eastern highlands of Middle Tennessee, which it borders. It is fully 1,300 to 1,400 feet in mean elevation above the great fertile and populous central valley of Middle Tennessee. The Cumberland tablelands have comparatively few streams, the chief one being the Sequatchie, which flows along the western base of Walden's Ridge, which divides the Cumberland region from the great valley of East Tennessee, The Sequatchie empties into the Tennessee River at a spot a few miles only from the place where it crosses the State line on the southern line of Marion County. The mountains of the Cumberland country are as a whole well covered by nutritious grass, which affords good pasturage during eight or nine months of each year. They are swept by breezes from the southwest and west, which make them cool, comfortable, and healthful ranges in the hottest weather. In winter the stock easily find shelter in the hollows between the hills from cold winds from the northwest, toward which the surface of the region as a whole slopes. In the mountains of nearly all of this range stock may be successfully pastured at a cost cven less than that of keeping cattle on the plains of the far West, for in the Cumberland Mountains there is little need of herding, nor of the expensive and frequent "round-ups" required on the open range of the western plains. Owners of stock in East Tennessee have the additional advantage of being so near the great markets of the Atlantic coast that the cost of reaching them with fat beeves is trifling as compared with cost of putting into those markets cattle grown on the plains of Texas, New Mexico, or other western Territories and States. The gains which can be made from stock-growing in Tennessee are so great, and the country appears to be so much better fitted by nature for this business than for profitable cultivation, that there is cause for the wonder expressed by intelligent Tennesseeans that beef-growing has not become the most important if not the sole occupation of most of the inhabitants. The country is so sparsely inhabited that by far the greater part of the land may be used for pasture. There were in 1880 only 8.9 people per square mile. At that time they had 6.78 cattle per square mile, or 773 head per 1,000 inhabitants. For each head of cattle there were 94.4 acres of land. The distribution of cattle in the seven counties lying wholly or in part on the Cumberland Mountains, and the quantity of milk, butter, and cheese sold from farms in each of those counties during the year covered by the last census of the United States, were as stated below. It is regretted that all attempts to gather later trustworthy information of this kind have failed, although earnest efforts have been made by the Bureau of Agriculture (Mines and Commerce of Tennessee) to fully cover the ground:

Anderson County lies partly on the Cumberland Mountains and in part in the edge of the great valley of East Tennessee. The county is exceedingly broken in surface, and contains much land that, while it is rich in mineral resources, is poorly adapted to farming or for pastoral purposes. Nevertheless the county contains 12.4 cattle per square mile, which is very nearly double the number per square mile possessed by the Cumberland region as a whole. Of its entire supply of cattle 36.4 per cent. were milch cows, while of all the cattle in the seven table-land counties 28.9 per cent. were cows. Of butter Anderson County sold from her farms an average of 50.1 pounds, the average quantity per cow in the seven counties having been 45 pounds. This superiority over the other counties is doubtless due to the fact that Anderson County is near Knoxville, and has felt for a long time the influence of a good market for the products of the dairy. Yet, with all the advantage of good markets, little improvement in the quality of the stock of the county has been attempted.

Sequatchie, Marion, and Bledsoe Counties have running through their entire lengths the narrow and originally fertile limestone valley of the Sequatchie River. Farmers in this valley have allowed their cattle to graze at will on the mountains, which shut off every harsh wind and afford abundant pasturage. From this long valley there is no outlet except by tedious ways over the steep rocks of Walden's Ridge to Chattanooga, 50 or 60 miles away, or down the valley to Jasper, in Marion County, almost as far distant. The chief crop grown in the valley was for many years, if it is not now, indeed, maize, which was fed to swine and cattle. When fat these were driven in great numbers over the mountains to Chattanooga, and from that point were shipped by rail to market. In this, as in the other counties in which this valley lies, stock-growing has for many years been recognized as being the most profitable of all farming operations possible to the inhabitants. The stock are driven in March or April to the mountain pastures, where they remain until November, coming home in good condition for market. The only cost is that of herding and salting.

