FARMERS' REGISTER— GELATINE-AGRICULTURAL TERMS, &c. 701 



ful manure. Perli;)ps it may not be necessary, in 

 niakin*^ the cold pressed oil, to take off the shell. 

 It was considered entirely necessary, I believe, 

 when the oil was made by boiling, as the shell is 

 said to be a powerful and dangerous emetic. 



[The hulling of the castor beans is not required in 

 the preparation of the cold-pressed oil. Dr. T. G. 

 Peachy of Williamsburg, who carries on this business, 

 makes use of a powerful hydraulic press, which per- 

 forms its required pui-pose admirably.] 



MARL, ON NOTTOWAY RIVER. 



Railroad, Souihampfnn, Va. \ 

 Feh. I6th, 1834. \ 



With this letter you will receive a specimen of 

 marl, which I obtained near this place a week or 

 two ago. I found it on the bank of the Nottoway, 

 near Savage's farm. The river there makes a 

 bend; the bank where the marl lies is twenty five 

 or thirty feet high — the lower part, say ten feet, 

 composed wholly of marl, of which 1 send you a 

 fair specimen. The proprietor of the land told 

 us, that this bed of marl ran a quarter of a mile 

 along the bank, .and then continued across his farm, 

 to what distance he knew not — the breadth of the 

 deposite on his lands being perhaps one hundred 

 yards. I should not have cared to send you a 

 sample of what has become so stale with you, but 

 for the singularly fine position of this immense 

 bed of shells — to wit, on the perpendicular bank 

 of a navigable river — for a quarter of a mile, and 

 probably more, perfectly convenient for batteaux — 

 and within about one mile of the line of the rail 

 road. The proprietor has lately bought the place, 

 and proposes to apply the marl to his land. 1 hear 

 of several other deposites of marl on the line of 

 the road. 



During the last month I have had the pleasure 

 of wading near half the time in swamps — fre- 

 quently while frozen over." However, it was no 

 great matter, when my boots had holes enough in 

 them to draw otF the water. * * * 



(The marl described above is important on account 

 of its richness, as well as for its convenient location. 

 The specimen contained 52 per cent, of carbonate of 

 June.] 



MOWING MACHINE. 



From Jlddreas of Henry Coltnan to Hampshire ^^Igric. Society. 



A mowing machine moved by horse power, and 

 producing a great saving of manual labor has been 

 for tu'o or three years in successful operation in 

 Pennsylvania, and the western parts of New York ; 

 and from the testimony of one of the largest far- 

 mers in the United States, upon whose fiirm it has 

 been t\vo years in use, is highly successful. We 

 cannot inuigine what human skill and enterprize 

 may yet effect. Professor Rafinesque, of Phila- 

 delphia, a gentleman of distinguished scientific at- 

 tainments, advertises for farmers, his " steam- 

 ploughs, by which six furrows are ploughed at 

 once; and he promises in one day to perform the 

 work of a week in the best manner." Of their 

 construction or operation I ha\ e no idea. 



GELATINE. 



At present there is a dispute among the chemists 

 of Paris, whether this substance, which has hith- 

 erto been considered extremely nutritious, possesses 

 any alimentary powers whatever. At a late sitting 

 of the Academy of Sciences, a M. Gannal an- 

 nounced that he had, during seventy days, made 

 experiments on gelatine, considered as an alimen- 

 tary substance, and he concluded that it possessed 

 no alimentary qualities v/hatever. He challenged 

 the advocates of a contrary opinion to submit with 

 him to a regime, which would have for its oliject 

 to decide the important question. The Journal des 

 Debats, with a due regard to the health and valua- 

 ble lives of the Academicians, says it does not be- 

 lieve that the challenge of JM. Gannal will iiuluce 

 many of the Academicians to accept it, implying 

 that so important a question shoukl not be decided 

 by putting the healthy state of these respectable 

 men's statements into jeopardy. — \^Nat. Gaz. 



ON THE L^SE OF PROVINCIAL, OR IMPROPER 

 TERMS, IN AGRICULTURAL PUBLICATIONS. 



The complaint made by F. G. A. (in the earlier pages 

 of this No.) of his perplexity caused by the use of 

 strange names for implements, may be justly applied 

 to almost every bi-anch of agricultural practice. Every 

 district, indeed almost every neighborhood, has some 

 peculiar terms in common use, or, (what is worse,) some 

 peculiar application of a term generally known with 

 diftercnt signification. Under these circumstances, it is 

 scarcely possible for a writer on agiiculture to be al- 

 ways intelligible, as he is not only compelled to use 

 terms which are not correct, or in general use, but he is 

 also liable to be misunderstood when his terms are pro- 

 per, because they are improperly applied by readers. 

 But great as may be this evil in the United States, it is 

 far worse in England. Marshall has appended to seve- 

 ral of his county surveys vocabularies formed of the 

 provincial farming terms in Use in the counties describ- 

 ed : and though his several lists, with the definitions, 

 would fill more than half of one of his octavo volumes, 

 yet he has not explained all the terms which he him- 

 self has used. Good English scholars, for want of ac- 

 quaintance with provincialisms, could not imderstand 

 the meaning of many passages in the works of the best 

 agricultural authors. The same objection applies, doubt- 

 less, with more or less force, to the agricultural books 

 of every country — and hence the great and peculiar 

 difficulties of making correct translations from foreign 

 languages, of articles on agriculture. 



As a specimen of description rendered unintelligible 

 by the use of provincial terms, the following passage is 

 presented entire, from one of the best informed, and 

 voluminous English writers, and who had travelled more, 

 and was better acquainted with the general practices 

 and various language of farmers, than any other per- 

 son whatsoever. The author is Arthur Young, and the 

 work quoted from, the Survey o/.A'oj/oifc, drawn up, and 

 published, by order of the Board of JlgricuUure. 



" Mr. Margateson, of North Walsham, breaks up 

 the ollands of the second year, by riffling before har- 

 vest ; he harrows down, and ploughs as fleet as he can ; 

 after that, a full pitch for dibbling; he is clear that this 

 is the best way for wheat, but as certainly a loss m the 

 barley crop ; for the previous tillage he has brought the 

 flag into such a state, that the wheat exhausts far more 

 of the benefit, than when set on a whole furrow. 



" In general, they riffle the second year's lay before 



