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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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  • SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION. 77 on the hills and destructive floods on the bottoms. Much of the mountain region is also under cultivation. The cove lands are mostly cleared, and cleared mountain-side pastures dot the landscape, as viewed from every high point. This basin is no exception to the rule for the region. Erosion- Tobacco-growing on the lighter soils of the hills exhausted field after field, and finally the whole industry was abandoned, leaving large areas of desolate land exposed to the cutting action of raindrops and to gullying by running water. The same process has been in operation on old farm land and pastures, until on many small tracts, as on the southward slopes of Poverty Hollow, near Barnards- ville, there is but little soil left. There is hardly a farm in the entire basin that is not more or less gullied, although much care is taken by a few of the more thoughtful farmers to keep the earth covered by a vigorous crop. The inundations of the bottom lands are also seriously damaging, and the general testimony is that they increase as more land is cleared. There is evident need of every protection against erosion in this valley, where so many people and so much valuable property are concerned, and where sudden heavy downpours of rain are common. Distribution.—The higher mountains are still forested, Theftnmt. and the ridges and slopes above 3,000 feet are mostly covered, although some of the ridges, as Elk, Spring Creek, and New Found ridges have on them large proportions of cleared land, and the mountain sides are often dotted with clearings. Composition.—In this region we have a mixed forest, in which the oaks and chestnuts predominate, with a sprinkling of white pine, hemlock, linn, gum, beech, birch, maple, ash, hickory, Shortleaf pine, poplar, cherry, walnut, and many other species of less importance. Condition.— Besides the usual inferior condition of the natural forest, fires, grazing, and culling have greatly reduced its original quality. Bordering the farms are many tine stands of sapling second growth, but the remote mountains are full of defective trees and brush. Reproduction.—Sprouts and seedlings spring up readily. White pine, shortleaf pine, poplar, ash, walnut, and cherry all abound in the forests in the form of promising young trees. Sumac and locust here reproduce rapidly and are well adapted to cover and prevent erosion on the old fields.
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Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).