SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 417 



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

 ttonie sections of the county, however, tho soil is equal to the best I have seen. 



" Buncombe and Henderson are rathor less elevated; Ashvillc and ni-udersoiiville, the 

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

 but a very little wanner. Tho jnore broken portions of these counties resemble much tho 

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

 <leed the greater portion of Henderson is (juite level. It contains much swamp land, which, 

 when cleared, with very little if any drainage, produces v(Ty fine crops of herds-grass. I'or- 

 lions of Macoa and Cherokee counties are quite as favorable, botii as to clinuite and soil, as 

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

 con, iuul of Chooh, in Cherokee. In either, for a coinparalively trilling price, some ten or 

 fd'teen miles stjuare coidd be procured, all of which wcjuld be rich, and the major part suf- 

 iiciently level for cultivation, and especially fitted, as their natural meadows indicate, for tho 

 production of grass. 



" In 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 difrerent counties com- 

 ])osing my Congressional District to move more machinery' than human labor can ever place 

 there — enough, perhaps, to move aU 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 sunnner season. Cold rains ;u-e 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 Uiblc-land which is so damp and cold that the 



inhabilsmts do not raise corn sufficient for their own consumption iMr. Husled in- 



fonncd me that in many seasons there was scarcely a month in the year without fi'ost .... 

 that he had been on the top of the Roan on the 2.5th of .Tune, when a snow stonn 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 iho warming rays of the morrow's sun. 

 In encamping on the mountains, I generally found the thermometer to range from 4.")° to 60°, 

 and on the high mountains, during the day, it seldom rose above 6.5'^. The inhabitants of 

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

 son, are turned upon the mountains in what is termed ' the range,' wliich 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 frne-wooled 

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

 Mr. C, creates a deep vegetable mould, in v^hich a horse wiU sink up to the fetlock. And 

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

 not many lambs be lost from the fi-eqiient cold rains so common tfiere duiiug tho month of 

 May?"* 



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



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

 to visit Mt. risgah, 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 thennome- 

 ter ranged generally from 70° to 8.5° in the valleys, while on the mountains it was frequently 



about GO-, and sometimes much lower \Vhen 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 Huntsville, in the northern j)art of 

 the State, where the leaves had not yet attained hiilf 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 plantuig corn; but at the middle of April, for thirty miles on the table laJid of 

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

 Wfas white in the morning with a severe frost. 



'• On descending into the plains of East Teimessee, the country was green witli verdure, 

 and the fanners were there also busy in planting com, and now, the middle of May, among 



• See Albany Cultivator, 1846, p. 242. t lb., 1846, p, 174. 



(849) 'it 



