1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



143 



point, says, "the decomposition of de;iil matter, 

 under the influence of certain agents, produces a 

 miasma, that proves a common cause of lever." 

 In speaUinir further o( the remote causes of fevor, 

 he continues, "the whole ol' these agents have not 

 yet been ex|)lored; but so far as we are acquainted 

 with them, they seem to be tlie common auxilia- 

 ries ol putreliiction, as warmth, moisture, air, rest, 

 or stagnation." Dr. Good is of opinion that the 

 character of fever may. and is probably owing to 

 the quantity and particular combination of marsh 

 effluvia, with some principle in the atmospiiere, 

 and the peculiar state of the individual's health. 

 Dr. Cullen contends that marsh elHuvium, will 

 produce no other grade of fever, except intermit- 

 ents, and that all other fevers are the result of con- 

 tagion. Dr. Caldwell's opinion on this subject is, 

 "vve have long thought it probable, that the mias- 

 maita which produce yellow fever, differ Irom those 

 that give rise to iniermittents, somewhat as the ni- 

 tric does from the nitrous, and the sulphuric from 

 the sulphurous acids. We know not on what other 

 ground to attempt an explanation of the difference 

 of their effects." 



My own experience has led me irresistibly to the 

 beliet, that all varieties of fever may be produced 

 from the same cause (marsh effluvia,) and that 

 the particular grade is owing to the peculiar state 

 of the health, the temperature of the atmosphere, 

 and the quantity of miasm afloat in the air. 



But to recur particularly to the case under con- 

 sideration. I have been a practitioner of medicine 

 in this neighborhood for the last eight or ten years, 

 and live near a small creek, on which, when I first 

 settled, there was no mill; but four years subse- 

 quently, a mill was erected, with a large pond. 

 Previously to the erection of this mill, there had 

 not been a case of fever occuring on the creek. 

 The fafl following there were three fiimilies sick; 

 nearly all the members of each family had fever. 

 The disease assumed both the character of inter- 

 mittent and continued fever. Two of the families 

 have removed, chiefly on account of their health. 

 What is remarkable, the miller with a large family 

 have all escaped, nor has there been any febrile 

 disease below, or immediately opposite the pond; 

 all the diseases occuring about or above the head 

 of the pond. One of the families alluded to lives 

 two or three miles above, and another near the 

 creek, and some distance above. There have 

 been many other cases of fever in the neighbor- 

 hood alluded to, but I have only cited those par- 

 ticularly, which I think afford a striking example, 

 in illustration of your position in relation to large 

 ponds on small streams. 



1 account for the effect, solely on the grounds of 

 the "sobbing," from the mill-pond, of the ccntigu- 

 ous day, and the decomposition of organized veg- 

 etable matter. I have seen many other cases in 

 similar situations, which have generally been 

 above the pond. 



I remarked above, that miasm might arise fi-om 

 the effects of stagnant water on clay, under certain 

 circumstances; and believe the position as suscep- 

 tible of proof as any proposition in Euclid. I saw 

 a family suffer severely from fe^er a iew years past, 

 when no other cause could have appeared to pro- 

 duce it, except that an unfinished cellar under the 

 house had been about half filled with water, which 

 had been allowed to remain for some time. Nearly 

 every member of the family was made sick by if, 



and these constituting the only cases in the neigh- 

 borhood. The accumulation of water had been the 

 result ot'rain, the habitation having had no under- 

 pinning. The water had nothing to act on, in this 

 case, except clay. Another instance in which a 

 lamily took fever, I attributed to a |)uddlc of water 

 in the yard, occasioned by the soil being removed 

 for mortar. In both of the above instances, lia- 

 bility to fever was removed by filling up the sinks 

 with earth. Much more might be said in sustain- 

 ing my position in rettjrence to the exhalation of 

 miasm, from clay lands under certain circumstan- 

 ces of heat and moisture, but I hope the above will 

 suffice. 



R. B. J****. 

 Halifax Co. Va. May 23rd, 1837. 



For the Farmer's Register. 

 TRENCHING ON HILL-SIDES. 



In looking over ray last number of your Regis- 

 ter, I find a piece written by Mr. Edmunds of 

 Charlotte, entitled "Plan of a drained mill-pond 

 on Wardsfork creek — Hill-side ditches, &c." 



In regard to Mr. Edmunds' latter subject, 

 trenching on hill-sides, much has been done and 

 said in relation to it, and a great contrariety of 

 opinion exists, in regard to the utility of trenching 

 at all. I have, for the last eight or ten j'ears, fol- 

 lowed up the most approved plan of trenching, and 

 am constrained to confess, that I believe more in- 

 jury has resulted to my farm, than good, from the- 

 use of them, as heretofore constructed. 



Finding the usual method would not do, I de- 

 termined to use the trenches as rarely as possible, 

 to give them as much fall as I might, and shorten 

 them in length, whenever practicable, and make 

 an embankment of clay, instead of soil. To ob- 

 viate the deleterious effects of the water in short- 

 ening my trenches, I sovv herds grass in the ra- 

 vines, along which the water passes, to prevent 

 rubbing from the water ejected from the furrows 

 or trenches. We gain an additional advantage 

 in a setting of grass, as proposed in a crop of hay, 

 which is generally very good. 



A very great objection to the establishment of 

 the water trench has been, with me, the want of 

 permanency in the embankment, attributable to 

 the cutting through of moles. Whenever an em- 

 bankment is perforated by a mole, (which is no 

 uncommon thing,) it is immediately broken, and 

 a gully is the necessary consequence. To pre- 

 vent which, and to bring into requisition the soil 

 which has always formed the banks of our trenches, 

 I throw the soil below, plough the clay, and by 

 hoeing out in the usual way, have the embank- 

 ment of clay instead of soil, which embankment 

 proves entirely impervious to the mole, and in fijct 

 to all such impressions from similar causes. The 

 trouble of removing the soil is greater in theory 

 than practice, for, alter ploughing efficiently, it 

 may be thrown below the trench with spades, or 

 dragged with hoes, with much less labor than we 

 would previously anticipate. 



Mr. Edmunds goes on to say, in speaking of 

 the trenches, "they are likewise frequently broken 

 by collections of water in the intermediate spaces 

 between the conductors. In these intermediate 

 spaces, the water collects, and forms sluices, and 

 runs into the ditches and fills them with sand, and 



