SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION. 



57 



effects follow the careless policy of burning- mountain land 

 in this country as in Europe is proved by the already des- 

 olate condition of large areas in the Rocky Mountains and 

 the plainly legible signs of the coming consequences in 

 the Appalachian region. 



The lumberman has been increasing his activities at a The effect of 



,,. , . ,,. lumbering. 



somewhat rapid rate, and he is yearly going farther into 

 the forests. The damages he causes come not so much 

 from the trees he cuts in culling the forest as from the 

 additional trees and seedlings of valuable species which 

 he destroys in his lumbering operations, and the greater 

 destruction from forest fires which follow him, fed by the 

 tops and other brush he leaves scattered through the 

 forest. By his irregular cutting, reducing forest condi- 

 tions, he renders impracticable the inauguration of eco- 

 nomic, conservative forest management. 



Following in the wake of the fire and the lumbering, .'i'^? ^^^^} 



" to' cleanng steep 



and surpassing them both in the completeness and perma- mountain si^es. 

 nency of the damage done, is the man who clears for ordi- 

 nary agricultural purposes mountain lands which should 

 forever remain in forest. The clearing of lands in this 

 region for agricultural purposes has progressed slowly 

 but steadily during the past centuiy as the population 

 increased, until at the present time there are 1,200,000 Percentage of 

 acres (24 per cent) cleared out of a total of .5,400,000 acres cleared, 

 examined. (See PI. XII.) When it is considered that 

 the settlement of this region has been in progress for 

 more than a centuiy the extent of the area devoted to 

 agriculture is small. The reason for this is found in the 

 unprofitableness of cultivating lands with such steep 

 slopes. The cleared lands are mostl}' limited to the allu- 

 vial bottoms along the streams, the rounded valley hills, 

 the lower mountain spurs, and the lower slopes of the 

 larger mountains themselves below 4,000 feet elevation. 



In some localities, especially in the region around Roan 

 Mountain and on the Blue Ridge north of Gillespie Gap, 

 there are large areas of cleared land at an elevation of 

 from 3,500 to 5,000 feet; but these are mostly grass farms, 

 are riot subject to continuous tillage, as are the corn lands 

 below, and hence do not deteriorate so rapidl3^ Some of 

 the slopes that are cultivated are very steep — from 30 to 

 40 degrees — some of them too steep even for the mountain 

 steei and Indl-tongue plow, and must be cultivated entirely 

 by hand. 



