FOREST CONDITIONS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. 35 



amount of poplar in the vicinity of Fires' Creek and attempted to float 

 the logs to Murphy, but this was not a financial success. 



The forests in the southwestern portion of the county have been culled 

 several times for rails, ties, bark, and lumber; the present stand con- 

 sists of over-mature, stag-headed, and defective trees scattered through 

 a second growth .of black oaks, white oaks, poplar, chestnut, ash, and 

 hickory. Those of the northern and eastern portion of the county still 

 retain most of the original stand, except along the streams and lower 

 slopes, where the best timber has been removed for local use. 



On the ridges, where the soil is thin and rocky, chestnut and the oaks 

 predominate, with occasional yellow pine. In such situations the trees 

 are scrubby and their growth is slow, but on the benches near the heads 

 of streams, the trees are tall, with long, clear trunks. Here the chief 

 species are chestnut, poplar, the oaks, linn, ash, and hickory, with hem- 

 lock scattered on the damp north slopes or along the streams. This type 

 contains some of the best timber, and it is not unusual for it to run 

 10,000 to 15,000 feet to the acre over limited areas. The largest timber 

 is in the vicinity of Sugar Cove and at the head of Fires' Creek. Most of 

 the virgin stands are in bad condition, however, the trees being over- 

 mature and fire scarred, and the ground strewn with windfalls and 

 old logs. There is not enough grazing to injure the forest materially, 

 except where young growth is coming in. 



Throughout the northern and eastern portions of the county fires are 

 common, and it has been estimated that 50 per cent of the land is 

 burned over every year. Fires are set by men who believe that they 

 will improve the range, or by nut gatherers, or even by malicious per- 

 sons. The damage to mature stands is very evident on the ridges, 

 where probably half of the trees are fire injured, especially the chestnut. 



The amount of reproduction, the ground cover, and the general good 

 of the forest depend upon freedom from fire. Where fires run over an 

 area every year reproduction is poor or lacking, and the soil is exposed to 

 washing because the leaf cover has been destroyed. On the other hand, 

 where fires have been kept out, dense stands of young trees are present, 

 and the soil is deep and well protected by a thick cover of leaves and 

 litter. 



A healthy sentiment is growing throughout the county in favor of 

 putting a stop to the wholesale firing of the forest. People are begin- 

 ning to realize the damage that is done, and good results are already in 

 evidence. One tract of some 15,000 acres in the Tusquitee Mountains 

 has not had a fire on it for three years, and this is due not so much to 

 the fact that the tract has been posted, but to the fact that the people 

 in the neighborhood are opposed to fires. 



