Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1881-08-24
TENNESSEE TIMBER.
Am interesting ArticEe.AbO the
Useful and Ornam entail
Woods of East Ten

Useful and esrnA1n entail
Woods of East Ten
nessee
From the Knoxville Tribuue.l
The attention of business men at
the North and West is now strongly
directed towards the Southwest as a
field for extending their operations
in the various branches of manufac>
turing industry, and hence we nay
in some sort, doing a public service
by putting in print the information
we have been able to gather in regard
to the timber resources of Tenne s.
see, Our remarks will refer princi-
.pally to the eastern countries, that
being the section which has come
most closely under our personal
observation, but they will apply, gen.
orally, to the other timbered regions
of the State, and indeed, to all parts
OF the Southwest that are favored
With the fertile soil and genial cli>
mate of East Tennessee.
The total area of Tennessee is &c.
$4,000 acres, of which, it is stated
by the United States Commissioner
of Agriculture, 10,771,396 acres are
still covered by the original forest.
If this statement be correct and it
Is, no doubt approximately true-it
will be seen that the forest acreage
of Tennessee equals the combined
timber acreage of Maine. Minnesota.
Wisconsin and Michigan. and is more
than double that of West Virginia.
Che larger portion of this immense
body of timber Is to be found in
East Tennessee, where in some coun-
tries eighty per cent. of the surface
is still covered by the original
growths, and if it is added that the
larger part of this timber is
Of the more valuable kinds
oak. ash, popular, cherry, hickory
and black walnut, of immense size
snd superior quality, it will be seen
what q rich field of unploughed wealth
this section presents to those gloomy
prophets who are predicting that in
eight, or at most ten years, there will
not be enough wood left in ell Mich
igan, Minnesota and Wisconsin to
kindle small boufre.
Nearly every variety of timber
grown in the United States is found
in Tennessee. This is owing to it's
great diversity oc surface. which
gives the State as greet q diversity
of climate. The difference of tenn,
perature at different attitudes is fully
fifteen degrees, and the soil is of an
equally diversified character. Hence.
at different elevations, in the same
locality , are found the white pine
(pinus strobus) of Michigan ;the black
walnut Guglaus nigra)of Indiana,and
the white oak (qaercus albO of tide
water Virginia. The magnificence
of these forests in some part of East
Tennessee is unsurpassed anywhere
in the United States. They revel.as
it were, in the exuberant fertility Of
the soil and attain size that is ex>
ceedcd only by the giant trees of
California. Oaks are reported in
some sections seven and eight feet
in diameter, and poplar (tulip or
whlte), as large as ten feet, and we
have ourselves felled (by proxy one
vi GuC lRbJCi UtCCo. GHJO W Dc ~ lCSi
high and twenty >three feet and seven
inches in circumference at the butt.
From it were cut six twenty-feet saw
logs that measured an aggregate of
11,120 feet, by Doyle's rule. Before,
however, indulging in any further
general remarks, we may as we'll
glance, somewhat in detail at the
various kinds of wood which are
NEST common in East Tennessee.
WHITE ASH.
Is one of the most abundant
growths. The tree here natures
rapidly, and in favorable situations
--the coves on north sides of noun
tains, and the rich loans of the riv-
er bottom-attains height of seven
ty to eighty feet. and diameter at
the butt of from three to four feet. 1t
is generally destitute Of limbs for
about half its height, and three and
sometimes four. saw laws are take II
from the trunk. The greater value
of this tree is generally known. It is
stated that Mr.. Budd, of Iowa, plans
ted on ten acres grove of young
ash. containing $4,000 trees, standing
six feet apart, At twelve years of
age they had grown to diameter of
eight inches, and a height of thirty
five feet. The previous things had
paid all tn, expenses Of planting and
cultivating, and he then cut and sold
the trees for total Of $4,000. Ten
feet OF the bodies brought, for bent
stuff, agricultural implements, &C.,
forty cents each. and the remainder
of the tree an equal amount; so that
he realized from his ten acres dur,
irg twelve years yearly profit Of
$50 per acre. II he had operated in
East Tennessee, Mr.. Budd might
have bought ten acres of these trees
of every size, from the young sapling
to the mature tree, and tender by
nature itself, for $50 and not had to
wait twelve years to realize his pro>
fit,
WHITE OAK.
Of the hundred and more species
OF oak that grow in the United States
at least fifteen ale found in East
tennessee. OF these the white oak
is by far the most abundant and val
liable. It forms fully one third ,some