128 



eling over the grassy undulations of the top of this natural division of the 

 State in the spring of the year one is able to realize the description of the 

 pastoral countries of the Orient "with cattle upon a thousand hills." Hun- 

 dreds of streams with thousands of contributing rivulets furnish the 

 purest of water, while the park-like landscapes with their beautiful arbo- 

 real growth of pine, oak," chestnut, gum and other trees supply grateful 

 shade to the stock during the heat of the day. The sun shines upon those 

 airy heights with a splendor unknown elsewhere in the State, and breezes 

 sweep over the mountain during the fervor of the day, tempering the air 

 and making one of the most delightful summer climates to be found in 

 America. The purity and elasticity of the air make this whole region one 

 of greatest healthfulness to man and beast. When passing through the 



Panicum latifolium. 



silent forests of the mountain the earth covered with untrodden grasses 

 and emblazoned with mvriads of wild flowers "born to blush unseen" 

 it requires no great stretch of the imagination to suppose the landscape to 

 be now as it was before the discovery of America by Columbus, when it 

 existed in all its primeval beauty. There are no natural pasture lands in 

 America that surpass the pastures of the Cumberland table-land when the 

 healthfulness of the region, its freedom from blizzards, its ample supplies 

 of shade and water and its beautiful situation are taken into consideration. 

 The grasses spring up in April, grow until late in November, and often- 

 times supply some grazing throughout the winter months. The area of 

 this division of the state is over 3,200,000 acres of which not less than 

 2,300,000 acres are given up to natural pastures. 



Lying west 'of the Cumberland table-land is the region about 900 feet 

 above the sea known as the Highland Rim that encircles the great central 

 limestone basin of the State. This Highland Rim comprises nearly 6,000,- 



