THE UPPER PINE BELT. 79 



CLIMATE. 



The upper pine belt is a peculiarly healthy region, and throughout its 

 extent Mills and Simms, in their statistics, have enumerated a remarkable 

 number of instances of longevity. There are no prevailing diseases 

 unless it be a mild type of malarial fever during autumn, along the 

 river swamps. The upland swamps not being subject to overflow, and 

 resting on sand, are nat troubled with these complaints when drained and 

 cultivated. The seasons most favorable for cotton are those in which 

 there is a dry, cold winter to facilitate the preparation of the land. Light 

 showers in April to insure germination. A dry and warm May and June, 

 not only to render the destruction of the grass easy, but, as the cotton- 

 planters term it, to " cook the cotton plant" ; hot weather, and even 

 drought, at this stage of growth, increasing its productiveness. In July 

 and August, hot weather, and seasonable showers, to keep up the strength 

 of the plant and promote fructification. A dry fall for picking. The 

 length of time between the latest frost in the spring and the earliest frost 

 in autumn has an important bearing on the crop, and, in the absence of 

 other records, the preceding table is given. 



Although the cotton planting during these years was sometimes com- 

 pleted as early as the 30th of March, irreparable injury to the stand was 

 only inflicted once, in 1849, when snow fell on the loth of April, and was 

 succeeded by cold weather. Nor do the autumn frosts always destroy the 

 plant completely ; blossoms at Christmas and New Year are not unfre- 

 quently seen, and there are occasionally winters of such mildness that 

 the old cotton roots throw out fresh shoots in the spring, and there are rare 

 instances where fields lying out have thus borne a crop the second year, that 

 was worth gathering. 



GROWTH. 



The early settlers in this region were stock raisers. They kept up 

 the Indian practice of burning off the woods during the winter. The 

 destruction of the undergrowth by this means favored the growth of 

 grasses, and numerous herds of almost Avild cattle and horses found abun- 

 dant pasturage, chiefly upon what was known as the wild oat, and the 

 wild pea-vine. The cattle were sometimes slaughtered for their hides and 

 tallow. The names of many townships and neighborhoods still testify to 

 this primitive industry, as Steer Pen, Steerpoint, Horse Pen, and Pen Cor- 

 ner. The uplands were covered, as they still are, with a large growth of 

 yellow pine, but a deer might then have been seen, in the vistas made by 

 their smooth stems, a distance of half a mile, where now, since the dis- 

 continuance of the spring and autumn fires, it could not be seen fifteen 



