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mountains are of sandstone origin. Such spurs are very 

 barren. No nutritious grasses grow on them, only greenish 

 running briers, lichens, mosses and ferns. It might be 

 supposed that these frequent rains would give a humidity 

 to this region too great for the health of sheep. This is 

 only true within limits. Where the soil is retentive of 

 moisture, such as the boggy places, sheep will not thrive, 

 but by far the greater portion of the soil drains rapidly, and 

 after each shower the sun comes out with a singular bright- 

 ness, and dissipates the moisture, besides, evaporation at 

 these great heights goes on with more rapidity than in the 

 valleys below. The eastern, southern, and western slopes 

 of these mountains are well adapted to sheep husbandry, 

 but the northern slopes are so thickly covered with mosses 

 and ferns, forming a mass often one to two feet deep, that 

 all grasses are rooted out, and the moisture is constantly 

 held by the thick mats. 



These cleared slopes in south-western Virginia are the 

 very best grazing grounds in that State, and in these coun- 

 ties in Tennessee, notably Johnson and Carter, where the 

 rich mountain sides have been denuded of timber, sheep 

 husbandry is accounted very profitable. The wool, too, is 

 of singular excellence, and brings in the market several 

 cents more per pound than the valley- grown wool. 



After a patient investigation of the subject I cannot sub- 

 scribe to the doctrine laid down by Mr. Henry Stewart, in 

 his work entitled "The Shepherd's Manual" a work of 

 singular excellence and merit, and to which I am much in- 

 debted that sheep do not thrive well on metarnorphic soils. 

 This may be true of the latitude of New England and old 

 England, but in the latitude of Tennessee, North Carolina, 

 and Virginia, sheep upon those soils are fruitful and 

 healthy, long livers, and abundant bearers of wool. Other 

 causes must be assigned for their un healthiness than the 

 metamorphic origin of the soils, for it is not universally 

 true, and as far as Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee 

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