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Show 42 BASIS OF AMERICAN HISTORY [ 1500 white ash. In the central states the conifers lose their importance and hardwoods take the chief place. The most notable trees of this class are the oaks ( represented by about twenty- five species), several kinds of hickory, the chestnut, the black walnut ( once very valuable, but now exhausted), the basswood, the magnolias, the tupelo, the tulip-tree, and the cotton- wood. Although a conifer, the hemlock is at its best in the mountains of North Carolina. Besides the lumber actually used, an enormous quantity has inevitably been destroyed in clearing the land, and forest fires have also wrought great damage. As a result, lumbering has ceased to be an important industry over most of this region, though much is still done in places, the chief hardwood centres being at present Tennessee and Kentucky. On the coasts of the southern states, not only on the Atlantic but along the Gulf of Mexico as far as Texas, and extending up the Mississippi into Missouri, are several valuable pines, especially the long- leaf, the short- leaf, and the loblolly. From the first of these and a fourth species, the slash pine, the turpentine of commerce is derived. Southern Florida differs much from the rest of the country, its plants having many features in common with those of the West Indies. A considerable number of the Antillean trees extend to the continent, but are not as a rule well developed, |