The eastern edge of the Cumberland Mountain system forms one of the borders of the remarkable valley of East Tennessee, which is a broad, nearly flat trough having a deeply corrugated bottom. The wrinkles or folds in the rocks which underlie this valley seem to have been formed by the upheaval of the Unaka chain of the Appalachian Mountain system. These rocks appear to have been in part worn away by waters of which the Tennessee River, flowing through the entire length of the valley, is the representative. These left long narrow ridges and deep confined furrows occupying the whole bottom of the great valley, all trending, with the mountains on each side, from the Virginia line west-southwest to the southern limit of the State of Tennessee. The valley is watered in every part by swift, pure streams which never fail, and grass grows in the forests and on the hills wherever sunlight falls. The hills furnish abundant pasturage in summer for the cattle, and the cost of pasturing a bullock through the year is nominal. The winters are warmer in this valley than on the mountains on either hand, for all northerly and cold west winds are cut off or thrown high above the valley by the ridges on the northwest, which rise from 600 to 1,200 feet above the bottom of the valley. The latter slopes regularly toward its southwestern end. which is some 600 feet lower than is the upper

end, at the Virginia line. The peculiar situation of the valley and its surroundings insures a comparatively low temperature in summer and mild winters, as the winds from the warm Gulf of Mexico draw up along the whole length, bringing warmth in winter and frequent rains in summer.

In the twenty counties which occupy these favored lands, covering 9,200 square miles and forming the largest of the eight great natural divisions of the State, there were in 1880 a total of 141,491 cattle. Of these 82,091 were steers, bulls, and other animals, not milch cows nor working oxen. Of milch cows there were 55,480 and of working oxen there were 3,920. The cows produced milk of which 178,456 gallons were sold by farmers in the year covered by the last United States census report; of butter 3,371,659 pounds were sold, and 47,869 pounds of cheese were sold in that year. In detail the number of cattle of each class in the several counties at the time mentioned, and the quantity of milk, butter, and cheese sold from farms are shown in the table subjoined:

When the last numbering of the live stock of Tennessee was done, Hawkins County, on the line of Virginia, had 444 working oxen, which was more than any other county in East Tennessee then had. Campbell County, in the extreme northwestern part of this division of the State, had 442 oxen, and Claiborne, also adjoining the Virginia line, had 410. Hancock County, between Claiborne and Hawkins Counties, and, like them, adjoining the Virginia line, was next in rank as far as relates to its supply of working cattle, having had 302. No other one of the twenty counties had 300 oxen. Of milch cows, Greene County, near the northeastern corner of the State, had 6,043; Knox County came next with 5,504, and Hawkins came third with 4,829. Of other cattle, Hawkins had 6,565, Knox County had 6,996, and Greene County had 8,520. Knox was first among the counties in the quantity of milk and butter sold; Greene County was second as to butter sold, and Hawkins was third. As to sales of cheese, Knox

County was first, Sullivan County, in the northeastern corner of the State, was second, and Greene County was third.

Doubtless the fact that Knoxville, the most important town in the valley, offered a ready market for dairy products, did much if not more than any one cause to encourage the development of dairying in Eastern Tennessee, and to put Knox County in the first place among all the counties of the valley in the quantity of milk, butter, and cheese sold; but others have ascribed the marked advance of the dairy industry there to the fact that the pastures have been carefully improved and extended, and to the other fact that numbers of Jersey cattle have been introduced, and have greatly increased the butterproducing powers of the general supply of cows. The importation of Jerseys had another effect usually noticed where purely-bred stock of any kind are taken into a neighborhood. Their appearance was followed by greater interest in the stock on hand, and the example set by owners of animals of great value led breeders of the common stock to give more liberal rations and better shelter and care generally to their cattle. Still, although Jerseys and a few HolsteinFriesian cattle have been taken to this valley, very few, if any, farms are devoted to dairying exclusively or even largely.

It is estimated that fully 20 per cent. of the cattle in the northern half of the great valley of East Tennessee have been improved by the influence of good blood. Some estimate the percentage of improvement as including many more cattle, one gentleman stating that 90 per cent. were grades; but this is obviously an error. It is known that Durham cattle were taken to this region fully fifty years ago by several planters; Jerseys were taken in thirty-five years ago by C. W. Chatterton, Devons ten years ago, and Holstein-Friesians in 1884, by C. M. McGhee. The last-named gentleman says of the cattle interest of the valley:

Seventy-five per cent. of the stock is unimproved, hardy, healthy, and good "shifters." The grades among our stock have touches of the blood of the Shorthorns, Jerseys, Devons, and Holsteins. Our cattle are generally grown for beef, and we have very few dairy farms. Every farmer, and almost every head of a family, keeps one or more cows. No cattle have ever been brought here for grazing or for fattening, but the calves born here are carefully saved, only a very small per cent. being sold for veal. The cattle raised on small farms are collected by the larger farmers, taken to the mountains east or west of us, or pastured on valley lands. In September quite large lots are collected, and at two years old are sold to Virginians as stockers. Therefore we prefer yearlings for grazing. Our best farmers winter two-year-olds on hay and stalk fodder; begin feeding grain in March, put them on grass in May, and sell them as fat cattle in the last half of June. Seventy per cent. are sold as stockers. The introduction of good blood and better management than of old has enabled us to market our cattle at least a year younger than they were marketed ten or fifteen years ago. Our beeves are shipped to Virginia or to Maryland.

