46 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH 



the mountains of North Carolina, I found myself where vegetation had scarcely dollied tha 

 plains and woods with green, while the leaves of the high mountain trees were about half 

 grown. I should also remark that the spring of 1842 was from two weeks to a month ear 

 Her than usual." 



I record a portion of the last extract for subsequent reference ; anc the 

 object of these communications being to arrive at the truth, and net to 

 ride a favorite hobby, or advance a preconceived theory, I have thought 

 it proper to give the substance of all this gentleman's remarks, embodying 

 as they do all the objections, real or supposed, which exist against the 

 highest mountains in the whole Southern States for the purposes of sheep 

 husbandry. 



Per contra, we have the following statements of Henry M. Earle, Esq., 

 of Pacolett, Rutherford Co., North Carolina : * 



" On the question whether wool-growing vail succeed in North Carolina or not, I would 

 say that it depends entirely upon the exertions used, as I am thoroughly convinced that the 

 country and climate arc altogether favorable. The objections raised by Mr. Buckley, if they 

 existed in all the mountain region, might be considered serious ; but as they can only be of- 

 fered against a few very high mountains, situated in the midst of many other mountains, and 

 far from any level or plain country, such a hiding place as he speaks of would not be such a 

 place as persons raised in civilized or refined society would wish to settle in. The Roan 

 and Black Mountains were selected by Mr. Thos. Clingman, because they were the most 

 elevated and noted mountains in Yancey Co., and not, I presume, because he thought they 

 would afford the best pasturage for sheep ; if so he was mistaken. On those mountains and 

 in their vicinity are the finest grazing lands for cattle ; and so there is in the low, marshy 

 land of South Carolina ; but neither location is favorable for sheep. I agree with Mr. Buck- 

 ley, 'that a large portion of the county of Yancey is an elevated table land, which is so 

 damp and cold that the inhabitants frequently do not raise com sufficient for their own con- 

 sumption.' This is partly owing to the climate ; but mostly to the character of many of the 

 inhabitants of those sparsely inhabited regions, where they too frequently depend upon tno 

 BMCCCSS of the chase for the larest ortion of their subsistence. 



" But if Mr. Buckley, or any other gentleman of observation, will come 60 miles far- 

 ther south on the line of the Blue Ridge, into Henderson and Rutherford counties, about 

 the Tryon Mountain, which is the first that he will ascend in rising up from the level coun- 

 try east of the Blue Ridge, along the Howard-Gap Turnpike high on the acclivity of the 

 Tryon he will find a bench of land which possesses a very peculiar characteristic. At night, 

 generally, there is a pleasant breeze, and for several miles along the mountain side there is 

 never any dew to be found, and it is very rare that they have frost except in winter ; and 

 when the whale country above and below is covered with sleet, along this mountain side 

 there is none. Here grow the finest native grapes that I ever saw, and the fruit crop never 

 fails. And here are grown the heaviest wheat and rye in all the country. Here the inhabit- 

 ants have the first dawn of the morning sun, and persons unaccustomed to the view fancy 

 that they can almost see him coming up from the watery deep. On the eastern side of this 

 mountain is the earliest pasturage in spring, and the latest in the fall that is found in the 

 \vhole range of mountains. 



" This location is about 40 miles E. S. E. from Ashville, and 20 miles S. S. W. from 

 Rutherfordton. Here two of those ever persevering men from the North, called Yankees, 

 have commenced to wall in a vineyard, and to cultivate the broom-corn for manufacturing 

 brooms. They have the purest, water that flows out of the earth, and around them are 

 beautiful cascades more than a hundred feet high, and above them tha toppling peak of the 

 Tryon. 



" Thousands of persons throng this mountain region during the summer, to enjoy the pure, 

 bracing atmosphere, which on the eastern face of the mountain is dry and healthful ; but 

 farther back, in the mountains of the French Broad, there is much more dampness and 

 heavy fogs. 



" You may readily conclude that along the eastern slopes of these mountains, the climato 

 and country are finely adapted to the growth of wool, as may also be seen by many of the tina 

 fl'.jcks of native unimproved sheep, which wander here untended, regardless of wolve* or 

 dogs, thevr greatest enemies. 



" For two hundred miles along the eastern slopes of these mountains, south, there aw 

 situations well suited for large flocks of sheep, and land is cheap. In many places it doe* 

 uot cost more tlian 20 cents per acre, and very fair land may be had for 40 cents per acre. ' 



In an Address,* remarkable for the force and pertinency of its sugges- 



* See Albany Cultivator. 3846, pp. 335-330. 



t Delivered in Martinsbunj, Va., Oct. 30th. 1845, before the Berkley Ccranty Agricultural Society, pub- 

 lished in the Valley Farmer," Dec. 1845, and Jan. 1846. 



