40 



FOREST CONDITIONS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. 



poplar, and cliestnut lumber, practically all tlie pulp and extract wood 

 ttiat leaves the county. It connects with the Murphy branch of the 

 Southern Eailroad at i^antahala. Much bark is shipped from the 

 county, though with but little profit to the farmer, who receives only 

 $6.50 a ton loaded on the cars. This low price is a result of the high 

 freight rate and of the roundabout railroad route to the tanneries. 



Fully 80 per cent of the area of Macon County is absolute forest 

 land, and only a little more than 3 per cent of the present forested area 

 has soil suited to farming. These farming areas are chiefly in the center 

 of the county. The main body of timber is in the western mountains. 

 Here is virgin forest covering from 10 to 15 per cent of the county, and 

 containing valuable poplar, oak, chestnut, buckeye, linn, and cherry. 

 The forests of the eastern mountains have been more heavily culled of 

 their valuable timber. Around Highlands are extensive areas of hem- 

 lock and some remnants of what were a few years ago valuable white 

 pine stands, which are now nearly exhausted. The forests of the cen- 

 tral lowland area consist chiefly of woodlots of second growth black and 

 white oaks, none of which are larger than tie size. 



The reproduction of hardwoods is good where the forests are pro- 

 tected from fire. White pine reproduces well on the Highlands plateau 

 both on cleared fields and under the open defective stands of white oak, 

 red oak, and chestnut. A little more than 3 per cent of the county is 

 abandoned farm land, chiefly steep slopes seldom cultivated, but kept in 

 grass. Abandoned fields generally seed up thinly to pitch pine and 

 occasionally to fairly good stands of yellow poplar. 



The object of management should be to encourage white pine on the 

 Blue Ridge, and to remove also the inferior species when lumbering the 

 valuable timber. Macon County will always remain primarily a forest 

 region, though it has a good proportion of farm land. 



JACKSON COUNTY. 



Jackson County, with an approximate area of 316,000 acres, is rough 

 and broken with elevations which vary from 1,875 feet near Whittier to 

 6,400 feet on the top of the Balsams, while the average of the southern 

 half of the county is more than 3,000 feet. The extreme southern por- 

 tion is cut off from the rest of the county by the Blue Ridge and is 

 drained by the headwaters of the Chattooga and Whitewater rivers to 

 the Atlantic. The northern, comprising much the greater, portion of the 

 county, is drained by the Tuckaseegee and its tributaries. The bottoms 

 are generally small and narrow, though there are some fairly large areas 

 on Cullowhee Creek and Tuckaseigee River. 



