Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

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Report of the Secretary of Agriculture in relation to the forests, rivers, and mountains of the southern Appalachian region

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  • 24 SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION. tility is short lived, limited to two, three, or five crops at most. They are cleared, cultivated, and abandoned in rapid succession. Out of twenty such cleared fields, perhaps two or three are in corn, planted between the recently girdled trees; one or two may be in grain; two or four in grass, and the remainder—more than half of them—in various stages of abandonment and ruin, perhaps even before the deadened trees have fallen to the ground. (See PI. XVIII.) Lumbering op- The lumberman attacked this forest several decades ago erations. s> when he began to penetrate it in search of the rarer and more valuable trees, such as the walnut and cherry. Later, as the railroads entered the region to some extent, he added to his list of trees for cutting the mountain birch, locust, and tulip poplar, and successively other valuable species. During the past few years he has cut everything merchantable. He is now beginning to extend his operations to considerable distances beyond the main lines of transportation by the construction of tramways and even cheap, short railways. Meanwhile his search for the more valuable trees has extended in advance to most of the more remote mountain coves. lumbering8 ope™ ^n these operations there has naturally been no thought ations. f0T tjje future_ Trees have been cut so as to fall along the line of least resistance regardless of what they crush. Their tops and branches, instead of being piled in such way and burned at such time as would do the least harm, are left scattered among the adjacent growth to burn when driest, and thus destroy or injure everything within reach. The home and permanent interests of the lumberman are generally in another State or region, and his interest in these mountains begins and ends with the hope of profit. There is, however, no evidence that the native lumberman has in the past exhibited any different spirit. workStoT£U forest Forest fires have been one of the great curses of this country. From the days of Indian occupation down to the present time these Appalachian Mountain forests have been swept through by fires. Some of these have preceded the lumberman, others have accompanied him, and still others have followed in his wake, and the last have been far more destructive because of the tops and other rubbish which he has left behind him scattered among the remaining growth. (See PI. L b). The aggregate damage from these fires is great. Over some limited areas they have entirely destroyed the forests. Everywhere on the south
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Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).