SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 51 



Ararat the common vegetables of Armenia; half way up, those of Italy and France; and 

 upon the summit those of Scandinavia. Forster saw several Alpine plants upon the moun- 

 tains of Terra del Fuego." 



Mr. Mudie also remarks : 



" If we take each mountain as the index of its own meridian, we shall find that each one 

 expresses, by its vegetation, all the varieties of climate between it and the pole."* 



Humboldt, and our ownDoct. Forry, notice an equally striking develop 

 ment of this law, on the Western Continent.! 



This would go to show what I have little doubt is the fact, (my impres- 

 sions, too, being strengthened by a comparison of latitude, elevation, and 

 recorded thermometrical observations,) that on the sides of the Roan and 

 other lofty mountains of North Carolina, and pretty well wp on their sides, 

 too, the climate is not greatly dissimilar from that on the high grazing 

 lands of New- York and New-England. On the sweetest and best of the 

 latter, white clover always comes up spontaneously, and will immediately 

 re-sward any field thrown out of tillage. It sometimes flourishes on soils 

 of ordinary fertility, but never on rery sour or boggy ones, or on those 

 the poachy character of which would render them liable to communicate 

 hoof-rot or other diseases. It indicates, most decidedly^ both a soil and 

 climate fitted for sheep. 



You will not understand, Sir, of course, that in the remarks made and: 

 facts stated, at so great length, in relation to three or four mountains, my 

 object has been simply to refute the views of Mr. Buckley in relation to- 

 them. In a region of 70,000 square miles, the unadaptation of half a 

 dozen mountains, or a much greater number, to this or any other branch. 

 of husbandry, would be of but little comparative importance. Anticipat- 

 ing, however, the croakings of the timid the exaggerated counter state- 

 ments of those rash and sanguine men who are ever ready to rush into 

 whatever is ?icw, without judgment to guide or perseverance to sustain 

 them : who abandon their undertakings at the first obstacle, arfd apologize 

 for their ficklety by magnifying the difficulties encountered by them : t 

 deemed it expedient to lay before you some useful data for comparisons,, 

 'and conclusions,) which will be equally applicable in the case of all our 

 southern mountains. 



The hilly and level regions west of the mountains, and lying between; 

 them and the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, scarcely require a separate no- 

 tice particularly after the statements of Mr. Cockrill, given in my second 

 letter. As a whole, they are undoubtedly more fertile, and better adapted* 

 to the production of the grasses, than those of corresponding latitude, in* 

 even the hilly zone, east of the mountains. 



* Mudie's World. 



t Since making the extract above from Malte Bfun, I observe the following better, or. at Jerst, more deff- 

 nite expression of the same fact by Doct Forry : " In ascending a lofty mountain of the torrid zone the 

 greatest variety in vegetation is displayed. At its foot and under the burning sun, ananas ind plantain? 

 flourish : the regions of limes and oranges succeeds ; then follow fields of maize and luxuriant wheat and' 

 till higher, th* wr/tea of plants known in the temperate zone. The mountains of temperate unions e*hi 

 bk, perliap*, k> rariety, but the change it equally striking." See Forry'a Climafi of the Uni' 'State*. 



