FORESTS, FOREST LANDS AND FOREST PRODUCTS 

 OF EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA. 



By W. W. Ashe. 



CHAPTER I. 

 FORESTS AND FOREST LANDS. 



OBJECTS OF THIS PRELIMINARY FOREST SURVEY^ 



During the present decade there has been a marked increase in 

 the lumber industry in Eastern North Carolina and a correspond- 

 ing decrease in the available supply of standing timber. Already 

 predictions are numerous as to the exhaustion at an early date of 

 the supply of merchantable long-leaf pine over considerable areas. 

 The boxing of these pines weakens the trees and makes them more 

 liable to be blown down by the winds, and far more liable to be 

 destroyed by forest fires, which by their frequency and extent have 

 entirely removed the long-leaf pine forests over many large areas. 

 These pine forests, in the sandy regions, instead of being replaced 

 by a valuable young growth of the same kind are followed by a 

 worthless growth of sand black-jack oak. Forest fires and subse- 

 quent pasturing of these regions with cattle and hogs are the 

 important agencies which combine to prevent the long-leaf pine 

 from reproducing itself over the larger portion of these sandy 

 lands. From these causes the extent of these areas of waste or 

 abandoned lands is increasing steadily. It is believed that under 

 proper management these waste lands can be restocked with long- 

 leaf pine. 



The present examination was undertaken with a view to deter- 

 mining the exact condition of the forests of the eastern section of 

 the State, the rapidity with which they are being removed, the 

 condition of lumbered districts, the character, extent and condition 

 of the regrowth or "second growth," and to find out, if possible, 

 some practicable plans for the protection, development, and exten- 

 sion of the forests of this region. 



