142 FORESTS OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



miles. In the east its surface is rolling, but adjacent to the larger 

 streams, and toward the western limit, it becomes more hilly and 

 rugged, and in places even mountainous, being penetrated by 

 spurs from the Blue Ridge. It has an average altitude above sea- 

 level of 850 to 900 feet, but rises at the highest peaks to a little 

 over 3,000 feet ; along its extreme eastern border it is not over 400 

 to 500 feet. On the uplands the soils may be described in gen- 

 eral terms as loams, sandy in some places and clayey in others, 

 formed by the decay of slates, gneisses, granites, and other crys- 

 talline rocks. Along the numerous streams the soil is usually 

 a fluvial deposit : a rich dark-colored loam, containing a vary- 

 ing proportion of vegetable matter. 



The Piedmont plateau region has an average temperature of 

 about 58.5 or 59 F., and an annual rainfall of about fifty 

 inches. 



3. THE MOUNTAIN REGION embraces an irregular and mountain- 

 ous table-land, which lies between the escarpment of the Blue 

 Ridge on the east and the Great Smoky mountains on the west. 

 Numerous cross-chains, separated by narrow valleys or broader 

 river basins, connect these two mountain ranges. The region has 

 an average altitude above sea level of about 3,500 feet , but rises 

 (at Mt. Mitchell) to 6,711 feet. It has an area of nearly 6,000 

 square miles. Although the mountain slopes are often steep, the 

 soil is usually fertile, being a loam of varying physical character 

 but generally rich in humus, open or porous and easily cultivated. 



The average temperature for the region probably approximates 

 50 F., varying from 57.8 F., at Hot Springs, to an estimated tem- 

 perature for the summit of Mt. Mitchell of less than 38 F. ;* the 

 normal annual precipitation is about. 57 inches. 



The rainfall throughout the State is about evenly distributed 

 through the seasons ; more falls, however, in July and August, 

 and less in October and November, than at other seasons. 



There are few late spring frosts ; and only occasionally are 

 there early autumn frosts before the wood has ripened at the end 

 of the growing season. 



*Climatology of North Carolina, N. C. Agr. Bxp. Sta. Kept., Raleigh, 1893; p. 166. 



