1838] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



669 



LIMISSTONES OF KOCKBKIJKiK COUNTY. 



Lexington, T «. December, 20th, 1837. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Dear Sir — Dr. Lfyhurn, one of oiir representa- 

 tives in llieHongeo!'DeleL'"iitej:, lias kindly agreed 

 to convey in his triiniv. to Richmond, a lew speci- 

 mens of liniesione, which I wish to send yon. 

 They will, perhaps, he interestinti; to such ol' your 

 acquaintances as have nevpr seen Mniestone, and 

 possihly may be interesting to you, who have not 

 seen any liir years. 



I send you three kinds, obviously distintruished 

 from each other by their color; the white, the 

 blue and the <jray. The French mineraloiri'^t?- 

 distiniruish the limestones into two ireiiera! kinds 

 or (glasses, which they term carbonate sacharoide 

 and carbonate comparie. You will at once per- 

 ceive that of the three specimens I have mentioned, 

 the white and the blue belong to the class com- 

 pacte; or in plain English, they are both compact 

 limestone. The. gray limestone is not exactly 

 what the 1 French mean by sac/iaro;'c?e, or sugar- 

 loaf texture. It, however, approaches very near 

 to it. You will readily perceive that it is an afrsire- 

 gate of crystals; but crystals of a peculiar Ibrm 

 — something like the particles of bran. By com- 

 paring the specimpus I send (I send two) wiih 

 Italian sacharoide marble, or, if that is not conve- 

 nient, with loaf sugar, you will perceive the dif- 

 ference of texture. The gray limestone is consid- 

 ered the best kind our valley 'affords for plastering 

 or white washing houses. 



The lime it produces is whiter than that from 

 any other limestone; and, as the workmen say "it 

 works tougher," The lime fi-om the blue lime- 

 stone is, however, a more beautiful rock than the 

 gray, for building, and is also the mos^ abundant. 

 You will perceive ii'om the specimens I send you, 

 that it is exceedingly compact. I should suppose 

 it is one of the most compact rocks in the world, 

 except the precious stones. The gray limestone 

 is a species of maible; it works so well under the 

 chisel that it can be made to assume any desira- 

 ble i'orm; but its color will prevent it Ii'om being 

 much used as marble. 



The white limestone is thought by some to be 

 marble, and so far as color goes, it would be equal 

 to the Italian statuary marble; but I suspect it 

 will not work well, under the chisel. It appears 

 to me, to be hard compact lime^^tone. 



Ai though I send but three colors, you are not 

 to suppose that these are all tiie colors we possess. 

 There is limestone of many shades between the 

 white and the deep blue. 



1 am sorry I have at hand, no specimens of 

 crystalized limestone to send you. It is a beau- 

 tiful substance; in the books, it is generally called 

 calcareous spar — sometimes Iceland spar. Mine- 

 ralogists enumerate hundreds of forms, which it 

 assumes; but which are all reduceable to one ele- 

 mentary Ibrm. It is easily obtained in a Cew places 

 in this county. 



In addition to the specimens mentioned above, 

 I send you two specimens of hydraulic limestone. 

 There are several veins of it inour county, but 

 they are almost all too inconveniently situated to 

 be worked at present prices. 



Upon the appearance of the first number of the 

 Farmers' Register, 1 determined to contribute 



something to its pages, and three or liiur times 

 had selected subjects, on which I intended to write; 

 but belbre I had any thing ready lor the press, 

 1 found myself antici))atcd — others havin<>- com- 

 municated to you dissertations on the same sub- 

 jects, as those on which I intended to write. I, 

 however, had one consohuiou, that although I 

 was deprived of the opportunity of showing my 

 zeal in favor of the work, yet neither the Register 

 nor its readers sustained any loss, as the disserta- 

 tions which were published were e(|ual, some of 

 liiem superior, to any thing I should iiave produc- 

 ed on the same subjects. I have not been doino- 

 any thing at farming during the last seven years, 

 consequeniiy could not give you the result of any 

 experinienis. I miijht <iive theory in some cases; 

 but neither you nor your readers set a very high 

 value on theory. 



The people of our valley, have, as yet done lit- 

 tle in liming. Fhw of them understand the best 

 manner of usiiiij il, and it is a considerable trouble 

 and expense to prepare it. Our rock marl (cal- 

 careous tufa or travertine,) might, I think be used 

 to great advantage by many ol our farmers, if 

 they had the right theory in their heads on the 

 subject, but they (the owners of the marl banks) 

 have not read your ' Essay on Calcareous Ma- 

 nures,' and if they would read it perhaps would 

 not well understand it, although it is expressed as 

 plainly as such a work could well be. 



Wishing well toyoursell'and liunily, and success 

 to your valuable publication. 



I remain, sir, sincerely yours. 



Edw. Graham. 



PROCEEDINGS OF THE EDITORIAL, CONVEN- 

 TION. 



[The Convention of Editors and Publisliers of Vir- 

 ginia, (and ttie Virginia side of the District of Cofum- 

 bia,) was held at the appointed time, and the measures 

 were adopted which are stated in their journal, which 

 will be given at length below. But besides these re- 

 ports and resolutions which were approved and adopt- 

 ed, and which therefore, only appear on the journal, 

 other subjects were considered and discussed at much 

 greater length, and then either postponed, or rejected. 

 Among these was the proposition to adopt a general 

 scale of prices for printing — which plan was consider- 

 ed by a large majoiity as inexpedient, improper, and 

 indeed, imptacticable. 



The report on the pecuniary relations of publishers 

 and their subscrib rs, sets forth in general terms the 

 enormity of the evils suffered by all periodical publi- 

 cations, and which are felt by few more heavily than 

 by the Farmers' Register. The original report and 

 resolutions, as proposed to the committee, presented 

 stronger measures of relief than those which were ap- 

 proved and adopted. It is hoped, however, that the 

 statement of grievances presented in the preamble, 

 will, alone, have much effect on all honest and respon- 

 sible subscribers — and the sooner that all our lists are 

 purged of subscribers of a different character, so 

 much the better for the interest of the publishers. 



From the report and resolutions on the tone and 

 manner of the newspaper press, and the conduct of 

 editors to each other, we anticipate much good in pu- 



