Ill 
THE FOREST 
THE first thing one notices upon approaching 
the mountains is that the Blue Ridge is wooded 
to the top, the beautiful Blue Ridge with all its out- 
reaching spurs. And one later discovers that this is 
also true of the high mountains back of it, for the 
Southern Appalachian forests are not only the high- 
est-lying of all the hardwood forests in North Amer- 
ica, but the largest left in this once forest-covered 
country. Some six thousand square miles of them lie 
spread, a shining web of lights and colors, over the 
North Carolina mountains alone. 
But although trees clothe the mountains here as 
with a garment, their boundless expanse is not op- 
pressive, for the forest floor, unobstructed by glacial 
boulders and wet hollows, is easily traversed. As a 
rule its trees stand apart, tall, clean columns beneath 
which little green things and wild flowers grow, while 
the sun shines through the leafy roof. One reason 
the floors are so clean is that they are frequently 
swept by the fires that break out every winter either 
through carelessness, or else on purpose to clear the 
ground that fresh green may start for the cattle. In 
the dry season smoke clouds ascend on all sides. At 
night cities with their twinkling lights seem to have 
sprung up as by magic on the slopes, or else lines and 
curves of fire gird the mountain-tops. The atmos- 
