OUR FORESTS , al 
appeared. Of the original growth of hemlock, only a small portion 
remains, and the spruce forests even in the less accessible regions 
have been depleted. 
In the southern Appalachian area the eastern hardwoods attain 
their highest development. Yellow poplar is perhaps the outstanding 
hardwood species of this area, but many others are to be found here. 
American chestnut, once an important timber species here, has been 
killed by blight. Although the bulk of the virgin timber is gone 
from the southern Appalachians, this section contains vast areas of 
culled second-growth and restocking land. Commercially this sec- 
tion is likely to become one of the great permanent forest areas of the 
United States because of the large area of nonagricultural land, the 
valuable species of hardwoods it can produce, and its proximity to 
the large markets for forest products. 
Many other species are found in the northern forest region. Those 
characteristic of the northern portion include red, black, and white 
spruces; balsam fir; eastern white, red, jack, and pitch pines; hem- 
lock; sugar and red maples; beech; northern red, white, black, and 
scarlet oaks; yellow, paper, black, and gray birches; several species 
of aspen and cottonwood; basswood; elms; ashes; northern white 
cedar; and tamarack. The species of the southern or southern Ap- 
palachian portion, are white, northern red, chestnut, black, and scarlet 
oaks; hemlock; eastern white, shortleaf, pitch, and Virginia pines; 
black and yellow birches; basswood; sugar and red maples; beech; 
red spruce; Fraser fir; cucumber; black cherry; hickories; black 
locust ; black gum; and buckeye. 
Harpwoop Forest REGION 
The hardwood region is the most extensive of the forest regions. 
It covers the piedmont section east of the Appalachian Mountains, 
the greater part of the drainage basins of the Mississippi and Ohio 
Rivers, and extends southwestward through Oklahoma over central 
Texas. It may be divided into three portions—northern, southern, 
and Texas. 
Three-fourths of the timber-producing acreage in this forest region 
is in farm woodlands, generally 10 to 40 acres in extent, and only 
one-fourth is in comparatively large tracts of practically continuous 
forest. The largest forest stands are found in the hilly sections, 
mainly on lands not well suited for farming, in southern Ohio, IIli- 
nois, and Indiana, the highland rim of Kentucky and Tennessee, and 
the Ozark Plateau in Missouri and Arkansas. The farm woodlands 
are scattered more thickly throughout the better-developed agricul- 
tural sections (fig. 7). 
The present stands of timber in the hardwood region are largely 
the culled remnants of former splendid hardwood forests. 
Continued cutting of the best species and individuals, forest. fires, 
and the heavy pasturing of woodlands have worked havoc, but a 
few virgin stands are still in existence. 
The hardwood forest region has a large variety of hard- 
wood species. The northern portion of the region contains white, 
black, northern red, scarlet, bur, chestnut, and chinquapin oaks; 
shagbark, whiteheart, pignut, and bitternut hickories; white, blue, 
