The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-04-08

of the Cape Fear, where the cabbage
palms grow like they do in Florida, We
have the widest range of climates to be
found in any State. This sunny slope to
the sea has also in its course a soil as
varied as any in the United States In
the northwestern valleys of Watauga and
Mitchell the great hay grass of the
North, timothy. fourishes as though
to the manner born, and meadows of this
grass stand longer in use there than
they do in the North. The steep hills
along the French Broad below Asheville
+. look to the passing traveller very unlike
an agricultural country, and yet they pro-
duce wheat and tobacco of quality un-
surpassed, and on one occasion l saw a
buyer of potatoes from Charleston stop
at Marshall under the frowning hills,
where he was told he could buy Irish po-
tatoes in the then late fall He said he
did not believe they could raise potatoes
there. But by the next evening after his
arrival he had to telegraph to Charles
Eton for more money, as they loaded his
casks so fast.
The Apple Region OF America.
But this country of valleys and pla-
teaus east of the Blue Ridge has ca
pacity of another sort as yet but little
developed. 1t is undoubtedly the finest
apple region of the Atlantic slope. If not
of the whole country. Apples grow there
in spite of the almost universal neglect
of the orchards, and where any reason
able care is bestowed they flourish and
bear fruit of a quality that is a reveia-
tion to those who do not know the coun-
try. The late Geo. E. Boggs, OF Hay
wood county, gave great deal OF atten-
ton to his orchards, and he made an
exhibit at a show in Madison Square
Garden, New York, in competition with
the whole United States, and tcarried off
the first prize. With improved manage
ment of the orchards, and improved
handling of the fruit, together with more
liberality on the part of the railroads,
this region has wonderful future. In
Piedmont Virginia, the wise policy of the
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad has made
a great development in apple culture
there. But here it costs about as much
to get barrel of apples from Mount
Airy as it does in Virginia to send one
from the foot of the Blue Ridge to Liv-
erpool. Some day our railroads may
realize that their interests and the in
terests OF the people are identical.
Market Gardening.
When we speak of market gardening
or trucking one naturally thinks of the
greatest coastal plain of North Carolina
with it's wide and level lands, warm soil
and mild climate. But few realize that
there is growing up in North Carolina
two separate trucking regions, east and
west The great trucking section of the
Atlantic coast is of course devoted to
the supplying of early vegetables and
small fruits for the Northern markets.
But in recent years there has grown up
almost unnoticed a great market garden
section on the high plateau of Hender-
son county. There, the gardener does
not seek the Northern markets He is
interested in supplying the vegetables of
the North to the people of the lower
South and the Gulf States. The altitude
of this region gives it climate like the
Central North, and its proximity to the
warmer South gives it an advantage in
the supplying of those late vegetables
that formerly came from the North. Last
August l was greatly interested in seeing
men busy loading trains with cabbages to
go to Florida and other Southern points,
in the spring, but where the climate for
bids the growing of these late things.
So in the section west of the Blue Ridge