J 84 



THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



large farm, wp p'nall readily perceive ihut the 

 small rich (iniii has greatly lln' :Klvai)ta{;e over 

 tbe large oue ol' midcllirig ruiality. The crops 

 ai-e esliliiated ut a lair value to teed to slock, on 

 both liirnis. The small larni, having the great- 

 est aiiiotiiit of produce, will have in the spring 

 the createsl amoiiiil of nianin-e in the yards, 

 which is all put upon 4 acres of this already rich 

 land, while the nianure on the large farm is 

 spread over 13 acres of this middling latid. I 

 wish to ask, w-hether with such inaiiagemcnt, it 

 does not look reasonable that snch crops as are 

 stated in the small farm s.ccount may not reason- 

 ably lie cxpecteil. 1 will here add that they are 

 stated accoi'ding- to ciojis produced on my own 

 farm, which have l)eon measured and weighed ; 

 and they have greatly been exceeded, according 

 to statements in which I place confidence from 

 other parts of the country. 



It may be asked how are we to get om- lands 

 into this high state of cultivation. I answer by 

 paying more attention to the making and saving 

 of mantu-e. What tarmer is there amongst us 

 that coidd not, by keeping his yards well sup- 

 )>lied with turf, or muck, oi' some other substance 

 BufRcient to absoib the liquids of the yard, make 

 double or treble his ]n-esent quantity of manure.' 

 That it costs capital, or labor, which is the sanje 

 as money, to bring up land into this high state, I 

 liiiinit; but what 1 am endeavoring to show is, 

 that it is lar better to expend capital in improv- 

 ing our land, than to expend it in increasing the 

 number of our acres. — Carry out this system of 

 farming, and Conneccticut can supjiort one and a 

 hnlfimUions of inhabitants from agTiculture alone. 

 How many one himdred acre farms there are 

 amongst us which now give but a scanty support 

 to one lamilv, but which might by labor judici- 

 ously ai)plied, be made to support five such fam- 

 ilies in com[)arative opulence. 



It is astoifishing what can be done on a single 

 acre of groimd by proper ctdtivation. There is 

 not probably, tw'enty acres of land, in the State 

 of Connecticut, lying in one bod}', but might be 

 i I proved; and I very much doubt whether there 

 is a sijig/e acre lint what might be made better 

 than it now is, by giving it a more perfect culti- 

 vation, or by adding some ingredient to its soil 

 Vom-s, very respectfiillv, 



Bloomfidd, Oct. 26, 18-10. D. W. Grant. 



A Lecture on Geology, 



PELIVEaED AT BATH, ?i. 11. OCT. 21, ] 8 10, BY 

 DR. M. F. MORRISOK. 



Geology is that science, which gives a history 

 of the physical revolutions of different ages, from 

 an examination of the changes they have appa- 

 rently produced ; with a description of those ma 

 terials which compose the terrcs oxidte or o.xidi 

 zed crust of the earth. 



Tlie ages whicli are marked by revolutions pe 

 culiarto eacli, are three; tbe chaotic, the organ 

 ic and the historic. 



By the first is meant a time anterior to the ex 

 istence of organic life; apparently of intense 

 heat, followed by the convulsive energies of vol- 

 canic action. 



By the second we coittem plate an age when 

 the crust ot the earth had become sufficiently 

 consolidated, and the condensed waters had at- 

 tained a reduction of temper'attn-e compatible 

 with the more simply organized fonns of animal 

 and vegetable bcintr- 



By the third or historic age, reference is had to 

 a still later period of universal renovation, when 

 after a series of dread convulsions and wide 

 spread revolutions, the earth assumed its present 

 form, adapted to the wants and capacities of in- 

 tellectual existence, and inan became its inhabi- 

 tant. 



Philosoiiliy asserts as a probable fact, and 

 chemistry goes strong to prove the assertion, that 

 the original state of this globe was that of a burn- 

 ing mass of fluid lava. The proofs are, 



1. The continuance of volcanic action ; more 

 than two hundred of our mountains still being 

 active volcanoes, these with the existence of 

 thermal springs and elevation of temj)erature as 

 we descend into the earth, prove conclusively 

 that intense lieat even to fusion still e?;ists and is 

 in action beneath us. 



3. The oxidized crust of llie globe, the result 

 in all cases of combustion, confirms the univer- 

 snlitv of tlinl action over the earth : and 



3. The crjstaline Ibrm of the primitive rocks, 

 the product of igneous fluidity, cooled down by 

 glow reduction imdcr high |iressure, sustains the 

 idea of its long continued action. 