Farming and grazing lands are worth $25 per acre; mountain lands, $2. Corn is worth 60 cents per bushel and hay $20 per ton here. The water supply of East Tennessee is pure spring-water. We have no swamps nor malaria. It is a model country. Orchard-grass, blue-grass, red-top, and clover are the forage plants most commonly found on our grazing lands. Of diseases of cattle none are known here, except an occasional case of milk sickness near the mountain foot-hills. Several years ago some Florida and Texas cattle in passing through killed all cattle that followed them in pasture. In fact, it may be said with truth that our cattle are absolutely healthy.

Mr. Thomas P. Graham, writing of the northern counties of the valley, says:

On pastures alone our cattle make from 80 to 100 pounds growth per month. They weigh from 1,100 to 1,300 pounds when turned off, being largely red or roan

Shorthorn grades. We never kill any calves here, keeping the males for beef and the heifers for breeding. They cost us nothing more than a little care an l an occasional salting, say once or twice a week. We usually provide them with open sheds for shelter in winter. We do not use any grain in fattening except a little corn; sometimes we use green or winter pasturage. As the sons in the family or the owners of the stock attend to cattle, no account of the cost of attendance can be given. It is nominal.

From Grainger County Mr. A. X. Shields writes:

Probably one-third of our cattle are one-fourth to one-half Shorthorn blood. About three-fourths of them are sent to market when grass fat, going usually to Petersburgh or to Norfolk, Va., or to Baltimore. Corn is worth 65 cents a bushel and hay $15 per ton. In addition to these we feed oats, barley, bran, and shorts. The cost of attendance on our herds is nominal; in fact, there is no data from which to estimate it. Winter feeding for market does not pay well here, and summer pasturing is much preferred. Our cattle are turned on good pasturage in February, and between April and the middle of June are sold. Orchard, timothy, red-top, and a mixture of blue-grass and clover are our forage plants. In 1884 some murrain appeared here; perhaps 20 head died in this section; otherwise the stock has been perfectly healthy.

It appears that a few stockers are taken from the mountains of western North Carolina to the valley counties of East Tennessee for grazing, and that of the matured beeves many are sent to market grass fat. Baltimore, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Charleston, and Atlanta are all markets to which cattle from this region are sent. J. W. Taylor, jr., of Grainger County, states that corn was worth Mr. 65 to 75 cents per bushel, hay $15, and straw $2.50 per ton. Of corn, 20 bushels, and of hay, 150 to 200 pounds per month are required in fattening a bullock fully. The cost of keeping cattle in summer is almost nothing. Mr. Taylor corroborates fully the statements of others about the healthfulness of the cattle.

A few cases of black-leg (anthrax) appeared in one of the counties adjoining Hancock County in 1884, and occasional cases of murrain have been seen in the northern part of the valley. In a letter, Mr. M. D. Fleener says that in Hancock and neighboring counties little feeding of cattle is done in summer, as cattle will live and fatten without it. The cost of caring for a bunch of cattle during the winter will not, in his estimation, exceed $13 to $15. Cane seed, pumpkins, and meal are the additions to the usual rations of corn, hay, and fodder, given to fattening stock.

The easternmost division of Tennessee consists of that part which lies on the western slope of the Unaka range of mountains, and has an area of 2,000 square miles of a mean elevation of 5,000 feet. In this division are seven counties, in which there were, in 1880, of population, 85,671, and of cattle, 46,586. This shows that there were an average of 23.3 cattle per square mile, while the population was 42.8 people per square mile. This is evidence that the people of these rocky counties have found that grazing is the most profitable branch of agriculture they can follow, and that they have adopted it more completely than have the people of the great valley, where there were only 15.4 cattle and 31.9 people to the mile. Moreover, the mountain counties sold an average of 11.9 pounds of butter per capita of population in the year covered by the last United States census, while those of the valley counties sold 11.5 pounds per capita, and those of the table-land counties sold 10.4 pounds. It is true that most of the counties in this division extend into the valley, but even there they are mountainous.