230 A TASTE OF KENTUCKY BLUE-GRASS 



forest, and the mares with their colts roam far 

 and wide. Sometimes when they were going 

 for water, or were being started in for the night, 

 they would come charging along like the wind, 

 and what a pleasing sight it was to see their 

 glossy coats glancing adown the long sun-flecked 

 vistas! Sometimes the more open of these 

 forest lands are tilled ; I saw fine crops of hemp 

 growing on them, and in one or two cases corn. 

 But where the land has never been under cul • 

 tivation it is remarkably smooth — one can drive 

 with a buggy with perfect ease and freedom 

 anywhere through these woods. The ground is 

 as smooth as if it had been rolled. In Ken- 

 tucky we are beyond the southern limit of the 

 glacial drift; there are no surface boulders and 

 no abrupt knolls or gravel banks. Another 

 feature which shows how gentle and uniform 

 the forces which have moulded this land have 

 been are the beautiful depressions which go by 

 the ugly name of "sink-holes." They are 

 broad turf-lined bowls sunk in the surface here 

 and there, and as smooth and symmetrical as if 

 they had been turned out by a lathe. Those 

 about the woodlands of Colonel Alexander were 

 from one to two hundred feet across and fifteen 

 or twenty feet deep. The green turf sweeps 

 down into them without a break, and the great 

 trees grow from their sides and bottoms the 

 same as elsewhere. They look as if they might 

 have been carved out by the action of whirling 

 water, but are probably the result of the surface 

 water seeking a hidden channel in the under- 



