LOW HEADED FRUIT TREES AND ATMOSPHERIC CHANGES. 



131 



ner; for which she is neither thankful nor 

 disposed to submit to patiently. She has 

 her own ways, her times and seasons, her 

 own conductors and non-conductors, her 

 marks and bounds, and does not thank us 

 for our interferences and meddlings. She 

 never licensed us to use her thunder and 

 lightning for political purposes, or to catch 

 thieves and rogues with. She dislikes our 

 golden calf and iron horse worship, and 

 will not suffer man to steam himself along 

 to his millenium with such accompany- 

 ments. She hates monopolies and exclu- 

 sive privileges, and would manage her own 

 affairs in her own way, and in her own 

 times and seasons. 



But metaphors aside, I believe our ten 

 thousand miles of railroads and telegraphs 

 are the cause, the true and primary cause, 

 of nearly all this blight and disease, of 

 which we hear so much from all directions. 

 We heard nothing of this loud complain- 

 ing till we had long lines of railroads and 

 telegraphs. We had no potato rot before, 

 nor such numberless destructive insects, 

 and curses and reproaches to load them 

 with. Why not ? How can railroads ef- 

 fect the matter, and produce such evils ? 

 That they do, I have no more doubt than I 

 have that suitable conductors will protect 

 a building from destruction by lightning. 

 That they are strong conductors of the 

 electric fluid, no one can deny. That they 

 operate to conduct this fluid from the at- 

 mosphere, carry it off, or diffuse it too 

 much, so that there is a deficiency in the 

 same for a healthy vegetable or animal 

 life, is at least very probable, if not cer- 

 tain. So we have tree blight, potato rot, 

 cholera, and all manner of ills. The at- 

 mosphere, in its natural state, is positive, 

 and the earth negative, electrically. Such 

 natural relationship seem now to be de- 

 stroyed, or much disturbed, and the effects 



are visble enough in many ways, and, I 

 doubt not, will grow more and more so for 

 years to come. For the last six or eight 

 years, or more, we have had dry seasons, 

 or times of drouth, long enough to mate- 

 rially injure vegetation. The present sea- 

 son it has been unusually long and severe. 

 Throughout New-England, it has been 

 from ten to twelve weeks' continuance, 

 without rain enough to moisten the roots of 

 corn and potatoes; nor have similar sea- 

 sons been uncommon of late years. We 

 have had but two or three bits of thunder 

 showers this season, (up to Aug. 10th,) and 

 no one of them big enough to more than 

 lay the dust for a day, although there were 

 six days in succession in June, commencing 

 the 19th, hot enough for a tropical August. 

 On the 19th and 20th, the thermometer 

 rose to 92' in the shade. On the 21st and 

 22d, it reached 100°; and on the 23d and 

 24th, 92°. July 11th, 12th and 13th, the 

 mercury rose to 98,° 99° and 101°, on a 

 fair trial in the shade. Now is not a 

 blazing sun, — capable of giving the mer- 

 cury such an awful elevation, and keeping 

 it there so long, with such paucity of elec- 

 tricity that not a cloud floats the blue ethe- 

 real, big enough for a parasol, — sufficient 

 cause for the potato and other rots, blights 

 and withenngs? Fruits fairly exposed to 

 the sun in some places are literally baked. 

 So are potatoes oftentimes in the hill done 

 brown, like a herring at the roasting. Now 

 with this, to me, all sufficient cause, mani- 

 fest enough too I should think, why all 

 this moonshine of insect theories, visible 

 or invisible ? 



The electric fluid is as important in the 

 animal and vegetable economy as air and 

 water, and should not be disturbed, or 

 turned from its natural workings. That it 

 is, very effectually, by so many railroads 

 and telegraphs, I have no doubt. Thus 



