PAPERS ON GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY 379 



are characteristics wliicli make the climate one of the 

 greatest assets of the State. 



Mr. Thomas L. "Watson, State Geologist of Virginia, 

 has described the topography of the Piedmont Plateau 

 Province as one ''of a more or less smooth, broadly roll- 

 ing or nndnlating npland, of moderate elevation, into 

 which the streams have rather deeply sniik their chan- 

 nels. Scattering hills and ridges — ^unreduced residnals — 

 rise in some cases several hundred feet above the general 

 level of the npland snrface of the platean. Below the 

 upland surface, deep and narrow gorges have been 

 carved by the streams.*" Xo conspicuous elevation is 

 found in Prince Edward county, its highest point being 

 only 715 feet above the sea, about 200 feet above the 

 upland, and less than 465 feet above the lowest point 

 along the Appomattox river. Higher elevations do oc- 

 cur in the vicinity, however, such as "Willis Mt., Buck- 

 ingham county, which rises to an elevation of 1159 feet, 

 and whose rugged outlines can be seen clearly from 

 Farmville about 12 miles away. It is not only in the 

 greater amount of relief, but in the greater number of 

 streams and slopes that the topography of the Virginia 

 section differs from that of Illinois. The largest square 

 field without a permanent stream that could be laid out in 

 Prince Edward county would contain bnt little more than 

 1 square mile, while a similar area in Champaign county 

 would cover at least 18 square miles. 



This contrast in topography helps to explain the differ- 

 ence in the nse of the land in the two regions. In 1920 

 less than 32 per cent of Prince Edward county was im- 

 proved farm land, while ChampaigTi county reported 

 881 o per cent of the area as such. The reverse is true, 

 however, in woodland in farms, -40 per cent of the area 

 of Prince Edward county and li 2 per cent of Champaign 

 county being given as farm woodland. The response to 

 this difference is in the use of wood for fuel. In this sec- 

 tion of Virginia every backyard has its pile of stove- 

 wood, and trade in cord-wood is considerable to furnish 

 fnel for the kitchen stove and to feed the small sheet- 



Mineral Resources of Vir^nia, 1907, pp. 5-6. 



