572 



FARMERS' REGISTER— FENCE TAX. 



none of the others will exceed a quarter of a mile 

 in length. 



The principal obstacle to the adoption of tun- 

 nels on railways, worked by Rteam power, has 

 been the want of suflicient ventilation. The fur- 

 nace of the enf^ine soon renders' the air vmfit for 

 breathing, and the impurity produced by tiie pas- 

 sage of one engine might continue until the arri- 

 val of the next. It is proposed, in the longer tun- 

 nels, to overcome this difficulty by providing shafis 

 or chimneys at short intervals, carried from the 

 roof of the tunnel to the surfiice of the ground 

 above. In the case of the long tunnel at Kilsby, 

 some of these shafis will be one hundred teethigh; 

 in the other tunnels they will vary from thirty to 

 seventy feet; all of them will be eight feet in diam- 

 eter. We are not aware whether the sufficiency 

 of such an expedient for the purposes of ventila- 

 tion has yet been ascertained by experiment. It 

 has been stated that the speed with which the 

 engines will traverse the tunnels will be so great, 

 that very little ventilation will suffice. But the 

 A'entilation necessary tor the tunnel will be the 

 same, at whatever speed the engine may proceed; 

 for the air drawn through the fire during the pas- 

 sage of the engine will be the same vi^hatever the 

 speed may be. Each stroke of the piston will 

 draw through the fire the same quantity of atmos- 

 pheric air; and it is obvious that the same number 

 of strokes of the piston vvilt produce the same 

 immber of revolutions of the wheels, and therefore 

 the same progressive advance of the engine at 

 whatever rate the piston may move. If the en- 

 gine moves rapidly through the tunnel, it will, 

 therefore, still vitiate the same quantity of atmos- 

 pheric air; but there will be this convenience, that 

 the passengers will not be detained in the air so 

 A'itiated any considerable length of time. The 

 longest tunnel upon the projected line will be tra- 

 versed in less than five minutes, and the shafts 

 will subsequently remove, though perhaps not very 

 epeedily, the impure air. 



In cases where it is not found practicable to 

 traverse the valleys by embankments, bridges to 

 Bupport the rail road, oi great extent, have been I 

 projected, by which the valleys may be arched 

 over. One of the most stupendous of these works 

 is the viaduct intended to bestride the valley of the 

 Ouse. This work, which will be situate between 

 Newport Pagnel, and Stoney Stratford, will cross 

 the valley of the Ouse about a mile and a half 

 eastward of the latter town; its extreme lenfjth 

 will be a mile and a quarter, and the height of the 

 level of the rails at the centre arch above that of 

 the water will be neari^ fitly feet; the centre por- 

 tion will be supported on seven magniiicent arches, 

 each of fifly leet water way; the key-stone of each 

 arch not to be less than twenty-five feet above the 

 surface of the ground. The extreme ends of the 

 viaduct will be formed by embankments. By 

 Buch gigantic etrorts of labor and skill, the ine- 

 qualities of the ground will be greatly diniinished, 

 though not absolutely overcome. * * * 



upon this sura is S120, and tluft annual waste 

 i^ 100, making the sum of $i220 per annum for a 

 certain charge upon that much land, for no other 

 real or pretended purpose, than to nmke the con- 

 tents of the enclosure legally the owner's. And 

 even then, sir, he has but colorable pretence to be 

 the owner; ibr such has been the demoralizing ef- 

 fect of the enclosing law, that those who live upon 

 the common, can and will find their way in — and 

 that in such a way as to leave you without a rem- 

 edy. 



if, sir, 3'ou give men a right to enter your kitch- 

 en, how long will they be kept out of your pantry, 

 if they are hungry and have winded the scent of 

 roast and stew? The beasts of the field have not, 

 like man, an imaginary moral restraint: they, with- 

 out craft, go ibr all they can ^ci — and, having the 

 legal right to try every pannel, they must be low- 

 er in rank than "rtoor shoats" if they fail; and 

 without intending more than to do sheer justice to 

 this case, I v/ill ask how long the owner would 

 refuse to give them his aid? No virtue, sir, will 

 resist cupidity, if you mak€ it legal to pass the 

 outer barrier. Appetite has no moral law. 



I would ask our pohlical economists if they 

 could guess why land is so low, and so much neg- 

 lected in Virginia? Poor Virginia ! how long 

 will th}' cbildren hang mill stones upon thy neck? 

 How long will they keep thee ragged and naked? 

 Yet thy veiy name is a blessing to thy children. 



This rent charge of ,9220 upon every 640 acres 

 of land is what every purchaser must add to the 

 sum he pays for land before he can say what the 

 real cost is; and it may be faiily said, that every 

 landholder pays that sum for being legislated into 

 common. Can we be forever blind — Ibrever law- 

 less? If m}^ brother farmers would give this sub- 

 ject its due share of consideration, I am persuad- 

 ed, it is far more important than the making of a 

 president — for, make who they m.ay, the crafty 

 only vrill divide the spoils. 



X. Y. Z. 



Fairfax Count]/, ISih Jan., 1835. 



THE FENCE TAX. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Eegister. 



The enclosing fence of one mile square will 

 coot, in this part of the state, if made of good ma- 

 terials, two thousand dollars — and good the ma- 

 terialg must be, if they last 20 years. The interest 



From the rc-tersburg Intelligencor. 



REPOKT ON THE MODE AXD ADVANTAGES OF 

 IBIPROVING THE KAVIGATION OF THE 

 UPPER APPOMATTOX. 



Agreeably to notice published in the Richmond 

 Enquirer, the Constitutional Whig, and Peters- 

 burg Constellation, a meeting took place in the 

 town of Farmville, on the 2d January, 1835, for the 

 purpose of taking into consideration the naviga- 

 tion of the Appomattox river by the lock and dam 

 system, from Petersburg to Farmville, and by the 

 jettee and since dam system, from Farmville to 

 Planterstown. On motion, Thomas A. Morton 

 was called to the chair, and Henry Brazeal ap- 

 pointed secretary of the meeting. N. E. Venable 

 was requested to read the report of the engineer 

 employed by the Board of Public Works, which 

 report was accordingly read. Whereupon the fol- 

 lowing plan for improving the navigation of said 

 river was submitted for consideration, to wit: 



It is proposed to improve the navigation of the 

 Api^omattox river, by locks and dams, from 

 Farmville to the head of the canal near Peters- 

 burg, so as to give tw^o feet depth of water at all 

 seasons of the year; and by jettees and wing 

 dams from Farmville to Planterstown, so as to 



