450 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Oct. 



fruits and 'better animals among -■ ^ We are no 

 advocate of extremes in any of the new plants or 

 animals introduced ; but only such a reasonable 

 trial of them as shall fairly test the question, wheth- 

 er they are good, or not. 



At the time the writer in the Country Gentleman 

 states his cane was 5 to 15 inches high, ours was 

 si.r<7/ inches high, and some of it now, August 17, is 

 nearly one hundred inches high, and still growing 

 vigorously. Let us prove all things, and hold fast 

 to that which is good, and not condemn anything 

 without cause, or attempt to ridicule it out of be- 

 ing before it is shown that it has no merit. Cat- 

 tle eat the sugar cane with great relish, and we 

 think it already established that it is a valuable ar- 

 ticle for green fodder. 



SURFACE OF THE EARTH. 



Friend Beown : — Is it strictly true, as you assert 

 in your editorial article of July 4th, that "If there 

 were no rocks, this globe must present an even 

 surface in every part;" that "all the inequalities in 

 the earth's surface are caused by the existence of 

 rocks ?" I think you have asserted this in so manj 

 words ; and I do not know but it is true ; but I do 

 not so understand the subject. Will yoxi be kind 

 enough to explain a little, and show that there 

 could be no uneven surface, no inequalities in any 

 part of the earth's surface, without the existence 

 of rocks ? I do not know what theory of the for- 

 mation of the earth you adopt ; but upon any the- 

 ory that I am acquainted with, it appears to me 

 that your statement requires explanation. I do 

 not write, you perceive, for the purpose of con- 

 tradiction, but simply for information, and to give 

 you an opportunity to present the subject in a 

 clearer light. John Goldsbury. 



Warwick, July 6, 1857. 



Remarks, — We feel obliged to an intelligent 

 friend for calling attention to a point in one of our 

 articles that needs some explanation, and perhaps 

 some qualification. We are not aware that we 

 have asserted that "all the inequalities of the 

 earth's surface are caused by the existence of 

 rocks." Our article reads, — "the principal charm 

 of landscape arises from the ditferent forms of the 

 surface of the earth, occasioned by these inequali- 

 ties derived from the existence of rocks." As this 

 assertion is not the point in question, we will pro- 

 ceed to consider whether it be true that "if there 

 were no rocks, this globe must present an even sur- 

 face in every part P" 



This will hardly admit of doubt, if we consider 

 the geological origin of mountains and valleys. 

 These have three difi'erent causes : First, the 

 changes in the bed of the ocean, causing those im- 

 mense torrents, which in their flow produced those 

 elevations which are called drift. The hills called 

 morainsy consisting of clay, sand, gravel and peb- 

 bles, are supposed to have been thus formed. Sec- 

 ond, the fires of volcanoes, throwing up lava from 



the interior of the earth, the lava immediately 

 hardening into rock, and by repeated accumulation 

 forming mountains, like ^Etna and Vesuvius. Third, 

 the caving in of the crust of the earth, causing a 

 sinking of one part and an elevation of the rocky 

 crust, at the two extremities of the hollow, as the 

 two extremities of a plank are raised when the 

 middle is broken in. This is by far the most im- 

 portant source of the inequalities of the earth's 

 surface. 



It is plain that water is the agent in the first of 

 these three sources, and that rocks are the occasion 

 of the two last mentioned inequalities, though not 

 exactly the agents in producing them. But we 

 think it may be proved, that if there were no rocks, 

 that the inequalities produced by drift could never 

 have been caused. We will suppose the earth to 

 have been originally in a liquid state. While in this 

 condition, it must have remained an even globe, 

 flattened perhaps at the poles, and swelling out by 

 the centrifugal force at the equator. Still it would 

 be, apparently, an even surface. When it became 

 hardened, it was, probably, subject to constant vol- 

 canic action, for a great many ages, the crust being 

 very thin, and the water finding ready access to 

 the fires which were so near the surface. This sur- 

 face being hardened lava, must consist of rock, and 

 as often as there was a sinking in one part, there 

 would be an upheaving in another part, forming 

 rocks and precipitous elevations. Rocks, there- 

 fore, through the agency of internal fires, were 

 the occasions or the intruments of the first inequal- 

 ities ; for if the lava, instead of hardening into 

 rock as it cooled, was precipitated, or chemically 

 changed into sand, the crust of the earth would 

 always sink gradually and uniformly, as the molten 

 matter in the interior became contracted by cooling. 

 There would, in that case, be no upheaving of the 

 crust, but a general settling of the whole crumbling 

 mass ; and the mountains caused by this upheaving 

 could never have been produced. 



During the early geological periods these moun- 

 tains must have been of immense height and size. 

 The torrents which were caused by the changes of 

 the ocean, when the bottom of the latter was up- 

 heaved, or elevated, and the dry land proportion- 

 ally depressed, were the cause of those elevations 

 which are called drift by geologists. Hence it is 

 evident that all the inequalities of the earth's sur- 

 face are owing to the instrumentality of rocks. 

 Rocks have always been the cause of these eleva- 

 tions and depressions, which have produced changes 

 in the bed of the ocean. They are, therefore, the 

 cause of all those geological deluges, which have 

 produced drift and morains. They are, also, the 

 cause and the foundation of all other hills and 

 mountains. 



But we do not pretend to any particular learn- 

 ing on this subject, and the remark made in our 



