FARMERS' REGISTER— MAIZE— SHEEP. 



75 



confirms the vieu' of artesian wells already given. 

 Gulis, in which rivers and rivulets lose themselves 

 are very ire([uent in llie Jura and other similar 

 lime-slone mountains, and there, where the u])per- 

 most \h\\ consists of a clayey soil, Avhich opposes 

 the sinking down of the rain, sometimes i)rove 

 ver}- hcncficial in agricultural operations, by car- 

 rying away the superfluous water. In some 

 places, INI. Hericart remarks, man has imitated 

 this example set by nature, with great efl'ecl. The 

 draining of the plain of Palans, near to Marseille, 

 is an exami)le of this. This plain, which is at 

 present covered with beautiful vineyards, was for- 

 merlj^ a great marshy basin, without outlet. It 

 was drained by means of great siidv-holes, which 

 were sunk down to the underlying i)orous or ca- 

 vernous stone, and were connected together b}- 

 means of a number of ditches or drains. The 

 water which was carried away by these shafts 

 reached, by mean's of subterranean canals, the 

 harbors of "Mion near to Cassis, where it appeared 

 again as spouting springs. Here, therefore, man, 

 without intending it, had artesian wells, not f()r 

 the purpose of obtaining water, but in order to 

 get clear of it. 



The f)l lowing report, published by M. Bruck- 

 mann, Kongl, Wurtemberg, JJanrath, in the 

 J'crhandlungeii ziir Jiefordcning des Gewerbfleis- 

 ses ill Preiissen, 1830, J^ieferung, No. 4., aflbi'ds 

 a striking proof how varied the uses are of artesian 

 wells. M. Bruckmann caused to be bored, under 

 his inspection, from August 1827, to December 

 1829, at Heilbronn, five bore holes ibr fresh water, 

 in order to obtain the necessarj^ quantity of ]iure 

 water for the purposes of two paper-mills, and a 

 flax spinning mill. Two of the bore holes were 

 sunk to a deiith of 60 feet, one to 90 leet, another 

 fo 100 feet, and one to 112 leet, under the lowest 

 level of the Neckar. In all of them the water 

 rose nearly 8 leet above the level of the Neckar, 

 and on an average each delivered 40 to 50 cubic 

 feet. 7^he purpose of the borings was perfectly 

 accom])lishcd, even to overflow; but the discovery 

 was made, that the water of all the bore holes 

 had constantly a temperature of 54.5 Fahr, This 

 fact led M. Bruckmann to a very important a]ipli- 

 cation of this water, viz. heating the mills with it. 

 The paper-mill contained 72,000 cubic leet, a 

 working hall over it 10,800 cubic feet. Both 

 Gpaces, which contained together 82,800 cubic feet, 

 were the whole winter, 1829-1830, through, 

 warmed by means of this water alone to a tem- 

 perature of 45o.5 Fahr. and 47° .7 Fahr., and 

 Avhen without, tlie temperature was — 24.2 Fahr. 

 The thermometer in the mills did not sink lower 

 than 41" Fahr. even when the doors were kept 

 open. Every miller knows well how much labor, 

 time, and cx|iense, it occasions in hard Avinters to 

 heat daily, and even in a scanty manner, the wa- 

 ter wheels, and with what risk of life it is attended. 

 It was reserved for M. Bruclcinann, by means of 

 artesian water, to free liis water-mills from this 

 burthensome evil. He conducted the running wa- 

 ter from the Hollander, which still possessed a 

 temperature of 52^.2 Fahr. through tubes in the 

 Wassergasse, and had thus the satisfaction to find 

 that his water-wheels, the whole Avinter through, 

 even when the external temperature Avas as low as 

 24<^.2 Fahr. never froze.* 



* The period will come when we shall be forced to 



NATIVE COUKTRY OF MAIZE, OR INDIAN CORN. 



From J.imcson's Journal. 



This grain, so important to the agricultural in- 

 terests of the United States, appears to be of un- 

 certain origin. Fuchs very early maintained that 

 it came fntm the east; and Mathioli afiirmed that 

 it was from America. Regniir and Gregory have 

 presented fresh arguments in fiivor of its eastern 

 ! origin. Among them is the name by which it has 

 been long known in Europe, Ble dc 7\trqi(ie; and 

 varieties, it is said, have been brought from the 

 Isle of France, or fi'om China. Moreau de Jonnes, 

 on the contrarj', has recently maintamed, in a 

 memoir read before the Academy of Sciences, 

 that its origin was in America. The name Ble de 

 Tiirqilie no more pi'ovcs it to be of Turkish origin 

 than the name of the Italian Po])lar j)rovcs that 

 that tree grew wild in Italy. It can only signify 

 that it spread ii'om Tuikey into the neighboring 

 countries. Its general cultivation in southern Eu- 

 rope, and the ]iroduction of some new varieties, 

 proves notliing with regard to the country of the 

 species. In iiivor of its American origin, is the 

 fact that it was found in a state of cultivation, in 

 every j^lace where the first navigators landed. In 

 iSIexico according to Hernandez, and in Brazil ac- 

 cording to Zeri; and that in the various countries 

 it had proper names, such as Maize, Flaolli, &c.; 

 while, in the Old World, its names were either all 

 of American origin, or names of the neighboring 

 region, whence it was inmiediately derived; and 

 that, immediately after the discovery of America, 

 it spread rajjidly in the Old Worid, and soon be- 

 came common, a fact not reconcilable with the 

 idea of its former existence there. To these proofs 

 Aug. de Saint Hiiaire has added another. He 

 has" received from M. de Larranhao-a of Monte 

 Video, a new variety of maize, distinguished by 

 the name of Tunicata; because, instead of having 

 the grains naked, they are entirely covered by the 

 glumes. This variety is fi'om Paraguay, where it 

 is cultivated by the Guaycurus Indians, a people 

 in the lowest scale of civilization, and where, ac- 

 cording to the direct testimony of one of them, it 

 grows in the humid forests as a native production. 



[We have raised a few ears of this curious kind of 

 corn described above under the name of Tunicata. 

 The grains are precisely like the common corn, and 

 the ear is of middle size. But besides having a shuck 

 such as covers other Indian corn, every grain of this 

 is completely enclosed in a little shuck of its own. 

 The cob, (if it can be so called,) is scarcely larger than 

 the central pith of the cobs of other ears— and to this 

 are attached by stems or threads, the shucks or glumes 

 which enclose each grain. The whole are regularly 

 and compactly arranged on the ear.] 



SHEEP KILLED BY CATS. 



Incredible as this may sound, we have good 

 authority lor saying the deed has actually been 

 perpetrated in this county. Sever al cats of th e 



look out for a substitute for coal. If, when that time 

 arrives, no new means of procuring heat economical- 

 ly shall be discovered, we may be able to draw from 

 the great subterranean depository of caloric, and part- 

 ly by means of the subterranean waters, heat for our 

 various wants. — Po^gcndorJ's Annahn, H. ii. 1831. 



