106 APPENDIX. 



It may be well to mention here, that the grasses which flourish upon 

 the slopes and tops of the Unaka Mountains are exceedingly luxuriant 

 and nutritious, and form a thick mat all over the surface. Blue grass, 

 herds grass, white clover, mountain meadow, Randall grass, and many 

 wild but valuable kinds, are so intermixed as to supply constant grazing 

 throughout the summer months. But these grasses are confined to the 

 soils of Metamorphic origin. The Sandstone Mountains are naked and 

 bare, producing only greenish briars, lichens, mosses, and ferns. 



Though cool, the climate of these mountains is exceedingly moist. 

 For fully half the time in summer, the tops are wrapped in cloud and 

 mist ; and rains are remarkably frequent in summer, and snows in 

 winter. The frequent rains keep the grasses in a growing condition, 

 and an equal acreage of pasture upon the rich, black, feldspathic soils 

 of the mountain will probably supply double the grazing that it would 

 in the valleys below. In no part of the celebrated blue-grass region 

 of Kentucky is the sod better or thicker than upon the balds of some 

 of these mountains. For wool-producing sheep, this region has no 

 superior in this or any other country, if they could be provided with 

 suitable protection against the chilling rains. The cold blasts of win- 

 ter may be averted by the sheltering coves. The tropical heats of the 

 valley in summer are unknown upon these airy heights. 



CUMBERLAND MOUNTAIN FOR SHEEP. 



The Cumberland table-land is two thousand feet above tide-water, 

 with a dry sandstone soil, and an exceedingly cool and pleasant climate 

 in summer, the mean temperature being about seventy-one degrees. 

 The air is dry and bracing. During the summer months, the surface 

 of the earth is covered with tussocks of fine, nutritious mountain grass, 

 and furnish ample sustenance for sheep for eight months in the year. 

 In addition to the wild grasses, herds grass, clover, and orchard grass, 

 with slight attention to manuring, will grow well. Wild peas also fur- 

 nish a nutritious herbage. The soil can easily be made to yield suffi- 

 cient supplies for winter feeding, by sowing in stock peas, a food not 

 only healthful for sheep, but highly relished by cattle. 



To be successful in sheep-raising on this table-land, the breeder 

 must be careful to build shelters for protecting his flocks from the mid- 

 dle of November until the middle of March. The climate is very 

 rigorous in winter ; and the keen northern and north-western blasts 

 will speedily impair the health of the improved, though tender breeds. 

 The native sheep are very healthy, and rarely suffer from any disease ; 



