Sargent, _Jesup Collection_. Sargent, _Manual_. Britton. Roth, _Timber_. Hough, _Handbook_. Keeler. Apgar. Mohr. _For. Bull._, No. 22. Fernow, _Forestry Investigations_. Lumber Trade Journals. Baterden. Sargent, _Silva_. Sargent, _Forest Trees_, 10th Census, Vol. IX. Boulger. Hough, _American Woods_. Snow. Lounsberry. Spaulding. _For. Bull._, No. 13. Sudworth. _For. Bull._, No. 17. Forest Service _Records of Wholesale Prices of Lumber_, List. A. For particular trees consult For. Serv., Bulletins and Circulars. See For. Service _Classified List of Publications_. [Footnote A: For general bibliography, see p. 4.] CHAPTER IV. THE DISTRIBUTION AND COMPOSITION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN FORESTS. The forests of the United States, Map, Fig. 44, may be conveniently divided into two great regions, the Eastern or Atlantic Forest, and the Western or Pacific Forest. These are separated by the great treeless plains which are west of the Mississippi River, and east of the Rocky Mountains, and which extend from North Dakota to western Texas.[1] [Illustration: Fig. 44. Forest Regions of the United States. _U. S. Forest Service._] The Eastern Forest once consisted of an almost unbroken mass, lying in three quite distinct regions, (1) the northern belt of conifers, (2) the southern belt of conifers, and (3) the great deciduous (hardwood) forest lying between these two. (1) The northern belt of conifers or "North Woods" extended thru northern New England and New York and ran south along the Appalachians. It reappeared again in northern Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. White pine, Fig. 45, was the characteristic tree in the eastern part of this belt, tho spruce was common, Fig. 56, p. 213, and white and Norway pine and hemlock distinguished it in the western part. Altho the more valuable timber, especially the pine, has been cut out, it still remains a largely unbroken forest mainly of spruce, second growth pine, hemlock and some hardwood. [Illustration: Fig. 45. Interior of Dense White Pine Forest, Cass Lake, Minn. _U. S. Forest Service._] (2) The southern pine forest formerly extended from the Potomac River in a belt from one to two hundred miles wide along the Atlantic coast, across the Florida peninsula, and along the gulf of Mexico, skipping the Mississippi River and reappearing in a great forest in Louisiana and Eastern Texas. It was composed of almost pure stands of pine, the long-leaf, Fig. 46, the short-leaf, and the loblolly, with cypress in the swamps and bottom lands. In southern Florida the forest is tropical, Fig. 47, like that of the West Indies, and in southern Texas it partakes of the character of the Mexican forest. [Illustration: Fig. 46. Long-leaf Pine Forest. Oscilla, Georgia. _U. S. Forest Service._] [Illustration: Fig. 47. Semi-tropical Forest, Florida. Live Oak, Surrounded by Cabbage Palmetto, and Hung With Spanish Moss. _U. S. Forest Service._]