1S37] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



87 



iiior hodifos at once. The idea tliat when fliirly es- 

 talilislioil, tliey vvUl never nooii removal, would in- 

 p|)ire a deixree of securiU^ whioli cannot be lelt, by 

 those persons who are in tiie liabit of patci\in<i; up 

 decayed tonces, and caiculatinir the value of a rail 

 in resisting the depredations ol" stock. 



T. S. Pleasants. 



Goochland CO unl 11, I'd. 



Fiom the (Brit.) Mining Journal. 

 A NEW COKSTEUCTION OF RAILWAYS. 



iVIr. Perkins has just exhibited a new plan of 

 railways, which he has secured by patent, and 

 which troni the explanation given by him, would 

 appear calculated to supply the desideratum so 

 lonsr desired, and indeed appears to form an era in 

 the progress of those great national undertakings 

 towards perfection. The plan embraces two 

 modes of construction, founded on one common 

 principle, viz: the continuous support of the rails. 

 In the one case this is eiiected by blocks of vitrified 

 earth, as hard and durable as granite, and which 

 Jock into one another, being laid on a concrete 

 foundation; and in the other, by an additional 

 depth of concrete supplying the place of sleepers 

 altogether. Upon the former plan, wooden bear- 

 ers, four inches in the base, ibur thick, two Avide, 

 on the top, rest upon the vitrified blocks; and in 

 the latter, upon the concrete, to which they are 

 firmly secured. In both cases, iron bars, with the 

 means afforded for expansion and contraction, are 

 fixed on the wooden beams, and the foundation 

 being continuous and solid, in fact like one block 

 of granite the whole length of tiie road, no vibra- 

 tion is felt, as the numerous persons who rode in 

 the wagon unanimously testified; and this is an 

 important attainment in railway constructions. 

 The savins by the plan first described will, it is 

 .stated, be full £4000 per mile, in four rows ; and 

 by the letter, very much more — in fact, so enor- 

 mous will it be, as to give a new feature to rail- 

 ways, and astonishingly litcilitale their construc- 

 tion in all parts of the country. We should much 

 like to see it in practice, which is alone the test : 

 so fallacious are frequently found to the results 

 when based alone on novelty and experiments. 



Vor tlie Farmers' Register. 

 TIIE BLACK WEEVIL. 



It is your own adage, that short articles, for the 

 Register, are of most value; and adopting your 

 opinion lor the occasion, I send you one of that 

 character. 



For several years, I sustained much mischief in 

 my wheat, by the black weevil; but until I read 

 Mr. Webb's communication to the Register, I was 

 ignorant that it had extended its ravages into Vir- 

 ginia, and North and South Carolina. I do not 

 doubt the efficacy of Mr. Webb's remedy. Mine 

 costs less money and trouble. When my grana- 

 ries are cleared of grain, I, once a year, burn in 

 them half a pound of pounded sulphur, closing 

 doors and windows. For safiity, I make a bed of 

 sand on the floor, in which I put the sulphur in a 

 stone, or earthen pan. Antecedent to this practice, 

 I had sustained serious mischief from the black 

 weevil; since, I have never seen one in my gra- 

 naries. 



Some of 5'our correspondents insist, and I think 

 you concur in the ()|)iiiion, that proper names to ar- 

 ticles would give increttscd value to lh(; Register. 

 To this, I do not entirely agree. I supjiose you 

 have no correspondents who do not trust you with 

 (heir names; and tiiough no one would consider 

 you responsible for erroneous theories, I have 

 deemed you responsible lor the truth of liicts. If 

 proper names were required, it would cut off some 

 beneficial communications. There are a class of 

 men, who hav^e no inclination to see their names 

 in print. There are others, who, not having entice 

 confidence in the purity of their style, and the cor- 

 rectness of their orthography, would be unwilling 

 to subject themselves to the scourge of Doctor 

 Syntax, a gentleman, who iield, I believe, a resi- 

 dence in Virginia. The love of writin'r is a dan- 

 gerous thing. I have known some half witted, 

 half educated gentlemen, in Maryland, who would 

 have got on tolerably well, but for their unhappy 

 propensity to scribling over their proper names, 

 I\Iodesty is the crown of many virtues, in whicli 

 patriots, from the days of Ciccero, to the present, 

 l.ave been sadly deficient. Being a retired liir- 

 mer, and not a patriot of the current stamp, I have 

 no disposition to blazon my name as the conqueror 

 of the black weevil, but I do require that Virginians, 

 North and Soutii Carolinians, and all others, who, 

 with my arms, shall subdue tiiis pestilent enem\', 

 to make their acknowledgments in the Register, 

 that they owe the victory to a fiirmer of 



The Eastern Shore of Maryland. 



^pril I7ih, ]837. 



From tlie Richmond Enquirer. 



ENACTMENTS DURING THE LAST SESSION OP 

 THE LEGISLATURE OF VIRGINIA, AIDING. 

 CANALS. RAILWAYS, ROADS, &C. 



The applications to the legislature for the incor- 

 poration of companies lor works of internal im- 

 provement, were during the late session uncom- 

 monly numerous, and embraced works of impor- 

 tance in every section of the state. The demands 

 on the conmionweallh ibr subscriptions to the stock 

 of companies ibrmerl}^ chartered, whose three- 

 fifths oj' individual stock liad been subscribed, 

 were also numerous ; and the evidences of a lib- 

 eral policy will be seen in the numerous appropri- 

 ations made for objects of this description, of 

 vvliich the following is a list : 

 Commonwealth's subscription to the 

 stock of the Richmond and Petersburg 

 Rail Road Company, $200,000 



To the stock of the Louisa Rail Road 



Company, 120,000 



To the new stock of the Upper Appo- 

 mattox Company, 27,700 

 To the stock of the Natural Bridge Turn- 

 pike Company, 3,200 

 To the augmented stock of the Ports- 

 mouth and Roanoke Rail Road Com- 

 pany 50,000 

 To the augmented stock of the Dismal 



Swamj) Canal Company, 126,000 



To the stock of the Falmouth and Alex- 

 andria Rail Road Company, 400^000 

 To the stock of the Lvnchburijand Ten- 

 nessee Rail Road Company, 200,000 

 To the stock of the City Point Rail Road 



Company, 60,000 



