FLOKAL REGION OF LOWER HILL COUNTRY. 89 



oak, post oak, and Spanish oak are most frequent, with chestnut, bass- 

 wood, and tulip trees. As has been observed, the trees on these hills 

 are of rather rank growth. Of smaller trees and shrubs, forming the 

 dense copses and bordering the high forest, small-leaf sugar maple, 

 redbud, dogwood, and hazelnut prevail. Box elder, winged elm, wil- 

 low, with azaleas, whortleberries, farkleberry, and the poison laurel 

 (Kalmia latifolia) shade the rocky banks of the swift mountain 

 streams. The Carolina silverbell tree (Mohrodendron (Halesia) caro- 

 linurii) also makes its appearance here, a strictly southern Appalachian 

 type, frequently met with from the lower ranges of southwestern 

 Virginia, along the mountains, to the lower hills in Alabama. 



CULTURAL PLANT FORMATIONS. 



Of the 4,500 square miles embraced within the region of the Tennes- 

 see Valley about 2,430 belong to the Valley proper, their red soil 

 resting upon the more or less siliceous limestones of the subcarbonifer- 

 ous strata. Being highly productive, these lands are mostly cleared 

 and under cultivation. Mainly in the hands of small owners, they are 

 under a high state of cultivation, the effort being directed to the devel- 

 opment of all the possibilities of the farm. Hence, proper attention is 

 given to the raising of every kind of live stock and the cultivation of 

 all the crops needed on the farm for the sustenance of man and beast. 

 Fields of corn and small grain alternate with fields of cotton, in which 

 crop from 12 to 15 per cent of the whole area of the valley is planted. 

 The fresh green of the meadow and the clover field greet the eye, and, as 

 in the gardens and orchards of the Warrior table-land, .all the vegeta- 

 bles, root crops, forage plants, and a large part of the fruits of the 

 temperate zones of the globe can be successfully grown in this valley. 

 Peaches, pears, and apples are raised in perfection on the hills, and 

 for the cultivation of the grape no other section of the State appears 

 to be so well adapted. Red wines of high quality can be produced on 

 the sunny slopes of the calcareous hills. 



What has been said of the agricultural plant formations of this 

 valley applies generally to the Coosa Valley proper and to the smaller 

 outlying valleys from the foot of Lookout Mountain westward to 

 Blount's Valley. 



REGION OF THE LOWER HILL COUNTRY. 



The line of demarcation between the mountain region and this part 

 of the Carolinian area can not be distinctly drawn. South and south- 

 west, where the strata of the same geological formation slope gradually 

 away from the high table-land to the hills which rise from a lower 

 water level, these regions overlap each other and the changes in the 

 character of their flora are difficult to discern. Not less difficult is it 

 to recognize their border line toward the south and southeast along 



