1839] 



FARMERS^ REGISTER. 



same time become of practical importance. Glass 

 formed from the coverings of infasory animals ! 

 Who would, a few years ago, have believed in the 

 possibility of this substance, by whose assistance 

 invisible life in water is revealed to us, being pre- 

 pared from a material, derived from the same world 

 of extremely minute animated beings ; or that we 

 should be enabled, by means of a substance lur- 

 nished by an invisible creature, to investigate the 

 smallest and most obscure, as well as the largest 

 and most remote, bodies in creation? 



[Communicated to us by Prolessor Hausmann, 

 from the '^ Gnttingische gelehrte anzeige?i." 25th 

 January, 1838.] — Ed. Philos. Jouk. 



An additional interest is given to the foregoing 

 statement, by the fact, that a deposite of these in- 

 fusorial coverings, analogous to that above describ- 

 ed, has been discovered by Professor J. W. Bai- 

 ley, of West Point, N. Y. ; and they doubtless 

 will be found in no inconsiderable extent in other 

 parts of this country. Professor Bailey says the 

 deposite he discovered is "8 or 10 inches thick and 

 probably several hundred yards in extent, which 

 is wholly made up of the siliceous shells of the 

 bacillaria, &c., in a fossil state;" v. his paper 

 with figured descriptions in Silliman's Journal, 

 October, 1838. We have examined a portion oi' 

 this "clay-colored mass," from West Point, under 

 the microscope, and witnessed the organic forms 

 as described by the discoverer. G. 



Jour. Fianklin Institute. 



From the Mining Journal. 

 SUGAR FROar THE PUMPKIN. 



A complete revolution is expected to take place 

 in the manufacture of native sugar — a revolution 

 which will probably compel the beet-root growers 

 to "hide their diminished heads." In other words, 

 the pumpkin is about to enter the field as a rival 

 of the beet-root, and to force the Chamber of De- 

 puties to revise its late enactment on the sugar 

 question. We hear that an industrious specula- 

 tor is on the point of establishing a manufactory 

 for extracting sugar from this over-grown and 

 hitherto despised production of the vegetable world, 

 the first experiments on which, it is added, have 

 been crowned with complete success. 



A CHEAP AND CONVENIENT MODE OF BOR- 

 ING FOR MARL. 



To tlie Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



I inclose ^5 for Vol. 7, of your very useful Re- 

 gister, and along with them, a lame account of 

 (what I think,,) a most excellent implement lor 

 boring for marl, or for searching into Mother 

 Earth after many of her hidden treasures; and of 

 which, if there was any merit in so simple a con- 

 trivance, I should say I was the inventor. 



It consists of a f inch square bar of iron* of any 

 required length, with a 1^ inch barrel-auger 

 welded to one end, and a handle ol'iron, having a 

 mortise to fit the rod very loosely, so that it can 

 elide up and down at pleasure; and a ihumb-screw 

 at the side of the mortise in the handle, to fix it at 

 any required height. In forging out the rod, the 

 smith should make whh his punch, indentations 



* I find this rod large enough. 



about a foot apart along the whole length, to re- 

 ceive the end of the screw. So much for the 

 borer. If more than 10 fiiet be required for the 

 length of the borer, it will be necessary to support 

 the upper end, otherwise it will waver in boring, 

 and prevent the rod from going down perpendicu- 

 larly. Now to comprehend my fixture, you have 

 only to imagine a large over-grown four-legged 

 stool, over-topping the operater's head about a 

 foot or so, with a hole in the center of the seat 

 through which the rod passes. The legs to be 

 stout and far apart, and going quite loosely 

 through the holes in the seat, with good shoul- 

 ders for it to rest on. Two of the legs on one side 

 to be fiilly two feet longer from the shoulders up 

 than the others, so that on the side of a hill, you 

 can preserve the level by lowering the long legs 

 and driving a nail under the seat into each leg, 

 and thereby forming a shoulder. If 20 feet ofiod 

 be required, (which is the length of the auger I 

 have in use,) you must put another four-legged 

 stool of light materials and smaller dimensions^ 

 about six feet high, upon the top of the first, se- 

 curing firmly (by mortise) its legs at top and bot- 

 tom. From the centre of the upper stool, a tube, 

 (made of four strips of thin plank, tacked togeth- 

 er,) descends to the seat of the lower stool, and is 

 mortised into it, through which tube the rod pas- 

 ses up and down, and is always kept in place. If 

 more than 20 feet be required, you have only to 

 continue this tube up as high as necessary, and 

 brace it to the seat of the upper stoul. The ope- 

 rator has but to turn the handle and he is surprised 

 at the rapidity with which the rod descends, ow- 

 ing to its weight ; and he should not bore more 

 than two feet at a time before withdrawing, al- 

 ways relaxing the thumb-screw, and letting the 

 handle fall to the ground before pulling up the rod. 

 The great improvement here suggested, consists 

 in the moveable handle upon a continuous rod of 

 any reasonable length, thereby dispensing with 

 sere w-joints and other contrivances, which are cost- 

 ly to make, and troublesome in their use. The 

 fixtures to keep the rod plumb, may be varied ac- 

 cording to size and great lengths required; but for 30 

 feet, you will find the above not a bad contrivance. 

 If you think so poor an affair deserves a place 

 in your Register, you can dispose of it that way; 

 but if not, i shall be nothing daunted, and may 

 bore you again another time. 



Yours, Nous Verrons. 



ANALYSES OP SUNDRY SPECIMENS OF CAL- 

 CAREOUS ROCK, OR MARL, IN S. CAROLINA. 



To the Editor of the farmers' Register. 



Bristol, Pa., Jan. 28, 1839. 



In giving you a number of localities, where the 

 earthy or other loose aggregated carbonates of 

 lime are to be found to the south, I omitted to give 

 the analysis of many of them ; and as this subject, 

 through your writings, is now becoming of import- 

 ance, they maybe acceptable to some of the read- 

 ers of your Register. 



I observe that my good old friend, Dr. Cooper, 

 is pleased to censure my use of the term "marl" — 

 which is all right. In using it, 1 did but comply 

 with the common idea, that marl is any earthy 

 material whatever, which imparts or give fertility 

 to soil, being used in contradistinction to manures, 

 which are vegetable or animal, or mixtures of both 



