46 



SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION. 



culled and is in part covered with trees of second growth. 

 In many places, where transportation facilities are avail- 

 able, the mills have gone into the heart of the mountain 

 region and much of the choicest timber has been sawed there 

 and hauled on wagons to the railroad. (See PI. XXXIX.) 

 ac?er°orthe for- composition, generally speaking, it may be said 



ests- that the forest below the 2,00U-foot elevation consists of 



oaks, hickories, and pines; above that elevation are many 

 hard woods, or hard woods associated with hemlock and 

 white pine. Some spruce and balsam occur on the cold 

 north slopes and around the tops of the larger and higher 

 mountains. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE FOREST AND FOREST CONDI- 

 TIONS, BY MOUNTAIN GROUPS. 



Subdivision of For the Sake of convenience in description the forest 



/crest area. , i t • i n 1 1 



area may be subdivided as follows: 



(1) The forests of the Blue Ridge. 



(2) The forests of the White Top Mountain group. 



(3) The forests of Roan, Grandfather, and Black moun- 

 tains. ' , 



(4) The forests of the central interior mountain ridges. 

 {6) The forests of the Great Smoky Mountains. 



(6) The forests of the southern end of the Appalachians. 



FORESTS OF THE BLUE RIDGE. 



The Blue Ridge from Virginia to Georgia is, on the 

 dryer slopes and crests, lightly timbered with small oaks, 

 chestnut, and pines, while in the hollows mixed hard 

 woods — oaks, chestnut, hickories, etc. — form heavy tim- 

 ber. The forests are on the ridges and steeper slopes. 

 The narrow alluvial bottoms and often portions of the 

 adjoining slopes have been cleared and are under cultiva- 

 tion or have been abandoned. But excepting these cleared 

 valleys and hillsides, the forests are almost continuous from 

 Virginia to Georgia. 



While the hardwood forests have been culled along 

 nearly the entire east slope, only the choicest trees of the 

 lighter woods, among which are white pine, have been cut. 

 (See PI. XXX VIII a.) Before any of it was cut the 

 white pine on the Linville River was probably the finest in 

 the Southern mountains. A great part of this has been 

 removed. It is being transported on a narrow-gauge rail- 

 way via Cranberry to Johnson City. Mills at Hickory and 



