570 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 9 



interior is heated by steam and being thus speedily 

 and effectually dried, is received upon a reel, from 

 which by machinery it is again immediately un- 

 wound and cut into sheets ol" uniform size, ready 

 for use. 



The machine just described, is called, from the 

 name of its inventor, the "Fourdrinier Machine," 

 and certainly in the whole range of the mechanic 

 arts there does not exist a more beautiful or im- 

 pressive example of the advantaires resulting Irom 

 tlie application of science to those arts. The 

 whole process, from the time that the |)uip leaves 

 the cistern, until its formation into sheets of dry, 

 finished paper, occupies less than two minutes I 

 Whereas, under the old process of manutiicture 

 by hand, several days were required to accom- 

 plish a similar result. The cost of each of these 

 machines is about $5,000. The paper is thrown 

 off in a continuous sheet, and it may be manufac- 

 tured to any length the manufacturer chooses. 



VARIOUS SOILS OF ALABAMA. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



I have just returned from a visit to that part of 

 Alabama called the Creek Nation, and the south- 

 western part of Georfjia. My business was to 

 look at the country. The three counties that I 

 examined in Alabama, present the greatest varie- 

 ty of soil that I ever saw — from the poorest to the 

 richest, li-om the levelest to the most broken; but 

 the greater variety is in the character of the soil, 

 and, notwithstanding this great variety, it is all 

 impregnated with lime to a greater or less extent. 

 On the western side of the Chatahoochie, and im- 

 mediately on the river, the lands are commordy 

 rich — some places of a chocolate color, and at 

 others, of an ash color. The river has high blufi's, 

 and never overflows. The trees are stately and 

 thick: this is called hammock land. The lands on 

 the large creeks are somewhat of the same char- 

 acter, but are not so rich, it being a rare thing to 

 find the chocolate lands on them. The lands on 

 the Uchee and Big-swamp creeks, have generally 

 a beautiful ash-colored soil, from six to ten inches 

 deep, with a 2:ood clay under them. You will, 

 however, on Big-swamp creek, find a good deal 

 of mulatto or brown soil, mixed with isinglass; 

 this I think the better land. The lands near the 

 water courses are commonly hammock, and soon 

 verge into hills and a broken poor country. This, 

 however, does not hold good with the land on and 

 between the waters of the branches of Big- 

 ewamp in that region. After you get out of the 

 hammock, the land is gently undul iling, with a 

 scrubby post-oak growth, occasionally a short leaf 

 pine, a hickory, and a white oak, with a beautiful 

 loam soil from four to eight inches deep, support- 

 ed by a strong yellow clay, which is considered 

 preferable to the red for the growth of cotton. 

 The lands, however, in the highest repute in this 

 country, are the hammock lands on the Uachee- 

 huby and Cowakee creeks ; but I must beg leave 

 to depart from that opinion lor the reason that they 

 have too much sand on the surface. There is a 

 vegetable formation which has a beautiful loamy 

 appearance; but on examining further down, there 

 appears to be nothing but sand; and at the depth 

 of li-om ten to sixteen feet, you come to a sandy 

 clay, or, in other words, a clay having in it a con- 



siderable portion of grit. In this land, the sala- 

 manders work freely, and the hammocks in places 

 are literally white with hillocks of sand thrown up 

 by them; while other land within one hundred 

 yards and havinnr the same sightly growth will 

 have a stiff steril, clay within one inch of the sur- 

 face, and sometimes rising to the surface; this latter 

 is called cow-hide land. The lands between those 

 streams are generally poor and broken, some 

 places very sandy, and at others, have a very thin 

 ven-etable nmuld, and under it, a stiff joint clay. 

 The long moss grows plentifully on the trees 

 throuffli all this country. It is worthy of rentark, 

 that none of those waters overflow their banks — 

 that the marl may be seen in the batdis of those 

 creeks, conmiencing from within eight to twelve 

 feet of the surliice, and the depth has not been as- 

 certained; and it would take a man but a few 

 minutes to gather a bushel of" oyster shells out of 

 the marl, by walking on the water's edge. 



The above remarks have been hastily thrown 

 together: they are, however, true, so far as facts 

 are mentioned ; and as I differ in opinion with 

 many others, I am willing for my views to go for 

 what they may be worth. 



H. 



From the Genesee Farmer. 

 MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 



Passing a lew weeks since along the margin of 

 one of the smallest of that beautiltd chain of lakes 

 that form so remarkable a feature of the lake slope 

 of western New York, and admiring the splen- 

 did rainbow colors of the autumn woods, reflected 

 Irom its tranquil surliice, we were greeted by the 

 well-known cry ol the loon, colymbvs glacialis, 

 several of which were fioatinff within sight, their 

 wliite breasts contrasting finely with the dark 

 mirror-like color of the water, and the rich hues of 

 the reflected woodlands. They had called to rest 

 themselves for a few days, on their annual migra- 

 tion from the lakes of the far north to a more fa- 

 vored clime, and when overtaken by the chill 

 blasts they had left behind, were ready at a mo- 

 ment's notice to resume their ffight. "VVe shall 

 have rain," said a respectable old gentleman 

 whom we met a few minutes afterwards, "the 

 loons are too musical for fiiir weather;" and his 

 prediction was verified in a lew hours. 



Nuttall says — "far out to sea in winter, and in 

 the great western lakes, particularly Huron and 

 Michio'an, in simimer, I have often heard on a 

 calm fine moining, the sad and wolfish call of the 

 solitary loon, which like a dismal echo seems slow- 

 ly to invadi'. the ear and rising as it proceeds, dies 

 away in the air. This boding sound to manners, 

 supposed to be indicative of a storm, may be 

 heard sometimes lor two or three miles, when the 

 bird itself is invisible or reduced almost to a speck. 

 The Indians, nearly as superstitious as sailors, dis- 

 like to hear the cry of the loon, considering the 

 bird, Irom its shy and extraordinary habits, as a 

 kind of super-natural being. By the Norwegians, 

 its long drawn howl, is with more appearance of 

 reason, supposed to portend rain." The loon has 

 one peculiarity we have witnessed in no other bird, 

 that of swimm.ing, or flying under water, as it 

 were, with the rapidity of an arrow, a feat we 

 have often witnessed when the fine days of the 



