151. 
hundred miles, and embraces three zones, greatly varied in character and tem- 
perature by differences of elevation. The lower zone is mostly a flat sandy 
region, in many places covered with swamps or “ pocoson,”’ which, however, are 
above the sea level, and therefore susceptible of easy drainage. These swamps 
are all valuable for their timber, and some of them for the fertility of their soils. 
The dry land is covered with timber, for the most part pine, which is highly 
valuable for the yield of turpentine, rosin, and tar, as well as lumber. The soil 
is generally light or thin; but there are many exceptions to this rule, while 
there are in many places inexhaustible beds of marl underlying this region, 
which can be drawn upon with facility for enriching the surface. This eastern 
or lower zone extends to the foot of the first range of hills, a distance of eighty 
to one hundred miles from the sea-shore, and comprises about one-third of the 
State. There are few portions of the Union which ofter greater inducements to 
the capital, enterprise, and skill of the people of the north than the eastern 
portion of North Carolina. Its agricultural productions are valuable. They 
consist of Indian corn, wheat, oats, Irish and sweet potatoes, cotton, rice, p2as, 
beans, sorghum, grapes, and a great variety of garden products. This region 
is the peculiar home of the sweet potato, which is produced in no other part of 
the world in such abundance, and of such superior quality. The county of 
Edgecomb, near the western boundary of this immense plain, is famous for its 
cotton crops, which have been produced by the use of marl, found under the 
soil. The Roanoke bottoms are unsurpassed for fertility, and are cultivated 
chiefly in grain. Some of the largest grain crops in the world are produced in 
this section of the State. We have heard of crops amounting to one hundred 
thousand bushels of corn. Great facilities exist for transporting the grain of 
this region to the northern markets. The vessels approach the farms directly, 
and receive their freight at first hand from the farm wagons, which fact is of 
the greatest importance to the producer. The southeastern counties, among 
other things, produce rice ; but this product belongs more peculiarly to South 
Carolina. 
It is unnecessary to dwell upon the importance of the cotton crop. The 
southern planters grew rich by its production when the price of the article was 
scarcely one-third what it is at present, after due allowance is made for the de- 
preciated currency. There is no danger of an excessive production for some 
years to come; and whoever employs capital with energy and skill in the growth 
of cotton, in any proper soil south of the thirty-sixth parallel of latitude, is sure 
to be richly rewarded. The true gold field is the cotton field. In the extrac- 
tion of turpentine, rosin, and tar from the pines of North Carolina, and in the 
sawing of lumber for the northern markets, there are other inexhaustible fields 
of enterprise, which are sure to reward those engaged in them with liberal pro- 
fits. This branch of industry is peculiarly inviting to northern capital and 
skill. The pine regions are healthy; northern laborers may be introduced 
without risk, and the processes are of a character to admit of improvement. 
Yankee ingenuity could scarcely fail to invent new and cheaper methods than 
those employed by the unskiled natives. 
We must next notice the midland region, extending from the district] ust 
described to the mountains; in other words, from the foot of the hills on the 
east to the foot of the mountains on the west. This zone is described by Pro- 
fessor Emmons, the State geologist, as a table land, with an undulating surface, 
but with an average elevation of several hundred feet. Raleigh is some 200 feet 
above the sea level; Greensborough is 846 feet above tide water. The rivers 
which rise in the mountains, and pass their waters to the ocean through this 
elevated district, nearly two hundred miles in width, necessarily furnish great 
facilities for manufacturing. The falls of the streams are innumerable, and 
“water power” without limit is distributed over every part of its surface. The 
surface, where not cleared for agricultural purposes by the sparse population, is 
