688 



FARMERS' REGISTER— HAY MAKING— MANURE. 



From Loudon's EiiC}clopcdia. 

 HAY MAKING MANURE. 



The art of making hay docs not seem 1o be ini- 

 deri-tood in the iionh of Lancashire or in Dum- 

 friesshire any more now than it was in most parts 

 of Scotland tvvenlj'-six years ago. The hay is put 

 into codes, which are left in the field till the out- 

 side by alternate rain or dew, and s\inshine, is 

 burned to a dusty woody matter, and the interior 

 is rendered too dry to undergo theproper degree ol 

 fermentation Avhen put in the rick. Indeed in 

 Scotland the lermcntalion of hay in the rick did 

 not use to be considered necessary, an)' more than 

 the fermentation of the luiuid food of pigs before 

 giving it to them, or of liquid nianure belbre ap- 

 plying it lo the soil. Yet, though the Miildlesex 

 very superior mode of making hay does not appear 

 to be yet prevalent in the north, we observed the 

 bad M iddlesex practice of dunging the meadows and 

 grass lands with rotten stable dung, and composts ol' 

 dung and lime, adojjled in the ))ark at Lowther 

 Castle, and at several places near Lancaster. Mr. 

 Ogilvie, an extensive Scotch farmer at Mere, near 

 Knutsford, manures his grass land only with liquid 

 manure, fermented in tanks in the Dutch manner, 

 before being carted out; and this we consider to be 

 by far the best, because by far the most economi- 

 cal, mode of manuring grass lands. The practice 

 of forming compost heaps, by mixing quicklime 

 with putrescent manure, or even with soil contain- 

 ing much vegetable matter, is contrary to all 

 science, as was long ago shown by Lord Mea- 

 dowbank. The lime is rendered much less fit for 

 acting on the soil of the field, than when it was 

 newly taken from the kiln; and the carbon of the 

 dung, or organized matter in the heap, is rendered 

 insoluble in water, and consequently unfit for being 

 taken up by the roots of plants. 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF VIRGINIA. 



Report from the Select Committee, to whom ivas 

 referred certain MemoriaJs from Morgan, Fred- 

 erick and Shenandoah Counties, praying for a 

 Geological Survey of the State, tvith a view to 

 the discovery and developement of its geological 

 and mineral resources. 



The select committee, to whom was referred 

 Bundry petitions from the counties of Morgan, 

 Frederick and Shenandoah, on the subject of a 

 geological and chemical survey of the state, have 

 had that subject under consideration, and respect- 

 fully report: 



1. In looking to the example of other countries, 

 as well as of several of our sister states, it would 

 appear that great practical im[)ortance is attached 

 to the geological and chemical incjuiries which 

 Ihey have respectively instituted. In conjunction 

 with extensive and minute topographical surveys, 

 many of the governments of Europe have set on 

 foot systematic and detailed inquiries into the geo- 

 logical features and mineral resources of their 

 respective domains. France, Sweden, Russia, 

 several of the German and Italian states, and 

 Great Britain, have shown great activity in push- 

 ing forward these investigations. The latter go- 

 vernment especially, has distinguished herself by 

 the most liberal and steady zeal in developing 

 those natural reeources of the land, which form 



the basis of her wealth and power. The ord- 

 nance man of Great Britain, which is j-et only in 

 part published, and which, besides to|:ogra})hical, 

 contains n'.so gcolrgical, details, is looked upon as 

 a sifjnal proof of the liberal spirit and practical 

 wisdom of the government of that country. In 

 this country likewise, a growing conviction of the 

 n;reat importance of such inquiries, has led seve- 

 ral of the states to make provision for extensive 

 practical surveys, on a j^lan somewhat analogous 

 to those conducted in Europe. The survey of 

 Massachusetts, under the superintendence of Pro- 

 fessor Hitchcock of Amherst college, has already 

 been completed, and judging fiom the immense 

 mass of details, under the head of economical 

 geology, enfliodied in his comprehensive report re- 

 cently published in a very large octavo volume, 

 there can be no doubt that the community for 

 w:hose benefit the survey was undertaken, has 

 been am pi)' gratified by the important discoveries 

 it has brought to lioht, and the valuable practical 

 bearings of" most of" its details. In this report, we 

 behold a state possessing but little variety of geo- 

 logical features, displaying an amount and diver- 

 sity of resources, (in part until now undiscovered, 

 and never before arranged so as to be understood,) 

 which cannot be contemplated without pride and 

 satisfL#tion. Marjdand and Tennessee are fol- 

 lowing the wise example of Massachucetls, and 

 there is reason to believe that New Jersey, Penn- 

 S3-Ivania and New York will, either during the 

 present or the next year, authorize similar under- 

 takings. In the preliminary report of Professor 

 Ducatel of Maryland, will be found the most 

 abundant evidence of the practical benefits which 

 are to be anticipated fi-om such researclies. 

 Though based upon a merely superficial recon- 

 noissance of the stale, this valuable document de- 

 velopes a number of interesting (acts in its geolo- 

 gy, of whicli little or nothing had been previously 

 known, and from which new impulses to the en- 

 terprise of extensive districts of the state, may be 

 confidently expected to proceed. The subsequent 

 report recently presented to the legislature of 

 Marv'land, embodying all the details of the first 

 year's operations in regular surve)', has not yet 

 reached us, but from what we learn, the develope- 

 ments which it contains are of a character to en- 

 list the wisdom and j)atriotism of the state very 

 warmly in the prosecution of the survey. Of the 

 practical utility of the researches now in progress 

 in Tennessee, the published reports and other doc- 

 uments relating to the subject, speak in the most 

 unqualified and encouraging language. The la- 

 bors of Professor Troost, to whom this survey hag 

 been committed, have already contributed a large 

 amount of useful inlbrmalion relative to the mine- 

 ral and agricultural resources of the soil of Ten- 

 nessee. In the other states above alluded to, the 

 adoption of similar measures for the investigation 

 of their natural territorial resources, has been de- 

 layed from year to year by considerations of econ- 

 omy, to which the heavy debts accumulating in 

 the prosecution of" public improvements, have con- 

 strained them to defer. But no doubt appears to 

 have existed of the real utility and highly im- 

 portant practical bearings of judiciously con- 

 ducted geological and chemical survey's. Indeed, 

 notwithstanding the heavy incumbrances under 

 which some of those states are now laboring, 

 projects of such surveys are at this time under 



