The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1892-08-11
AN IMPORTANT SUBJECT


Gle from Garden and Forest, jour
nal of horticulture, art and forestry,
published in New York North Car
olinians owe that paper ii debt of
gratitude in this matter, and il they
will agitate this question OF II Ma
tional park for North Carolina, they
will have it. We will take the Iiber-
ty ofprinting tomorrow the CORES
pondence referred To in this article.
A correspondent, in describing III
another column the beauties Of Roau
Mountain, in North C.rolina and
Tennessee. refers Ia the destruction
of the forest III the valley OF he Doe
River, in the latter state More than
once III these columns we have aliud
ed tu the wealth and beauty of the
southern mOuHtain-fOreat, which SO
other forest Of deciduonS trees equals
in variety, attractiveHess and splen
dor. 1t is DIS wonderful in it's way aS
the Seqnoia and the Redwood forests
in California are i'll their way, and
far more beautiful and interesting.
On the slopes of the high mountains
of Carolina and Tennessee the princi
pal trees of the Appalachian forests
attain their greatest size and perfec
tion, and in d ride of few hours,
covering a rise in elevation of + 600
or 5000 feet, one may see growing
in their supreme perfection the trees
of the South, like the MagnolIas, the.
trees of the middle states, like the
Ashes, the Oaks, the Naples and the
Lindnns, then the Birches, the Pines,
the Mountain Ashes and the Spruces
of the extreme North. In these for
ests the Chestnut grows to its great
est size. The Wild Cherry produces
trunks six feet in diameter, and the
Tulip-trees send up stems still more
massive. The White Oak, the Red
Oak, the Black Oak, the Chestnut
Oak and the Scarlet Oak attain here
their greatest height and girth of
stem; here the Snowdrop-tree, or
Halesia, the shrubby ornament of
our northern gardens, develops a
great trunk free of branches for II
hundred feet above the ground; here
are the greatest Ash trees on the
continent, the noblest Hickories and
the tallest und stateliest Hemlocks.
In this wonderful region the kalmia
grows to the dimensions of Il good
sized Apple tree, the Tupelo is for
est giant and the Rhododendrons
are tree like in size and habit. The
Sweet Birch of the Smokes drawfs
the biggest Birch-trees of the North,
and the Sugar Naples of New Eng
land are as pigmies in comparison
with the Maple trees of the South.
In early spring the floor of the for
st is lighted up by the fiery heads of
Azalea calendulacea, which decks for
miles the upper mountainslopes with
solid masses of bloom. while Azalea
arborescens dips it's pure white fra
grant flowers into every mountain
brook.
What has happened to the forests
of the Doe River valley will happen
to the forests of every other valley
ofthe Appalachian Mountains, which
sooner or later must give up their
stores of timber to supply the wants
of a nation which for more than a
century has been wasting it's tairest
heritage. The best Walnut trees and
the best Cherry-trees in all the noun
tain-regiOn have been bought up
singly by spectators and converted
into lumber. 1t is now almost i'm
possible to find large individual of
either. Many of the remotest and
most inaccessible valleys of the
Smoky Mountains have already lost
their lest Tuiip-trees, and as the de
mand for timber increases the wood
chopper will penetrate deeper and
deeper into the recesses of these
mountain-forests.
The destruction of all the large
trees is now only a matter of COM
paratively a few years, and unless
some measure can be adopted for the
preservation of block of this forest
the inhabitants ofAmerica born fifty
y, ars from now will go to theirgraves
without the opportunity of seeing
the character of the trees their coun
try produced when all conditions
favored forest growth.
The nation has decided to hold for
ever, for the instruction and enjoy
ment of the people, a portion of the
Sequoia-forest in california; the civi
lied world has applauded this &C
ton. Not less important is the pre-
for all time, of a portion
of the southern deciduous forest.
This can only be accomplished by
the nation, as any adequate forest
in the southern Allie
ghanies would extend beyond the
borders of a single state, and there
is certainly nothing within tho power
OfCongress to accomplish that would
afford a more useful object-lesson or
indicate a higher degree of civiliza-
ton than the purchase and protec-
ton of good example of this for
est, that future generations of men
may see and understand the capaci-
ty of American soil, and the beaut.
and majesty of its supreme products.
1t would not be difficult to select an
area ofmOderate extent which should
serve this purpose, and the first cost
and subsequent care of such a reser-
walton would not be large in proper
ton to the material benefits to be
derived from it. Roam Mountain it.
self, on many accounts. would make
the best reservation; the summit is
beautiful, and may be
used by the public without injury to
the forest; the peculiar position of
the mountain makes the view from it
more varied and extended than that |
from any peak of eastern North
while the railroad brings
this mountain almost to the doors
of a large population. These ad-
and the fact that the sum-
nit of the Roam is already occupied
by large and prosperous hotel, |
which is soon to be extended, would |
greatly add to the cost of the prop. |
erty, while the value of themountain,
az q forest raSprva tinn intnndad To