422 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 7 



in this part of the process. If the agitation be too 

 soon Slopped, the part used for dj'ing, not being 

 sufficiently separated from the salt, would be lost. 

 If agitated too long alter the salt is out, the parts 

 remaining will form a new combination. The salt 

 reacting on the dregs, will produce a second fer- 

 mentation, change llie color and make Avhat is 

 called burnt indigo. This will be prevented by 

 close attention to the color, and changes of the 

 dye, by drawing a little ii'om time to time, into a 

 clear vessel. When the coloring particles collect, 

 by separaiino; from the rest of the liquid, quit 

 using the buckets, and let the dregs settle to the 

 bottom. Holes in the tub, or vat, at difl'erent, hut 

 regular intervals of he'ght, previously made and 

 plugi^ed, must now be opened, and the clear wa- 

 ter drawn off. See that the water is clear belbre 

 this is done, so as to secure ever}' particle of dj'e- 

 Btuff. The dregs remaining are then to be drawn 

 into the third tub, or vat, which is the settler. 

 The water floating in this last vat, is to be with- 

 drawn by means of a small perforation, minutely 

 made above the dregs. When tliis is done, put 

 the dregs into sacks, and when the drain of wa- 

 ter ceases, put the indigo into chests or small box- 

 es. At the end of three months it will be per- 

 fectly dry, and ready for sale any where." 



"A hint to the wise is sufficient." Indigo re- 

 quires no expensive machinery to prepare it for 

 market. Every farmer can purchase a molasses 

 cask,* and make of it two tubs. Every one who 

 knows the use of the saw and plane, can make a 

 vat, perforate and spile it, and then make boxes or 

 chests, for the indigo. The indigo planter will 

 pay no toll of 6, 7, or 10 per cent, and his valua- 

 ble commodity being less bulky, will pay less car- 

 riage than cotton, rice, or sugar. 



From tlie Genesee Farmer. 

 NOTES OF OUR TRAVELS. 



Having lately travelled through several coun- 

 ties of this district, we propose to detail some of 

 the observations and reflections which we made 

 on the journey. 



In the valley of Salmon Creek in Cayuga coun- 

 ty, we observe that the leaves of the Indian corn 

 had become discolored and sere, in consequence of 

 frost which happened some time in last month. 

 In the more open country, however, subject to a 

 free circulation of air, we saw no such effects ; but 

 on the morning of the 6th inst. another frost oc- 

 curred, which we believe has not been equalled in 

 severity so early in the season, since the year 1816. 

 The Indian corn and buckwheat in many places, 

 were nearly destroyed ; and in most places more 

 or less damaged. The potato tops also in low si- 

 tuations in the counties of Wayne and Seneca, 

 were killed to be ground. 



This calamity in connection with the light crops 

 of wheat, will render it the duty of ev^ery farmer 

 to save every thinji that is suitable for human food, 

 fattening his pork and beet on such articles as can- 

 not be kept till next summer; and even then we 

 apprehend that the poor on tlic rugged sterile hills 

 and in many of our cities and villages, will be 

 eul)ji'ct to great privations. Our canals, by fur- 

 nishing the means of cheap transportation, will do 

 much towards equalizing the prices of bread- 

 etuffe; but if tliere arc not provisions enough in 



the country to support the inhabitants, as many 

 persons seriously believe, the calamity will be les- 

 sened but not entirely removed. We are not 

 alarmists, but wc think it u'cll to look out ahead. 



We have rarely had so good an opportunity to 

 observe how very unequally the frost has operated 

 in the same field. In some low grounds where 

 the corn and buckwheat have been generally kill- 

 ed, small elevations in the surfi^ce of not more 

 than a foot or two, seem to havb preserved the 

 plants in their full state of tireenness ; but on the 

 contrary, in one potatoe field the higher part was 

 damaged, and the lower part untouched. On in- 

 quiring into the jiarticulars however, the same 

 principle appears to have operated. The higher 

 part of this field is mucky or spongy, while further 

 down the slope the ground is dry and solid, show- 

 ing that more depends on the texture of the soil, 

 than on its relative altitude. The first case we 

 have mentioned will not convince but rather con- 

 firm the opmion, though altitude doubtless, has an 

 effect ; and in some cornfields extending from the 

 flats up the hillsides, the greenness Avhich increas- 

 ed with the ascent, might properly be ascribed to 

 both circumstances. 



But how do these circumstances produce such 

 phenomenal We presume it will not be difficult 

 to explain. Frosts which occur near the close of 

 spring, or the commencement of autunm, are 

 chiefly owing to tv.^o causes; radiation and evapo- 

 ration. In some of our earlier volumes, we have 

 noticed that the heat in a metallic vessel filled with 

 hot water, may be let off' six times as fast, simply 

 by painting its surface black. This result is en- 

 tirely independent of the contact of cold substan- 

 ces ; and the open ground may freeze when the 

 temperature of the air only a few feet above it, is 

 ten or twelve degrees warnier. At present we 

 shall be brief on this subject. When the heat ra- 

 diates to a dcttrsky, it is lost in the depths of ether; 

 and when it is calm, the warmer air above is not 

 whirled down on the surftice. It is partly owing 

 to these causes, that frost in moderate weather, 

 can only occur under a clear, calm sky. 



We may take a further view of this matter. 

 Professor Leslie has shown that surfaces which 

 most rapidly absorb heat, also radiate it most free- 

 ly. The properly of black soils in this respect is 

 well known ; and hence, we may expect them to 

 be more subject to vernal and autunmal frosts than 

 pale colored soils. 



But the effects of evaporation must also be ta- 

 ken into the account. Some idea of its amount 

 may be conceived by those who have watched the 

 l()g spreading over meadows in a calm evening. 

 These exhalations rise so much more freely from 

 black spongy soils, that the depressions of the land 

 may be traced out by the log that covers them ; 

 and it is along such winding swales that the corn 

 and potatoes are most commonly damaged by the 

 frost. It may be said indeed that log keeps off 

 llie frost; but the atmosphere is not always in a 

 slate to condense the vapor which rises, though it 

 is then invisible, and which requires lor its jiroduc- 

 tion a large supply of heat. This heat is abstract- 

 ed fi-om the soil which cools rapidly in conse- 

 quence. 



At Waterloo we listened to a conversation on 

 I he course which a farmer ought to pursue when 

 his corn has heen struck by the frost so carlj' in the 

 season. Had the croo been more mature, all 



