FLORAL 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 lutifolia) shade the rocky banks of the swift mountain 
streams. The Carolina silverbell tree (Mohrodendron (Halesia) caro- 
linum) 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 
