103 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 2 



wish to prosecute the enterprise, for the purpose af 

 ficientific inquiry. 



On this occasion MM. Aug. de la Rive, and F. 

 Marcet made a gnccessflii application to the iViends 

 of science, and also to the government, and iunds 

 were obtained sufficient to enable them to continue 

 the operations during eight months, and to extend 

 the boring to the depth of GS2 leet. The hole 

 bored was about four and a half inches in diameter. 

 Water began to appear in it at the depth of twen- 

 ty feet; and it is worthy of remark, that the height 

 at which the water stood in the opening, as mea- 

 sured Horn the surface, was lower when the great- 

 est depth was obtaineti, than it was at half the 

 depth. At 275 feet of depth, the water stood at 

 14 feet from the surface ; at 509 feet it sunk to 22 

 feet; at 550 feet, to .35 feet. It then rose. At 595 

 feet, it stood at 24 feet 6 inches, but at 675 feet, it 

 again sunk to 35 feet 8 mches. The result of this 

 praiseworthy eflort must operate as a salutary pre- 

 ventive from any farther expensive attempts to ob- 

 tain running fountains, fi'om the theory of an in- 

 ternal communication with the springs on the sum- 

 mits of the Jura. 



Having attained the extraordinary depth above 

 mentioned, the experimenter devised the means of 

 ascertaining the temperature of this opening at 

 different depths. As the common thermometer 

 would not answer the purpose, they contrived a 

 eelf-registering thermometer, constructed on a 

 large scale, and whose accuracy was subject to 

 the most satisfactory tests. 



The following table exhibits the temperature of 

 the bore-hole at the depths specified. 



(molasse.) Below 120 feet commenced a succes- 

 sion of beds of marl and soft sandstone, e\' vari- 

 ous thicknesses, which continued without interrup- 

 tion to the termination of the boring, 682 feet. At 

 220 fc^et there was a bed of coarse sandstone (mo- 

 lasse grosslere) two feet thick, with rolled pebbles, 

 a remarkable fact, considering the depth. A 

 strong fetid sulphurous odour was also observed 

 in the layer of yellow marl mixed with sandstone, 

 at the depth of" 280 feet, that is near the level of 

 the lake, and a grain of salt was found in the sand- 

 stone at this depth. The sulphurous odor again 

 appeared at 600 feet, without the presence of any 

 sulphurous compound that would account for its 

 oriffin. 



ON RAISING HAY, 



To the Editor of the farmers' Register. 



Depths below the 

 surface in feet. 



30 



60 

 100 

 150 

 200 

 2.50 

 300 

 350 

 400 

 450 

 500 

 550 

 600 

 650 

 680 



Corresponding 

 temperature. 

 8.4 Reau, 

 8.5 

 8.8 

 9.2 

 9.5 



- 10.0 



- 10.5 



- 10.9 



- 11.37 



- 11.73 



- 12.20 



- 12.63 



- 13.05 



- 13.50 

 • - 13.80 



You will oblige me by inquiring through the 

 medium of the Register, whether hay has ever 

 been introduced into a rotation on any large farm 

 south of Mason and Dixon's line. I refer, exclu- 

 sively, to upland hay, especially Timothy, and 

 should be exceedingly gratified to ascertain if it 

 has been raised for market in the section of coun- 

 try above mentioned, and the circumstances con- 

 nected with the raising and marketing. 



TIMOTHEUS. 



LIMING IN FAIRFAX. KARLY HOUSING OF 

 CORN, 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Fairfax county, April 12ih. 



It thus appears that the increase of temperature 

 below the depth of 100 feet from the'surface, as far 

 down as 680 feet, is precisely 0°.875 of Reaumur 

 (=1°.968 or 2° Fahrenheit, very nearly,) lor 

 every 100 feet. It will be observed, that the in- 

 crease, instead of moving joer sa/hmi, as in some 

 other cases, moves with remarkable uniformity. 

 This, the experimenters thiid<, may be owing to 

 the care which was taken in^this^case to remove 

 and avoid every source of error. 



This experiment appears to be the first attempt 

 to ascertain, wilhjiny accuracy, the temperature 

 of the earth at considerable depths, among the 

 mountains of Switzerland. The geological struc- 

 ture of beds which were bored through on this oc- 

 casion, was as follows : — Next to the upper layer 

 of vegetable efirth, sand and gravel, was a gravel- 

 ly and bjuish clay, mingled with soft sandstone 



As cold and obstinate as the spring is, our wheat 

 and rye looks better than usual, and gives promise 

 of good return for our labors. Our preparation 

 for the corn crop is backward. Tired of the tedious 

 process of improving land by plaster and clover, 

 I have purchased oyster shells, at a neighboring 

 town, hauled them seven and a halt miles, burnt 

 them, and strewed 50 or 60 bushels to the acre over 

 G5 acres of corn land, and shall apply burnt shells 

 to the checks of 35 acres more. If this last expe- 

 riment succeeds, I shall thus apply the shells I can 

 obtain another year, as it is next to impossible to 

 lime in the broadcast for less than ^10 or $12 per 

 acre. I have already devoted 36 years to the im- 

 provement of my farm, without much regard to 

 expense, or the result, provided I believed my 

 march was onward. Strange as it may appear, 

 though some of my fields will produce full ten 

 times the quantity they did 36 years ago, (and 

 the fact can be proven in any competent court,) 

 I could not now obtain for it as much as it could 

 have been sold for 36 years ago. So much for 

 "progressive society." 



Man was instructed by the great Master of 

 Christianity through his apostles to "see that noth- 

 ing was lost." In full respect to this command, I 

 have been making fcnces for Uvo winters out of 

 the brush of the pine I have cut for burning shells, 

 and for fuel ; and I now have miles of it, a good 

 and secure fence upon the verge of a good ditch. 

 Under the influence of the same command, in pre- 

 paring to house my corn last October, I had to take 

 down a houce which was built of logs sawed out 



