1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



55 



From the Baltimore American. 



VALUABLE MARBLE. 



Beautiful statuary marble, said to be of the 

 finest texture and of snowy whiteness, has been 

 discovered in the neighborhood of Lynchburg;. In 

 some places it runs into the verd antique variety; 

 "in some specimens of the latter variety, the pre- 

 vailing-color is a cheerful green, agreeably blend- 

 ed with clouds of white so as to give it a fine floc- 

 uleni appearance. Some specimens of the white 

 variety arc highly translucent." 



From the Norfolk Herald. 

 A SWIFT STEAMER. 



The new steam boat Thomas Jefferson Capt. 

 Henderson, left here on Monday morning at six 

 o'clock, for Richmond, with passengers, and re- 

 turned in season to leave again the next morning 

 (yesterday) at the same hour! This is the first 

 demonstration that has been g;iven of the practi- 

 cability of going from Norfolk to Richmond and 

 returning' on the same day. * * * * The 

 distance between Norfolk and Richmond, by wa- 

 ter, is computed at 150 miles, and as the Thomas 

 Jefferson stopped six hours in the '21 which inter- 

 vened between her time of leaving here on Mon- 

 day and Tuesday mornings she run 300 miles in IS 

 hours; very nearly equal to seventeen miles an 

 hour. 



Oi\ PUTRESCENT MANURES J. M. G. IN RE- 



I*LY TO J. E. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



In looking over your April No., which reached 

 me only a few days ago, I was sorry to perceive 

 that your well informed and estimable correspon- 

 dent J. B. had not taken my jocular remarks on 

 certain parts of his former communication in quite 

 as good part as I hoped he would — and as 1 was 

 perfectly willing to take any he might make. To 

 this conclusion I am led from his representing them 

 as "much ado about nothing" — "word-catching- 

 criticisin" — "jeers and flouts," &c. Hut these 

 little acidulated effusions are blended with so much 

 laudatory remark on my character, style, &c. — 

 that I should be a great churl indeed, if I could 

 find in my heart to retort in a similar spirit. 



It seems proper however, that I should notice a 

 few passages in his communication wherein he 

 appears to misunderstand some parts of my for- 

 mer letter, and may cause others to do so; while 

 he gives to other parts an interpretation, of which 

 they are not, 1 think, fairly susceptible. For exam- 

 ple; although he does me full justice, in ascribing to 

 inadvertence my using the terms "not understood," 

 instead of "misunderstood," in my quotation of his 

 italicised sentence; yet he labors through nearly 

 a whole page to prove that this sentence would 

 have been quite defensible had I not made the 

 mistake. I readily admit there is some difference 

 in the meaning of the two terms; but cannot, for 

 the life of me, perceive, how it can be more pro- 

 per to assert that "a fact misunderstood is not a 

 truth," than to say, that "a fact not understood is 

 not a truth." The truth of a fad can never, by 

 possibility, depend upon either circumstance, al- 

 though (7s utility certainly does depend upon its 



being well understood: not so much however, on 

 a thorough comprehension of its cause, (for of 

 that we may be utterly ignorant,) as on a perfect 

 acquaintance with the, various methods of apply- 

 ing it to use. I may therefore say of our friend's 

 hard struggle in defence of his own term, as 

 Swift did or the contests about the merits of the 

 two foreign musicians — 



"Strange ! all this difference should be, 

 'Twixt tweedle dum and tweedle dee !" 



But if J. B. is satisfied with his share of this 

 "word-catching-criticism," as he has been pleased 

 to style it, lam perfectly content, so far as he and 

 I are concerned, to take my leave forever hereaf- 

 ter, not only of that entire class of facts which he 

 deems "not truths" — but likewise of our "raw 

 meat and vegetable" discussion — of all our little 

 "corn-stalk chimneys," either with or without 

 "vent," "throat," "due," "shaft," &c— of "Nebu- 

 chadnezzar's grazing," and, though last not least, 

 of J. B's. own happy parallel case of "Jonah's" 

 sojourn in the fish's belly. I am willing to go 

 still farther, and include among these "noli me tan- 

 gere" topics, whatever else lie may deem an affair 

 of "much ado ahout. nolhing." 



A few remarks more and I have done. J. B. 

 has misapprehended several of my observations 

 and opinions in regard to manures — their applica- 

 tion — their waste, &c. So far as they arc theo- 

 retical, I did not presume to offer them as of any 

 value, but merely as speculations of which others 

 possibly might make some profitable use. Still as 

 I have advanced them, it seems proper to make 

 them plainer if I can, where it appears that they 

 have been either "not understood" or "misunder- 

 stood." As to my facts, if J. B. or any otherper- 

 son can make a better use of them, than 1 have 

 done, they are not only welcome to do so, but I 

 shall rejoice at their superior success: for I have 

 no particular ambition to be either the first discov- 

 erer or the best user of any thing'. 



The first of my opinions which he seems to 

 misunderstand, is that in relation to ploughed and 

 unploughed summer cow-pens. My belief in the 

 former proving less productive than the latter is 

 founded — not on the supposition that "the earth 

 cannot retain" all the products of fermentation 

 really congenial to her; but that when they are 

 ploughed under to a depth below the ordinary 

 range of the roots of such plants as we generally 

 cultivate, such products of fermentation remain 

 there, and consequently can do no good to the roots 

 above their reach. These, it is now believed, by 

 all who are best acquainted with vegetable physi- 

 ology, have no other means of obtaining their 

 proper food from the earth, but by little sponge- 

 like substances — hence called "spongioles." at the 

 extremities of each fibre, which food must first 

 be so diluted with water as to come in contact 

 with and be absorbed by these spongioles. To 

 this circumstance, in my opinion, is attributable 

 the apparent difference between the produce of 

 ploughed and unploughed summer cow-pens. 

 According to my supposition, all the products of 

 fermentation which the earth is capable of receiv- 

 ing and retaining, will be retained in both cases; 

 but from pens immediately ploughed, they will be 

 retained too low beneath the surface for feeding 

 the roots of the cultivated plants] whereas, from 

 unploughed cow-pens they will be carried by rain 



