Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/611

NORTH CAROLINA 561 tive and more durable, producing 50 to 60 bushels of corn (maize) to the acre for a hundred years in succession without rotation and without manure. In the middle and western regions of the State the soils are of every variety of texture and composition and of every grade of fertility. They may be generally described as clayey, sandy, and gravelly loams ; but there is a considerable proportion of clay soils, not only in the alluvions of the numerous creek and river bottoms, which are commonly of this description, but on the uplands as well ; these are the more productive and durable. There are no prairie lands in the State, and the highest and ruggedest mountains are covered with soil and forests to their summits. Forests. The whole area of the State was originally forest -covered, and about two-thirds of it is still in the primitive condition, except that the woods are much denser in consequence of the cessation of the annual burnings by which the Indians kept down the brush and preserved them in an open park -like condition. The great variety of soils, together with the wide range of climate, gives rise to a remarkably rich and varied flora. "While the higher mountains of the western section are covered with forests of spruces and lirs and other trees common to Canada and the lake States, the seaboard section borrows from the Gulf States their live oak and long -leaf pine, their magnolias and palmettos. Of twenty -two species of oak found in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, nineteen occur here ; of eight pines, all are found in one section or another ; of five maples, all : of nine hickories, six ; of seven magnolias, all ; of five birches, three ; and so on. And nearly every one of the twenty kinds of timber used in New York ship yards is found here. There are three well-marked and broadly- distinguished forest regions in the State, corresponding to the three geographical divisions. Pines, chiefly the species australis and tseda, constitute the characteristic feature of the eastern forests, giving place in the lower swampy tracts, especially in the seaboard section, to the cypress and juniper. Oaks predominate in the middle and western regions, but the mountain forests contain oak, chestnut, hemlock, and white pine. The oaks, however, are also found in some of their species as a subordinate constituent of the forests throughout the eastern region, and several species of pine (chiefly P. mitis) are frequently mingled with the oaks to the western ex tremity of the State. The chestnut (Castan-ea vesca) is very abun dant, and, reaching a diameter of 8 to 10 feet and a height of 80 and 100 feet, often constitutes extensive forests throughout the mountains. The poplar (Liriodendron tulipifcra) is found in all the sections, but is most abundant in the western, where it equals the chestnut in dimensions. Hickories are distributed throughout the State wherever the soil is above average quality. This timber exceeds all the others in weight and strength. The total number of species of trees found in the State is 112, and there are just twice as many of shrubs, many of them 20 feet and upwards in height, which together give these forests everywhere an aspect of wonderful richness and variety, " comparing favourably with almost any portion of the tropics." 1 Among the trees are many valuable and popular cabinet woods, such as the walnut, holly, cherry, ash, cedar, birds-eye-maple, sycamore, &c. These forests are rapidly increasing in value as those of the northern States disappear and as the demand for timber increases. Population. In 1790, at the first United States census, the population was 390,000. In 1860, the year before the beginning of the Civil War, it had risen to 992,622, of whom 361,522 were coloured. In 1870 it was 1,071,861, an increase during this decade of less than 8 per cent. In 1880 it was 1,399,750 (531,277 coloured, and 1230 Indians). The foreign-born population numbered but 3742. The increase during the ten years 1870-80 was 30 6 per cent. ; the number of persons to the square mile was 29. The people of this State are among the most rural in the United States. The largest city does not contain 20,000 people, and only four exceed 4000, viz., Wilmington, 17 ; 350 ; Raleigh, 9265; Charlotte, 7094; New Berne, 6443. Industries. Agricultural pursuits engage three-fourths of the in habitants, cotton and rice being staple products of the east, and hay, live stock, buckwheat, and other north-temperate zone products, of the mountain region ; in one section or another may be found every agricultural product grown between the great lakes and the Gulf, except the orange. Indian corn occupies the largest acreage, and this and the other cereals are common to all sections. Cotton is raised in two-thirds of the counties. It is the chief market crop of the eastern and of the southern half of the middle region. The limit of cotton culture has extended northward 20 to 50 miles in the last fifteen years, and the produce has increased nearly threefold. In the northern half of the middle and Piedmont districts tobacco replaces cotton as the market crop. Within ten years its culture has extended into a large portion of the mountain region. The northern tier of counties, next to the Virginia border, is known as the Bright Tobacco Belt, the larger part of the yellow or gold-leaf tobacco of commerce