THE INLAND LOBLOLLY PINE KEGION. 



maple have also been removed, but there is still a great deal left. 

 Some sandy ridges near the middle of these counties were once cov- 

 ered with long-leaf pine, but there are scarcely any trees of it left 

 now. The area of these counties is 750,000 acres, over 95,000 of 

 which are in swamps. The savanna pine is found at intervals 

 through the swamps, and extends into Southern Virginia, as does 

 the tupelo gum. Some of the cypress lands are largely timbered 

 with gums. The soil, for the most part, is sand or a sandy loam, 

 but in the Dismal swamp, where it is not peaty, it is usually com- 

 posed of fine silt. The timber lands of these counties have, as a 

 rule, been more thoroughly lumbered than any others in the State. 



THE INLAND LOBLOLLY PINK REGION. 



Gates county, like the region just described, lies on the Virginia 

 line, and has the extreme eastern part lying in the Dismal swamp. 

 The Chowan river, which forms the southern and western boundary 

 of the county, has along its entire course a narrow swamp. There 

 are 20,000 acres of white cedar lands in this swamp and several 

 thousand acres in the Dismal swamp which are untimbered. The 

 little cypress still standing in the county lies along Bennett's creek. 

 Loblolly pine, which occupied the central and eastern parts of the 

 county, growing on a sandy loam, has been removed, except between 

 ten and twenty thousand acres which are in small tracts. In the 

 w^estern part of the county is a high sand ridge resembling the pine 

 barrens. The long-leaf pine has been removed from this and an 

 open growth of loblolly and short-leaf pine with black-jack beneath 

 them has taken its place. In the extreme north-western portion 

 there is a strip of bright-colored loam soil, timbered with a heavy 

 growth of post, black and red oaks. Most of the timber cut from 

 this county is transported to Virginia. 



Hertford county is the first of a number of counties lying in 

 the pine uplands which has no large swamps. The eastern and 

 southern parts of the county have a sandy loam soil, in places 

 silty and very compact, which was covered with a dense loblolly 

 pine forest, now largely lumbered, through which were interspersed 

 narrow strips of white and red oak lands. In the northern part of 

 the county there is more oak and dogwood mingled with the pine. 



