196 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 4. 



as in former years. The crop of hay has been es- 

 timated by several farmers at from 30 to 40 cwt. 

 per acre. 



It is not in my power to detail accurately the 

 manner of using the water, as no two seasons 

 are alike. Observation and judgement are re- 

 quired to know how and when to apply the water. 

 I let the water on whenever we have a severe 

 shower, for the benefit of the wash, which as 

 you will perceive on viewing the land and brook, 

 is great. I consider the water of greater benefit 

 when the sun shines, than in cloudy weather at the 

 came temperature, as the water draws the sun, 

 and the warmer the water is, the faster the grass 

 will grow. In the season of 1832 the frequent 

 rains deceived me: on such sandy land we have 

 seldom rain enough to supply the wants of the 

 grass: in that year I think I did not bring on wa- 

 ter enough. The actual expense of my experi- 

 ment and the top dressing I have named, I esti- 

 mate at $58. 



Respectfully submitted by, 



EBEJfEZER JENKINS. 



jfndover, Sept. 11th, 1834. 



From Featherstonhaugh's Geological Report. 



IMPORTANCE OF GEOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES 

 TO MINING OPERATIONS. 



It may also be instructive to observe here that 

 the eastern coal field of the southern states, with 

 which we are acquainted in Virginia and Ala- 

 bama — in the former of which states it has alrea- 

 dy become a source of great wealth, giving con- 

 stant employment to locomotive power and snip- 

 ing — may reasonably be inferred, from some 

 known partial indications, to be continuous be- 

 tween those points. I can confidently assert, from 

 ()ersonal inspection, that there is a very promising 

 ine of continuity between those extreme points; 

 and the bituminous coal, of a very fine quality, 

 may reasonably be expected to be found in situa- 

 tions where it does not crop out on the surface. As 

 an evidence of the confidence which may be placed 

 in geological indications, I consider it important 

 to mention, in a brief manner, a coal mining op- 

 eration now conducting in England — and which 

 had just been commenced during a visit I paid 

 that country in 1826— upon the sole ground of an 

 entire confidence placed in geological principles, 

 and without any indication whatever of coal crop- 

 ping out on the surface. A shaft was sunk at 

 Monkwearmouth, near Sunderland, in the coun- 

 ty of Durham through a group of calcareous rocks 

 which were supposed, from the immutability 

 which rocks are believed to preserve as to the order 

 oi' superposition to each other, to overlie certain 

 coal veins existing in the contiguous parts of the 

 country. The shaft was sunk 344 feet beneath 

 the surface before any coal was found; they then 

 reached a small seam of one and a half inches in 

 thickness. This occurred in 1831, after encounter- 

 ing incredible difficulties in stopping an influx of 

 water that had frequently almost overpowered 

 them. ^ They proceeded to a depth of one thou- 

 sand feet, when it became necessary to invest 

 more capital in pumps of greater capacity, and 

 this without meeting more coal. But the propri- 

 etors had confidence in their operations, and, 

 amidst the loudly expressed doubts of many of 



their friends, persevered until, at a depth of 1,478 

 feet below the level of high water mark, they 

 reached a very valuable seam of fine coal, and are 

 actually now carrying their shaft to a depth of one 

 thousand eight hundred feet, in order to reach a 

 vein of coal long worked in other situations, and 

 which they are confident, will be found within that 

 depth. This vein, when reached, will repay all 

 the outlay of capital, and become a source of great 

 wealth. 



From a Dublin Paper. 



IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. — RE- 

 FUSE OF COAL GAS. 



The scientific researches of Messrs. Enderby 

 have changed this useless, and indeed expensive- 

 ly encumbering material to the holders, (as they 

 were prohibited from even throwing it away, under 

 considerable penalties on account of its pernicious 

 qualities in the river or its offensive ones in air) 

 into a valuable commodity. The material by a 

 simple process of purifying will be of" most essen- 

 tial service where intense light is required. The 

 light it gives is only to be surpassed in brilliancy 

 where a stream of hydrogen and oxygen gas is in 

 combustion upon lime, or phosphorous is burnt in 

 oxygen. Such being the fact it will be found most 

 valuable in the lighthouse, and save many a ma- 

 riner from a watery grave. It is also equally ap- 

 plicable to street or factory lights. Its letiding 

 recommendations are these — first, its cost ia 

 about one-tenth of gas viz; a light equal to a large 

 cockspur burner can be procured for eight hours, 

 at an expense of three halfpence. Second no 

 wick is required, the lamp requires nothing but re- 

 plenishing the receiver. Third, it has no offen- 

 sive smell while in a state of combustion. The 

 lamp is made of tin or any other suitable metal 

 and the material flows into a cup; a stream of air 

 is admitted through the centre of the flame, and a 

 double cone open at the apex is placed upon it and 

 the light is regulated by a cock. In the absence 

 of this arrangement, it will hardly keep in a state 

 of umition. 



From the American Farmer. 

 SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 



Ravensworth, March 25, 1834. 



Dear Sir — I have thought it not impossible, that 

 in the present depressed state of agriculture, the 

 following estimate of the profits of a farm devo- 

 ted exclusively to sheep, might be of service to 

 some of your numerous readers. 1 am not, I think 

 mistaken, in supposing, that at the price at which 

 corn and wheat now sell, they cannot be advanta- 

 geously cultivated on lands yielding less than fif- 

 teen bushels of the former, and eight bushels of 

 the latter per acre. And yet how many thousand 

 of acres, both in Virginia and Maryland, are either 

 thus employed at an expense very far exceeding 

 their production, or are abandoned as wholly un- 

 fit for any agricultural purpose whatever! 



My own experience has satisfied me that lands 

 of this description, even of the poorest quality, 

 may (if broken and tolerably well watered,) be 

 advantageously converted into sheep-walks; and 

 by a judicious course of husbandry, be made not 

 only to produce a fair interest on the capital in- 

 vested, but to furnish within themselves ample re- 



