404 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



places where they were not generally known 

 to exist. VVithout an ample supply of water, 

 no farming can be prosperously coijducted ; and 

 here again Geology comes to our aid, and sug- 

 gests the formation of those Artesian wells which 

 htve given the precious blessing of water to 

 many previously dry districts, as in France and 

 various parts of England. Ob.servation on the 

 surface of the earth detects the deep reservoirs 

 below. "Search and ye shall find;" for wher- 

 ever deposits of a light and porous nature occur 

 in Iwllows and depressions of firmer and older 

 rocks, water will penetrate until it has accumu- 

 lated into immense subterranean pool.9 — the 

 pressure of the superior strata preventing the 

 fluid from exhibiting itself to the eye, except in 

 slight oozings at the indented parts of the sur- 

 face. When proper borings are made through 

 the strata, the water is released from its confine- 

 ment, and rushes up copiously from the valley 

 or hollow. Beneath those spots of ground over 

 which swarms of gnats are continually seen 

 dancing in the air, the existence of wells may 

 be suspected; for these insects disport them- 

 selves always where there is the greatest evap- 

 oration. It was by a secret knowledge of this 

 fact that the professors of the divining rod de- 

 tected hidden wells. Slight superfcial observa- 

 tion may also detect concealed mineral springs, 

 which may add to the value of an estate. Thus 

 ' the discovery of the chalybeate spa at Dorton, 

 Ln Buckinghamshire, originated from some vil- 



lager's attention being attracted to the circum- 

 stance that a little stream, which issued from a 

 small orifice, destroyed the plants that came 

 within its course ; the few blades of grass that 

 vsere spared bore a thick inciiistation of oxide 

 of iron ; and the surface of the ground, which, 

 ibr a few yards on either side of its channel, as- 

 sumed a jellow and .scorched appearance, was 

 covered with a similar metallic deposit. The 

 peasants called it the Alum Well — the taste of 

 that substance being most apparent to them. It 

 was also observed here, as at the Bath waters, 

 that disea.sed cattle voluntarily and repeatedly 

 repaired to the little stream, and rapidly recov- 

 ered from their maladies. It was noticed that 

 it afforded great relief to horses suflisring from 

 that very obstinate and almost incurable disor- 

 der, the mange. Owing to the powerful chaly- 

 beate qualities of this water, the manure of the 

 cattle that drink of it will burn to a cinder, and 

 is collected for fuel, in the same way that the 

 Peruvian miners and mountaineers make bright 

 and clear fires of the dung of the llamas and al- 

 paccas. * 



These several facts will, I trust, suffice to 

 show to eveiy reader the policy of the agricul- 

 turist greatly enlarging his present sphere of 

 knowledge, and the frequent advantages that 

 vvould result from his practicing a habit of orig- 

 inal observation, with a view of deriving impor- 

 tant suggestions from apparently trifling facts. 

 [Jour, of Iligh. and Agri. Soc. of Scotland. 



"LIME ENRICHETH THE FATHER BUT IMPOYERISHETH THE SON." 



As " all Ls not gold that glitters," so all popular 

 mottoes are not the very essence of wise expe- 

 rience. Some have their origin in ignorance, 

 and gain cuirency for want of examination. 

 With the majority of mankind, it is much more 

 SLgreeable to take things for granted, than to go 

 through the trouble of investigation. This lazy 

 disposition, inherent in our nature, to take things 

 for granted, gave rise to the story or the fact, of 

 the French philosophers, who, on being asked 

 by Doctor Franklin how it was that a pot full of 

 •water would not overflow if a t\vo foot rock-fish 

 shoald be put into it, straightway put on their 

 considering cap.s, and set about gravely to ac- 

 count for it, without ever asking whether the fact 

 was really so ! 



On this vulgar compound of ignorance and 

 credulity, many an empiric and charlatan has 

 traded and passed himself off, within our observa- 

 lion, for a loise man, whose only virtue was that 

 which has been called a rascally one — denomin- 

 ated prudence. They have had the prudence to 

 keep their mouths shut, aware of the common 

 ( «ayingthat a '■ still tongue shows a wise head !" 

 ■w^hile in many cases it is the fruit more of cun- 

 Bing, than of wisdom. 



The motto at the head of these remarks, is not 

 (816) 



'.-• 



only fallacious but mischievous ; and knowing 

 how apt the best of us are to be misled by sen- 

 tentious and oracular expressions of this sort, 

 especially where they address themselves to 

 our avarice or indolence, the obligation is the 

 greater to denounce and expose it. 



Far from dissuading young fanners from the 

 use of lime, under the specious theory that every 

 thing that stimulates, must be followed by ex- 

 haustion, there is no service that we could ren- 

 der to Agriculture, of which we should be 

 prouder, than if we could devise some means, 

 whereby every young farmer in Maryland and 

 Virginia, and all the old States, could procure 

 an adequate supply of lime, to put from ?0 to 

 100 bushels on every acre of his worn-out land. 

 In truth, we regard this as the great desidera- 

 tum of a large portion of the States above nam- 

 ed. The real question is, not whether the use 

 of lime be judicious and advi.sable, but h(W is 

 the poor farmer to get it, and at how high a 

 price will he be justified in going before be 

 should decline the use of it 7 



In.stead of fearing that he may enrich himself 

 and impoverish his son by ulterior exhaustion 

 of his land, if there be any one commodity for 

 which Prudence herself would hold him justified 



