Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1880-11-04
The isothermai Belt.

I
read something about the isother =
mai belt although few, compara-
lively, know what it really is. The
following, extracted from an ad-
dress delivered recently in Atlanta
Ga. by Hon. Edward Atkinson, will
convey an explanation
There are among the Appalachian
mountains, from Virginia to Georgia
inclusive, belts of land. thermal they
might be called, where frost does not
appear, but the transition is !rom fall to
freezing weather, without that inter
. mediate state Where the frost destroy
fru IS, cotton and tobacco, One of the
most notorious OF these tracts is near
| Ttyon mountail, coming down from
Asheville to Spartan ourg. 1t is some
1000 fee. above tie level of the sea,
and perhaps 3oxl5 miles. l sw
painter who was growing cotton there.
Fruits have, of course, a great advan-
tage in such are1ion. The cause is
said to he due to the fact that the par
al ell ridges of mountains retain the
stratum of an which being heated du
ring the day aseenGs 10 Height where
/. its equilibrium Is n intaincd. aud this
relation, due to special confguration,
keeps OF the frosts III the fall, but, of
c, usse, not freezing weather, which
stretches everywhere when tie sun Is
on the tropic Of cancer. With regard
to storms, sea breezes, and the rehec-
ton of winds by the \; 'achlan noun
ta'ns, It may be Observed that hurrc canes
the designation of those teriibl" trop-
tains because such storms, and all wide
iy extended ones, are the product Of
heat and moisture. They are born in
the Antilles, are rotary in character AMI
hnr.ed ii the prevailing winds-follow
their conrse rs circular cd.!.es do when
IN obstacle is placed in stream.
Their path is where heat and great
moisture exists, otherwise their iorce
is diminished ard they are dissipated.
and follow the gull str, am are fed BY
the molstire and heat Of that s:rtani,
and their greatest violence is on the
ocean and lis Sholc line. was in the
mountains of y orth Carolina VIXEN tEc
great cyclone of 70 p-ss~d up the coast
destroying . much property at Bean
tort, Wilmington, Long BraEcs, ct.
1t was Only gale in tac mountains.
Other M 'ors seer straight across tn.
Gnl;' of Me>i,o, bat their force is cx-
pended in that inland sea and along lis
shores, Havana, Key West, C;,lve ton,
and Mobile When the torn passes
llland 1t expenIs its violence, immedi
ately decreases and he whole valley of
the iiissi~sppi ana t e Ap. a'achian
mt uatairs receive t. err nccdful ram.
The :irst observation one makes il
these mountains is that no violent
storms can exist there such as charac-
terizes the White Mountains, because,
except on the very highest peaks, lofty
and regular trees and cultivation reach
Their summit They do not defect
these storms they enaculatc them by
depriving them of moisture and The vo:-
tex of the meteor, where the greatest
force IS cxcrt"d-must seek watef
way for Its course. The preyal lag
wind, bling gre,t storms across froni
tie Pacific, but they lose then moisture
in crossing TIE mountains, and wouli
be dissipaied if it were not for the
great chain OF lakes, the moisture from
which lel<indlcs their fulv and they
cxhib; ted it in al the cities near their
path in their way to tie Atlantic,
W here they frequently meet d cyclone
coming up the gulf stream, and the
tictiGn Of the two are those terrible
storms which enc meets between here
and England.