404 



FARMERS' REGISTER— CORN— RAIL ROAD, &c. 



until it came in contact with the carl-onate of lime, 

 which was decomposed, and sulphate of lime form- 

 ed; and as the sulphate of lime required more 

 space when formed, than the carbonate did before 

 its decomposition, the expansion produced the ine- 

 qualities, which indicates its location. 



But it is not to be understood that all the soil in 

 this or the neiofhborinj^ towns are fi)rmed directly 

 from the disintegration of the lime rock. Tlse sur- 

 face of the country here is uneven or undulatinp:, 

 the higher parts of these undulations being com- 

 posed of materials bearing evidence of having been 

 deposited there by water. The interior of these 

 undulations are mostly coarse washed gi-avel, di- 

 minishing in size towards the surface^ which is 

 mostly fine silicious particles intimately blended 

 with lime, and clay, among which in manv places 

 may be discovered smalf gvains of sulphate of 

 lime. 



One peculiarity of the soil, in the district above 

 alluded to is, that the more it is cultivated, the 

 greater the produce. It is safe to say that the crops 

 have increased twenty five per cent, witliin the 

 last five years. 



SALT YOUR CORN. 



From the Alabama Intelllg-encer. 

 Mr. Brown, of this vicinit}', communicated 

 some information to us, in a conversation recently 

 held with him, in regard to the use of salt in corn, 

 which is put away in the husks, which may be in- 

 teresting to the public. He stated that he receiv- 

 ed last year a quantity of corn, which he had pur- 

 chased, in so wet a state, that he was apprehensive 

 that it would spoil. He remembered that it was a 

 common practice in Pennsylvania, when hay was 

 put away somewhat damj), or not fully cured, to 

 sprinkle salt on it, and that such hay generally 

 kept well, and that horses and cattle m ere very 

 fond of it ; he therefore concluded to try the ex- 

 periment on his corn. He accordingly, as his corn 

 was thrown in a pile on a large floor, sprinkled it 

 with salt, using from half a bushel to a bushel 

 of salt to five or six hundred busliels of corn. The 

 corn kept well, never became musty, and never 

 had any weevil in it. ]\Ir. B. still had of this corn 

 when he communicated this information to us; and 

 he stated that the bread which it then made was so 

 sweet and good, that it was esteemed preferable to 

 that made of new corn. He also stated that he 

 was not under the necessity of purchasing any fod- 

 der for for his working oxen last winter, they fed 

 upon the husks of this corn so freely ; and he ad- 

 ded, that they kept in excellent order. JMr. B. wa.^ 

 so well pleased with this experiment, that he is 

 putting up all his corn this year in the same man- 

 ner, using about half a bushel of salt to five hun- 

 dred bushels of corn, which he thinks is enough. 



engine; and their success with this kindof power 

 h.as not been surpassed in the country. Tiiey have 

 now three engines upon the road, a j)art of which 

 have been at work upwards of nine months, and 

 made their trips with as much regularity as could 

 have been ex])ectcd from horse power. One of 

 those, the " Liverpool," is probably, for her 

 weight, the most efiective engine of the country. 

 This, and one of the other engines on this road, 

 were constructed by M. Burry, of Liverpool, who 

 has also furnished two engines for one of the 

 Schuylkill rail roads, which I am informed work 

 equally well. Tlie proprietors of this road consider 

 it as part of the great line of communication from 

 north to south, and look to its ultimate connexion 

 V. ith the Charleston rail road, by similar works, 

 through North Carolina. 



The opening of the Charleston rail road to Au- 

 gusta, which is advertised for the first of October 

 next, in connexion with the two lines of steam- 

 boits now being estabdishcd between New York 

 and Charleston, and between Norfolk and that 

 city, will, with the exception of the short distance 

 from Augusta to INIontgomery, complete the fa- 

 cilities of tl.c great line of communication from 

 Boston to New Orleans ; and I venture to predict 

 that, before the expiration of three years, the 

 mail will be transported from this city [N. Y.] to 

 New Orleans in the short sj)ace of eight or nine 

 days ; and that to avoid the rigors of a northern 

 winter, a trip to the sunny regions of the south 

 will soon become as common as the visits from 

 that quarter to the north are in the summer. 



But the most gratifying part of ih.e details — 

 and that which, as an American citizen, and a 

 member of this great rejmblic, most flatters my 

 vanity — is the proud recollection that the whole of 

 this trip, from the city of New York to Saratoga, 

 from Saratoga to the interior of Virginia, near 

 the North Carolina line, and thence again to this 

 city, making the distance travelled more than fif- 

 teen hundred miles, was performed b}- rail road, 

 and the splendid steamboats which ply on the no- 

 Ide waters of the Hudson, Delaware, Chesapeake 

 Bay, and James river, without any fatigue or sac- 

 rifice of personal comfort, in the short space of nine 

 (lays, including a detention of ninety six hours, or 

 four days, at the different places I visited, making 

 the travelling time but^fe days for the whole dis- 

 tance. 



Yes, Mr. Editor, I think every American citi- 

 zen may justly feci proud, when he reflects on the 

 rapid progress of these facilities of internal com- 

 munication, which are so rapidly springing up on 

 every side, and intersecting our country from north 

 to south, and from east to west, forming the great 

 avenues of intercourse with every part of our ex- 

 tended confederation, and which alike strengthen 

 the bonds of our happy union, and give an addi- 

 tional guarantee for tlie stability and permanency 

 of our governm.ent and institutions. 



PETERSBURG RAIL ROAD. 



Extracted frnni the [N. Y.] Rail Road Journal. 

 The last object of my tour was the Petersburg 

 and Roanoke Rail Road, in Virginia. This road 

 is now completed from Petersburg to the Roanoke, 

 a distance of about sixty miles. The srade of the 

 road, with the exception of two or three planes, 



with an ascent of twenty seven or thirty feet per ^.... ..„ ^. „...„ ^.. -- 



mile, 18 very favorable to the use of the locomotive I in academies as well as in boudoirs, has ren- 



SUPPOSEH EFFECT OF ELECTRICITY ON VE- 

 GETATION. 



From i\IadJcn"s InGrniiliesof Ge..ius. 



Tlic influence which electricity exerts over ve- 

 getable life, till very lately, has been overlooked, 

 and even now the same fisshion which domineers 



