12 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 1 



think of pIoLighinif u[) and down hill, as carling 

 up and down hill." Let tiic roads be <<;raduaK*d on 

 the side ot'the hills nearly as the ploughing". Son:ic 

 of the advantages ol" such roads are briefly these: 

 The object of a |)laniation road is not so much 1o 

 lead to one particular poini, (like a road to market,) 

 but to have ev^ry point of the road as conlitjiious 

 and convenient to every part of tiie plantaiion as 

 possible; for wc haul produce fi'om every piirt of 

 a farm. The land is prevented ii-orn washing en- 

 tirely, which is of itself a sufficient consideration. 

 The draught in hauling is greatly diminished, and 

 made more uniform — consequently, fewer teams 

 would answer — horses and oxen would be n)uch 

 relieved of their burthens, (and of course, would 

 last longer — ) keep in better order — eat less, and 

 lose no time in balking — carriage, which consti- 

 tutes a large portion of the labor of a fiu'm, would 

 he much accelerated, (and of course more of it 

 Avoiild be done per diem — ) larger loads might be 

 hauled — locking the wheels, sotching, and drag- 

 carts, would be superseded, and no danger of 

 throwing the weight of the load on the necks oi 

 the oxen apprehended, and iiiany other advan- 

 tages which would be the co'.isequence. The 

 only objection which could be shadowed against 

 such roads, is, increasing the distance in some in- 

 stances. But this is more apparent, than real; 

 for the distance is not so much increased, by run- 

 ning around a hill instead of over the top of it, as 

 would at first appear. Suppose, for instance, the 

 the road is to reach a point over a range of con- 

 tiguous conical hills, if a load could be conveyed 

 over the summits of the hills, in a straight line by 

 bridges, the distance would indeed be much less 

 than around the bases; but we have to follow 

 the acclivities and declivities of the liills, which 

 would be double the distance across the sumn)its, 

 and a great deal further than that of a graduated 

 road around the bases of the cones. Again, 

 if we suppose the range of the hills to be hemi- 

 spherical, the distance over the tops would he pre- 

 cisely the same as a horizontal road around the 

 bases, and the draught infinitely less. In lulls of 

 any other conslruclion, where the distance around 

 might be greater, the diminution of the draught 

 would over-balance the distance in liivor of hori- 

 zontal roads, in preference to vertical ones. The 

 more broken the plantation and higher the hills, 

 the more advantageous would be such roads in 

 facilitating carriage. Witness the ease and ele- 

 gance with which conical mountains are sur- 

 mounted, by those beautiful spiral, graduated 

 roads. These roads might be ma;le perfectly level 

 transversely, by digging down the hill a little, and 

 nearly level, longitudinally, by the rafter level— 

 and the bank woidd answer for a conductor. Our 

 horses then might trot (paradoxically) on level 

 ground np hill. 



The idt-a of horizontal roads is not chimerical, 

 they are perfectly practicable; and next in impor- 

 tance, in the preservation of our soil, to horizontal 

 ploughing. I have constructed one over the hilliest 

 part of my plantation— and prefer it, as a rural walk 

 or ride, to any ollu-r. The case iind velocity of the 

 laborers getting fiom one part of a farm to' anoth- 

 er, is no small consideration. lience, a flirmer can 

 make more, where his crop is in a body. Loco- 

 inotion is a chief part of firm labor — (in which 

 it difli>rs from other pursuits—) and trudging from 

 place to place, consumes much time. I have ])een 

 long convinced of the benefit of what arc called 



tram rail roads, between tlicse i.arts of a farm 

 where a constant conununication is kept up. I 

 found one very usefld, during the deep siiovv, from 

 my wood-pile to the house last winter. But lest I 

 sliould be thought to be becoming too chimerical, 

 by that part of the community who have been so 

 extremely sober, as to do notliing, i stop for the 

 [)reseni. 



N. E. READ. 



From the Gcnc?ee Fanner. 



TIIE E?;TI]N'CT Ar:iMALS of the Ar.'CIEriT 

 WORLD. 



It may be v\'ell known to most of our readers 

 that the remains of many animals, unlike anj^ 

 that now exist, are found in earth, but more es- 

 pecially in rocks, their bones and shells constitu- 

 ting a part of the stonj^ strata of the globe. A 

 similar remark will apply to a great number of 

 extinct plants. It is not our design to attempt 

 an explanation of the causes which have produ- 

 ced such extraordinary results, though it is due 

 to truth and sound philosophy to say in passing, 

 thn.t the late discoveries in geology amply con- 

 firm the Mosaic account of the creation. 



We well remember our surprise and pleasure 

 when we first found those "medals of nature" in 

 a rock belonging to one of the ranges of the Al- 

 leghany Mouiitains; but we can oiler no observa- 

 tions of our own that would prove as interesting 

 as the following extract fr-om Dr. Hildreth's de- 

 scription of the coal strata of the Kanhawa Sa- 

 lines: 



"The whole of this slate and shale is filled 

 with the impression of extinct species of plants. 

 Kvery layer of not more than an eighth or tlie 

 t()urlh of an inch in thickness when separated, 

 displays fresh impressions of a variety of species, 

 delineated on the face of the slate with the most ex- 

 quisite beauty and perfection. The minute mar- 

 kings of the ribs and ncrvures are faithfully pre- 

 served. The vegetable matter is replaced by a 

 thin coating of coal, and when this is removed, 

 the perfect impression is left on the slate. The 

 peeling up or separating of the folia of the shale, 

 seemed to me like opening the leaves of a sealed 

 book, here deposited by the Creator from the 

 earliest ages; containing a faithllil and true record 

 of the history of vegeta'tion in its primitive days. 

 Before me was collected a vast library of natural 

 history, containing the stereotype copies of an al- 

 most endless variety of trees and plants, whose 

 families and species, as we have every reason to 

 believe, lived and died before the creation of man." 



We believe il is no longer doubted that coal is 

 of vegetable origin. In many i)laces among car- 

 boniferous strata, are found the remains of large 

 trees, — some standing in their natural position 

 with their roots embedded in what was once soil, 

 though now covered up at great depths in solid 

 rock,— while others lie prostrate, evincing that 

 they v.-ere torn up by the roots,and then deposi- 

 ted "like driftwood. All these, with hundreds of 

 herbaceous species of the same period, are now 

 extinct. It also appears from the nature of both 

 the plants and animals which inhabited the earth 

 in that "day" that the temperature of the tropics, 

 extended Avilhin the polar circles. 



Prolc'ssor j^gassiz of Switzerland is engaged 