being produced in this narrow zone. This crop lias also largely increased in the last ten years. The cultivation 1 See Dr Cooper, in "Forests and Forest Trees of North America," Smith sonian Report, 1858. of the vine is also increasing in all sections of the State. Accord ing to Humboldt s thermal criteria the whole State lies within the zone most favourable to this industry, His conclusions are con firmed by experience in every part of the State, and by the fact that several of the most popular grapes have originated here, such as the Catawba, Isabella, and Scuppernong. The following table gives the principal crops and their relative amounts at the two last enumerations : 1870. Indian corn 18,454,215 Wheat 2,859,879 Oats 3,220,105 Rye 352,006 Potatoes, Irish 738,803 ., sweet 3,071,840 Rice 2,059,281 Tobacco 11,150,087 Cotton 144,935 1SSO. 28,019,839 bushels. 8,897,393 ., 3,838^068 ,, 285.100 783J78 4,576,148 5,609,191 pounds. 26,986,213 , 389,598 bale s. The total number of farms in 1880 was 157,609 ; the average size 142 acres. Mining and other Industries. These, although of very subordinate interest, have long given occupation to a small portion of the popu lation. Gold was first discovered in 1819, and between that date and 1850 hundreds of gold and copper mines were opened in the middle and western sections, and many thousands of the population were occupied in these industries. The total product of the gold mines between those dates is estimated at about 810,000,000. In the last few years mining industries have received a new impulse. Iron ores are mined on a considerable scale for export, many new gold and copper mines have been opened, and the amount of the output of the various mining industries is increasing very notably. Mica mining began fifteen years ago in the mountain region, and has grown to considerable importance, much the larger part of this material found in commerce being produced here. The annual yield is about 40,000 ft>, and is continually increasing. The fisheries of the eastern rivers and sounds are large and profit able, and give employment to several thousand people. And in this region the getting of lumber, both in the pine forests and in the cypress and juniper swamps, has been an important source of profit since its first settlement. The manufactures of North Carolina occupy a very subordinate place, and are mainly domestic and auxiliary to the one dominant agricultural interest. The value of the total annual output, as given by the census of 1880, is 820,095,037. Of this sum 2,554,482 i.s derived from the manufacture of cotton goods, 2,215,154 from that of tobacco, 1,758,488 from turpentine and tar. Railroads and IVatcncni/s. In ten years the number of miles of railroad has been nearly doubled and is now within a few score miles of 2000. There are 1000 miles of waterways open to steamboat navigation, including rivers, bays, sounds, and canals, forming a nexus of lines of communication extending over the whole eastern and seaboard region and connecting with the various ports along the coast from Wilmington to Norfolk in Virginia. Government, Taxes, Education. The executive power is vested in a governor, lieutenant-governor, secretary of state, auditor, trea surer, superintendent of public instruction, and attorney-general, who are elected by ballot and hold office four years. The legisla tive power is vested in a general assembly, which consists of a senate of 50 members and a house of representatives of 1 20 members, who are elected for two years and hold biennial sessions. The judicial power is vested in a supreme court, superior courts, and courts of justices of the peace. The supreme court consists of a chief justice and two associate justices. The State is divided into nine judicial districts, and there is one superior court judge to each. The judges of the supreme and superior courts are elected by popular vote for a term of eight years. The justices of the peace, who administer the law in the counties, are appointed by the legislature. A capitation tax, which may not exceed $2, is levied for the support of a system of education. Other State taxes are levied ad valorem, and amount at present to 25 cents on each $100 worth of property, and this on a very low valuation. The public debt is 5,706,616. The total assessed valuation of property is 156,100,202; the real value is about 300,000,000. A system of public schools is established by law and supported by funds derived from State taxes, and increased by county and municipal levies. The schools are required to be kept open four months in the year. The receipts of the school fund for 1880 were 553,464. History. The coast of North Carolina was the scene of the first effort of the English to colonize America. In the years 1585 to 1587 Sir Walter Raleigh despatched hither five fleets in succession, and planted three small colonies, which disappeared one after the other and left no trace. In consequence of these failures, due in large measure to the peculiar conformation of this difficult coast and the want of good harbourage, the next expedition, twenty years later, was directed to strike the coast farther north, about the mouth of the James river, where the first permanent settlement was effected ; and no further attempt at direct colonization from Europe was made for three quarters of a century. Thus, instead of being the first of the American colonies in point of time, the colony of XVII. 71