66 MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



chops, broiled and served up in its own juices, with a little sa'.t jind pepper spiinkled on 

 wliile cooking, is not bad to talic for breakfast. We envy the many who will this summer 

 have the happiii(!ss to prove that pudding in the best way — by eating it ! 



There are some strong reasons to believe that for our mounttdn ranges the Cheviot 

 sheep of Scotland wonld bo most profitable ; we hope some one will import them ; we are 

 not sure that it has not been done by Mr. Mui-dock, near Ashcville, N. C. — no one better 

 qualified than he to answer many of the points in this letter ; icill he ? 



Farther as to climate : besides the fact that the general effect of elevation ou temperature 

 woidd be sufficiently evinced by the uniformly snow-capped summits of all elevated regions, 

 experiments have detennined with considerable certainty the laws which govern the case, 

 and according to which the decrease of temperature keeps pace with increase of altitude. 



The theory is that these decrements of heat, as we ascend, should con-espoud with, if not 

 depend upon, the greater or less density of the atmosphere ; but this correspondence is liable 

 to be disturbed by various local causes. 



Professor Leshe (Ency. Brit. art. " Climate,") estimates that the diminution of tempera- 

 tiu'e of 1° of Fahrenlieit's scale, correspouds to an ascent of 300 feet ; but this, it is said by 

 the best climatologists. will only hold tnie of moderate elevations. At the altitude of 1 mile, 

 2 miles, 3 miles, 4 miles and .5 miles, the increase of elevation corresponding to 1° Fahrenheit 

 will be respectively 295, 277, 252, 223 and 193 feet. The allowance, however, of 1° of Fahr. 

 for every 300 feet of ascent, is a nxle of easy recollection, and in ordinaiy rases may be 

 taken as a sufficient approximation. The Allegany or Apalachiau table laud v\hich extends 

 fi-om the great lakes into Alabama, lying about ecpiidistant from the Atlantic and the Mis- 

 sissippi, has, according to Fony, (iu his able work on the Climate ot the United States.) a 

 mean hight of about 1,000 feet; but m. some places it is much more elevated. This Apa- 

 lachiau or Atlantic system, says Forry, 



" consists of four independent mountain groups, crossing the country in the same sreneral direc- 

 tion, from N. E. to S. W. each obviously separable from the others by strone:ly marked external 

 features, no less than by their geology. This system is less a chain of mountains than a long 

 plateau, crested with chains of hills, separate from each other by wide and elevated valleys. 

 The mean altitude is perhaps 2,500 feet " above the ocean, "of which not more than one-half con- 

 sists of the hight of the mountain ridges above their ba.ses, the adjacent country having an equal 

 elevation above the sea. These parallel mountain-chains rise on the vast tract ot table-land 

 which occupies the western part of the Atlantic States and the eastern portion of the ad- 

 joining States of the Mississippi valley, about midway between the Mississipjii and the 

 Atlantic. The group in New-England, which passes through New-Jersey into Pennsylvania, 

 consists almost wholly of primary rocks, chiefly of the stratified class. Mount Washing- 

 ton, the most elevated summit, attains an altitude of 6,428 feet. In the Blue Ridge group, 

 pursuing the south-west course from Maryland to Alabama, no rock of genuine primary charac- 

 ter has yet been found, but formations principally of the oldest non-fossiliferous secondary group, 

 or such as formerly would have been named transition. In this range. Black Mountain in North 

 Carolina, which has an elevation of 6,476 feet, is the highest snnnnit. The next group, lying west 

 of the Blue Ridge and continuing parallel with it to Alabama, has a formiition which, belonging 

 to the oldest fossiliferous groups, contains no rocks as recent apparently as biiumiuous coal series. 

 The third group, which lies to the west and north-west of that last described, presents little uni- 

 formity in its course ; but \% hen it has the character of ridges, the general direction is parallel. 

 In this triple division south of the Hudson, the eastern may be considered as de.«!tituteof a?;?/ rnul 

 Jhrmatio?i — the middle as embracing the svrata of the anlhracilc — and the western as containing 

 the vast bituminous coal formation." 



In his candid and well \\Titten account of the mineral springs of N'irginia, on the margin of 

 the region U) wliic^h our coirespondent refers, Mr. Burke, the i)olito proprietor of the Red 

 Sulphur Springs, says he has never at that place seen the thermometer lower than G° below 

 zero, and that he has been used to consider G'-' above as verv- cold weatlier. The usual siun- 

 rner temperature Ls, he says, from 57 to 78, the nights and mornings being almost always 

 agreeably cool. 



The climate of a country, says Brande, is influenced not only by its horizontal configiu-a- 

 lion, but also by its relief, or vertical configuration. 



The question as to the altitude that may be equal to a degree of latitude for the purpose 

 entertained by our coirespondent, is not so easily answered. It is known that in som© 

 countries the line of vegetation and of congelation is much more elevated than in other. The 

 •ubject of climale is worthy of itself to form the basis of an article as conmnited with Agri- 

 culture. 



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