SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN EEGION. 



55 



leys, has added to the ruggedness of the region and its 

 picturesqueness. Some of the largest of these mountains 

 are the Blue, Flat Top, Shooting Creek, and Valley River 

 mountains. 



The northern slopes and hollows are often well wooded ^.^oi^est con- 



^ _ _ (litions. 



with hard woods, chiefly with oaks, chestnut, maples, and 

 hickories. The southern slopes are lightly wooded with 

 oaks, hickories, and black and yellow pines, which also 

 form the forests on the spurs and foothills. In very many 

 places the forest is open and thin, and many trees are 

 defective. The undergrowth is often dense, consisting of 

 numerous sprouts from 3'oung trees which have been 

 killed by fires, and many shrubs which grow in the partial 

 shade of the thin forest cover. In other places there is 

 almost no underwood and no young growth. Repeated 

 fires have injured much of the timber on the southern 

 slopes and greatly impaired the general forest condition. 

 These fires are far more frequent and severe than in the 

 hard-wood forests northward, on account of the dryer 

 climate and soil and the large amount of inflammable pine, 

 and the resultant injury to the timber is more evident. 

 On account of the thin, dry soil the trees are smaller and 

 less vigorous than farther north, and the constant destruc- 

 tion of the humus by the fires still further lessens their 

 growth and keeps them small. The soils of th > mountains 

 are generally thin and sandy and not at all productive 

 agriculturally. In many places they are very rocky, so 

 that tillag'e would be impossible. The altitude is too low 

 for grass. About three-fourths of the area is at present 

 in forest. Some of it is second growth, but only a small 

 part of it is such. There are occasional clearings, how- 

 ever, around the base of the mountains and in the hollows. 

 Lumbering has been in progress in man}'' places and some 

 of the choicest timber has been removed, especially along 

 and near the Marietta and North Georgia Railroad. 



CHANGES IN FOREST CONDITIONS OF THE SOUTHERN 

 APPALACHIANS. 



The three agencies that have wrought changes in the 

 forests of the Southern Appalachians are the fires, the 

 lumbermen, and the clearer of lands for farming purposes. 



Fire has come as an oft-repeated scourge since the days est^res^ 

 of eai'ly Indian occupation. 



More than 78,000 acres of the region examined have, Extentandna- 



" = ture of their 



recently been so severely burned as to kill the greater por- damages. 



