£l)c .farmer's iKcmtljhj bisitor. 



29 



Destruction of Human Life in the Mines of 

 Potosi. 



This celebrated city formerly belonged to Pe- 

 ru, but is now under ibe government of Buenos 

 Ay res. It is situated in the interior, about three 

 hundred miles from the Pacific; Ocean, being 

 built in a narrow glen on the skirts of an eleva- 

 ted mountain. It owes its origin and importance 

 to its silver mines, the richest in South America. 

 The mountain of Potosi is the most elevated 

 summit in this quarter, and is always capped 

 with snow, 



It rises to the height of I(>,2f)0 feet above the 

 level of the sea, and 431)7 feet above the plain 

 on which the city is built. The city must of 

 course be nearly 11,000 feet high. This eleva- 

 tion renders the climate cold ; the environs are 

 barren; the valleys almost destitute of wood, 

 and the sides of the bills covered with moss. 

 The mountain is of easy ascent, and from its 

 summit it presents a grand, picturesque view of 

 valleys, lakes and mountains. 



The population of Potosi once amounted to 

 100,000, but in consequence of the diminished 

 importance of the mines, it has been reduced to 

 40,000. The streets are narrow and irregular ; 

 the houses are built of brick or stone, and are of 

 only one story — they are without chimneys, and 

 the apartments are kept warm by being closed 

 and covered with alpacca skins, and by burning 

 perfumery in them. On entering'the house, the 

 visitor, as the first salutation, is presented with 

 a silver chafing dish of perfumery burning. 



The mines of Potosi were accidentally discov- 

 ered by Diego tfualca, an Indian peasant, when 

 pursuing wild goats. Arriving at a steep place, 

 he laid hold of a small shrub tu prevent himself 

 from falling, but the shrub, being unable to sup- 

 port his weight, was torn up by the roots, and 

 disclosed to the astonished hunter a rich mass of 

 silver, lumps of which adhered to the earth, and 

 came away with the plants. Not long after- 

 wards the discovery was made known, and the 

 mine was opened in 1G45. 



Prom the first discovery of these mines to the 

 year 1803, the quantity obtained from them 

 amounted to the enormous sum of one thousand 

 and fifty millions of dollars. The annual quan- 

 tity thirty years since was about five millions 

 dollars. Although their produce is reduced to 

 about one-quarter of what it once was, yet they 

 are still the most productive mines in South 

 America. 



These mines have caused the destruction of 

 thousands of human beings in the latter end of 

 the lOlb century. Sixteen thousand Indians 

 were constantly compelled by the subscription 

 of the metal to work in them. At present there 

 are only about two thousand miners employed, 

 who are well paid, and work from choice. — Al- 

 bany Knickerbocker. 



Bonaparte's Habits. — His partiality for the 

 bath he mistook for a necessity. He would usu- 

 ally remain in bath two hours, during which time 

 I used to read to him extracts from the journals 

 and pamphlets of the day, for he was anxious to 

 hear and know all that was going on. While in 

 the bath he was continually turning on tin: warm 

 water to raise the temperature ; so that I was 

 sometimes enveloped in such a dense vapor, 

 that I could not see to read, and was obliged to 

 open the door. Bonaparte was exceedingly tem- 

 perate and averse to all excess His flatterers, 

 probably under the idea that sleep is incompati- 

 ble with greatness, have evinced an equal disre- 

 gard of truth in speaking of his night watching. 

 Bonaparte made others watch, but he himself 

 slept, and slept well. His orders were that I 

 should call him every morning at seven. I was, 



therefore the first to enter his chamber ; but very 

 frequently, when I awoke him, he would turn 

 himself and say, ''Ah Bourriene, let me sleep a 

 little longer." When there was no very pressing 

 business, I did not disturb him again till eight 

 o'clock. He generally slept seven hours out of 

 the twenty-four, besides taking a short nap in the 

 afternoon. 



Among the private instructions which Bona- 

 parte gave me one was very curious. "During 

 the night," said he, " enter my chamber as sel- 

 dom as possible. Do not awake me when you 

 have good news to communicate ; with that there 

 is no hurry; hut when you bring me bad news, 

 rouse me instantly, for then there is not a mo- 

 ment to he lost." This was a wise regulation, 

 and Bonaparte found his advantage in it. — liour- 

 ritnne's .Memoirs ojWapoleon. 



A Song of .steam. 



BY GE0UGE W. CUTTKR. 



Harness me down with your iron bands, 



Be sure of your curb and rein, 

 For I scorn the strength of your puny hands, 



As the tempest scorns a chain ; 

 How I laughed as 1 lay concealed from sight, 



For many a countless hour, 

 At ihe childish boast of human might, 



And the pride of human power. 



When 1 saw an army upon the land, 



A navy upon the seas. 

 Creeping along, a snail like bind, 



Or wailing a wayward breeze ; 

 When 1 saw the peasant faintly reel, 



Wiih the toil which be faintly bore, 

 As he turned at the tardy wheel, 



Or tugged at the weary oar: 



When I measured the panting courser'6 speed. 



The flight of the carrier dove, 

 As they bore a law a king decreed, 



Or the lines of impatient love ; 

 1 could not but think how the world would feel, 



As these wore nu (stripped afar, 

 When I should be bound to the rushing keel, 



Or chained to the flying car ! 



Ha! ha! ha! They found me at Inst ; 



And they invited me forth at length ; 

 And 1 rushed to my throne with a thunder blast, 



And laughed in my iron strength ! 

 Ob ! then ye Baw a wondrous change 



On the earth and ocean wide, 

 Where now my tiery armies range, 



Wor wail for wind or ude. 



