Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1859-04-22
From the National IntelIioauoo.

Dill, and lett on the nrSt train.
From the National Intelligence
Mountain Climates and Productions I'm No. Carroll
Messrs. EDITORS Raised in the mountains of Nonr
Carolina, hope you will allow TO furnish YOU b;e
sketch OF some OF the advantages and pecuarities of M
region with some facts possessing or less inerot
to those who may wish to make further investigations
Mount Tryon, in Rutherford county, has long bao0
celebrated TOR its exemption from killing ross and ho
lieved livery enormously, however) to be an ANOMALY :
this respect. More recently other points of the NOM
tain ranges have been quite enormously Representa-
as entirely free from dew and Frost even by men of so
pretensions to science very pleasant and INTELLIGENT
writer in the August and November numbers of tho
North Carolina Planter has furnished some interests
particulars in regard to the mountains of that section
in connection with the subject of fruit culture anil tb
genial influences of the thermal stratum in the rr
walton of the most tender plants Still he does not co
rect the error by stating simply that above
the weldefned outline of this stratum on the mO1nto;
sides frost abruptly ceases In placing the frost limo
at an elevation of three hundred feet he is too indefinite
as that height or gauge will not apply to many valleys
of rolling and uneven surface while the surface of the
heavy dew and frost stratum represents plain level Or
nearly SO, in each valley basn though differing great
y in comparative elevation in different valleys These
valleys are often separated the same streams bv
abrupt descents, and divided by ranges or spurs
from the higher ranges of mountains. These higher
ranges are mainly and in some instances entirely above
the plane OF killing frosts, and in highly favored
localities Includes of the adjacent fiat lands also
while the deeper and central portions of the valleys
may be more than three hundred feet below this plane
Within the limits of Watauga county, North Carolina
are embraced some of the extreme head-waers of the
Ohio Tennessee Sanee and Pedee rivers watering beau
tltul and fertile valleys, confined less by sur
rounding high mountains The dew here is very heavy
and the outline of killing frosts well defined as in val
eys on the same streams below though differing in ee
walton from 500 to 1000 feet. The level of kilno
lrosts in each situation is very nearly the same in ali
instances and in different years
About the goth of August, 1881 witnessed well de-
fined outlines of killing frost along the sopng hills and
valleys of western New York and at various times
since, at different points along the Allegheny and Cum
berand ranges in Virginia, Tennessee the Carolinas
and Georgia, but accurately the 10th of April
l849 about the Goth of May, 1852 on the 28th Of
: April, and in the fall of 1857, and spring of 1858
The same effects of frost said to influence the
growth and maturity of grapes some of the Euro
pean mountains and suppose is to most if not
to all mountains. This stratum covers suppose
the greater part of the earth at small elevation above
its surface The of lands, however, that lie within
this genial cline, and fit for cultivation is very limited
and to citizens OF the broad and extended belt of country
between the Atlantic coast and the Blue Ridge the
South and Brushy mountains land some other isolated
points, destined to become places of increasing in
terest and value In the hands of intelligent fruit grow
ers it would be charming indeed. So well defined was
The outline of killing frost along the base of these noun
tans after the frost of the 10th of April l849 that all
above their SUBMITS extending some ninety to one
hundred miles, clothed in the brightest and green
est robe that the halfgrown leaves and tendrls could
give and presented strange contrast to the broad and
backened plains below, extending north and west to the
Blue Ridge and eastward to the pine lands in the mid
die portions of the State. In the autumn of l847 when
the corn and other vegetation killed in Lincoln Ire
DELL and other counties below there were COrnfedS
these mountains and even above the high valleys alluded
to in Wautauga county, left perfectly green and
stained by the trost Later however, frost
usual the higher lands even to the SUBMITS of high
mountains Qighest, however, on the highest points,
l. Long after killing frost below have corn cotton,
field peas pepper tomatoes and watermelon vines
tinuc green most of them blooming fresh and some of
them growing luxurantly. This cline is sought
+ especially at this green season, by birds and animals
and the sensitive deer is then sought for, in hunters
phrase the high ridges. Some tender persons
ding here complain of chill going below Here, too
d apples peaches and the more delicate fruits grow in
greatest perfection and rarely known to be injured
by frosts. have eaten the Northern and low country
d fruits, both in the Northern and Southern mar
kets and feel assured by comparison that the fruits Of
the Brushy and South Mountains will rpen in greater
perfection than in the northern ATTITUDES the low
h country or the higher Allegheny Mountains Next in
:, quality suppose will be the Southwestern portions Of
e the Allegheny and Cumberland Mountains.
On the 9th of January, two years ago, and now las
e witnessed few days ago. in orchards the
Brushy Mountains the ground covered with fine
apples as ever saw and many trees almost breaking
with the weight of the fruit and these orchards had
not Deen trimmed or cultivated lof Ie vi ulleeu years.
This fruit was but slightly injured by frost; and was
# told that harder freeze would only make it better for
present USE The same varieties below, with less aroma
and saccarhine, have rotted long since Other tests,
It too have shown the marked superiority of these fruits
Upon the cereals the effect Of this warm, dry atmoS
phere is not less marked and significant and may by
further investigation be productive OF some practical re-
e suits Rust here is scarcely if seen and notwh
standing its general prevalence and destructive effects
throughout the Atlantic and Western States upon the
harvests of last year, the wheat and oats on the BruS
j. Mountains and also upon the high mountains of Wa
auga were of superior quality, and the straw remarka
bly, bright and clean, as may now be seen.
Whether science has or has not fully developed and
explained all that is useful and curious in these phnom
ena is desirable at least that the subject be made more
+ familiar to readers generally.
\ Is this plane of heavy dews and frOsts, $50 definitely
- markedly and also those marked above-one by logs
II that fill valleys in damp weather. and another, STILL
higher upon which the clouds rest that sometimes veil
- our mountain heights-or the of their different
strata understood? Do their different Temperatures
sometimes affect baromerca measurements of heights
. Can they be satisfactorily accounted for by the prlnc
- pie of gravitaton? Are there not some acetous or
= poisonous elements preudical to the health of animals
and plants and which, with the dew, seeks the lowest
level May not the cities of populous and unhealthy
Cities at small expense, extract from the higher and
purer air enough at least to expe the unwhoesome at
mosphere from their dwellings,? Is not the small area
of land above the cold and humid atmosphere OF lnln
sic value to invalids especially in pulmonary and rheu,
- matte diseases? Would not those who are depressed
and enervated by unhealthy districts and wish to be re-
cuperaed find these to be charming places of resort
where the dry, stimulating air. pure water, and some Oh
the most lovely landscape and mountain scenery COM
bine to minister to his mental and physical enoyments
Around him. standing in bold and beautiful array along
an extent of hundreds of miles, and nearly in the follow
ing order The Peaks of Otter, White Phoenix, Ne