^[}t iTarmev'fi iUoutl)liJ liisitor. 



47 



that can lie effected without them, we tliiiik it 

 woiihl he better. Can we tloubt the wisdom of 

 keeping all things in ecjiial |ioi?e, and f;iantingn« 

 exclusive piivileges. Upon this hasis we woidd 

 iike to see siipar and all other nianuliK-tories go 

 forward and prosper Then there will he no 

 lieart-hurnings, no hard feelings, and it will l>e 

 in accordance with the genius of our free insti- 

 tutions. 



We rejoice therefore at the ]irospect hefore us. 

 Our great country as it is excluded from foreign 

 markets, liir the sale of its surplus coininodilies, 

 is turning round tipon its great resources at home, 

 and this article of sugar is a most acceplahle one, 

 ii|)ou which to rely and avail otuselves of It 

 comes, too, in very good lime, and is soiled to its 

 pmpose. Let us ilieii liold on to our ploughs, 

 and with the hiessings of Divine Providence, we 

 still he a favored and happy people. J. 



ScBTERRANEAN FiRES — The Cause — The dis- 

 appearance of a small pond of water in Missouri 

 during the recent earthipiake, and the issuing of 

 a stream from a hole at the bottom, has called 

 forth tlie following remarks by a correspondent 

 of the Joinnal of Commerce: 



During the shakes of an earthquake in the win- 

 ter of 1811 and ' 12. a person walking near the 

 banks of the Muskingum river, in Ohio, discov- 

 ered smoke issuing from an opening in the 

 jrround ; he examined the spot, put liis cane in 

 the opening, and it immediately took fire. He 

 was much alarmed, and on his return to town re- 

 lated the circuinslanees. 'l"he Legislature of the 

 Slate were in session at Zaneville, and immedi- 

 ately adjourned to view the phenomena. The 

 report spread rapidly tlirough the village until it 

 reached the ears of an old gentleman who imme- 

 diately explained the rnalter. He had the year 

 previous burned a kiln of lime on and againsi 

 the bank of the river, which ignited a vein ot 

 bituminous coal that continued to binti under 

 ground, and the violence ol the earthcpiake had 

 thrown down so mnrh of the bank of the river 

 as to cause the opening. 



An examination of the ground proved that the 

 old gentleman was right in his conjectures. Sub- 

 terranean fires feeding upon bituminous coal may 

 have produced the phenomena spoken of iu the 

 St. Louis paper, and the subterranean fuel may 

 have been kindled by electric fluid. 



Shakes are very frerjuent near St. Louis, and 

 more piuiicnlarly near Shawneetown, ill. At 

 the Uniled Stales salines in the neighborhood, 

 shakes are felt almost every year. During the 

 shakes iu 1811 and ' 12 at New .Madrid, bitumi- 

 nous coal was thrown up in large (luantilies at 

 that place. 



Liquid Petroleum, which is very condiustible, 

 is found in boring for salt water through the re- 

 gions of country west of the Alleghany Mountains 

 and in many places it comes to the surface in the 

 shape of mineral Tar Springs. lumieiise quanti- 

 ties of Carburettcd Hydrogen gas also issue tiom 

 some of the salt wells of the West, and from nu- 

 merous springs termed burning springs. 



The different Virginia springs, possess every 

 degree of tem[ierature, from that of the heat of 

 boiling water ilown to the temperature of nfiy- 

 two degrees. The increased Icmperature is en- 

 tirely local, as ap|iears from all the investigations 

 which have been ma<le in the Western Slates. 



The Carburettcd II\drogcn gas is sd on fire at 

 the Kenhawa Salines, and at the !)Uriiing springs 

 in Virginia, by the iidiabilants, to aflbrd \isitors 

 the opporlimity of wilnessing the I'henomenon. 



Beneath the earth's surface in many locations, 

 are vast gasometers of carhunetled hydrogen 

 ga.s, and also burning bodies whi<'h have become 

 ignited from chemical causes, fidly understood. 

 These subterranean files produce in the coiuse 

 of time, intense heat, displacing vast bodies of 

 solid matter, until perchance, a body of water is 

 thus reached, which on coming in contact with 

 the liquid fire, becomes converted into steam. 

 This must either find vent by some terrific ex- 

 plosion, or be condensed by a Ibree of pressure 

 which must shake the earth for an immense dis- 

 tance around. 



The effects of earthquakes are quite various. 

 Sometimes the motion is vertie;d. throwing build- 

 ings upward ; at other times the motion is hori- 

 Zonlul. It is a wonder that earthquakes are not 

 more frequent, and more disustrou.=. 