Many of the objections which formerly existed 

 against the igneous origin of our crystalinc 

 rocks have been removed by the analysis and 

 synthesis of the chemist. Sir James Hall repro- 

 duced the chrystalline rocks from their ]iulverizcd 

 ingredients by the aid of a high tem|ierature, 

 and strong pressure. Professor riiitscherlich pro- 

 duced the same crystals by taking deliiiite |iro- 

 portions of their component elements, and Pro- 

 fessor Kersten found distinctly liiiMued crystals of 

 primitive felspar, a mineral which had resisted 

 every effort at chemical synthesis; upon the walls 

 of a fiu-nace prepared for the smelting of copper 

 ore from the slate of the Mansfield Hartz. 



The theory of the {/rimeval reign of fire is thus 

 supported by the logical reasoning of the most 

 scientific deductions. Tlie consequence of flu- 

 idity would be a concentration of the elements in 

 accordance with their specific gravities, and while 

 the denser metals would tend towards the centre, 

 tlie lighter would float upon the sin-fiice, and the 

 tluidsknown to us as natural products would be 

 vaporized and form ^vith the gases the surroun- 

 ding atmosphere. And could the ken of hiunan 

 vision from the region of a more congenial clime 

 have penetrated the gloom which veiled our 

 planet at this period, it ivould have brought to 

 view an ocean of fire, visible alone from the lurid 

 light of its own reflections upon the dark cloud 

 winch overshadowed it. And the grandeur of 

 the scene might have been heightened perhaps by 

 the calm tranqtallity which prevailed ujion its 

 surface: and ages might have rolled away before 

 the conflicting elements commenceil their convul- 

 sive energies. The grand agencies of renovation 

 were the antagonist principles of heat and cold. 



By the reduction of teinpernttue a thin 

 crtist of partially consolidated lava would be 

 formed, and the condensed waters settling upon 

 the half cooled mass would shiver the surface to 

 atoms, and dissipate the waters again into vapor 

 Acting upon masses of different densities and dil^ 

 ferent capacities for heat, cavities and elevation? 

 would be formed ; and ilie waiers again coiiden 

 sing and flowing into the chastns, the explosions 

 woidd be repealed and reiterated, becoming more 

 and more intense and powerful imtil a deiuh 

 and firmness was obtained suflicient to form an 

 o])posing barrier to the warring elements. Hence 

 arose a scries of revolutions, chaotic indeed in 

 character, yet harmonious iu their residt and 

 highly beneficial in their design. 



The frsi of these was the production of vast 

 quantities of sand, the result of the collision of 

 the waters with the surface lava. For although 

 we consider the masses of clay as sedimentary 

 dejiosites, we can view the sands only as the re- 

 sult of extensive and long continued abrasion. 

 They woidd not only enter largely into tlte com- 

 position of the primary and secotidary rocks, but 

 as a non-conductor of caloric they would be of 

 essential service in the grand pi'ocess of reno'i 

 tiou. If at the same time we take into view the 

 immense bodies of sand now in existence, net 

 only in the beds of seas and rivers and within 

 the stratified formation of the earth, but frequent- 

 ly forming immense deserts upon its surface, 

 where the winds rage with a violence only equal- 

 led iipuii tile scjircely more fluid ocean of waters ; 

 we imist attribute their origin to more sudden 

 and powerful causes than the long continued ac- 

 tion of the elements upon the surface strata. 



A second was the formation of liasiii-like 

 cavities filled with marine waters and surroun- 

 ded with narrow Isthmuses -vhich prevailed so 

 generally at the close of the chaotic age. These 

 basins were as extensive in luunber [irobably as 

 the universality of the commotions wjiich produ- 

 ced them. That such a disi/osition of the earth 

 did exist, we have full aiifl satisfactory evidence 

 around us in the disposition of the strata and the 

 fossil remains both marine and lacustrine wJiicli 

 prevail in all the level or geiitly imdulating sec- 

 tions in every part of the globe. The London 

 and Wealdcn basins in England, the Paris and 

 Artesian basins iu France, and the Vienna and 

 Epplesheim basins of Germany, reniai . ])orpet- 

 ual monuments both of the corrcctne-.^s of this 

 conclusion, and the beneficent wisdom of the 

 design. Filled afterwards with the disruptured 

 materials of volcanic elevations, mixed in some 



instances, with the vegetable elemeiits of coal, 

 and in others with crystaline masses r)f common 

 salt, and stratified iu all by a repetition of marine 

 or lacustrine sedimentary depositcs, they present 

 an arrangenientof the highest importance not on- 

 ly to the progress of civilization and the arts, but 

 even to the habitability of the globe. 



