks small, 

 crooked, and knotty. The greater part of the merchantable timber in 

 this type is shortleaf pine, which, on the dry slopes of the lower French 

 Broad valley, may be as much as 80 per cent of the stand, and furnish a 

 cut of three or four thousand board feet to the acre. More often, how- 

 ever, this tree forms only from 2 to 5 per cent of the stand. The scarcity 

 of chestnut constitutes the principal difference between this and the other 

 types of hardwood forest. Chestnut was probably abundant at one 

 time, but it is now rapidly dying out. Scattering red maple, black gum, 

 sourwood, and two or three species of hickory are present, but are rarely 

 merchantable for anything but firewood. 



