495 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



Dions, founded upon his knowledge of the strata 

 of the earih, and states that, in " Hariford, Con- 

 necticut, there is a well which Avas dug 70 feet 

 before water was found, and then, in boring an 

 auger hole ihrou^h a rock, the water rose so fast 

 as°to make it difficult to keep it dry by pumps till 

 the hole could be blown larger by gunpowder, 

 which was no sooner accomplished than it filled 

 and ran over, and has been a brook lor near a cen- 

 tury." (Travels ihroui^h Amer. : Lond. 1789.) 



Whether the docior was correctly inlormed as 

 to this running-well in Harilbrd, I have my doubts; 

 for, though 1 have visited the place, I never heard 

 of it, nor have I ever been ab;e to learn any ihing 

 about it from any person from there. As Hart- 

 ford, however, is near Wadsworth's mountain, on 

 the top of which is a very deep lake, it is very 

 possible thai some vein leading from it may have 

 been struck, which caused it to flow over. 



But to proceed wiih the matter before us. The 

 prairips in this county extend up as high as Erie 

 and Greensborough, on ihe east side of the War- 

 rior river; and about half way between the two 

 places is the largest; at Ihe head of which is 

 my summer residence. When 1 first came to 

 this part of the country, settlers were deterred from 

 going lower down into the prairies on account 

 of the scarcity of water. In Ihe course of the 

 last year or two, however, that has become the 

 finest watered portion of the country, by means 

 ol" Artesian wells. Indeed every planter has it 

 now in his power to have as much water as he 

 wants, and in whatever place he wants it ; if it 

 is on the top oi" the higlu^st hill on his plantation. 

 Well-boring has become a trade, and contracis 

 are almost universally made, " no water, no pay." 

 For the first 4 or 5 miles from the head of the 

 prairies it is usually obtained in great abundance 

 by boring about 300 feet. In this distance they 

 generally go through 3 or 4 strata of reck, and 

 just before reaching water, the rock becomes so 

 hard that a cast-steel pick has to be substituted 

 for the auger with which the rotten limestone 

 rock is bored. The hole perforated is generally 

 about 3 inches in diameter and the auger is work- 

 ed by pine poles connected together by a head 

 and socket, which are successively added until 

 the object is attained. To obviate the dfficulty 

 of drawing up the poles caused by the suction and 

 pressure of the atmosphere, a small aperture is 

 left near the centre of the auger, by which the 

 air can get below it. The quantity of water 

 sometimes thrown up from one of these auger 

 holes is almost incredible, and shows the great 

 pressure to which it must be subjected beneath 

 the stratum perforated. I have seen one which 

 throws up 50 gallons per minute, o or 6 leet above 

 the surface, and it will run over the top of a tube 

 25 feet above the surface, though in a very di- 

 minished quantity. There are several others in 

 the immediate vicinity nearly as bold, and in a 

 few instances the water has forced its way out 

 through the natural crevices in the rock, and 

 runs all the year, though in comparatively 

 very diminished quantities. The auger used 

 is about 20 feet long, with a shank 1 inch in di- 

 ameter, through which a half inch hole is bored 

 to admit the air. 



The number of Artesian wells in Greene and 

 Marengo counties ia probably nearly 500. The 

 great quantity of water they throw out ia 6up- 



posed to have made the canebrake much more 

 unhealthy than it formerly was, as it stagnates in 

 the deep holes and ravines, which otherwise are 

 generally dry belore the srckly season. The 

 dip of the bottom siraium of rock, beneath which 

 the water is generally procured, averages at)out 

 20 lieet to the mile, in going from north lo souih 

 across the prairies, though there is no great uni- 

 t'ormiiy in it, water being Ibund in ihe same 

 vicinity at very diHcrent depths. In Demopolia 

 theie 18 a running well 500 leet deep, and very 

 near it there is one bored 600 feet wiihout geiting 

 water. These are about the customary depihs 

 on the south side of Big Praiiie creek, thougii on 

 Cottonwood creek, one of its southern tributaries, 

 the borings have been carried upwards ol 900 

 leet in some instances without geiting through 

 the rock. To whatever depth, however, the rock 

 is perlbrated, it is found to contain the same 

 lossils, consisting mosily of scollop, cockle and 

 oysier shells, though not o( the same species 

 we now find in Mobile. 1 have been shown 

 some ver}' perfect specimens lately which were 

 bored up 540 and 570 leet below the surface. 

 Pyrites or sulphurel of iron is also frequently 

 bored out from a great depth, and as the little 

 balls, called sulphur balls, in which it is found, 

 are very hard, they frequently iniertiere very much 

 with the boring. 



The water procured from those wells is always 

 impregnated preity strongly wiih sulphur, and 

 I'roni the deep ones appears quite warm in winter. 

 Persons accustomed to it, preitj'r it to any oiher, 

 though it is unpalatable to ihose who are not . 

 Stock of all kinds are very (bnci of it, and a cow 

 will swim a creek in winter to get to it. 

 From the few hasty and desultory hints I have 

 been able, '' currenie calanio," to ihrow together, 

 you will perceive that this is a very inieresiing 

 portion of our country, boih to the geologist and 

 sciemific agnculiurist. The great suiceptibiliiy 

 of improvement our calcareous soils possess, 

 will at some future day render tbem extremely 

 valuable ; as instead of being exhausted, they 

 improve by culiivation. Should 1 be able to steal 

 an hour from the more pressing engagements of 

 business, I purpose before long to give you some 

 of the results of my observations and experience 

 in the culiivation ol prairie soils. At present my 

 paper and time are both at the " Ultima Thule." 

 Yours, very respectfully, 



Robert W. Withers. 



FATAL EFFECTS OF CASTOR OIL ON A HORSE. 



From the Tennesee State Agriculturist. 



A case has recently occurred in England, in 

 which the deaih of a horse was evidently produced 

 by the effects of a quart of castor oil given as a 

 purgative. It operated powerfully ; but the animal 

 soon died. On examination, a large intro-suscep- 

 tion of the jejunum was discovered, and the mu- 

 cous membrane of the stomach and intestines ex- 

 hibited marks of severe inflammation." 



I lately met with the above in an old number of 

 a medical journal, which brought to mind too cases 

 that fell under my observation at Lexington, in 

 Kentucky, in which the death of two valuable 



