68 Value of Western North Carolina Lands [Feb., 



gee Cove, near the Little Tennessee River, in Cherokee county. 

 North Carolina, as examples — the line being stretched around them, 

 about four feet above the ground : 



Black Locust, in circumference, feet, 6}£ 



Buckeye " " 12 



Shell-bark hickory, " - 9 



SuLMr maple, •' " 8 



"White maple, '• " 7)^ 



Chestnut " " 19^^ 



Yellow poplar, " " 18)^ 



Black ouk, " " 10 



Beech, " " H 



In other localities the wild cherry, black walnut, and the several 

 varieties of hickory and oak, attain a size about equal to these. In 

 many of the coves, as well as in the less exposed situations on the 

 mountain sides, where the trees are shielded from the winds, they 

 often grow up as straight as arrows, and may yet supply a large 

 amount of sJiij) t'unher to the Southern sea-board, when the comple- 

 tion of the Railroads to the North-west, shall have stimulated com- 

 mercial enterprise in our Southern cities. The very last conversation 

 I had with that eminent philosopher, Dr. John Locke, just before 

 he was taken from us, was on this subject. Taking into view the 

 fact that the forests have mostly been cleared away on the south of 

 the Blue Ridge, and that trees suitable for ships are only produced 

 by the growth of hundreds of years, he expressed the opinion, that 

 the timber of the mountains, along the line of the Rabun Gap Rail- 

 road, would not only be in demand for lumber to supply ordinary 

 purposes at the South, but that it must ere long become indispensa- 

 ble to its supply of ship timber. 



But the slopes and coves of the mountains of North Carolina will 

 be used for other purposes than pasturage and as resorts for ship 

 timber. Portions of them, adapted to the purpose, by presenting a 

 southern exposure, will be devoted to the cultivation of the Grape. 

 Many of the coves, in the midst of the mountains, are admirably 

 adapted to this purpose. North Carolina gave to the country the 

 far-famed Catawba Grape^ which now enriches, by its luscious clus- 

 ters, the vine-dressers of Cincinnati. Why should she not enrich 

 herself by the extensive cultivation of the vine, which her own soil 

 spontaneously produced? 



The Northern sides of these mountains have also their economical 

 value, besides being the producers of the loftiest timber. They 

 will not only supply the richest summer and autumn pastures, when 

 sown in blue grass and white clover, but will yield an abundance of 



