1888] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



505 



of making the contract. Nor is this otTer made at 

 any risk ; for where the crop is as sure, and the growth 

 and increase as great, as in lower Virginia, any one 

 may safely buy stock at the highest prices yet heard 

 of, if he can sell the product, on previous contract, at 

 one-fourth of that price.— Ed. Far. Rtu. 



WELL SPRINGS. 



To the tditoi- of the American Farmer. 



Xcwbury, S. C, July 5, 1824. 

 Sir — Permit me to coinniuiiicale to you a new 

 method of digging wells, which in a hilly country 

 makes them, in my opinion, superior to springs. 



'J'he method occurred to me some years ago, and 

 I have often spoken of it as practicable, but I ne- 

 ver heard of its being reduced to practice until 

 lately. Mr. John Rhoden, of Chester, I am in- 

 formed has in the course of <he last year made the 

 attempt, and completely succeeded, 



Mr. Rhoden had a well on (he side of a steep 

 hill, the cleaning and repairing of which had cost 

 him much trouble and expense, to little purpose. 

 At length it occurred lo him that il' he could make 

 a horizontal opening into it Irom the side of the 

 hill, on a level with the vein, that he might thus 

 be enabled to procure a running stream from the 

 well, such as is Ibund at springs, and gain an easy 

 access to it, lor the purpose of cleaning it out 

 whenever il might becon;e necessary. W hen the 

 work was set abour, it was accomplished in a lijw 

 days, and he has now, out of his well, an excel- 

 lent spring ; easy to be cleaned out, wiih a very 

 convenient milk-house. 



The plan which had previously suggested itself 

 to me, and which I still think is even superior to 

 Mr. Rhoden's, is this — select a steep hill, (whose 

 declivity should be, if possible, 45 degrees,) and 

 dig down, opening out as you go in the form of a 

 ditch, from the inner wall of the well, to the side of 

 the hill, and wheeling oH'the dirt in a barrow, un- 

 til you come to the vein. Or make, in the first 

 place, a horizontal opening, such as Mr. Rhoden 

 did, into the vein, instead of digging perpendicu- 

 larly as is usual. 



The first method proposed may at first view ap- 

 pear to involve a great deal of labor ; but I am 

 certain that on a hill declining at the rate of 45, or 

 even 50 or 60 degrees, a well can be sooner dug, 

 with less labor, with greater lacilities lor blowing 

 rock, greater security against damp, and more 

 certainty of finding a vein than a common well. 

 It can be sooner dug and with less labour, lor in 

 the first place the din to be removed is but about 

 three times as great, as will be procured by only 

 making a diagram of the hill ; and in the second 

 place, instead of having to haul up the dirt by a 

 windlass, at the great risk of the well digger, and 

 with much labor and loss oftime, it can be wheel- 

 ed otf along the level of the ditch, by a common 

 hand as fast as it is dug. 



As to this method affording greater facilities lor 

 blowing rocks and greater security against noxious 

 damps, than the common method; this is so ap- 

 parent as to require no proof. 



It is attended with a greater certainty of finding 

 water, because in the common method unless a 

 vein is found within the diameter of your well. 

 Vol. VI.-64 



you may continue lo dig without success, although 

 numerous veins may be runniitnr within a small 

 dismnce of you. But in the method I jiropose 

 you will have a cliance for every vein which runs 

 irom the outside of the hill lo the inside of the well, 

 lor your diich must traverse the whole of them. 



I believe the second method I have proposed 

 has nearly as many advantages as the first, and 

 some others; but these must suggest themselves 

 at the first view, and require no elucidation. 



An excellent milk-house may be easily made in 

 the excavation, under either method. 



I will not dilate uf)on the advantages of this 

 method of digging wells. Allow me only to rei- 

 terate the superior facilities it aftbrds lor keep- 

 ing them in order. 



Many tracts of land, whereon there are no 

 springs, lose half their value ; because few would 

 be willing to settle them, and undergo the trouble 

 and inconvenience o\' watering their whole stock 

 from a well. But my method (or rather Mr. 

 Rhoden's) would aftbrd a running stream from> 

 the well for that purpose. 



Yours, most respectfully. 



Job Johnstoiv. 



From tlie Penny Magazine. 

 CHANGK OF THE WATER LEVEL IN THE 

 BALTIC. 



In Mr, Greenough's address to the Geological 

 Society, as reported in the 'Philosophical Maga- 

 zine,' it is slated that, as early as the time of 

 Swedenberg, who wrote in 1715, it was observed 

 that lh5 level of the Baltic and German Ocean 

 was on the decline. About the middle of the last 

 century an animated and long-continued discus- 

 sion took place in Sweden, first as to the cause of 

 this phenomenon, and then as to its reality. Hel- 

 lant of Tornea, who had been assured of the (act 

 by his father, an old boatman, and who afterwards 

 witnessed it himself, bequeathed all he had to the 

 Academy of Sciences, on condition that they 

 should proceed with the investigation; the sum 

 was small, but the bequest answered the purpose. 

 Some of the members of the Academy made 

 marks on exposed cliffs and in sheltered bays, re- 

 cording the day on which the marks were made, 

 and their then height above the water. The Bal- 

 tic affords great facility to those who conduct such 

 experiments, as there is no tide, nor any other cir- 

 cumstance to affect its level, except unequal pres- 

 sure of the atmosphere on its surliice and on that 

 of the ocean; this produces a variation, which i^ 

 curiously exemplified at the Lake Malar, near 

 Stockholm. As the barometer rises or falls, the 

 Baltic will flow into the lake or the lake into the 

 Baltic. The variation resulting from the inequali- 

 ty of atmospheric pressure, however, is trifling. 

 In sheltered spots mosses and lichens grow down 

 lo the water's edge, and thus Ibrm a natural re- 

 gister of its level. Upon this line of vegetation 

 marks were fixed, which now stand in many 

 places two feet above the level of the wafer. In 

 the years 1820-21. Bruncrona visited the old 

 marks, measured the height of each above the 

 line of vegetation, fixed new marks, and made a 

 report to the Academy. With this report has 

 been published an Appendix by Halesfrom, con- 



