42 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



LETTER IV. 



TEE ADAPTATION OF THE SOILS, HERBAGE, &c. OF THE SOUTHERN 

 STATES TO SHEEP HUSBANDRY, CONTINUED. 2. OF THE MIDDLE ()a 

 HILLY ZONE. 3. OF THE MOUNTAIN REGION. 



Climate, Soils, and Productions of the Middle or Hilly Zone Irs evident Adaptation to Sheep IIusbp.ndry 

 ...The Mountain Region... Altitudes of different Ranges and Peaks Their general Shape Freedom from 

 Rocks. Precipices, &i:... Table Lands Their Geological Formations Products.. .Mr. Clingman's Letter 

 describing the Roan and other Mountains in North Carolina. . -Mr. Buckley's Counter Statements... Mr. 

 Karle's Description of the Mountains in Henderson and Rutherford Counties, North Carolina. ..Col. Cola- 

 ton's Statements in relation to the Mountains in Berkley County, Virginia.. .Hon. A. Stevenson's in rela- 

 tion to the Blue Ridge, and the Mountains in the South-west of Virginia Hon. W. L. Goggin's in relation 

 to the same. . .Judge Beatty's Account of Sheep Husbandry on the Cumberland Mountains Mr. Kramer's 

 ...Mr. Buckley's Views in relation to the North Carolina Mountains examined and objected to... Climate 

 of the Roan and others compared with that of the Grazing Lands of New-York. .. Statistics showing the 

 Forwardness of the Seasons and the Temperature in New-York. . .Effect of Elevation on Temperature 

 On Vegetable Productions. 



, Dear Sir : The middle or hilly zone is high, dry, healthy, and has a 

 mild and, compared with the North, equable climate.* Its soils possess 

 the ingredients due to its formation disintegrated granite and are far 

 more fertile than those of the lower zone. Sometimes on the summits of 

 the hills they are poor and thin, and there are occasionally extensive ranges 

 of poor land, as in Virginia ; but as a general thing, they vary from fair to 

 good ; and on the bottom lands of some of the rivers and larger creeks, 

 they possess remarkable fertility. The valleys, however, are generally 

 narrow, and are everywhere the bed of streams, which abundantly water 

 this whole region, and furnish inexhaustible facilities for mills and manu- 

 factories. The slight cohesion of the soil, aided by the face of the country 

 and the system of tillage pursued in many parts of it,t render it peculiarly 

 subject to washing by heavy rains. The hill-sides are frequently cut into 

 deep gullies,. rendering aration difficult,! and the surface soil is washed 

 into the valleys and into the beds of the creeks, not only impoverishing the 

 high lands, but, by impeding the courses of the streams, in some regions 

 converting those of the valleys into unhealthy marshes.|| 



Grasses suited to the climate flourish when sown, and on lands not ut- 

 terly worn out, throughout all this region; and there is little doubt that 

 every variety which could be acclimated on the sands of the lower zone, 

 could be more readily acclimated here and probably various others. The 

 pea succeeds in nearly every situation ; oats also form a valuable ma- 

 nuring crop in some parts ; while on many of the alluvial bottoms, such, 

 for example, as the Blackjack lands of South Carolina rye grows luxuri- 

 antly, answering a valuable purpose either for grain, manure, or for winter 



* The range ol the thermometer is sometimes 60 to 75 in a single month (March or April) in Nevr- 

 York! 



t That is, a constant succession of clean tillage crops, such as cotton, corn, and tobacco. 



J The Fishing Creek Agricultural Society, in their Repoi't before quoted from, say : "The only really 

 waste land we have is our old fields, many of which are so washed end gullied as to be absolutely irre- 

 claimable." Mr. Ruffin says that "the destruction both of soil and of fertility has been enormous " from 

 this cause. 



|| " The country was, at first, as its features indicated, nearly free from malaria and all its noxious effects 

 But as soon as the incessant and injudicious use of the plow caused the soil to be washed from the hilly 

 grounds into the bottoms, the before unobstructed clean bordered channels of all the small streams were 

 filled and clogged with earth, and vegetable rubbish, and fine" matter, and the adjacent low lands were 

 thereby renderedlswampy. The washing of the high land earth into the valleys so altered the original sur- 

 face level as to kill the trees ; and their decay, and. later, the obstructions by their fallen trunks, increased the 



ceneral evi! I infer" that these ranges "have mainly served to nourish malaria and increase tha 



/nalijnity of disease." [Ruffin' a Ag. Survey of S. C., 1843, p. 96.J 



