436 



FARMERS' REGISTER— METEORIC PHENOMENA. 



agement of my farm. I suppose there are 400 

 acres rich and poor which may be ploughed ; it 

 may be conveniently divided into four fields. I 

 liavc not more hands tlian enough to cultivate 

 about 100 acres a year ; upon these 400 acres, I 

 must keep my horses, hogs, cattle and sheep, the 

 number of eadi I wish to know. The farm lies 

 on the North Anna River, it has been a first rate 

 farm for the section of country — but little fiat land 

 on it, scarcely an acre for wet meadow. The land 

 waving and some steep, and where not worn by 

 improper cultivation and washing, very strong, 

 well adapted to corn and wheat. Plaster I am 

 told acts well upon it. Well watered with a number 

 of excellent springs, and perhaps (lying in a great 

 bend of the river,) it is f or more surrounded by 

 the river. One shift was cultivated this year, 1833, 

 in corn; it is not shucked out; therewill be at least 

 150 barrels of corn ; most persons who have seen 

 the corn, think near 200 barrels. We have seeded 

 the corn land in wheat ; it is nicely put in, 65 l)ush- 

 els seeded. A good part of the shift for corn the 

 next year, 1834, is in clover, ribwort, running 

 briers, &c. &c. We are fallowing it at this time 

 with a McCormick plough. No. 10, three strong 

 horses to it. I think where the land is rich and 

 the coat thick, it is ploughed six or seven inches 

 deep : where the land is thinner, it is directed that 

 the ploughing be not so deep. Now I want a sys- 

 tem which will not suffer the good land to deterio- 

 rate, and which will enrich (he poor. I am willing 

 to resort to some extra labor uj)on the very poor, 

 especially such as is in sedge. What is best to be 

 done with that for speedy recovery ? I am willing 

 to clover and plaster. How ? Should any other 

 grass be seeded with the clover in February ; on 

 the wheat land, I suppose I shall be compelled to 

 graze one shift for a longer or shorter time. How .'' 

 How must hogs be managed, &c. &c..' 1 hope 

 some experienced farmer will make the case his 

 own, and for my benefit, and for a thousand more, 

 lay down a plain practicable system for me, and 1 

 will promise him if I am convinced, I will steadily 

 pursue his plan. t. b. a. 



TVhat is the smallest water power that can be pro- 

 fitably applied to the grinding of Grain or Gyp- 

 sum ? 



Please insert in the "Register," and recom- 

 mend its solution by some competent person, the 

 following query, as your intelligence will at once 

 see its connexion and utility with the farming in- 

 terest. Mills both for grain and plaster are abso- 

 lutely necessary. Verbum sat. A gentleman wishes 

 to build a small mill, on a very small but never 

 failing stream, and fears the streavii is not sufficient ; 

 he can readily catch the water in a barrel as it 

 runs, and measure by time. Query.'' What is 

 the smallest quantity of water (by gallons,) per 

 minute, should a stream vent in its ordinary 

 course (no dam,) to drive with sufficient velo- 

 city and power, a four feet stone by a 20 feet over- 

 shot wheel, with tiie ordinary geer? t. b. a. 



From the Alexandria Gazette. 



We are pleased to learn that scientific gentle- 

 men, who have lately visited the newly discovered 

 Coal Region on the liorders of the Potomac, in 

 Berkeley and Morgan counties, have expressed 

 their opinions that the coal is of a most excellent 

 quality, and the supply is likely to be inexhaustible. 



REMARKABLE METEORIC PHENOMENA. 



For the Farmers' Register. 



So numerous have been the published accounts 

 of the meteors which appeared on Nov. 13th, that 

 nothing now can be offered either interesting or 

 novel on that subject. But so wonderful an ap- 

 pearance ought to be recorded in a work like the 

 Farmers' Register ; and I offer my own impres- 

 sions, as they were written in the course of the 

 same day, and before any other person's account 

 had been heard, to confirm or contradict them. 

 More full and perhaj)S more correct observations 

 may have been made by others — nevertheless, I 

 have chosen to present merely what I then saw 

 and believed, without remarking on any different 

 imi)ressions made on other observers, or adding 

 any later opinions. I will only observe generally, 

 that in all the accounts yet seen, there is a remarka- 

 ble general agreement in description : and though 

 many particular facts are made to vary, or were 

 noticed by only a few persons, there is no greater 

 difference of testimony than is inevitable under 

 such circumstances. It was impossible for the eyes 

 of any one person to see one tenth of the space 

 which was filled with these appearances, even if 

 full and accurate observation coidd have been be- 

 stowed on all that actually met each person's view. 

 A digest of many difTerent accounts, proceeding 

 from various parts of the great region of the globe 

 over which these meteors were visible, may be 

 prepared hereafter, for publication. 



I was called at the earliest dawn of day, (Nov. 

 13th,) by a terrified servant, to see what a number 

 of " stars were shooting." I quickly went out of 

 doors, and beheld the most magnificent as well as 

 the most strange appearance of the heavens, that I 

 had ever heard of, numerous and Avonderful as are 

 the recorded accomits of meteors. 



Streams of light, similar in brilliancy and swift- 

 ness to what are well known as shooting stars, 

 were flashing into view and immediately disappear- 

 ing in every quarter of the sky. During the 

 whole time that I continued to watch, perhaps half 

 an hour, it seemed that there was never an instant 

 in which some one of these arrows of light was 

 not visible in every quarter, and generally at least 

 three or four— sometimes a much greater number. 

 But this estimate was not made at the moment, 

 and indeed astonishment and admiration at wit- 

 nessing so glorious a sight, left little opportunity 

 for calm calculations, even if the eye was to be 

 trusted to estimate such numerous and evanescent 

 appearances. 



It seemed as if every light proceeded in direction 

 from one common point in the heavens, which was 

 about the same as the sun's meridian place, at mid- 

 summer. But that place was marked by fewest 

 of the streaks of light, and indeed, I am not sure 

 that any began to show precisely at the imaginary 

 centre, from which they diverged equally to every 

 quarter. The whole horizon was also compara- 

 tively without them : but every intermediate part 

 of the sky, between the horizon and the central 

 space, seemed equally filled with the glancing 

 lights. Their course was always in straight lines, 

 but the fainty traced light which often remained 

 after the brilliant flash was extinguished, some- 

 times became crooked. The lights were generally 

 mere streaks, equal in size and brilliancy through- 

 out their extent; and their most luminous duration, 



