CLIMATES. 31 



to the production of fine grapes. Later on, large enterprises were 

 started in the cultivation of peaches, and now immense vineyards 

 and orchards are found in various sections, and their number is 

 increasing, as the cultivation of the peach especially has been found 

 profitable. Later on, the sand-hill country attracted the attention of 

 Mr. Tufts of Boston, who assumed that the mild winter climate and 

 the pure water would make a resort for people who were simply tired 

 and not sick. He therefore built the town of Pinehurst in the midst 

 of thousands of acres of pines, and it has grown into a very popular 

 winter resort, as consumptives are excluded. There are a number of 

 hotels of different sizes and prices, and many cottages that are rented, 

 and the visitors in winter now number thousands. At Pinehurst, too, 

 out of the needs of the winter guests, there has been developed the 

 fact that winter forcing in green-houses under glass could be made a 

 very profitable part of the horticulture of this section. The surplus 

 cucumbers from the Pinehurst forcing-houses have sold during the 

 past winter in Kaleigh at fifteen cents each. With our abounding 

 sunshine in winter, the forcing of vegetables and small fruits in hot- 

 houses can be made far more profitable than in the North because of 

 the greater sunshine and less amount of coal needed. Every gar- 

 dener knows that sunshine under glass counts for far more than fire 

 heat and costs less. In fact, the beginning made in frames by the 

 gardeners of the eastern section in the winter culture of lettuce is but 

 the entering wedge that will introduce regular winter forcing in 

 North Carolina. The upper part of the central section has for 

 generations been mainly devoted -to the one crop of cotton, and, as a 

 consequence of this clean and constant culture and shallow plowing, 

 the hilly lands have washed badly and need protection by terrace 

 banks, at least till by deeper plowing and subsoiling and the rotation 

 of crops adapted to the increase of humus in the soil the inclination 

 to wash is lessened. The soil is naturally easy to ^improve and to 

 keep up if proper farming is done. Cotton and tobacco will always, 

 probably, be the leading money crops of this section, though on some 

 of the lighter soils the cultivation of watermelons for shipping is 

 increasing. Fruits for home use can be easily grown, but the condi- 

 tions outside the sand-hill country are not favorable to commercial 

 fruit culture. But the climate favors the production of the finest for- 

 age crops in the form of cow-peas, soy-beans, and alfalfa. Alfalfa has 

 been very successful in this section, and its cultivation is rapidly ex- 

 tending. Few cattle have been kept in this section heretofore, but with 

 the increase of forage crops there will naturally come more attention 

 to stock. The markets in the towns and cities are not well supplied 

 with butter of fine quality, and there is a constant demand for beef in 

 the larger towns, a part of which has to be supplied from abroad, 

 though as good beef can be grown here as anywhere, with the proper 

 attention. The winter climate is peculiarly mild and less humid than 

 that of the coast plain. Occasionally the temperature in cold waves 