Hurrah! hurrah! Ihe waters o'er 



The mounlains sleep decline ; 

 Time — space have yi tided to my power — 



The world — the world is mine ! 

 The gianl streams of the queenly West, 



And the Orient floods divine. 



The Ocean pales where'er I sweep, 



To hear my strength rejoice, 

 And monsters of the briny deep 



Cower trembling at my voice ; 

 I carry the wealth and the lord of earth, 



The ihoughts of the god-like mind, 

 The wind lags at my going forth, 



The lightning is lefl behind. 



The darksome depths of the fathomless mine, 



IVJy tireless arm dolh play, 

 Where the rocks ne'er saw ihe sun's decline, 



Or the dawn or the glorious day ; 

 I bring eatlh's glittering jewels up 



From the hidden caves below, 

 And I make the fountain's granite cup 



Willi a cryslal gush o'erflow. 



I blow the bellows, I forge the steel, 



In all tin', shops of trade ; 

 1 hammer the ore. and turn ihe wheel, 



Where my arms of strength are made, 

 I manage the furnace, the mill, the mint — 



I carry, 1 spin, I weave ; 

 And all my doings, I put in print, 



On every Saturday eve. 



I've no muscle to weary, no breast to decay, 



.No bones to be " laid on the shelf," 

 And soon intend you may-'* go and play," 



While I manage ilie world myself. 

 Cut harness me down with your iron bands, 



Be s e of your curb and rein, 

 For 1 scorn the strength of your puny bands, 



As the lempest scorns a chain. 



The last resource to raise the wind is that of 

 a shrewd and unscrupulous Yankee, who bought 

 a bushel of shoe pegs, anil on discovering they 

 were made of rotten wood, sharpened the other 

 end, and sold them for oats. 



From the New F.ngland Farmer. 

 Coal Ashes for Manure.— Grapes. 



Friend Cole : In looking over the debates it) 

 the last two numbers of thy valuable paper, on 

 the subject of manures, I do not find any notice 

 taken of anthracite coal ashes. It occurred to 

 me that it might he profitably used as un absorb- 

 ent, or medium to take up the urine, &c, in out- 

 vaults, for the reception ol chamber water from 

 the house. Why would it not take the place of 

 charcoal or plaster ? Perhaps the thing has hern 

 fully tested, but as I had not seen an article on 

 the subject, I thought it well worthy of notice, 

 in these days of economy, when coal is our 

 cheapest fuel, and wood is becoming too expen- 

 sive lor common use. 



I am not desirous of appearing before tlio 

 public with my small experience in horticulture, 

 and still smaller ability of telling what I do know; 

 hut one experiment of mine, which succeeded 

 to a charm last season, 1 think it would be well 

 to lay before our horticultural brethren who are 

 " known by their fruits," and that is the ingraft- 

 ing of the grape. 



I took my cuttings from the Diana Grape, 

 (which is the best native hihrid I know of,) at the 

 usual time of pruning in the fall, and laid them 

 in the earth out doors until the first of August, 

 and then insetted them into our common native 

 grape by cleft, grafting near the earth, and soon 

 had the satisfaction of seeing my effort crowned 

 will] complete triumph over what I had before 

 supposed tin impracticability, having tailed in 

 every former effort, from Ihe fact of not know- 

 ing the exact time to do it — to guard against 

 bleeding or drying up. I am confident we can 

 now forward the Diana, Isabella, and Catawba, 

 so as to count on their crops with as much cer- 

 tainly as we can on the Indian corn crop — be- 

 lieving, as I do, that the early habits of our na- 

 tive will have a tendency to shorten the time 

 needful to ripen the above named varieties. IMy 

 Diana Grapes ripened about two weeks before 

 the Isabella. I therefore place them in the fol- 

 lowing order as to lime of ripening : 1st, Diana ; 

 2d, Isabella; 3d, Catawba. 



Respectfully, 



JAMES OLIVER. 



Lynn, (Mass.) 2d Wo. 17, 1GJ9. 



Coal ashes are a good manure for all kinds of 

 lands. We have seen excellent effects from 

 their use; and in some experiments we have 

 found them very useful. Yet we are not prepar- 

 ed to say what is their value, nor to what lands 

 and crops they are best adapted; but we may 

 give the result of experiments at some future 

 time, after varied experiments. We have found 

 them excellent for turnips on a clayey soil ; but 

 this was a single experiment. 



We are pleased to learn that the Diana Grape 

 is so early. It has been doubtful whether it 

 would be any earlier than the Isabella, and some 

 think that it will be us late as its parent, the Ca- 

 tawba. We find the Diana very hardy, and of 

 luxuriant growth. The fruit is excellent, and 

 from our experience and observation, we have 

 thought that it was a little earlier than the Isa- 

 bella.— Editor JV. E. Farmer. 



How to catch Hawks. — The following ingeni- 

 ous method for destroying these pests to the 

 frrmer is given by S. Webb, Esq., of Waldo 

 county, Maine, in a late number of the Belfast 

 Republican : — 



" Erect a pole, twelve or fifteen feet high, in a 

 place where there will not be any thing else 

 near for llit'in to light upon, and upon it set a 

 common fox trap, on which they will light. A 

 strong rat trap will answer the purpose, by tying 

 it to the pole lengthwise, with the jaws raised 

 above the end, ihe pole being u liule leaning, so 

 thai the jaws will not fall together. When one 

 hawk is taken, lie it on the ground near the pole, 

 and its mute will be in the trap in a short time. 

 The season is near for the hawks to re-appear, 

 and if farmers do not wish to have their chick- 

 ens destroyed by them, ihey will do well to 

 adopt this method of putting a slop to their de- 

 predations." 



