CORRESP ONDEN CE. 



837 



large number of them) on my place is a nat- 

 ural well, but varying in depth, proving that 

 the ground on which these trees sprouted 

 was not level, or at least that the level was 

 changed from time to time. I have one of 

 these wells in my stable-yard ; it is about 

 four feet in diameter and nine feet in depth. 

 I cut the stump off level with the ground, 

 floored it over, and placed a pump in it, and 

 in the driest seasons it furnishes abundant 

 water for my stock. I have about fifteen 

 dug wells on my place, all within the space 

 of two square miles ; the depth of the water- 

 surface in these varies from eight to fifteen 

 feet. A large curbed well stands in my gin- 

 house, within twenty feet of the bank of the 

 river, and to-day the water stands in this 

 well at least fifteen above the surface of the 

 stream, and is in no manner affected by its 

 rise or fall. It would not be difficult to 

 form a reasonable theory to account for the 

 deeply-rooted cypresses, but the formation 

 and existence of the wells require the pre- 

 sumption of an enormous deposit of clay, 

 and to account for the presence of the lat- 

 ter is the difficulty. The Mississippi brings 

 down in suspension a comparatively small 

 portion of argillaceous material, but it is 

 certainly here in a solid stratum, and it 

 came at a period subsequent to the sprout- 

 ing of the old cypress-trees, for it is highly 

 improbable that a tree should send down a 

 tap-root eighteen feet, and then spread out 

 its lateral supports. The cypresses, forty 

 years old, make no such indications, but 

 have their radical processes corresponding 

 with those of the other trees of the forest. 

 James B. Craighead. 

 Nodena, Arkansas, August 1, 1883. 



WORK OF SHOD AND UNSHOD HORSES. 

 Messrs. Editors : 



In the February number of your maga- 

 zine appears an article, by Arthur F. Ast- 

 ley, on the " Working Capacity of Unshod 

 Horses," in which the writer states, "J 

 New Mexico, horses are ridden barefoot forty 

 miles day after day, and perhaps twenty miles 

 of this xoill be over a rough mountain-track.' 1 '' 

 Now, I have served with my regiment in New 

 Mexico for several years, most of the time 

 as post-quartermaster, having large numbers 

 of both horses and mules under my charge. 

 While it is true that most horses are ridden 

 unshod by the natives in the valleys, where 

 the roads are sandy and soft, it should be 

 borne in mind that even there the majority 

 do so simply because they are too poor to 

 have their horses shod ; but, when it comes 

 to traveling over rough mountain-tracks, the 

 writer's statement is simply absurd. The 

 Indians (Apaches) understand the inability 

 of unshod horses to travel over mountain- 

 trails so well, that they cover their horses' 

 feet with raw-hide bags, and, when the latter 



wear out, the horses soon become disabled, 

 and I have frequently found Indian horses 

 abandoned on the trail, with their hoofs 

 bleeding and worn, and the poor animals in 

 a most pitiful plight. Again, when Indians 

 are enlisted as scouts, they furnish their own 

 mount, and, when reaching the post, they 

 always request to have their horses shod. 

 There can be no question that a properly- 

 shod horse has a superior working capacity, 

 but I confess that most shoeing, from the 

 ignorance of the average farrier, is simply a 

 process of torture and violation of nature, 

 and crippled horses are the result. Most 

 farriers place the horse upon an iron tripod, 

 the weight of the animal resting entirely 

 upon three points of the foot, and those not 

 the parts intended to bear the shock of 

 travel, or to sustain his weight. The posi- 

 tion of the frog becomes one of hopeless 

 inaction, and the motion of the unsupported 

 bones within the hoof produces inflamma- 

 tion at the points of extreme pressure. But 

 I did not intend to write an essay on horse- 

 shoeing. 



Respectfully, yours, 



Theodore Smith, 

 Lieutenant, United States Army. 

 "Washington, D. C, February 17, 1884. 



AMERICAN LOESS-DEPOSITS. 

 Messrs. Editors: 



I have just read Mr. D. W. Williams's 

 interesting article in your December issue 

 on " The Loess-Deposits of Northern China," 

 and am rather surprised to find no allusion 

 therein, by way of comparison or otherwise, 

 to the very extensive loess-deposits of the 

 United States especially, since it was here, 

 in the valley of the Mississippi, that this 

 peculiar soil was first studied and named 

 loess by Sir Charles Lyell, during his second 

 visit to the United States in 1846. 



Mr. Williams speaks of the loess-beds 

 of China as among the most remarkable 

 and important geological phenomena hith- 

 erto brought to light in Middle Asia, and 

 says " the term loess has been used to des- 

 ignate a tertiary deposit appearing in the 

 Rhine Valley, along the Danube, and in 

 several isolated sections of Europe," etc. 

 But the loess-beds of Nebraska, alone, ex- 

 ceed in extent of area those of all Europe 

 combined ; and their aggregate extent with- 

 in the States of Nebraska and Minnesota 

 and the Territory of Dakota falls but little, 

 if any, below that of the loess-beds proper 

 of Northern China. It is believed that the 

 total extent in square miles of this deposit 

 within the* States and Territories drained by 

 the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers exceeds 

 that within the Chinese provinces drained 

 by the Yellow, the Wei, and the northern 

 tributaries of the Tangtse. 



Mr. Williams does not give any analyses 



