FARMERS' REGISTER— EXTRACT FROM BARTON'S ADDRESS. 



439 



steam engine,) need not weioh one hundred 

 pounds, and the expense of working it will not 

 exceed ten or twelve cents per hour. There are 

 certainly no difTiculties to be removed. These 

 facts have been verified practically and repeatedly 

 before hundreds of people. 



Some recent improvements in the mode of con- 

 structing lamps for burning water to produce light 

 and heat, have perfected the operation for these 

 purposes. It now carries demonstration in every 

 form. For instance, when you put but one-fourth 

 of a gill of spirits of turpentine into the lamp, and 

 as much water, and raise tlie temperature to less 

 than that of boiling water, the vapor that comes 

 over will be in the ratio of about equal parts of 

 each ; if, in the combustion of those vapors, a due 

 proportion of air is mixed and inflamed, it will in 

 a few minutes boil a two-quart copper tea-kettle ; 

 if small brass wire is brought over and in contact 

 with the flame, it instantly drops in pieces ; small 

 copper wire is readily melted : fine iron wire, if 

 the proportions be right, is instantly inflamed; 

 and thin sheet copper with a small piece of silver 

 or silver solder on it with borax, being exposed to 

 the flame, the silver melts in a few seconds, and 

 the copper very soon; and this is done while the 

 vapor is not concentrated in any way, and issues 

 only with a velocity about the same as that of gas 

 in gas lights. 



This discovery gives every promise of supply- 

 ing much cheaper fuel, (as a fuel,) exclusive of a 

 clear saving ot^ light than any now in use. It is 

 my intention to introduce my lamps, &c. into use 

 as soon as I conveniently can. This must be post- 

 poned until I can again leave home, which I trust 

 will be early in the ensuing summer. 

 Oxford, April Uth, 1833. 



Rebiarks. — We have seen some of Mr. Mo- 

 rey's experiments, and can testijy to the correct- 

 ness of his statements, as regards the great amount 

 of heat and light evolved by combustion of the 

 vapor of water mixed with that of spirits of tur- 

 pentine or alcohol, and duly modified by common 

 air. The results are very striking and beautiful, 

 and we can see no reason why they should not prove 

 of great practical utility. — Editor. 



EXTRACT FROr.I AN ADDRESS 



Delivered before the Rockbridge Jjgricultural So- 

 ciety, at their Shoio and Fair at Fancy Hill, 

 on the \%th October, by jDoct. Robert R. 

 Barton, President. 



The task of finding fault and detecting error, is 

 an invidious one, but much easier than the appli- 

 cation of the appropriate remedy. But I hope you 

 will always find me ready to render my feeble aid 

 towards correcting as well as pointing out the de- 

 fects of our system. In the first place then, I will 

 remark, we all cultivate too much land. Half the 

 quantity, well managed, and cultivated on the 

 Pennsylvania or New England system, would 

 yield us double the product, whilst the balance of 

 our farms might be set in clover and other grasses, 

 and be improving even under pasture. From forty 

 acres of wheat land, a northern farmer will gener- 

 ally expect one thousand bushels, or at the rate of 

 twenty-five bushels an acre.* Yet there is not 

 one of us who averages the half of this, with a soil 



+ This is on a clover lay. 



equally good, naturally, with only a little differ- 

 ence in climate in their favor. But even in corn, 

 to which our climate is decidedly more congenial, 

 they can and do excel us. I am willing to allow 

 them some advantage in having white labor to 

 work their lands; but still the difference is too 

 much against us, and as we cannot substitute the 

 white for the species of labor, which is certainly 

 the bane of agriculture and the general prosperity 

 of our country, yet we can bestow the same labor 

 on half the quantity we now cultivate. When we 

 compare the difference in the profits of agriculture, 

 both in Europe and amongst our brethren of the 

 north, with those of the southern and middle states, 

 our aml)ition will be roused and a determination 

 excited, both lor the sake of patriotism and indi- 

 vidual interest, to imitate the good example they 

 have set us. 



In England, we are told, the annual produce of 

 their lands is often worth from ^30 to $40 per 

 acre, and rent annually for a sum sufficient to pur- 

 chase thiee or four acres in our country. But 

 there, when a farmer lays out -S 10,000 in the pur- 

 chase of land, he always expends several thousand 

 dollars in the purchase of lime, marl, &c., which 

 cost them about double what the cost with us 

 would be. (And here I would remark, that large 

 beds of shell marl abound in this county, in the 

 neighborhood of Mr. Weaver's forge, Mr. Baggs', 

 and Mr. Rogue's, which, if hauled to the clay 

 hills, would richly reward them for their labor.) 

 Capital is considered as indispensable to the En- 

 glish farmer, as it is hereto the merchant; and 

 they always expect their profits to be in the ratio 

 of the capital expended in improvements, yielding 

 them generally from 10 to 15 per cent. In Italy, 

 where their farms are still smaller than in England, 

 averaging from five to ten acres, tenants can 

 afford, and do pay to their landlords, one half of 

 the products of the soil. And in Flanders, where, 

 perhaps, agriculture has been carried to as high a 

 state of perfection as in any other part of the world, 

 thequantity produced per acre would be considered 

 incredible. 



To what then is this difference ascribable.' It 

 cannot fairly be attributed to climate, or to soil, 

 for in both nature has been bountiful to us ; and 

 however mortifying it may be, we must admit it is 

 mainly owing to our wretched system. We must 

 cultivate less, and cultivate belter. Plough deep, 

 that our crop may not ]ye drowned in wet seasons, 

 and that there may be a receptacle for moisture, 

 when too dry. If your soil be too stiff, lime it, or 

 use marl, or plough and expose it to the action of 

 the winter's frost ; or what, peihaps, will mellow 

 it still more effectually, turn under a green crop 

 of clover. By one mode, you have it prepared for 

 your spring crop of corn, or oats, and in the other 

 it is exactly in the right state for a crop of wheat, 

 which is nourished and suppopled through winter, 

 by the fermentation and decomposition of the clo- 

 ver. If too loose and permeable to the action of 

 the sun, deep ploughing and lime are still the ap- 

 propriate remedies. Our loose lands have gener- 

 allly a substratum of clay, and by deep ploughing, 

 sufficient tenacity is readily given to the surface 

 soil. If too sandy, a few loads of clay is the best 

 manure, and will soon correct the evil; and we all 

 know a union of sand and clay will form that stiff 

 soil called moi'tar. 



But I liave not touched on a subject, perhaps of 



