14 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 1 



to allow the heel to make an impression. Nay 

 at that point the stone is in some cases irreo-ular- 

 ly raised, as if the weight ot the animal hail cau- 

 sed the sand or mud, to crowd upwards in the 

 rear ol" the step. In a few instances also, behind 

 this sliglu elevation, there is a depression as if a 

 knobbed heel had sunk slightly into the yielding 

 mass." 



"The successive layers of the rock are bcntdnon- 

 rvards, under these impressions, often two, three, 

 and even four inches in thickness. These tracks 

 have been traced, and no less than ten have suc- 

 ceeded each other in such a direction, and with 

 intervals so nearly equal, that it is impossible to 

 doubt that they originated from the continuous 

 steps of an animal. The alternate tracks deviate 

 a little to the right, and the others to the left, the 

 toes being ordinarily turned outwards. It iy easy 

 to delernune whether they v.'cre made by the 

 right or left foot of the animal." 



Prof. H. is satisfied that these tracks were 

 made on soft mud, (now rock,) at that time under 

 water; and lliat the birds were of the tribe of wa- 

 ders, like the cnme. He also concludes irom de- 

 c!si»re evidence, that the mud then lay horizontal- 

 Iv, though in one p.lace it now has a dip of 30°. 

 The rock has consequently been sunk or elevated 

 since that period. 



Some idea may be formed of the size of these 

 primeval birds by comparing their foot-marks 

 with those made by birds of the present day, and 

 this Prof rl. has carefjlly done. The loot of the 

 pea-hen is three inches and a half long, and its 

 step is nine inches; the foot of a large cock turkey 

 is four inches long:, and its step twelve inches; but 

 the Ornithichaites gigantens had a foot sixteen or 

 seventeen inches long, and its step u'as from four 

 to si.K feet! while O.ingens, which is remarkably 

 distinct from the former, left a track not less^than 

 two feet long with a slop of six feet! The step of 

 the African Ostrich was not known, but the 

 length of its foot is only ten inches. Prof li. 

 therefi)re conjectures that the heads of these birds 

 must; have been elevated from twelve to fifteen 

 feet above the ground! 



In conclusion, we would add that these disco- 

 veries are entirely new, no impressions of the 

 kind, in any other part of the globe, having been 

 known to geologists. It has been remarked tliat 

 there are fewer traces in the rocks of the existence 

 of birds, than of any other class of animals; and 

 this circumstance has been accounted for on the 

 ground that they are less liable to be submerged, 

 and of course less likely to be preserved m aque- 

 ous dcposites. The rocks on which those birils 

 left their tracks, are older than those in which rep- 

 tiles occur in the greatest numbers. 



Fairfax Cnunty, ? 

 3Iarch 1, 1833. 5 



To the Kditor of Uie Fanners' Rngi.-ter. 



THE WIKTKR. OYSTER SHELI. LIIVIIIVG. 



Winter, after five weeks of desperate and un- 

 fiinching severity, was relaxed but for a few days, 

 Avhen, ii-om the north and east, the rear guard was 

 brought up in overwhelming array — and our cows 

 and sheep, like the rats in some of your correspon- 



dents fields, are running about with tears in their 

 eyes. If cattle keep a record, this will be marked 

 as the expunging winter. * * * * 



I pray your pardon tor having travelled my hob- 

 by so far from my original purp^ose, which was to 

 say, that I have purchased oyster shells and haul- 

 ed them 7^ miles, and burnt and spread them 

 over 69 acres of land, and this since I loft- 

 ed my corn. If I can obtain shells by public 

 advertisement, I will use fiom 10 to 20 thousand 

 bushels during the year. I am too old to go to the 

 land of milk and honey; and n)ust, therefore, give 

 my i)remises a new constitution, and stick to her 

 until "death doth us part." I confess, sir, that I 

 am not exactly pleased with myemplo3'meiit, but 

 I see not how 1 am to do belter. 



Had your Agricultural Convention taken place 

 in good weather, I should have attended; but I 

 could only have recommended to the meeting one 

 thing — to do their duty, and then con)municaie 

 their doings thi'ough the Register to the public. 

 In this way we may do iriuch. Prosperity, I 

 trust, awaits your laudable purposes. 



X. Y. Z. 



From tho Eiitisli Farmers' Magazine. 

 ON THE DESTRUCTIOIV OF SEED CORN. 



There is a probable destruction of every kind of 

 corn, after it is sown, for which it is difficult to ac- 

 count. The quantity usually sown broadcast on 

 the imperial acre in this country, is 3 bushels of 

 wheat, 5 of barley, 6 of oats. It has been ascer- 

 tained that 3 bushels of wheat, weighing 61^ lbs. 

 per bushel, containing 2,685,912 grains; five bush- 

 els of barle}', weighing 53.^ lbs. per bushel, 

 3,135,360 grains; six bushels of potato oats, 

 weighing 43| lbs. per bushel,4, 434,912 grains; and 

 the same quantity of common oats, weighing 42 

 lbs. per bushel, 4,241,664 grains. The highest 

 rate of produce in this country of these three kinds 

 of corn is, in the Carse of Gowrie, which contains 

 the finest quality of wheat land, about 52 bushels 

 per imperial acre; in Forfarshire, which is, per- 

 haps, the best county in Scotland tor barley of 

 uni'brmly fine qualitj'', 60 bushels of bailey per 

 acre have been reaped; and in Strathmore, a fine 

 district for oats, 72 bushels per acre of potato oats 

 have been reaped. 



Now, if every grain of seed sown germinated 

 and produced a stem bearing the average number 

 of grains in each ear, the produce would be as 

 many times the seed sown as there was nundier 

 of grains in the ear. On examining a prolific 

 crop of corn, we sliall find ears of wheat contain- 

 ing from 61 to 24 grains each, the average may 

 be stated at 44 grains; the grains in an ear of bar- 

 ley range from 21 to 32, the average may be 28; 

 and oi potato oats the diversity is as great as from 

 182 to 20 grains in each head, the average being 

 about 64. Computing what ought to be the pro- 

 duce by this supposition, in conjunction with the 

 fiicts above stated, it should be, of wheat, 44 times 

 the seed sown, or 132 bushels per acre; of barley, 

 28 times, or 140 bushels; and of ])otaio oats, 64 

 times, or 384 bushels. But we have seen that the 

 greatest actual produce in the richest districts of 

 the country is, of wheat, 17 times, and of barley 

 and oats, only 12 times, the seed sown, which fall 

 very far short of what (he produce sliould be, as 



