700 



FARMERS' REGISTER— PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE. 



EXTRACTS FROM PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE. 

 SUGGESTIONS OF THE USE OF BTINEIIAL WA- 

 TERS FOR IRRIGATION. 



* * * I cannot but flatter myself that my 

 investio:ation of the mineral waters of the country 

 Avill result in good, even to the agricultural com- 

 munity. The benefits derived by a^n-iculturists 

 from the irrigation and inundation of their lands, 

 have been ably and amply detailed in works on 

 agriculture. There are valuable communications 

 on these subjects in some of the early numbers of 

 the American Farmer ; but I do not remember 

 to have seen any thing on the subject of irri- 

 gating or inundating fields with water mpreg- 

 naied icith mineral substances. This is a subject 

 that I am inclined to believe will, at some future 

 day, attract no inconsiderable attention. Our 

 country, cis and irans-montane, abound with 

 springs, that are more or less impregnated with 

 earthy or mineral substances, which exert a very 

 material influence on vegetation. In some cases, 

 this mineral impregnation proves destructive to 

 vegetation. I have seen a strip of land entirely 

 denuded, by the effects of water that flowed from 

 the base of a ledge of rocks which abounded 

 with pyrites of copper. In other instances, the 

 mineral impregnation conduces as evidently to 

 vegetable, as to animal life. I remember to have 

 seen two springs, situated in an alluvial soil, about 

 one hundred yards apart — the one highly charged 

 with lime — the other was a spring of common 

 water. The vegetation along the flat thi-ough 

 which the water, with a mineral impregnation, 

 flowed, was much more luxuriant than the vege- 

 tation along the flat through which the common 

 water passed. As in both instances the soil was 

 similar, and as both flats had, from time imme- 

 morial, I)een sulijected to like culture, it would be 

 difficult to account for the difference in the vege- 

 tation, in any other way, than by attributing it to 

 the different properties of the water in the two 

 fountains. With but a moderate expenditure of 

 labor, the water from either of tiiese siirings might 

 have been carried over some fifty or sixty acres of 

 land. * * * 



GYPSEOUS DEPOSITES, &C. 



Prince Edward, Feb. 14. 

 * * * I believe there can be no doubt of 

 the existence of a considerable bed of gypseous 

 earth, or rather mud, on my land. I have, to day, 

 ascertained that selenite may be found in seams, 

 in the clay, for about forty yards, on both sides of 

 the ditch which I before mentioned to you. The 

 body of clay containing it, is iiom one to two feet 

 in thickness, and about three feet below the sur- 

 face. What, I believe, the mineralogists would 

 call its gangue, (or accompaniments,) consists of 

 dead coal, coal slate, sand stone, and a variety of 

 other secondary rocks, all considerably impreg- 

 nated with lime. There are among it numerous 

 streaks of clay, of a blue black color. The clay 

 is much disposed to crack in dry weather, and I 

 judge that the seams of selenite have been made 

 by a filling up of fissures thus formed. If this be 

 the case, I shall probably not find them, after dig- 

 ging beyond the reach ol' the atmospliere into the 

 bank. The clay intervening between these seams 

 has a white efflorescence on it, on drying, in some 

 states of the atmosphere. The bed lies near the 



principal locality of salt on my land. The calca- 

 rcous accompaniments, and the vicinity of salt, 

 (a compound of sulphate of magnesia and muri- 

 ate of soda,) have suggested the thought that an 

 artificial compound might be formed, possessing 

 most of the uigredients (if not in the same pro- 

 portions) of the cendres de mer. By the way, 

 may it not be possible, that the chief cause of ac- 

 tivity in this far famed manure, is the circum- 

 stance, that it contains about lime enough to neu- 

 tralize the constantly tiarming vegetable acid, and 

 thus leaves the gypsum at full liberty to do its of- 

 fice? Or, perhaps, a total nullification of acid is 

 not desiral)le,, as we find, that in countries con- 

 taining highly calcareous soils, gypsum has not 

 obtained much reputation as a manure. I am 

 clear {or nullifying a little, and with that view, 

 have offered eight cents a bushel for common 

 ashes, three or lour miles from home. As yet, I 

 iiave been able to purchase but twenty bushels. 

 Have you observed, that excess in marling ope- 

 rated as a drawback on the activity of gypsum ? 

 A full development of the modus operandi of mi- 

 neral manures, would very much expedite the 

 grand benefits which they are most probably des- 

 tined to bestow on agriculture. 



I shall make but small experiments with my 

 gyjiseous clay on any but marled lands, lest I 

 exhaust the bed uselessly. It is unfortunately more 

 than half a mile from my little s{X)t of marled 

 ground, which is now in wheat, and recently sown 

 in clover. Great encouragement is given, in an 

 excellent article, by " A Subscriber," in your first 

 number, for using it after marl. There is, how- 

 ever, so much calcareous matter in the rocks 

 about it, that I think I might, at least for a small 

 experiment, safely mix them together and spread 

 them in some clover about six hundred yards from 

 the bed. If I do not misunderstand the theory of 

 this matter, gypsum may more fearlessly be trust- 

 ed with but little lime on poor land than on rich ; 

 unless the want of fertility is produced by an ac^- 

 cumulation of acidity. 



In a letter in your 8th No. I mentioned, that a 

 gentleman about ten miles to the west of this 

 stripe of secondary formation, had found marl. I 

 have just learned from young Mr. Dame, who 

 analyzed it, that it was not marl, but selenite mix- 

 ed with sand. He was informed that there was a 

 vast quantity of it. The land on which it is found, 

 belongs to Nicholas Edmunds, Esq. near the head 

 of Little Roanoke Creek in Charlotte. I would 

 judge, that of course, there must be lime in some 

 otlier form, wherever selenite is found. Yet that 

 quarter of the country has usually been considered 

 of primary formation. There seems to be much 

 in Virginia to confound the notions of the world 

 makers. Mr. Edmunds lives in the course of the 

 hornblende range, though I never was on his farm. 



CASTOR BEAN, AND OIL. 



* * * VvMien you find leisure to write again, 

 I would thank you to inform me the probable cost 

 of a machine for hulling or shelling the castor 

 bean — what, I suppose, the Scotch would call a 

 hummelling machine. The plant grows with ama- 

 zing vigor, on my land. I do not know that 1 

 shall ever cultivate it ; but I sometimes think of 

 it. There is so much leaf and stalk in proportion 

 to the crop gathered, that it must be an improver. 

 The cake, made of its bean, is certainly a wonder- 