For the Kiirnicr's Montlily Visitor. 

 Soils, Wheat Straw, Stock, &c. 



Mr. Hill: — Your correspondent, Mr. Barllett, 

 has given some valuable inlbrmation in relation 

 to soils, wliioh is worthy of the careful atienlion 

 and consideration ol' the cultivators of the soil. 

 The component purls of soil, and its adaption to 

 the growth of pariieular kinds of crops, are gen- 

 erally very little understood. The leading char- 

 aclerisiie, or one of them in the work of Liebig, 

 is to adapt the Ibod to the vegetable or other 

 production cultivated, and in doing this, if we 

 but correctly understood the (fifl'erent articles 

 composing our soils, we should readily know 

 what lo add and what to omit. Pivery larmer 

 has noticed the very great ditttjrence in the pro- 

 tlucts upon ditVerent soils, under similar care and 

 altention, and with equal quantities of niaimre. 

 The writer of this upon a field of young clover 

 applied a heavy top dressing of manure the 

 year before last, wiih very little effect in the 

 increased production, but noticing the vigorous 

 growth near the roots of some trees where some 

 wood ashes had been applied, a slight dressing 

 of new slacked lime npun the field .seemed to 

 infuse new life and vigor to the whole, and the 

 second crop, and even the third, was heavier 

 than the first, which we are all aware is in gen- 

 eral much the best. It is generally the case in 

 parts of Virginia that wheat and corn produce 

 the best on a reddish soil which has a mixture of 

 clay, and silex; the red appearance is generally 

 attributed to iron. This is the kind of soil (bund 

 in the county of London, which lies a little be- 

 low the blue ridge of mountains, and from thirty 

 to forty miles west from the city oi' Washingtou. 

 Belbre reaching this tract ot country, on leaving 

 that city, the lands are sandy and clayey, but 

 dijsliiute of the red color. These Loudon county 

 lauds have been in cultivation for many years, 

 and their productiveness has gradually increased 

 under the application of plaster which is applied 

 to clover. It is a very billy region, and in con- 

 sequence of the heavy rains that liill, the loosen- 

 ed surface by the plough is frequently swejit 

 down into the vallie.s, but the whole earth to a 

 considerable depth is the same, and these hill 

 sides, with plaster, appear as full of productive- 

 ness after as belbre. The rotation is clover, 

 wheat, Indian corn and back to clover, which is 

 ploughed in after feeding the second year. I 

 saw noticed in your last Visitor, rather, as 1 

 thought, in the light of a discovery, that wheat 

 straw answered a good purpose lor feeding to 

 winter stock. In this comity of Loudon the 

 fiuMiiers, who are many of ihem members of the 

 Society of Friends, have adopted the practice of 

 feeiling young cattle upon wheat straw during 

 the winter without any other fodder, which has 

 been iu use for many, very many years, their 

 wheat and grass fed beef being the principal 

 sources of their wealth and support. Dm iiig the 

 latter [lart of the summer anil in the autumn 

 they purchase young cattle not suffieienily liit 

 for slcUightering, which come in at that season 

 from the west; these they put into enclosures 

 where there are slack yards of wheat straw and 

 upon which their cattle are lid until the coming 

 of the grass in the spring. They are then turned 

 upon the clover fields, and as they become liit 

 are sold to the drovers and driven to Washing- 

 ton, liallimore, &-c. If it is llie second or third 

 year of the clover, afier being (ed by the catlle il 

 is ploughed and sowed in wheat. 



They also buy sheep in the lidl, but most (ie- 

 quently early in the spring, and thcd during the 

 summer, and liitten on the surplus indian corn 

 the following winter, when they are disposed of 

 1 learned among these farmers a liict in relation 

 lo sheep I never saw noticed iu any work upon 

 the subject, and that is, if the sheep are driven 

 liir, however slow, later than May, iliey « ill not 

 thrive during the season, or can lie remlured fat 

 the following winter. It had been olien tried, 1 

 v\as informed, and with the same result. To .-i 

 great degree it is also said lo he true with heel 

 cattle if driven fir in hot weather, so that the 

 practice is lo avoid, w ith these people, any piir- 

 ehases of sheep after the month of April, which 

 are intended to lie (iittened for the market the 

 same year. If the foregoing is deemed of anv 

 value it is at your service; fiir myself I looi( 

 upon every new liiet iu agriculture as tending lo 

 our general welfare. VIATOK. 



Fur llic Fanner's Montlily Visitor. 

 Notices of the February Visitor. 

