VALUE OF WEST. N. CAROLINA LANDS FOR PASTUR- 

 AGE, WOOL AND AGRICULTURE. 



To understand the agricultural value of these lands, a few re- 

 marks are needed. Soils, it is well understood, are derived from the 

 decomposition of rocks ; and the combination therewith of decom- 

 posing vegetable and animal substances renders them fertile. Some 

 soils are produced from rocks in place., while others are derived from 

 rocky materials transported from other points by currents of water 

 or the action of icebergs, as in the case in districts covered by Dil- 

 nvinm or AUuviiim. There are no such deposites in Western North 

 Carolina, as diluvial or alluvial, excepting along the courses of the 

 rivers. The soils of its uplands, therefore, must have been derived 

 from the rocks upon which they are based, except where the supe- 

 rior portions of the mountains differ Geologically from the inferior, 

 and have sent down, by the rain currents, a portion of their decom- 

 posing materials to mingle their elements with those of a dissimilar 

 character below. The Geologist, then, by examining the ranges of 

 these Metamorphic Rocks at one point, can, without the labor of 

 visiting them, decide with great certainty as to the quality of their 

 soils at other points. He knows that the only material difference 

 which can exist in the soils at any two points, along the same strata 

 of rocks, will depend, not upon differences in the inorganic elements 

 composing them, but in the greater or less depth to which they have 

 accumulated, and the amount of organic^ elements intermingled 

 therein from the decomposition of vegetation. This rule has some 

 exceptions, but they need not be noticed here. 



From experiments made, it has been determined that the mountain 

 lands of Cherokee, Macon and Jackson Counties, North Carolina, 

 are well adapted to the growth of the tame grasses and clover, and 

 are admirably adapted to pasturage, either for sheep, mules or cattle, 

 but especially for the former. 



But to say that the soil and climate of Western North Carolina 



♦The inorocanic elemeuts of rocks and soils are potash, soda, lime, magnesia, manga- 

 nese, iron silica, and alumina. 



The organic elements essential to vegetation, are oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and 

 carbon. 



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