40 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 1 



ney's put in repair) over Linville iVlountain to 

 Cane Creels, where we will find himself in the 

 Baker Settlement, amongst a kind and worthy peo- 

 ple. From ihis place, if there be ladies in the 

 company, they may ride without danger of much 

 Jatigue, quite to the top of the Roan — a distance 

 of 4 or 5 miles. 



It is most desirable to have a clear clay for the 

 excursion, and it is worth waiting for, if our visit 

 happen to be made at a time when the mountains 

 are wrapped in clouds. Such a condition of things 

 is by no means improbable. The rain falling an- 

 nually about the head of Toe River may be esti- 

 mated at double of that descending upon the same 

 area below the ridge and at some distance from it. 

 It was part of our scheme to collect materials for 

 giving greater precision and accuracy to the map 

 of this part of the state, nor was it through a 

 ■want of zeal or faithful labor (it requires very lit- 

 tle of either knowledge or skill) that we failed; 

 but during the whole term of our stay about the 

 mountains, there were but two days that they had 

 not clouds resting upon them, a large part of the 

 time. 



But even under such circumstances, there is no 

 want of objects of attention. Often, especially in 

 the morning, the mountains lift their head into a 

 serene sky above a sea of mist and cloud that gir- 

 dles their sides. They may be ascended then,inbr 

 on other object, for the sake of ihe prospect which 

 awakened the slumbering fire in the bosom of 

 Beattie, and inspired one of the finest passages in 

 the Minstrel: — 



"And oft the cra2:gy clifi he loved to climb 



When all in mist the world below was lost, 



What dreadful pleasure! there to stand sublime, 



Like shipwreck'd mariner on desert coast, 



And view th' enormous waste of vapor, tost 



In billows lengthening to the horizon round. 



Now scoop'd in gulfs, with mountains now emboss'd, 



And hear the voice of mirth and song rebound; 



Flocks, herds, and water-falls along the hoar profound." 



Or without going above the clouds, he may find 

 in the streams below, an humbler but not less 

 agreeable amusement, in the capture of the spec- 

 kled trout with which they abound. It is a luxu- 

 ry to feel him bite: he takes hold with such ear- 

 nestness, zeal and hearty good-will, and this lux- 

 ury is exchanged for another not less alluring, 

 when after having been prepared by the cunning 

 hand of a comely 'hieland' maiden the biter is 

 bitten in his turn. [See Doughty's Cabinet of 

 Nat. Hist. vol. I. p. 145—9] Or, instead of the 

 trout, he may catch the amiable quadruped with the 

 many names that are associated with him (called 

 in Yancy the Crocodile or Water Puppy) who is 

 not found except in the tributaries of Ohio, and, 

 we believe, is confined to the clear cool streams 

 that flow down the western declivities of the Ai- 

 leghanies — cook him and show the Yancy people 

 that the dislike generally entertained for him is pre- 

 judice, and that he is in fact excellent eating. 



The roughness of the sides and top of the Black 

 Mountain is likely to prevent it being often as- 

 cended from motives of curiosity and pleasure. A 

 route, very much better than that pursued by us, 

 is not likely to be discovered, and that can be ac- 

 complished only on foot; and for between one and 

 two miles, it is through thick laurels and alonga bear 

 trail. What these are, must be learned by expe- 

 rience, as description alone will not convey an ac- 



curate idea of them to the mind of a lowlander. 

 The laurels are so closely set, and their strong 

 branches so interwoven, that a path cannot be 

 forced by pushing them aside; and the hunters 

 have no method of advancing, when they happen 

 to fall in with the worst of them, but that of crawl- 

 ing along their tops. The Bear, in passing up 

 and down the mountain, finds it wisest to keep the 

 ridges, and trampling down the young laurels as 

 they spring up, breaking the limbs from the old 

 ones and pushing them aside he forms at last a 

 sort of burrow above ground, through this bed of 

 vegetation, along vvhich he passes without diffi- 

 culty. This is a bear trail; which though an ex- 

 cellent kind of turnpike probably in the view of 

 the animal that formed it, is much less highly ap- 

 proved by the two-legged animal who tries it after 

 him, and who submits with some degree of shame 

 and indignation to the fashion of the place, in re- 

 gard to the attitude he assumes as he travels up 

 and down the mountains. From such an expe- 

 dition, he is likely to return thoroughly fatigued at 

 night. The top is covered with the balsam fir, 

 from the dark and sombre shade of whose foliage 

 it doubtless received the name of the Black Moun- 

 tain. The growth of the tree is such on these 

 high summits, that it is easy to climb to the top 

 and taking hold of the highest branch look abroad 

 upon the prospect. At the time of our visit, the 

 mountain was enveloped in mist, vvhich prevented 

 ourseeing more than a couple of hundred yards, and 

 we were so uncomfortable fi-om cold, that some of 

 the company urged a return with the least possible 

 delay, and this when it was clear weather, at a 

 small distance below the ridge and the Thermom- 

 eter at 80. 



The temperature of a few wells and springs is 

 subjoined. The finest iced water is a vapid drink, 

 in comparison with the pure element that gushes 

 from the sides of these Western Mountains. 



Wells on Chapel-Hill, Oct. 17. 

 Wells in Lincolnton, July 6, 



Morganton, July 16. 

 Spring Keller's Field, 



Daniel Moore's Globe Settlements, 



59 

 61 



58 

 50 

 57 

 James Riddle's, 54 



Near the top of the Grandfather, 53 

 Ascent of the Roan, 52 



North side of the Black Mountain, 50 

 Another, same mountain, 48 



N. 



MANURING WITH LEAVES AND MUD COM- 

 POST. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Craven county, N. C. 

 j^pril 10th, 1836. 



There is a gentleman residing in an adjoining 

 county who inherited a patrimonial estate consist- 

 ing of a worn-out farm, and some {ew accessories 

 to its cultivation. He married and went to work 

 on it, but it took but few crops to show him that 

 the product would not support his increasing fami- 

 ly. Many a sleepless night did he pass in pon- 

 dering over his circumstances. After much deli- 

 beration, however, he resolved, like many others 

 in the same situation, on emigration, and visited 

 the south to make arrangements for that purpose. 



