238 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



changed with strata of marine remains. They consist of bones of 

 animals, or vegetables whose species chiefly are extinct, or whose 

 genera now flourish in warmer climates, the bones being often of ani- 

 mals of enormous size, either because such were common, or because 

 they have endured longer. Vegetables in particular are often found 

 imbedded in coals, and coal seams are in general considered as con- 

 solidations of ancient forests. In Iceland a forest was lately found 

 with the trees erect, fifty or sixty feet below the surface of the earth, 

 and prostrate forests have been found in Lancashire and Lincolnshire. 

 LANDMARK. A mark to designate the boundary of land ; any 

 mark or fixed object ; as a marked tree, a stons, a ditch, or a heap of 

 stones, by which the limits of a farm, a town, or other portion of ter- 

 ritory may be known and preserved. In ancient times the correct 

 division of lands was an object of great importance ; and various 

 means were adopted to give distinctness and permanency to the 

 boundaries of every man's property. Stones and hillocks were the 

 most usual landmarks. The importance of this subject among the 

 Israelites particularly, may be judged of from the denunciation of 

 Moses : " Cursed be he who remove th his neighbor's landmark." 



LANDSCAPE. A portion of land or territory which the eye can 

 comprehend in a single glance, including mountains, rivers, lakes, 

 and whatever else the land contains. Also, a picture, exhibiting the 

 form of a district of country, as far as the eye can reach, or a particu- 

 lar extent of land and the objects it contains, or its various scenery, is 

 called a landscape. It would be wise when locating houses in the 

 country, to select sites that combine all the elements that can be had 

 for a beautiful landscape. After a judicious choice of site is thus 

 made, the buildings should be designed so as to harmonize with, and 

 give additional effect to the natural scenery. Most persons do not 

 seem to be aware how much pleasure in the course of life they would 

 experience from due attention to this subject. All this costs but little, 

 but it gives commercial value to a country residence, an hundred fold 

 beyond what is expended in outlay for it. What passing traveller 

 does not stop to admire the tasteful and economical cottage, with 

 appropriate outbuildings and fences with trees and shrubs with 

 lawns and mounds with flowers, gravel walks, and terraces and, 

 also it may be with gurgling rills, or overflowing fountains ! It is 

 not to be supposed very many can have enough of these artistic or 

 even natural decorations to deserve the name of landscape gardening; 

 but most persons may indulge themselves a little in such emanations 

 of a well cultivated taste. That an admiration of such scenery is an 

 innate quality of the human mind, is too well known to need proof. 



LAND SPRINGS. Land springs are sources of water which 

 only come into action after heavy rains ; while constant springs, which 

 derive their supplies from a more abundant source, flow throughout 

 the year. All springs owe their origin to rains. In the case of land 





