SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 45 



broader; the soil generally not quite so deep, but very productive, especially in grasses. In 

 some sections of the county, however, the soil is equal to the best I have se^n. 



" Buncombe and Henderson are rather less elevated ; Ashville and Hendersonville, the 

 county towns, being each about 2,200 feet above the sea. The climate is much the same, 

 but a very little wanner. The more broken portions of these counties resemble much the 

 mountainous parts of Yancey and Haywood, but they contain much more level land. In- 

 deed the greater portion of Henderson is quite level. It contains much swamp land, which, 

 when cleared, with very little if any drainage, produces veiy fine crops of herds-grass. Por- 

 tions of Macon and Cherokee counties are quite as favorable, both as to climate and soil, as 

 those above described. I would advert particularly to the valley of the Nantahalah, in Ma- 

 COD, and of Cheoh, in Cherokee. In either, for a comparatively trifling price, some ten or 

 fifteen miles square could be procured, all of which would be rich, and the major part suf- 

 ficiently level for cultivation, and especially fitted, as their natural meadows indicate, for the 

 production of grass. 



" lu conclusion, I may say, that as far as my limited knowledge of such matters authorizes 

 me to speak, I am satisfied that there is no region that is more favorable to the production 

 of sheep than much of the country I have described. It is everywhere healthy and well 

 watered. I may add, too, that there is water-power enough in the different counties com- 

 posing my Congressional District to move more machinery than human labor can ever place 

 there enough, perhaps, to move all now existing in the Union." 



A writer in the Albany Cultivator, Mr. S. B. Buckley, of Yates county, 

 New- York, who has visited these mountains, thus objects to the views of 

 Mr. Clingman : 



" These mountains have a cold, damp climate, the summits of the highest being covered 

 with clouds and mists a large portion of the summer season. Cold rains are of frequent oc- 

 currence, doubtless causing the deep vegetable mould alluded to by Mr. C. A large por- 

 tion of the county of Yancey is an elevated table-land which is so damp and cold that the 

 inhabitants do not raise corn sufficient for their own consumption Mr. Husted in- 

 formed me that in many seasons there was scarcely a month in the year without frost .... 

 that he had been on the top of the Roan on the 25th of June, when a snow storm arose and 

 completely covered the mountain, and that there were few days in the year but that it was 



foggy on the Roan I have ascended most of the high mountains in that State, and 



rarely without encountering a storm, or finding their tops covered with mists, which disap- 

 peared in the cool of the evening, to be resumed by the wanning rays of the morrow's sun. 

 In encamping on the mountains, I generally found the thermometer to range from 45 to 60. 

 and on the high mountains, during the day, it seldom rose above 65. The inhabitants of 

 the valleys pay great attention to the raising of cattle and horses, which, in the summer sea- 

 son, are tunied upon the mountains in what is termed 'the range,' which consists of tall 

 weeds, native grasses, and in many places white clover has become naturalized. * * * * 



" These remarks will apply more or less to the mountainous region of Haywood and Ma- 

 con counties, from which we conclude that they are not suitable to the raising of fme-wooled 

 sheep, judging from their elevation, damp and cold climate, which, as before remarked by 

 Mr. C., creates a deep vegetable mould, in which a horse will sink up to the fetlock. And 

 would not sheep sink in also, and be liable to have the foot-rot ? And in yeaning time would 

 not many lambs be lost from the frequent cold rains so common there during the month of 

 May?"* 



In a previous communication in the Cultivator the same writer says : f 



" On the 12th of May I arrived at Ashville, (the capital of Buncombe county,) intending 

 to visit Mt. Pisgah, a high conical mountain in full view, about twelve miles distant, over- 

 topping its neighbors. I was told that the season was not far enough advanced to bring 

 vegetation forward on the high mountains. . . . The climate of this region is not much, if 

 any, warmer than that of Western New-York. During the summer of 1842, the thermome- 

 ter ranged generally from 70 to 85 in the valleys, while on the mountains it was frequently 



about 60, and sometimes much lower When I left the southern portion of Alabama, 



it was the middle of March ; the woods were green, with their full expanded leaves ; in 

 about a week I had reached the elevated region south of Huntsvilie, in the northern part of 

 the State, where the leaves had not yet attained half their usual size. From the 1st to the 

 10th of April, in Middle Tennessee, the leaves were nearly full grown and the inhabitants 

 were busy in planting corn ; but at the middle of April, for thirty miles on the table land of 

 the Jumberland Mountains, the trees had just begun to put forth their leaves, and the ground 

 was white in the morning with a severe frost. 



" On descending into the plains of East Tennessee, the country was green with verdure. 

 and the farmers were there also busy in planting corn, and now, the middle of May, among 



* See Albany Cultivator, 1846, p. 242. t Ib., 1946, p, 174 



