14 



BULLETIN 1189, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the Allegheny Plateau region is very marked, though irregular. The 

 bluegrass section is comparatively level, while the Allegheny Plateau 

 region consists of broken hill country. South of the bluegrass section 

 the western edge of the coal fields marks the boundary line of the 

 Allegheny Plateau region. 



The physical characteristics of this region are quite different from 

 those of the other regions of the area. The valleys are steep and 

 gorgelike; the main streams, such as the Kanawha River, occupy 

 canyons; flatlands of any extent are seldom found. It is a country 

 of hills and valleys with so little flatland that the water everywhere 

 falls upon a slope, and the run-off is heavy ; floods due to spring rains 

 and the melting of late winter snows are common (7). The whole 

 region at one time was covered with forests and the remoter parts 



Fig. 6. 



-An apple orchard (foreground) at Keyser, W. Va., with a peach orchard in the 

 background. 



are still wooded. When the hillside farms are cleared of timber, 

 the fields are cultivated for a few years and then abandoned for a 

 new site. This is particularly true in Kentucky, where abandoned 

 clearings are quickly gullied and the thin soil washed away. 

 Farther north in West Virginia, and especially in northern West 

 Virginia, the humus is retained longer in the soil, and the washing 

 does not come so quickly. 6 



The northern Panhandle of West Virginia is a distinct section of 

 this region. Its topography is similar to that of the rest of the 

 region, but because of its northern latitude its climate is more like 

 that of northern fruit regions. 



6 For further information on the soils of the Allegheny Plateau region, see the follow- 

 ing references: Averitt (4), Burke and others (10), Caine and others (11, 12), Griffen and 

 Ayrs (23), Latimer and others (30-38), Sleeker and Latimer (43), Mooney and Latimer 

 (52, 53), Roberts (56), Shedd (58). 



