14S 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 3. 



and can be traced at intervals to north latitude 

 40° 30', in the state of New Jersey. Throughout 

 this very extended line, all of which I have per- 

 sonally examined, the characteristic shells of this 

 subcretaceous formation have been found. I possess 

 gryph8ea,exaggraand other shell s,from localities far 

 up the False Washita, the neighborhood of the 

 Kiamesha, from Mount Prairie in Arkansas, from 

 Mississippi, from Prairie Bluffs in Alabama, and 

 from New Jersey, all of them identical; and in the 

 subcretaceous deposites of Alabama, I have found 

 the greatest prolusion of the fossil equivalents of 

 the genera peculiar to the green sand beds of Eu- 

 rope. I hope at no distaat period to be able to 

 trace, with some precision, the ancient littoral 

 bounds of that geological period, so clearly demar- 

 cated by all the unequivocal circumstances I have 

 described. 



In relation to those areas which have received the 

 appellation of prairies, from their surfaces, denuded 

 of timber, being at certain seasons covered with 

 long grass, I am not of the opinion of those who 

 think that all prairies have originally been pro- 

 duced by firing the timber annually, and thus, by 

 repeated combustions, destroying the timber as 

 well as the sproats. That much ground has been 

 denuded by such means, I would admit, and the 

 cause certainly would appear a sufficient one for 

 those prairie districts to which no other cause ap- 

 parently could be assigned. By whatever method 

 plants begin first to germinate in such deposites, it is 

 evident, as I have before stated, that where the ve- 

 getable matter is thin, and the season unfavorable, 

 they are liable to perish; and where they would 

 not altogether perish, it must be remembered lhat 

 this country was stocked, as the more distant prai- 

 ries still are, with buffalo, which would, by their 

 periodical occupation of the country in number- 

 less herds, assist in exterminating plants of a vi- 

 gorless constitution. These may be enumerated 

 amongst the efficient causes of a prairie or meadow 

 state of extensive tracts of country. This view of 

 the subject is somewhat strengthened by the fact 

 of plants, in modern times, encroaching on the 

 prairies; for I have observed they encroach on the 

 sides where vegetable matter has been washed 

 and accumulated, finding a nutritious bed there, 

 into which they can push their innumerable deli- 

 cate fibres, secured from the devastating teeth and 

 hoofs of the buffalo, which have now all left this 

 part of the country; for where man settles, that 

 animal never remains long. But there is also an- 

 other view of the subject. 



These vast prairies of the west, as well as the 

 diminutive ones in question, must be admitted to 

 be ancient floors of the ocean. When it aban- 

 doned them, they were, of course, without plants; 

 and unless we admit their spontaneous growth, we 

 must suppose them to have germinated from seeds 

 derived lrom plants growing on lands which had 

 been left with a higher level than the ocean, be- 

 fore it receded from these prairies. Their borders 

 would, of course, be planted first, and thus we 

 can conceive of every new generation of plants 

 giving some of its seeds to the winds and the wa- 

 ters, and gradually extending the forests, like the 

 present members of the human family, advancing 

 upon, and settling the country for the' uses of pos- 

 terity. This seems a more natural and just meth- 

 od of accounting for the immense prairies of the 

 west, and the pampas of the southen portion of* 



the South American continent, than conjectural 

 opinions founded on a convenient method adopted 

 by the Indians of securing their game, and which 

 they have practised at all times, certainly with the 

 effect of thinning, but without destroying the tim- 

 ber, as we know from the immense forests of Vir- 

 ginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, 

 and Arkansas, which were once annually fired by 

 the Indians, to burn the high grass, that they 

 might better see their game — a practice which de- 

 stroyed the undergrowth, but only thinned the 

 trees; and now that the Indians have left these 

 countries, we find the undergrowth rapidly occu- 

 pying the ground again. Before we receive 

 opinions altogether hypothetical in relation to the 

 cause of the prairie condition of land, it seems as 

 if Ave were bound to inquire what was their first 

 condition, consistent with the geological fact that 

 they are ancient floors of the ocean. It, therefore, 

 appears to me to be probable that many of these 

 prairies have never, since the ocean left them, 

 been covered by any vegetables of greater im- 

 portance than the gramina. Under this view of 

 the matter, it is consistent to suppose, what is per- 

 sonally known to me to be the fact in many ob- 

 served instances, that trees and plants may be 

 transplanted to those prairies with perfect success. 



AMERICAN CEMENT. 



The Catskill Recorder thus speaks of this arti- 

 cle, which is manufactured by a company in the 

 City of New York: 



"The cement, which is at first like ordinary ma- 

 son's mortar, becomes by age and exposure, as 

 hard as granite itself, and resists the action of 

 frost under any circumstance. We were shown 

 cisterns, well curbs, sections of an aqueduct, and a 

 monument, which were said to have stood in the 

 open air through the last winter, and the summer 

 thus far. These, when struck smartly with a 

 trowel, gave out fire, and a clear ringing sound, 

 which indicates the absence of any flaw. The 

 cement is first moulded, then polished with a 

 trowel, and after it has had time to harden, glass 

 itself could not be more absolutely impervious 

 to water. In all situations where it is desira- 

 ble either to confine or shut out water, the cement 

 answers every purpose, and is withal as we are 

 informed, a very cheap material. In the process 

 of hardening, it suffers no contraction, and in con- 

 structing from it works of any kind, no other care 

 seems necessary than to protect them from being 

 mutilated or defaced; while in a green state. This 

 material is now employed for a variety of uses, 

 and every day calls for its application to some new 

 purpose. We think that it will yet be extensively 

 used in the construction of docks, aqueducts, canal 

 locks and rail roads. The facility with which it 

 may be moulded into blocks of a uniform size and 

 shape, seem peculiarly to recommend it for bed 

 stones on which to lay the rails; and in answering 

 such a purpose, it may very materially reduce 

 the expense, of rail roads as at present construct- 

 ed." 



From Meyon's Voyage round ttie World. 

 SINGULAR TRADE IN BRAZIL. 



Many owners send their slaves for daily employ- 

 ment to the neighboring quarries, while very many 

 others send them out to catch insects: and this is 



