SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 15 



Primary and Metamorphic rocks, and the soil in its natural 

 state is generally fertile. In this division is comprised what 

 was formerly regarded as the el dorado cotton country of the 

 State. The mountain country above this, with an area of 

 about 10,000 square miles, is formed by the different chains 

 of the great Appalachian range. For further details as to a 

 portion of this district, North Carolina, the reader is referred 

 to the valuable paper of our correspondent, Gen. John A. 

 Young, published in the Appendix. 



With the indications as to natural soils given in the above 

 sketch, in order to determine the resources of the country in 

 question for supplying pasturage and forage for sheep, we 

 must consider certain atmospheric conditions, which apply 

 not only to the immediate sections under consideration, but 

 to the whole of the vast country lying south of the thirty-fifth 

 parallel, and between the Atlantic and the meridian of San 

 Antonio, Texas, which is par excellence the cotton belt of 

 America. The remarks of Mr. Walter Wells, in his admira- 

 ble paper on the cotton culture in the Unite'd States, on the 

 influence which the rainfall has on this culture, are very in- 

 structive in this connection. 



" The cotton plant, in its period of growth, requires abundant rain ; 

 its succulent foliage, if duly supplied with moisture, appearing fresh 

 under a sun that shrinks the leaves of a majority of other crops. In 

 the cotton-growing district surrounding the Gulf of Mexico, the fall 

 of rain is so profuse through the midsummer as to suggest very dis- 

 tinctly the temporary establishment of true tropical conditions, the 

 lapping over of torrid-zone rains upon this portion of the temperate 

 zone while the sun is at its northernmost declination. As the sun 

 retires, the tropical conditions give way ; the comparatively dry, serene, 

 and temperate autumn of the mid-latitudes succeeds, securing most 

 favorable conditions for the maturing and gathering of the cotton 

 harvest. 



" The cotton plant seems to be, in a peculiar manner, dependent 

 upon the latent or hygroscopic moisture of the atmosphere, for the 

 perfect development of its peculiar product. It loves the influences 

 of the sea. The great volumes of vapor raised from that immense 

 evaporating cauldron, the Gulf of Mexico, drawn inland by the draught 



