WOOL CULTURE IN THE SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST. 147 



ner, designates some of the districts of that State best adapted 

 to wool-growing, which are embraced in the counties of 

 Yancey, Haywood, &c. 



Mr. C. says the elevation of Burns ville, the county seat 

 of Yancey, is about 2900 feet above the level of the ocean, 

 and that the general level of the county is much higher. 

 The climate is represented as being delightfully cool in sum- 

 mer, the mercury seldom rising higher than 70 or 80 deg. 

 Very little of the county is said to be too rough for cultiva- 

 tion ; a large portion, it is said, is a sort of elevated table- 

 land ; undulating, but not too broken ; " even," says Mr. C, 

 " as one ascends the higher mountains, he will find occasion- 

 ally on their sides, flats of level land containing several hun- 

 dred acres of land in a body. The top of the Roan (the 

 highest mountain in the county except the Black) is cov- 

 ered by a prairie for ten miles, which affords a rich pasture 

 during the greater part of the year. The ascent to it is so 

 gradual that persons ride to the top on horseback from almost 

 any direction. The same may be said of many of the other 

 mountains. The soil of the county generally is uncommonly 

 fertile, producing, with tolerable cultivation, abundant crops. 

 What seems extraordinary to a stranger, is the fact that the 

 soil becomes richer as he ascends the mountains. The sides 

 of the Roan, the Black, the Bald, and others, at an elevation 

 even of five or six thousand feet above the sea, are covered 

 with a deep rich vegetable mould, so soft that a horse in dry 

 weather often sinks to the fetlock. The fact that the soil is 

 frequently more fertile as one ascends is, I presume, attribu- 

 table to the circumstance that the higher portions are more 

 commonly covered with clouds, and the vegetable matter be- 

 ing thus kept in a cool, moist state while decaying, is incor- 

 porated to a greater degree with the surface of the earth, 

 just as it is usually found that the north side of a hill is 

 richer than the portion most exposed to the action of the 

 sun's rays. The sides of the mountains, the timber being 

 generally large, with little undergrowth and brushwood, are 

 peculiarly fitted for pasture grounds, and the vegetation is in 

 many places as luxuriant as it is in the rich savanna of the 

 low country." 



The following extract of a letter received from the Hon. 

 John A. Jones, of Paulding County, Georgia, shows the ease 

 with which sheep, in process of time, can be maintained in 

 that portion of the State. The wolf, formerly so destructive 



