These lands have, until quite recently, been begging purchasers at from
121/2 to 25 cents per acre in large tracts of 10,000 acres and upward, and
perhaps the same could be said of the present time, leaving out choice
tracts and easily accessible places, which are held at from 50 cents to
$2 per acre, wooded virgin lands.
The forest growth of Walden's Ridge is almost entirely oak and chestnut.
Hickory, perhaps, comes next in frequency, and pine after. There is but
little undergrowth, and where the forests have never been molested there
are but few small trees. This is due to the annual fires which occur
every autumn, or some time in winter, almost without exception, and
overrun the whole ridge. It does not rage like a prairie fire. Its
progress is usually slow, the material consumed being only the dry
forest leaves and grasses. The one thing essential to its progress is
these dry leaves, hence it cannot march into the clearings. Nearly all
the small shrubs are killed by these fires, otherwise they are harmless,
and are greatly valued by the stock men for the help they render in the
growth of the wild grasses.
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