444 



FARMERS' REGISTER— PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE. 



both, by greater efficiency, been enabled to lessen 

 the expense, we are unable to say. they were 

 however, as competent as the better kind of day 

 laborers, and as the farms were some distance 

 apart, and there was no communication between 

 the tenants, still the expense lor the labor done on 

 each is nearly the same. A revolving horse hay 

 rake was used in both instances, and there was no 

 charge lor the use of the team to house the hay. 

 Still we have no doubt that had the owner person- 

 ally superintended the work, the cost would have 

 been less; because his direct interest in lessening 

 all expenses would have created facilities which 

 did not occur to those less uiteresled. In the last 

 statement given, this was the case, for there we 

 see 38 loads cured for ^34, or about 90 cents per 

 load; whereas the other two cost about .$ 1 12 per 

 load. We have heretofore made estimates of the 

 expense of curing hay, and have uniformly made 

 them at about $1 per load. Last year, the expense 

 was rather less than this; for although the weather 

 was not quite so dry for harvesting, yet as the 

 heat was not so mtense, laborers were enabled, on 

 the whole, to do more, and this year, a mower had 

 to go over more ground to obtain the same quan- 

 tity of hay. 



EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE. 



Sumpter, S. C. lOth Oct. 1834. 



We are going on well as to rail roads, and with 

 the spirit afloat, and the growing influence of the 

 idea that the labor of the country may be used in 

 lieu of money, gives me hopes that it will not be 

 long before Petersburg and Norfolk will be con- 

 nected with Charleston by one continued road. 

 But we have also a spirit afloat, tending to a move- 

 ment by far too rapid, because too exjiensive — that 

 of an almost immediate use of locomotives. 



This circumstance leads me to ask you to obtain 

 for me the information, what has been the course 

 of conduct pursued by the Petersburg and Nor- 

 folk Companies? Have they not forborne the use 

 of steam till their work is completed? 



I would also say to you that a great impediment 

 exists here as to engineers. No sooner does a boy 

 get the knowledge of the level, than he comes to 

 the South, turns engineer, and charges his $10 

 per day. The Columbians paid $^2,000 the other 

 day for surveying sixty miles of ground. It took 

 up twenty-seven days time, was performed by two 

 engineers and thirteen assistants, with one wagon 

 and four horses. Now this sum may be thus di- 

 vided: 



Engineers SIO per diem each, $270 or ^540 



Wagon and team, _ - - - 120 



Thirteen assistants ^2 is $26 per day, or 702 



Profit, ,.,.-. 638 



i2,000 



Now, I apprehend in such a country as this, 

 where, on the alluvion, the elevation will not exceed 

 three feet in the mile; and as soon as the leaf 

 falls, you may discover objects for miles, that many 

 an intelligent young man would be able to give 

 himself a good start, and ser\-e companies at a low 

 rate, always stipulating, that in the event of suc- 

 cess, the payment should be correspondent; and 

 perhaps as it would furnish the best pledge and the 



strongest test of his talent and zeal, to agree to 

 take this addendum to his jiay in road stock. 



There is now a distant prospect of a rail road 

 from Darlington Court House direct to Sumter- 



ville, and thence to , on the Charleston Rail 



Road, a distance of" 120 miles, more or less. From 

 Darlington Court House to Sumpter Court House, 

 as liir as Lynch Creek, the road is solid, and the 

 country flat. Below it is flat, but perhaps not so 

 solid. * # # # 



Surry County, Oct. 20, 1834. 

 I take the liberty of sending you some sam- 

 ples of my marl. No. 1 was taken from the up- 

 per part of the bank, forming a stratum about four 

 feet thick, and containing a substance in a crj^s- 

 talized state, which I at first supposed to be gyp- 

 sum, but was soon convinced of my error fi-om its 

 being very easily decomposed by muriatic acid; 

 and I am now at a loss to say what it is, unless it 

 is crystalized lime. Sometimes shells are found 

 with the hollow side up, filled with transparent 

 cr^'stals of a most beautiiiil appearance. * * 



[These crystals were new to our observation — but 

 our correspondent's application of a test led him tea 

 correct conclusion. The substance is crystalized car- 

 bonate of lime — and has been thus formed by a pre- 

 vious solution of a portion of the shelly matter by 

 rain water, which (as we are informed) contains ear- 

 bonic acid, and the excess of this acid present forms a 

 super-carbonate of lime, which is soluble in water. 

 This is the form of the calcareous matter dissolved in 

 limestone water, and which, by losing its excess of 

 acid, is deposited in the crystals which decorate the 

 caverns of limestone regions, and in calcareous tufa at 

 the falls of running streams.] 



Fairfax, Nov. 20th, 1834. 

 * * * * I am negociating for a 

 large supply of ground bones, and wish you would 

 insert in your following numbers what you may 

 know, or what is said of them. English authority 

 is various: but I have great conficlence in it for 

 most things. 



Hanover, November 15th, 1834. 

 * * * * I have been long 



and successfully employed in the use of shell 

 marl, and had noted, and should have pubhshed 

 many of iny observations, but the experiments 

 mentioned in your Essay on Calcareous Manures, 

 are so much more exact than mine, and so precise- 

 ly in accordance with my experience, that there is 

 nothing left for me to say on the subject. This 

 statement I have always made when I have heard 

 your book mentioned. # # # 



[This concurrent testimony, even when thus gene- 

 rally and concisely stated, is very satisfactory to 

 the individual to whom it is addressed — but it would 

 add much to the estimated value of this manure, if 

 the detailed experiments alluded to could be laid be- 

 fore the public. We know (from report) that the 

 general and successful practice of our correspondent, 

 together with his ample means for observation, would 

 give his statements, whether general or in detail, a 

 character of authority which would be exceeded by 

 none.] 



