School History of North Carolina (From 1584 to the Present Time) | Page 3

The average rainfall is about fifty- three inches, which is pretty
uniformly distributed throughout the year. The climate is eminently
favorable to health and longevity.
4. The State falls naturally into three divisions or sections-- the Western
or Mountain section, the Middle or Piedmont section, and the Eastern
or Tidewater section. The first consists of mountains, many of them
rising to towering heights, the highest, indeed, east of the Rocky
Mountains. It is bounded on the east by the Blue Ridge and on the west
by the Smoky Mountains. The section inclosed within these limits is in
shape somewhat like an ellipse. Its length is about one hundred and
eighty miles; its average breadth from twenty to fifty miles. It is a high
plateau, from the plane of which many lofty mountains everywhere rise,
and on its border the culminating points of the Appalachian system--the
Roau, the Grandfather and the Black--lift their heads to the sky.
Between the mountains are fertile valleys, plentifully watered by
streams, many of them remarkable for their beauty. The mountains
themselves are wooded, except a few which have prairies on their
summits, locally distinguished as "balds." This section has long been
one of the favorite resorts of the tourist and the painter.
5. The Middle section lies between the Blue Ridge and the falls where
the rivers make their descent into the great plain which forms the
Eastern section of the State. Its area comprises nearly one-half of the
territory of the State. Throughout the greater part it presents an endless
succession of hills and dales, though the surface near the mountains is
of a bolder and sometimes of a rugged cast. The scenery of this section
is as remarkable for quiet, picturesque beauty, as that of the Western is
for sublimity and grandeur.
6. The Eastern section is a Champaign country; relieved, however, by
gentle undulations. Its breadth is about one hundred miles. Its principal
beauty lies in its river scenery and extensive water prospects.
7. The cultivated productions of the Mountain section are corn, wheat,
oats, barley, hay, tobacco, fruits and vegetables. Cattle are also reared
quite extensively for market. In the Middle section are found all the
productions of the former, and over the southern half cotton appears as

the staple product. In the Eastern section cotton, corn, oats and rice are
staple crops, and the "trucking business" (growing fruits and vegetables
for the Northern markets), constitutes a flourishing industry. The
lumber business, and the various industries to which the long- leaf pine
gives rise, tar, pitch and turpentine, have long been, and still continue
to be, great resources of wealth for this section. Of the crops produced
in the United States all are grown in North Carolina except sugar and
some semi-tropical fruits, as the orange, the lemon and the banana. The
wine grapes of America may be said to have their home in North
Carolina; four of them, the Catawba, Isabella, Lincoln and
Scuppernong, originated here.
8. The physical characteristics of the State will be better understood by
picturing to the mind its surface as spread out upon a vast declivity,
sloping down from the summits of the Smoky Mountains, an altitude of
near seven thousand feet, to the ocean level. Through the range of
elevation thus afforded, the plants and trees (or what is comprehended
under the term flora) vary from those peculiar to Alpine regions to
those peculiar to semi- tropical regions.
9. The variety of trees is most marked, including all those which yield
timber employed in the useful and many of those employed in the
ornamental arts. Indeed, nearly all the species found in the United
States, east of the Rocky Mountains, are found in North Carolina. Her
wealth in this respect will be appreciated when the striking fact is
mentioned that there are more species of oaks in North Carolina than in
all the States north of us, and only one less than in all the Southern
States east of the Mississippi. This range of elevation affords also a
great variety of medicinal herbs. In fact, the mountains of North
Carolina are the 'storehouse' of the United States for plants of this
description.
QUESTIONS.
1. Of what does this chapter treat? Give the latitude and longitude of
North Carolina. What are its eastern and western boundaries? Give its
dimensions.
2. What is said of the climate of North Carolina? Name the causes of
this mildness of climate.
3. What is said of the seasons? Of fogs, snow and ice? Of the rainfall?
4. Into how many natural divisions is the State formed? Name them.

Describe the Mountain section. Point it out on the map.
5. Give a description of the Middle or Piedmont section. Locate this
section on the map.
6. What is said of the Eastern