of the seasons. Fogs are almost unknown; frosts occur not until
the middle of October; ice rarely forms of a sufficient thickness
to be gathered; snows are light, seldom remaining on the ground
more than two or three days. 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