183S] 



F A R M E R S' REGIS T K R. 



751 



From the Maine Farmer. 

 SWAMP aiUCK. 



We have had several ronver.-jalioiis with the 

 farmers in our vicinily relative to the quiMV vvhic.ii 

 we iiiaile, a lew numbers back concerning tlie use 

 ol' swamp muck as a maniuT. 



J\]r. Z. A. Alerrow informs us that he has ta- 

 ken this substance out in the liiil and used it in its 

 natural state in the spriiiij as a manure Ibr pota- 

 toes. Tlie result oC the experiment was tl)ai the 

 nmck appeared to be nearly or quite as ijood lor 

 this purpose as coarse unferniented manure. He 

 does not suppose that it will last so loner. 



Mr. Day, (brn)erly of LeecH, corroborates the 

 above statement, he having used it lor manuring 

 the potato crop in the same manner. The slaie- 

 ment of Mr. Metcalf, respectiuir his ruta iiaga 

 crop published in this day's paper,_is also, in favor 

 of" the use of this article. 



BEMARKS ON THE SCHEME OF THE EASTERN 

 SHORE RAIIAVAY. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



I have read with some attention the report of 

 •Colonel Kearney, the principal engineer on the 

 Eastern Shore rail road. He very truly gives a fa- 

 vorable account of the capabilities of the location. 

 The site is on a level sandy country, relieved with 

 niarslies, with few hills to encounter, and no moun- 

 tains to subdue. The engineer makes the distance 

 from the Tangier sound, to a point in the Susque- 

 hanna and Wilmington rail road, near Klklon, 

 118;| miles, :uid estimates the cost at s^l,0L)o,53S. 

 From the Tangier sound, it is proposed, by steam 

 boats, to connect it, at Portsmouth, with the rail 

 roads now in progress to Charleston. I charge no 

 bad faith on the eufjineer's estinuiles. I have no 

 doubt, having measured the distance, and assum- 

 ed his data, that he worked the sum fairly, and has 

 given the true result. I greatly admire, in the pro- 

 gress of science, the exactness to which civil engi- 

 neers have arrived in iheir estimates. They are 

 not now m the rear of the military engineers in the 

 reign of Louis XIV, v.dien Vauban and his com- 

 peers could calculate to a fraction the co.-st of the 

 cannon, mortars, bombs and gunpowder,rieces5ary 

 to storm a fortified city. Very honest estimates of 

 public works, oflen prove very wide of the practi- 

 cal expenditure. Of" this, Maryland, of late, h;is 

 had some costly instruction. The Potomac and 

 Ohio canal company, finding themselves at a dead 

 stop, near Harper's Ferry, for want of funds, in 

 1835, ap[)lied to the lew'islature for a loan of two 

 millions of dollars, which they had ascertained, by 

 calculation, woi'ld carry them to Cumberland, the 

 rejfion of the coal mines, (anthracite and bitumin- 

 ous,) by which the wliole country, for aijes, would 

 be kept warm and condortable; and they repre- 

 sented that the state had tiill security for the mo- 

 ney in ihe anticipated profits of the canal. The 

 money was voted, in full confidence. Before the 

 end oi' the year, it was discovered that an error had 

 been made in the estimate, by three millions, and 

 the company appeared before the legislature, at 

 the next session, magnanimously adniiit'n<j their 

 error, and stating, at the same time, that if this 

 mistake in calculation was not corrected by advanc- 



in<r the three niillion,«, that ihe other two would be 

 lost to the state. Tliis argiuiieni, thouixh very co- 

 gent, fiiiled to convince a nuijorily of the members, 

 and a bill was got up by some adroit hands, and 

 being well baited by <rrants of money to other in- 

 ter("st.s, and among them, to an Ettstern Shore rail 

 road, was passed alter a hard struijgle. I have 

 lately learnt, li-om a respeciable source, that there 

 is siill an error in the e.stiniale byoneniiliion, which 

 must necessarily be supplied by tiie stale. Believ- 

 inu' that the Eastern Shore rail road can be of no 

 iieneral advantage to the country, and of no bene- 

 fit to the peop'le of the Eastern Shore, save those 

 who sh.ill be eniiaifed in tiie work, and (hat the 

 canal, when com [)leted, will be of some advantage 

 to the western section of our state, and L'reatly be- 

 neficial to the town of Alexandria, in Virginia, I 

 shall be content to surrender one niillion, to the 

 canal company, upon the express condition, under 

 their cor()ora1e seal, tiiat they make no further de- 

 mands on the state. 



Colonel Kearney states the fantalizinii fact, that 

 in the year 1836 fifty thousand Iraveilers passed 

 between the north and the south; but adds, rather 

 ambiiTuously, "whether, arriving at the Roanoke 

 river, the choice being before Ihem, of the route to 

 Richmond and Potomac creek, by Norfolk and 

 the Chesapeake bay to Frenchtown, or by your 

 road b\- the bay and peninsula, is a question which 

 the friends of tlie rail road will willingly leave to 

 the decision of the traveller." It seems quite cer- 

 tain that the friends of tiie Eastern Shore rail road, 

 will submit to the traveller a question over which 

 they have no control; but it may be well doubted, 

 if the decision be against them, whether if Vv'ill 

 meet their cordial approbation. I do not know 

 how the friends of the rail road read ihis paragraph; 

 lo rn°, it appears the language of non-committal. 



Col. Kearney pro| oscs making the Tangier 

 sound a winter harbor for the shijjs of Philadel- 

 |)hia, Wilmington and Baltimore, and transporting 

 their cargoes by the rail road lo Iheir ports of des- 

 tination.^ As far as relates to Philadelphia and 

 Wilmington, the proposal is answered by telling 

 him, thai there is now an excellent winter harbor, 

 firmed by the breakwater, at tlie mouth of the 

 Delaware; and a rail road fi-om the Cape, to strike 

 the rail road at VVilminfton, is now under consi- 

 deration; when this shall be accomplished, fbreiiin 

 goods can be transported to tliose nilies, and car- 

 troes carried hy the return cars. By this means, 

 .Tack T:>r may be kept cons antly at sea, fi-ee from 

 the tempta'ions and corruptions of the city, and 

 perhaps Philadeljihia may legain her commercial 

 ascendency in the coiivtry. I am inclined to think 

 the Baltiniore ships, after having made safe an- 

 choraize in Bampfon roads, would prefer awailing 

 a thaw, to encountering the shoals of the Tangier 

 sound, in the winter. The genius of internal im- 

 provement is now on the wing, and in full Btahi. 

 I have somewhere see;; a proposal to transport In- 

 dia rroods to a port on the Columbia river, and fi'om 

 thence by rail roads over the Rocky Mountains, to 

 Ihe United States. There is a citizen of Baltimore 

 who has in ptoject an air ship to sail against all 

 currents below the moon, who will engage to make 

 a trip from Boston to Mexico in six days, and to 

 deliver the mail at all the important commercial 

 points. He only wants ten thousand dollars to 

 put his bark in sailinstrim; and Congress, by pat- 

 ronizing this undertaking, might find it the easiest 



