290 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 6 



read them. Here, then, is an antiquity for the 

 mud walls established beyond any other mode of 

 building, in which Mr. (Jocke has greatly the ad- 

 vantage over me and pise structures. 



Notwithstanding all this, I venture to question 

 Mr. C.'s opinion, that his system of mud walls 

 "is more simple and not less useful" than that of 

 pise work. I cannot see how any kmd of con- 

 struction can be more simple than that which is 

 made with the earth merely as it is found after 

 removing a surface of a lew inches. There is nei- 

 ther water nor straw used in the pise, whereas 

 both are necessary in the mud structures: besides 

 which, much labor must be used in the mixing and 

 properly tempering of the materials. Now surely 

 a piece of work, formed of one single material, 

 used without any preparation whatever, but mere- 

 ly the putting of it into a sort of mould made of 

 planks, and then beaten with pestles, is more sim- 

 ple than that which is compounded of earth, straw 

 and water, which must be well wrouirht beiore the 

 compound is applied to the intended structure. 

 Yetl admit the possibility that the construction with 

 mud thus prepared may not require more work 

 than the pise, the pounding of which is somewhat 

 slow. As regards the comparative usefulness of 

 the two, for durability must constitute a part of 

 usefulness, I must claim the palm for the pise. 

 The other contains much vegetable matter, which 

 must inevitably rot in time, when the walls must 

 thereby be much weakened, and finally destroyed. 

 The pise being constructed ot pure earth, clay and 

 sand, or gravel, is incorruptible; and if well made 

 at first, nothing but violence can destroy it. If, 

 with my present experience, 1 had been the archi- 

 tect of the Tower of Babel, I should have had it 

 constructed of pise. 



In conclusion, I most cordially, and in all since- 

 rity, offer to JVlr. Cocke, the hand of peace and 

 friendship, and beg to be considered by him only 

 as an humble fellow- laborer in the field of useful- 

 ness; and I am truly glad to learn that so much 

 has been done towards substituting more durable 

 materials for fencing and house-building, to the 

 unsightly and inefficient ones hitherto in use. 



N. HERBEMOKT. 



[We feel sure that Mr. Herbemont is mistaken as to 

 the tone, and still more as to the extent of the censure 

 of his opinions conveyed in the communication of Mr. 

 Cocke : and if that assurance had not been felt, the ex- 

 pressions would certainly not have been admitted in 

 this journal. We are confident that there was no irony 

 meant in speaking of the weight of the name of Mr. 

 Herbemont, and that Mr. C, in common with all who 

 read the Farmers' Register, must feel respect for that 

 name, even when opposing opinions sustained by it. 

 Both of our correspondents are aware that all of us 

 who are considered as "riders of hobbies," however 

 useful we may be to the public, are sure to be more or 

 less laughed at by all the world : and those who belong 

 to that valuable and much slandered class, should not 

 object to having a little added to the tax which they 

 thus pay, by their being sometimes laughed at a little 

 by each other. In this good humored warfare, our old- 

 er friend has placed himself on equal ground at least; 

 and it is hoped, that nothing nearer to personal contro- 

 versy may be oflered, in this or in any other case.] 



LIME AND CLOVER IN MARYLAND. 



To the Editor of tlie Fanners' Register. 



Harford Co., Md., June 26th, 1836. 



The farmers in this county are liming their 

 lands to a considerable extent. The way in which 

 it improves land, as explained in yourcssay on cal- 

 careous manures, is understood by very few in 

 this section of the country. Until I read your es- 

 say, I used lime as I did my barn yard manure; 

 and I believe the most of the persons who used if, 

 have used it as I did, as I see the most of them 

 take all off, and return nothing to the soil, except 

 the very scanty allowance of 'heir barn-yard ma- 

 nure; and the clover roots by those who sow clo- 

 ver, as they mow or pasture it close, and then 

 plough for wheat. Indeed, some graze ofT close 

 in the forepart of the season, [ilough in June, and 

 re-plough in August and September, which I con- 

 sider still worse, particularly for a light soil. 



Still I am of the opinion, that lime is partially an 

 alimentary manure lor the most of crops, and par- 

 ticularly for clover, as I find it will vegetate and 

 grow on my poorest old fields after they have had 

 but a moderate dressing of lime, say fifty bushels 

 per acre, which I consider enough for the first dres- 

 sing on old worn out lands. Marked spots, where 

 no corn nor rye scarcely grew the first and second 

 years after liming, the clover looks as well, or near- 

 ly so, as on the rest of the field. And I find 

 wheat to grovv nearly, or quile as well, after turn- 

 ing in a crop of clover on similar places in other 

 fields, as in any other part of the field; and thus, I 

 conclude, that lime will make clover grow without 

 the aid of putrescent manures, and will be of great 

 benefit to v/heat when combined with vegetable 

 matter. 



J. R. 



MR. GOLDSWORTHY GURNEy's SAFETY ME- 

 THOD OF LIGHTING MINES. 



(From the Evidence taken before the Committee of 

 the House of Commons on Accidents in Mines.) 



Has it ever occurred to you to consider whether 

 mines might be lit under such circumstances as to' 

 do away with the necessity of the moveable lamp? 



The subject has been one which I have lately 

 considered a good deal, in consequence of being 

 engaged again in experiments of a similar kind to 

 those of 1822; I have recently made a series of 

 experiments, for the Trinity House, on artificial 

 light; and the results of these experiments, and 

 observations connected with them, induce me to 

 believe it possible to light coal mines without 

 taking flame at all into mines. In a few words, I 

 will state, that I think it capable of being done by 

 reflected light. In these experiments I found ar- 

 tificial light may be produced, so intense that when 

 placed in the locus of a parabolical reflector, it will 

 throw a distinct shadow at the distance of eleven 

 milcci. Now, as light is capable of being concen- 

 trated, reflected, and refracted in any angles, or in 

 any direction, or in any quantities, 1 think it pos- 

 sible that such light may be reflected into mines, 

 subdivided, and passed through the galleries, in 

 sufFicicnt quantities and intensity as to enable mi- 

 ners to work far better than by lamps of any de- 

 scription. The light itseKj and the combustion to 

 produce it, could be placed above the shaft, in (he 

 open air. Ilj however, from mechanical difiicul- 



