1837] 



F A R M E K S' R E G I S T i: R. 



SIS 



evil. A lew voars since, ii jrcntlpiiian in one ol'lhe 

 ceniral couniips oT tliis ptiilf, ircalod a larixp fieKl, 

 overrun with llnsiles, but siroii<r rich land, in the 

 wav desiTihed ahove. It watJ piouirlied early, and 

 as nften as any thinir iirt'eii sliDwed iisell' on the 

 siirlare; the tniniher ol tiin;»?! we do not. now re- 

 collect. The time lor sowinjr came, and lh(> field 

 was pronoiniced in eapiial order; no veijelalion ol 

 anv kind to he seen ; the Poii finely prdvenzed, 

 hui hearuiiTtoo much the cast of the clayi'V suii- 

 sira'iun; and the liinner tlaitered hiinself liiai he 

 liail not only killeii his thi--'iles, hot secured a fine 

 crop of wheat. Sprinir ranie, and if the thistles 

 came not, so neiiher did the wheat, and to the 

 irreai surprise of all, his field remained nearly hare 

 at harvest The soil appeared to he deprived of 

 the principles that prouiote veij;etulion, and lo have 

 become dead and ine't. Others have witnessed 

 sunilar results. 



We should inler finm the forerroing opinions and 

 experimen's — Firs'ly, tliat where necessary to 

 plouijii depp, in oab'r to i^ive a free ran^e to the 

 roois of (ilanis, i'shoidd be perlijrtned thorouij;h!v, 

 an.) not fretiuen'iy re|)eated. Secondly — that early 

 {iillnwiuiT is decidedly preferable to a ploughing 

 that is later, ;is it gives the surfiice time to regain 

 from the asi'ending gases and aciion of the atmos- 

 phere, the lerfilizing principles, of which the lower 

 stratum of soil is destitute. Thirdly — that when 

 iireen crops, such as clover, or buckwheat, are 

 turn.^d under, they should not be disturbed urilil de- 

 composition is compleie, and their valuable proper- 

 ties thoroughly incorporated with the soil ; and 

 /burlhly— th It since na'urein all cases, where left 

 to perfjrai heroperaiions undisturbed, [)repares the 

 purfice l()r the receplion of seed, iiirmers should 

 profii by her lahois, and not, unless rendered ne- 

 cessary for other purposes, counteract her prepar- 

 ative measures, by unnecessarily chani^ing the sur- 

 face in frequent ploughings. 



NOTKS OF A THREE-DAYS EXCURSION IWTO 

 GOOCHLAA'D, CHESTERFIELD, AKD POW- 

 HATAN. 



By the Editor. 



VISIT TO "Graham's coal pits." 



While in the neighborhood of the coal mines, T 

 was ilesirous of descetuling into, and exaniiiiir otie 

 of ihi>m: and my choi-^e was directed to '"Gra- 

 haoTs Pits," partly by viciuiiy, and convenience, 

 an. 1 still m^re by the advantage of the comoany 

 of my old Irieml El.vard Aiiilerson, esq., who is 

 one ol' I he present owners. 



The fbi'mer owner, Graham, a rich old Scnfch- 

 man, se»>me I to have had a greater passion lor 

 opetufig new shafis, than resolution and persever- 

 ance to exhaust the cne.I to which each opened. 

 The Ian I is blackened anl defaced throui/houi by 

 the sites nf^ numerous old sliaffs, and the heaps of 

 plate and remains of refuse coal, which form na- 

 ked and barren spots forever after. These shafts 

 (or perpendicular pits, through which the coal is 

 lifted,) were sometimes within fifty or sixty vanls 

 of each other — and at any rate were very far more 

 nuTierons than was necessary, even if they had 

 be-'n fully worked. But it has since appeared, 

 that lirom no one shaft was half" the coal raised, 

 th u might have bpcp, by lite means now used — 

 gind from many, very latle was got o ut. It seems 



indeed, as if he dug shalis merely to ascertain the 

 exu-nl and state of the coal bed, and in many 

 cascp partially filled tmil abandoned them, as soon 

 as the coal, was |)enet rated. 



I heartl several remarkable cases of the igno- 

 rance that have sometimes existed in regard to 

 what is beneath the surliice of the earth, among 

 persons above, in the inunediate neighborhood; and 

 iicre was one of the most remarkaiile. When the 

 tract of -land was about to be sold, alier Gra- 

 ham's death, it was su[)posed lliat all these abtin- 

 dojied shafts indicated either exhausted woikings, 

 or "se<\ms" of" coal not worth working. Gra- 

 ham's nimitig operations had been superintended 

 and directed entirely by ,a confidential slave of his 

 own. (whom he afterwards emancipated, and then 

 paid ^200 a year wages, J and the laborers were 

 also slaves; and they, only, knew any thing of 

 the condiiion of the coal. A gentleman whore- 

 sided then, and still is, within two miles of the 

 works, and wlio is an intelligent and judicious bu- 

 s;ness-man,.(and who slated to me these circum- 

 stances,) was desirous of joining in the purchase 

 of the property; and was authorized by two capi- 

 talists to buy it for them and himseKJ at 940,000, 

 if necessary, provided he could obtain satisfactory 

 accounts of the quantity of coal. The works 

 were then suspended: but all information, fi-om 

 what seemed the best authority, seemed so well to 

 establish that the coal was nearly exhausted, that 

 he fiilt no longer any inclination to buy, at any price; 

 and the whole tract, of about 1,000 acres, and 

 through which the coal has been reached by 

 shafis fi)r more than a mile of distance, near the 

 line of out-croppiniTs, was sold l()r 813,000. The 

 operations since, thousrh tiir from being well con- 

 ducted, juid indeed attended by some causes of 

 heavy loss, have at letist shown that the coal Ib 

 abundant. 



A steam engine of ten-horse power is in ope- 

 ration at one ol the shafis, drawing off the water 

 accumulated in the old works. Two enormous 

 buckets, each holding 170 gallons, are continual- 

 ly bringing up the water — and the artificial stream 

 thereby lbrme<|, which is running continually to 

 the river, and with a pretty equal volume after 

 reaching some distance below, is large enough to 

 turn a mill. The depth of this old shaft is 360 

 leet. and ihe water is still 160 feet deep, and will 

 requ-re yet a long time to be drawn off, by the 

 means now in operation. 



Twooiher neighboring shafts are now worked, 

 the depth of neither exceedinir 200 feet. The 

 (rn;t! is drairged out of the "drifts" or working 

 galleries in "corves." which hold from three to 

 three and a half heaped bushels of coal. These 

 corves are like little sleds, sliding on runners shod 

 with iron. Each Inadeii corve is attached, at the 

 boitoin of the shaft, by books to one end of the 

 rope, in place of the empty one sent down, and 

 is rapidly drawn up by two mules, while another 

 e:n[)tied corve descends at the other end of the 

 rope. The mules move very rapidly in a circle, 

 to work the drawing machinery, and are turned 

 in the contrary direction at every ascent of a buck- 

 et, to reverse the movement of the ropes. 



Before dfecendino-, we had first to lake the usual 

 and very necessary precaution of chan<iing our 

 outer cloihing lor old jackets, trousers, shoes and 

 hats, ("kept tor the purpose,) of a quality andfiish- 

 ion not to be hurt by any such exposure. This 



