The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-09-02

| well as been an eyewitness to such occur
rences as mentioned above, and, although
you may be too masculine to agree with
me they are true nevertheless.
A Park in the Southern Alleghanies.
From the New York Sun.
The national forest pleasure grounds are
all at the far West, in Wyoming and Cali
fornia. An enormous track was recently
added to the beautiful Yellowstone Park,
and the Yosemite reservation was enlarged
by several times its original area, while
about the same time two smaller parks were
established in California for the sole purpose
of preserving the famous giant sequoias of
| that State.
With this good work accomplished, the
Garden and Forest suggests that the next
step should be that of establishing like
reservation in the Appalachian chain. No
other forest of deciduous trees, it declares,
equals in variety, attractiveness and spen-
dor that which is to be found in the south
err Alleghanies. at is as wonderful in its
way as the seguoia and red wood forests of
California are in their way, and far more
beautiful and interesting" Why, then,
should not portion of it be set apart for
the instruction and enjoyment of the peo-
pie? The coniferous forest of the western
slope of the Sierra Nevada, with its sequoia
and sugar pines, the red woods of the Pacific
coast. and the southern Allegheny decidu-
Gus forests, are declared by our contem-
porary to be the most interesting forests in
the world, so that examples of all these
marvels of vegetable growth be preserved.
''On the slope of the high mountains of
Carolina and Tennessee the principal trees
of the Appalachian forests attain their
greatest size and perfection, and in ride of
few hours, covering rise in elevation of
1000 or 5000 feet, one may see growing In
their supreme perfection the trees of the
Middle States, like the ashes, the oaks,
the naples and the lindens; then the
birches, the pines, the mountain ashes and
the spruces of the extreme North. In these
forests the chestnut grows to its greatest
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 chest
nut oak and the scarlet oak attain here
their greatest height and girth of stem;
here the snuwdrop tree or halesia, the
shrubby ornament of our Northern gar
dens, develops a great trunk free of
branches for hundred feet above the
ground; here are the greatest ash trees on
the continent, the noblest hickories, and
the taIlest and stateliest hemlocks. In this
wonderful region the kalmia grows to the
dimensions of a good-sized apple tree, the
tupelo is forest giant, and the rhododen-
drons are tree-like in size and habit. The
sweet birch of the Smokes dwarfs the big
gest birch trees of the North, aud the sugar
naples of New England are as pigmies in
comparison with the maple trees of the
South. In early spring the floor of the
forest is lighted up by the fiery heads of
Azdlea caLenduLacea, which decks for
miles the upper mountain slopes with solid
masses of bloom, while Azalea drboresceas
dips its pure white fragrant flowers into
every mountain brook.
The reason why such park should be
laid out without delay may be found in the
letter of correspondent Of Garden and
Forest, who describes the ravages wrought
by the axe in Doe River Valley. The best
walnut trees and cherry trees in that region
have been bought up singly by spectators,
and turned into lumber, so that it is hard
now to find there a giant tree of either
sort Even some of the most remote val
leys of the Smoky Mountains, difficult as
they are to reach, have lost their best tulip
trees, and ct the present rate OF destruc-
ton another generation may find that all
the best growth is gone. This is the ac-
count which the correspondent gives of
Doe Valley:
sHere 20 years ago could be seen these
forests in all their magnifcence and ma
ture supreme effort in forest production,
for ia the humber of species of which they
are composed and in the size and beauty Of
individual trees these Southern forests sur
pass every other deciduous forest Of the
earth. But the magnifcence of the forest
of the Doe River Valley is thing Of the
past; 20 saw mills and dozen tanneries
strung along the line of the narrow guage
railroad have done their work effectually.
First the black walputs wept, and then the
cherries, for which this valley was famous.
When these were consumed the lumber
men turned their attention to the yellow
poplar (Liiyiiodentlron tslipiera) ;this work
has been done thoroughly; stumps of this
tree seven or eight feet across are common
enough; but the big trees ARE all gone.
Now they are cutting white oaks and the
hemlocks for tan bark. Large hemlacks
however, can still be found near the
streams, and on the first bench above the
river stand as fine chestnut trees as can be
seen on the continent"
The question how such park should
be laid out is not wholly easy to determine.
OF course, the first point would be the
choice of a site; and as to that the most
desirable reservation would be one which
has not yet been invaded and is still in its
primeval grandeur. The cost of acquiring
it would be less, and the objection founded
on its inaccessibility for visitors would
quickly disappear, since its use as national
park would soon bring railways toward it.
Possibly some State might take the prelimi-
nary steps, out Of pride in making the
reservation State institution for general
enjoyment. The region selected would
doubtless be in North Carolina or Tennes-
see, or both, and probably in the Big Smoky
Mountains or in one of the cross ranges
connecting them with the Blue Ridge. On
many accounts it would be desirable to
make such reservation national pleasure
ground, and if Congressman from that re-
gion should take up the matter the project
might be realized at next waters session
of Congress-