 Hon. Isaac Hill :_Tlie Feb. Visitor has come 

 to hand, and 1 think it one of the best iiumberB 

 that 1 have yet had, alllioiigh I have always con- 

 sidtied it one of the best Agricultural "papers 

 published. Time, paper and talent, will not al- 

 low me of making leiigiby comments on your 

 valuable paper. The first article, headed " Good 

 Pork," we ihink is very good as a general thing, 

 although we had supposed that the "breeding 

 sow" was as good at two years old as ever, and 

 should think that they must fiiil before they ar- 

 rive at the age of sixteen or seventeen year's old. 

 It is true, that it takes no mori! to keep a thrifiy 

 animal than an uniluiliy one. And there is no 

 doubt but that the animal can be greatly improved 

 by crossing oiir best native breeds with the hand- 

 some Berksliires. Our liirmersiis a geneial ihing 

 like pork v\lien fiiited which weighs about three 

 hundred to three fifiy, as then ihey have good 

 sized hams, plenty of lard, and good" thick pork. 

 The article of "My Mother's liutter," i.s, we be- 

 lieve, in general, " good as ever was made, and 

 so were the pies and symballs." The liict is, we 

 believe that ".Mother" can make as pood butter 

 as any man, woman or child. There are a great 

 many different ways of preserving butler when 

 laid down in tubs for fuliire usin. We believe, 

 however, that if the buttermilk is all worked 

 out, and packed down with plenty of Turks Is- 

 land .salt, il! wHiiie oak tubs, and kept away from 

 the air, that there will be no difficulty in keeping 

 it sweet any length of time. However, we never 

 have seen any lairi-down butler that we thought 

 quite as sweet as that made fresh in June. The 

 article on Fencing, Time for cutting Timber, 

 &c., has, as the w riter says, been writien much 

 upon, and also the same ground laken which he 

 has done. We much doubt, however, whether 

 taking .-dl things into consideration, it will be best 

 for the farmer to cut his rail limlier in the Siim- 

 iner season— for this reason : the Summer is a 

 time when the farmer is busy as a bee, in gallier- 

 ing his hay and harvest crops ; and besides that, 

 1 never have found many farmers, vvood-chop- 

 ers, or what not, that were very fond ol swinging 

 ail axe in a hot day. The winter season is the 

 time when the farmer has plenty of time for this 

 business, and need not be afraid of heating his 

 blood by swinging the axe. And if chesniit rail 

 tiinber is cut and split and stript of its hark at 

 this season, it will last .-ilmost an age. The idea 

 of putting a lime wash on to shingles and boards 

 for preservation we think is a good one, aiitl also 

 to coal the ends of fence posts which are set in 

 the ground. He and others will continue to give 

 us "line upon line, and precept upon precept,'" 

 till all our fiarmers in New England w ill here 

 learn that the " profits" come from a little land 

 "well tilled," and not from the large number of 

 acres which they cultivate. We have before yivcii 

 some of our ide:is upon this subject to the riirm- 

 er, but as we think these in liie above article 

 come more to the point, we wish every farmer 

 to read them well. 'J'he above articles are sign- 

 ed by " A FariiKu," and if be were to give usliis 

 real name, and place of residence, we tiiink it 

 would be acceptable. The article of M. on " the 

 culture of the peach," is very good, we think, as 

 he tells a short, plain, practical story, in few 

 words, but of siiflicient length to answer, we 

 should think, all ii.sefnl purposes, on the cultiva- 

 tion of that delicious fruit, the peach. The arli- 

 cje of "Robert,'' with a " iwo day's ride with his 

 I'licle .Tacob," taking it all in "all, is, wc; think, 

 one of the best things we have seen for some 

 lime, as all thioiigh the story it has a direct hear- 

 ing upon liuniiiig and its afiiur.<, and proves that 

 "Uncle .lacoh" niulerslands his business, as 

 well as human -"nature." His . •Clipper on the 

 "Turk's Island pudding," loi-elher with his land- 

 lord and hostess, and many oilii'r pleasins inci- 

 dents in the comso of his journey with bis 

 nephew are very instructing." We hope that 

 " Robert" will give us some more of his convei- 

 satiiins wiih his " Uncle Jacob." The article of 

 " Levi Hailletl," upon soils and their different 

 qualities, according lo Dr. D.-ina, Liebig, and oth- 

 er chemists u|ion llie chemical ipialilies of soil, 

 and of crops suiinl lo such soils. &c., is along 

 article, anil we should think ill the main is coi-^ 

 reel in the principles ai,<l llieoiy laid down. It 

 «ill he well fill- lis tiirmers lo sinily the character 

 of our "soils" more than we have done. Vour 



