FOREST CONDITIONS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. 13 



are under construction or are definitely planned for about half the 

 mountain counties. The wagon roads, which are the chief feeders for 

 the railroads, are in most cases unimproved; and though they are often 

 fairly good in dry summer weather, many of them become almost im- 

 passable in winter. Nothing could add more to the value of timber and 

 give proper encouragement to proper methods of forestry than the con- 

 struction of good roads. This question of transportation is discussed in 

 more detail later. 



CLASSIFICATION OF LAND. 



Throughout the region, agricultural land is held mostly in small 

 areas, and a farm of more than 500 acres is exceptional. In nearly all 

 counties, however, some forest land is held in large bodies by lumber 

 companies, or speculators; and in some counties more than 60 per cent 

 of the land is in tracts of more than 1000 acres in extent. But since all 

 of this is rough, mountain woodland, unsuited to agriculture, such ten- 

 ure is no drawback, but rather an advantage; for by keeping the full 

 stand of timber, the land retains a full valuation, which is reduced as 

 soon as the timber is taken off. 



The proportion of cleared to forested land varies considerably in the 

 different counties, depending on the transportation facilities and suita- 

 bility for farming. In the region as a whole about 24 per cent of the 

 land has at one time been cleared. While most of this land still pro- 

 duces agricultural crops, a good deal of it in some counties has been 

 "thrown out," or abandoned, because it is too poor and too much washed 

 for profitable cultivation. Such land usually produces worthless briars 

 and bushes, or in some cases reverts to a scattered growth of oldfield pine 

 or hardwood of little present or prospective value. 



VALUATION OF LAND. 



Land throughout this region is taxed according to its assessed value. 

 The values are revised every four years by a board of assessors, and are 

 usually from one-third to two-thirds the actual sale value. The assess- 

 ment on timber land varies from $2 to $7 an acre, and is about half as 

 much on land that has been cut over. The sale value of well timbered 

 stands varies from $10 to $20 an acre, some areas having been sold for 

 even higher than this ; while cutover or culled woodlands sell at from less 

 than $3 to $10 an acre, according to location. The assessed value of 

 cleared land varies much more since it is influenced not only by quality 

 and location, but by improvements. Cleared land is, as a rule, valued 

 much too low when the cost of clearing and other improvements are 

 taken into consideration. 



