50 



AGRIGULTURAL REPORT. 



Chicago, Illinois 590 feet 



Central Kentucky 800 feet 



Louisville, Kentucky 441 feet 



St. Louis, Missouri (Upper) 480 feet. 



Knoxville, Tennessee 960 feet. 



Chattanooga, Tennessee 643 feet. 



Huntsville, Alabama 600 feet. 



Thus the greater portion of West Virginia, though appearing so mountainous 

 from the broken character of the surface, is of less elevation than Logan and 

 Hardin counties, in Ohio, which are so level in districts of highest elevation as 

 to present the appearance of swamps, and suggest to the agriculturist the neces- 

 sity of surface drainage, while the ascent has appeared like a continuous plain 

 from the Ohio river. 



The slope of the Alleghanies on the west is more abrupt than on the east, 

 making a rapid descent for the rivei'S for a short distance, whence their flow is 

 gentle, with grades not unlike those of rivers upon the eastern side of the Ohio, 

 the only essential difference being the greater rapidity of the Alleghaniau 

 streams near their sources. 



TEMPERATURE. 



The mean temperature of West Virginia, for the year, as may be seen by an 

 examination of the isothermal lines, is lower than any other locality in the 

 same latitude east of the Missouri river. It lies between the lines of 50^ and 

 54°, which embrace the southern and central portions of Ohio, Indiana, and 

 Illinois, with contiguous portions of Missouri and Iowa ; on the Atlantic, de- 

 flecting northward to include the coast line between New York and Baltimore. 

 The isothermal, indicating a mean temperature of 55°, passes through Balti- 

 more and Washington, circles round the southern boundary of West Virginia, 

 intersects the northern border of Kentucky, and strikes St. Louis, leaving 

 Philadelphia and Cincinnati a very little noi'th of the line. The line of 52^ 

 would come very near the centre of West Virginia. This would make the 

 average temperature slightly lower than that of those two cities. The follow- 

 ing table, prepared from the Smithsonian record, shows the highest, lowest, and 

 mean temperatures for each month of 1859, of Philadelphia and Cincinnati, 

 with two points on the Kanawha, one near the top of the Alleghany range, the 

 other nearly on a level with the Ohio river. 



Month. 



January 



February ... 



March 



April 



May 



June 



July 



August 



September . . 

 October . . . . 

 November . . 

 December... 



Kanawha county, 

 West Virginia. 



35.14 



41.69 

 51.. 58 

 53. 98 

 65. 62 

 68. 51 

 74.67 

 73.38 

 65.93 

 50. 99 

 46.91 

 34.97 



Lewisburg, West 

 Virginia. 



W 



62 

 64 

 72 



85 

 82 

 90 

 92 

 92 

 79 

 69 

 70 

 71 



32.55 

 38.40 

 47.68 

 51.96 

 68. 03 

 69. 93 

 75. 93 

 74.33 

 61.29 

 48.35 

 44.23 

 33.33 



Philadelphia, 

 Penu'a. 





30.79 

 36.44 

 48. 12 

 50.28 

 64.65 

 70.65 

 76.00 

 74. .53 

 66.18 

 52. .32 

 47.49 

 33.00 



Cincinnati, Oliio. 



?f ti) 



m 



60 



68 

 70 

 78 

 86 

 98 

 100 

 94 

 86 

 80 

 74 

 68 



36.11 



40.32 



50.19 



,52. 37 



70. 03 



72.87 



79.52 



75.64 



68.36 



54.37 



49. 3( 



30.11 



