18 



Barn Yards — 'The Divinius Rod. 



Vol. IV. 



matter, and to be removed in common w'th 

 the other manures when employed for agricU- 

 tural purposes. The covering of earth should 

 always be renewed previous to the commence- 

 ment of the re-accumulation of putrescent 

 matter. When the stock of cattle and horses 

 are to be finally removed from the barn-yard 

 for the summer, the surface of the putrescent 

 manure sliould be covered with a mixture of 

 earth and hydrate of calcium. The effect of 

 this covering is of much importance, as it 

 serves to retain moisture, and to promote de- 

 composition. The hydrate of calcium being 

 soluble, a portion may be dissolved, and de- 

 scend into the putrescent matter; there, 

 meeting with carbonic acid, it becomes a 

 carbonate, and consequently insoluble. The 

 hydrate of calcium remaining on the surface, 

 will absorb the carbonic acid formed by the 

 putrefaction of the matter underneath. It 

 will also obtain a considerable quantity from 

 the atmosphere, thereby treasuring up a large 

 amount of the food of vegetables, to be used 

 at the discretion of the farmer, that would 

 otherwise have been lost. Previous to re- 

 moving the manure from the barn-yard, it 

 should be well mixed, forming an excellent 

 compost for any purpose that may be desired. 



July 19, 1839. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



The ©iviuiiBg Kod. 



" Felix qui poluit rcrura cognoscere causas." 



Sir, — I choose the somewhat hackneyed 

 quotation given above for a motto to the pre- 

 sent communication. 



It was Thomas Jefferson who said " er- 

 ror of opinion is seldom danirerous when 

 reason is left frfe to combat it;" but there 

 are so many error.s of opinion already exist- 

 ent in the world, that to add to them is as un- 

 wise as it is improper and unnecessary. Er- 

 ror is multiform, and may exist in a thousand 

 different shapes, while truth is a unit, and has 

 but one mode of existence. It has often been 

 my lot through somewhat of a long life, first 

 to correct the errors of opinions in my own 

 mind, and then in the minds of others. 



Editors of public journals cannot be held 

 responsible for all the errors that make their 

 appearance in their pages ; but as they have 

 a controlling influence over the press, and as 

 they are caterers for the public appetite, they 

 should exercise a wise and discriminating 

 influence in their selections. 



These introductory remarks have been 

 elicited by a communication in the last num- 

 ber of the Farmers' Cabinet, under the cap- 

 tion of" The Divining Rod," signed, ton, by 

 what I take to be a real name, .Tames Pkd- 

 DER, who treats the subject with as much 

 gravity as if it were absolutely true; while 



in my humble opinion, it is deserving of no 

 more attention than the long since exploded 

 belief in astrology, necromancy, and witch- 

 craft. 



It is now about forty years since I first 

 heard of the wonderful power of " The Di- 

 vining Rod ;" and a more egregious folly I 

 am sure never entered the mind of mortal. 

 A man by the name of Lewis, long since 

 dead, was the simplesubject of its operations. 

 Ho was a farmer, in middling circumstances, 

 who not satisfied by the slow gains of agri- 

 culture, was determined on taking a shorter 

 road to wealth by finding a mine of gold by 

 the magical operations of "The Divining 

 Rod." By the plausible pretensions of a 

 sharper, who professed to have the power of 

 using the rod, he was persuaded to sell his 

 farm, and go in quest of hidden treasures, in 

 the bowels of the earth. The rod was de- 

 scribed as being a forked hazel, in the form 

 of the letter Y, and the peculiar manner of 

 holding it was also described ; however, I 

 had, a short time after, an occular and prac- 

 tical demonstration of the rod, and the mode 

 of holding it. Being somewhat sceptical of 

 its powers, I took it in my own hands and 

 found a constant tendency in it to turn down. 

 It must be observed that in comparing it to 

 the letter Y, the tail is to be turned upward, 

 and it is to be grasped by the hands by turn- 

 ing the thumb of each hand outivard ; an 

 awkward and uneasy position of holding it, 

 and as soon as the attention is drawn oil', and 

 the^rm grasp relaxed, the tail, by the mo- 

 tion of the body in walking, necessarily turns 

 doivnivard. 



Now as it regards finding water in any 

 particular spot, what is there in it extraordi- 

 nary? It would indeed be e.xtraordinary to 

 find any particular spot on this globe where 

 water could not be found. Of the many 

 thousand wells that I have seen dug, I never 

 knew but one abandoned witiiout finding 

 water. 



Tlie instance in which I first saw the rod 

 in actual use, was in Cayuga county, in the 

 state of Now York. Being on a journey in 

 the year 1800, through that part of the coun- 

 try, [ saw a man by tiie road side about some- 

 thing that I did not at first comprehend, but 

 on closer inspection, I found he was using 

 what I had heard described by Lewis as the 

 Divining Rod. I stopped, entered into con- 

 versation with him, and found ho was a Doc- 

 tor of mGdicine, by the name, if I now recol- 

 lect right, of Cole. A distillery had lately 

 been erected, and as the quantity of water 

 afforded by a spring was found to be insnfl!i- 

 cient fur its operations, he was trying the rod 

 to ascertain whetiicr water could be found by 

 sinking a well. I asked what were the in- 

 dications, and whether he thought water 