To illustrate this position we have only to con- 

 sider liir a moment the inconveniences which 

 might have attended other forms- of arrange- 

 ment. Had the earth's surface presented only 

 one unvaried mass of granite or of kua, or had 

 its nucleus been surroimded by entiie concentric 

 coverings of stratified rocks, a single stratum on- 

 ly would have been accessible to the inhabitants 

 and the varied intermixtures of limestone, clay 

 and sandstone, which under the actuid disposition 

 are so advantageous and necessary to the beauty 

 and fertility of the earth, would have had no 

 place. The highly valuable mineral treasures al- 

 so of coal, table salt and metallic ores, confined 

 as they chiefly are to the older formations would 

 have been wholly inaccessible, and we should 

 have been destitute of all those essential elements 

 of industry and civilization. 



But the sim ile arrangement of basins causes 

 not only the mineral deposites but the permeable 

 and impermeable stratified depositories of fresh 

 water to he brought to the surfiice around their 

 circumference rendering their contents accessi- 

 ble at tlie same titne by sinking mines or wells 

 in almost every jiart of their respective areas. 

 As a supply of fresh water is essential both to 

 animal and vegetable existence, the adjustment ol 

 the earth's surface to this important jiurpose af- 

 fords one among the many proofs of consummate 

 w isdoni in its formation. 



The filling up of the basins may receive some 

 illustration by supposing a series of metallic 

 bowls, lessening in size, placed one within the 

 other, and corresponding to the impermeable 

 strata of clay while their interstices are filled 

 with sand and might represent the alternating 

 permeable strata of sand and sandstone. These 

 last receive rain water at their surface which de- 

 scending, until arrested by the subjacent bed of 

 cla}', accumii'ate throughout the porous strata, 

 forming extensive reservoirs, the overfl.owing of 

 whic!) on the sides of valleys constilute the ordi- 

 nary supply of springs and rivers. These are 

 modified again by fractures and dislocations in 

 the strata, Ibrming faults and dikes which serve 

 as dams in their respective areas. Hence if a 

 well is sunk to the water bearing level of any 

 strata it forms a communication w ith a perfect 

 subterranean sheet of that fluid which rises to 

 its summit levej by hydrostatic pressure. The 

 valley of Artois in France is surrounded by an 

 elevated range of hills, no where broken by deep 

 valleys of denudation. Hence l>y lioring a small 

 hole through ihe impermeable sliuta to the per- 

 meable, they obtaiu perpetually flowing artificial 

 fountains. These wells arc called fioni the val- 

 le}' V, hence they had their origin Arlcsiuii wells, 

 aiul by inserting tubes into their orifices, water 

 of any quality may be conducted from any requir- 

 ed depth up through the intervening strata to tbe 

 surface. At Perpigran and Tours the Ujiward 

 pressure is suff.cienily powerful to eject a cannon 

 iiall tiirown into the tubes, and at Rousilloii the 

 water is throivn up to the distance of from forty 

 to fifty feet above the surface. These wells liave 

 been successfully found in the I,ondon basin, in 

 Lincolnshire ami other parts of Englaiid, in Ital3', 

 Holland, China, and North .'\raerica, and it is in 

 contemplation by the Pacha of Egypt to con- 

 struct these wells along the thorough-ftires of the 

 Afi ican deserts, particularly alons the main road 

 v.liich crosses the isthmus of Suez. The extent 

 of these basins may be imagined from the size 

 of the great chain of American lakes, and the sea 

 of the Caspian }et unfilled, and the Wealden ba- 

 sin a stratified formation in England, w Inch is 

 two hundred miles in diameter, with a depth of 

 two thousand feet. 



A third result of pyrotechnic phenomena was 

 the formation of the primilive chrystalline rocks. 

 These are granite, gneiss, mica slate, ]irimordJal 

 limestone, hornblend rocks, talcose slates, green- 

 stones, serpentines, porphyries and clay slates. 

 Many of these are comjiomid iu tlieir structure, 

 and the simple minerals which enter into their 

 composition, and uniting with the debris of the 

 primary rocks enter into ihe composiilou of the 

 secoiulnrv strata, are argillite, chlorite, felspar, 



