NORTH CAROLINA 



NORTH CAROLINA 



1093 



is a region dear to botanical collectors for its wonderful 

 flora aiul of great interest to the horticulturist on 

 account of its capacity for the production of fruit, espe- 

 cially of apples. Here the apple flourishes and pro- 

 duct's the most wonderful and uniform crops under 

 conditions of absolute neglect. What could be done 

 here in the production of apples, with careful and intel- 

 ligent culture and proper handling of the product, has 

 been abundantly shown in the experience of the few 

 who have attempted the culture. In this same region 

 the French wine and table grapes have been flourishing 

 for years, grafted on the native stocks. A complete 

 failure of the apple crop has never been known in the 

 mountains of North Carolina. On the eastern slope of 

 the Blue Ridge are found the thermal belts. These 

 belts are on the mountain slopes and are singularly 

 free from -the effects of early frosts in the autumn and 

 late frosts in the spring; in fact, hoar frosts are almost 

 unknown. The cold air settling down in the valleys 

 pushes up the warm air and prevents frost above a cer- 

 tain line, thus insuring the safety of fruit above the 

 frost line. These belts are peculiarly marked in Polk 

 and Wilkes counties. In the high valley lands of Wa- 

 tauga and Ashe counties, lying 3,500 to 4,000 feet above 

 the sea, are meadows where the finest of cranberries 

 grow wild, and on the northern and western slopes of 



and Delawares; they go north early in July, and the 

 business has been a profitable one. Later it was found 

 that the peach flourished on the sand-hills even better 

 than the grape, and that there is seldom a total failure 

 of the fruit. In the same neighborhood there are now 

 at least 1,000 acres in peaches, over 400 acres in one 

 orchard. Shipments begin here about the first week in 

 June, and in some seasons the Sneed peach is ready 

 the last of May. A large area is being devoted to black- 

 berries and strawberries also, as blackberries can be 

 sent from here before strawberries are ripe in New 

 York. Here, too, it is being found that the bulbs im- 

 ported so largely for the use of florists for winter forc- 

 ing, such as lilies, Roman hyacinths and narcissus, can 

 be grown to great perfection. Experiments are being 

 made with the Bermuda lily, and it is hoped that the 

 bulbs can be produced here early enough for the early 

 forcing, and that we may be able to grow healthy bulbs 

 to take the place of the diseased Bermuda stock. 



Horticulturally, the most interesting part of the 

 state is the great level coast plain. Here the mellow 

 soil, mild climate and abundant rainfall combine to 

 make conditions favorable to great production, espe- 

 cially in the culture of small fruits. Along the line of 

 the Atlantic Coast Line R. R. strawberries are grown 

 by the thousand acres, and the culture has brought 



the mountains in Mitchell county there are acres of 

 lily-of-the-valley and Viola tenella, native and to the 

 manor born. On the exposed uplands of this section the 

 grape and the peach flourish in wonderful luxuriance, 

 though nothing has been done with these in the way of 

 commercial culture. In these upper mountain counties 

 of late years the cabbage and the potato have become 

 important farm crops, the produce being sent to the 

 southern coast cities in winter. The mountain section 

 is in fact a vast fertile, but undeveloped, region horti- 

 culturally. Coming east of the great barrier of the 

 Blue Ridge, we reach the wide rolling uplands of the 

 Piedmont section, stretching its billowy swells eastward 

 to the line of the coast plain, and varying in altitude 

 from 1,500 feet above the sea-level near the mountains 

 to about 350 where it drops off into the level sandy 

 plain bordering the coast for 125 to 150 miles inland. 

 Throughout this region cotton has held undisputed 

 sway for many years except on the northern border, 

 where tobacco has taken its place, and each has shut 

 out much enterprise of a horticultural nature. Still, in 

 some parts of the vast middle section there have been 

 efforts to grow fruits, and in this section are the im- 

 portant nurseries of the state. Near the edge of this 

 upland country, where the clay uplands break up into 

 the rolling forests of long-leaf pine, and swelling sand- 

 hills take the place of the red clay, it has been found 

 that the dry soil and balmy winter climate were partic- 

 ularly favorable to those suffering from lung and throat 

 troubles, and many people from the North, having 

 found health there, remained to make homes on the 

 sand-hills. And making homes, they wanted to grow 

 fruit. Then it was discovered that the sand-hill coun- 

 try could be made to grow the finest of grapes, and 

 now about the town of Southern Pines there are fully 

 1,000 acres devoted to the culture of grapes for ship- 

 ment north. These are table grapes, mainly Niagaras 



1493. North Carolina, showing horticultural regions, 



wealth to the growers. This, too, is the section where 

 the greater part of the tuberose bulbs used by florists 

 in this country and in England are produced on con- 

 tract for the dealers in New York, Philadelphia and 

 Chicago. Some attention is being paid, too, to the cul- 

 ture of caladiums, gladiolus and other bulbous and 

 tuberous crops. The winter culture of lettuce in frames 

 covered with cloth and glass has of late become a very 

 important item in the gardener's list of crops in this 

 section. It takes but little protection here to grow in 

 winter lettuce as fine as that produced in heated houses 

 in the North, and the rapid railroad communication 

 makes the selling a sure matter. An industry that will 

 grow here is the shipping north in winter of cut-flowers 

 of narcissus and Roman hyacinths from frames and 

 the open ground, and of gardenia flowers from the 

 great bushes in the open ground in summer. Near the 

 coast, as at Newbern, the market-garden business ab- 

 sorbs the entire attention of cultivators. From this 

 section there are shipped of vegetables of all kinds in 

 the spring and early summer over $4,000,000 worth 

 annually, and the business is increasing steadily. With 

 the coming of a dense population, the great swamps 

 that now cover hundreds of square miles will be 

 drained and more land of inexhaustible fertility will 

 be added to this fertile region ; here will be located the 

 future bulb farms of the United States, and the dealers 



