THE WESTERN COUNTRY 271 



several excursions beyond the Alleghany we had occa- 

 sion to observe the goodness and riotous fertility of 

 the soil in its original undisturbed character. The 

 indigenous plants had a lusty, fat appearance, and they 

 grow vastly stronger and to greater heights than is 

 their habit elsewhere. In a new-made and unmanured 

 garden there stood stalks of the common sun-flower, 

 which were not less than 20 ft. high, measured 6 inches 

 in diameter, and were almost ligneous. The forests 

 were of chestnut, beech, sassafras, tulip-trees or pop- 

 lars, wild cherry, red maple, sugar-maple, black wal- 

 nut, hickory and its varieties, several sorts of oak, the 

 sour gum, the liquid-amber or sweet-gum, and other 

 trees known along the coast but here growing still 

 finer and stronger. The forests are for the most part 

 quite clear of undergrowth, which is equally fortunate 

 for the hunter and the traveller. We were shown sev- 

 eral trees, described as of an unknown species, which 

 appeared quite like the Gleditsia triacanthos, but had 

 no thorns. Among the somewhat rarer trees are to be 

 reckoned the papaws,* which chiefly grow in moist, 

 rich, black soil, often called after them ' papaw-soil/ 

 They are slender trees, with a smooth, white bark, and 

 beautifully leaved. Their smooth, egg-shaped fruit 

 when over-ripe is not at all unpleasant, but by no 

 means to every one's taste. The fruit has an odor of 

 pineapples, but the bark and leaves a disagreeable 

 repulsive smell. 



The sugar-maple is largely used by the people of 

 these parts, because the carriage makes the customary 



* Annona glabra. Gron. Virg. p. 83. Annona fructu lutes- 

 cente laevi &c. Catesby II. 85? 



