46 



THE FARiMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



On the other hand, extravagance— a waste of 

 property — is unjustifiable even in the rich. 

 They are accountable to God ibr their conduct 

 and the use they make of nioney ; they have no 

 moral right to annihilate it. They need not give 

 it away to support tlie idle, this would he worse 

 than wasted, it would be criminal ; hut »hey can 

 give employment to the industrious, and remun- 

 erate them fully for their labor. Parents that 

 waste a thousand dollars a year in extravagance, 

 probably to ruin their own children, would do 

 well to consider how much good that sum might 

 do in supporting and educating twenty orphan, 

 neglected, or morally exposed, children. — .V. E. 

 Fanner. 



From the Nortliern Light. 



Earthquakes in 1840. 



MOU.Vr ARARAT. 



The subjoined account of an earthquake, which 

 pi-oduced the most disastrous effects in Armenia, 

 in July last, comes from St. Petersburgh bear- 

 ing date the 10th Nov., and is said to be derived 

 from an authentic source. 



Mount Ararat is celebrated as the spot on which 

 Noah's Ark rested after tlie deluge, though there 

 has been a good deal of controversy with regard 

 to its identity. The name of Ararat is given to 

 a district ofcounti-y, lying near the centre ol the 

 kingdom of Armenia ; and, indeed, botli names 

 are used as common designations of this district 

 by the translators of the Bible. (3. Kings, xix. 37 ; 

 and Isaiah, xxxvii. 38.) The ark is said to have 

 " rested upon the mountains of Ararat." (Gen- 

 esis, viii. 4.) The mountain known by this name 

 is supposed to be about 9,500 feet above the level 

 of the sea ; but there are two peaks about seven 

 miles apart, one of which is estimated by a recent 

 traveller to be 16,000 feet in height, exceeding 

 slightly the highest elevations in Europe and Af- 

 rica, and falling short of the highest in America 

 and Asia, but about 9,000 feet. They are above 

 the elevation of perpetual frost, which in the tem- 

 perate zone is about 8,G00 feet ; and as the ac- 

 count states, the fall of a portion of the mountain 

 was accomi)anied with immense masses of melt- 

 ed enow, which may have been dissolved by vol- 

 canic heat. The connexion of Ararat with the 

 history of the deluge, and the fact that it has 

 never before, so far as human records show, been 

 the theatre of volcanic agency, render the exam- 

 ination proposed to be instituted under the di- 

 rection of the Russian Government, within the 

 boundaries of which this portion of the ancient 

 kingdom of Armenia is included,a matter of great 

 interest. The subject possesses the more inter- 

 est, as Armenia may be considered as coming 

 within the boundaries of the great volcanic 

 gion in the old world, extending from the Caspi 

 sea 10 the Azores, and including nearly the wliole 

 of the Mediterranean, which has, from time im 

 memorial, been convulsed by earthquakes, and 

 which is constantly giving vent,at different points, 

 to subterranean fires. 



"On the 22d of Jidy, towards sunset, the sliock 

 of an earthquake of one minute's durati 

 felt in the province of Armenia. The village of 

 Akhoura, situated in the district of Sourmala on 

 the declivity of Mount Ararat, as well as the mon 

 astery of St. James, which overlooked it, and the 

 liousc of the Sardar, were destroyed by a falling 

 of eaith, stones and ice, which were loosened from 

 the mountain. Torrents of melted snow mixing 

 with them, desolated the fields and gardens to 

 the distance of ten wersts (nearly seven miles.) 

 On the same day, at seven o'clock in the even- 

 ing, 3,000 houses, with their dependencies, were 

 thrown down in the district of Scharour by a 

 violent shock, in which 13 men, 20 women, and 

 250 horned cattle perished. At the same mo- 

 menta shock, which continued about a minute, 

 was felt in the fortress of Schonscba, and in sev- 

 eral other places in the province of Karabagb, 

 which did no damage in the fortress, but threw 

 down a church and 169 houses in the province. 

 The church of the ancient Armenian monastery 

 Taliff was cracked at the east end ; pieces of the 

 hewn stone from the roof and cupola fell down. 

 Rocks situated in the neighborhood of Schirga 

 were overturned, and in their fail crushed a man, 

 -vo women and a great number of cattle. The 

 i'oaci„|jjj,jg {Q Schirga was rendered so entirely 

 inipassuj, jj^^ jj^g inhabitants could not com- 

 municate Wi. jj j,j[^g|. gj; J I ,i,eans of 

 On the h „„ , „<. T..,.. '.-•;„ ., .,, 



rope.s. 



■<nd nf Jiilv. at 7 in the even- 



ing, several shocks were felt at intervals of a 

 minute, in the Khaiiat of Talyshine, but did no 

 damage. The same shocks were felt at the same 

 hour m the towns of Tiflis and Ale.\andropol, 

 but without any ill effects. In the whole district 

 of Sourmala, and particularly in the environs of 

 Mount Ararat, slight shocks, which did not con- 

 tinue above two or three minutes, occurred sev- 

 eral times a day till the 8th. But on the 6th there 

 was another fall of earth from Mount Ararat, 

 which brought down immense masses of rock 

 and melteil snow, which, rushing with great noise 

 and extraordinary rapidity, destroyed in two min- 

 tes, every thing that was in its way ; so that there 

 remains no trace of the fields and gardens ibr the 

 distance of 20 wersts. In the village at the foot 

 of Ararat a great number of houses were dam- 

 aged, and, though the fidl of earth did not reach 

 them, their fields have suffered much fiom tor- 

 rents of melted snow. 



" In the sitting of the Academy of Sciences on 

 the 20th of September, Professor Parrot said that 

 the late fiill of a considerable part of Mount Ar- 

 arat, was an event of such importance in the his- 

 tory of the earth, that he thought it right to invite 

 the especial attention of the Academy to it, and 

 pioposed to ask the consent of the Government 

 to the appointment of a scientific commission for 

 the purpose of making an accurate examination 

 of Ararat and the adjacent country." 



Zante. — Zante is one of the Ionian islands, of 

 which Corfu is the political capital, lying upon 

 the western coast of Gieece, formerly sobject to 

 Venice, afterwards to France, and by the arrange- 

 ments of the allied sovereigns at the Congress of 

 Vienna placed under the protection of Great 

 Britain. They constitute the Ionian Republic and 

 are governed by a Coiistitution, which was I'ati- 

 fied by the British Government in 1817. Zante 

 is 14 miles long and 8 wide. It has about 50,000 

 irdiabitants, somewhat more than one-fifth part 

 of the population of the Republic. The city of 

 Zante, the capital of the island, has about 20,000 

 inhabitants. -It lies near the geographical 

 of the volcanic district, of which Armenia ap- 

 proaches one of the exteruaJ boundaries. The 

 siune parallel of latitude passes along the north- 

 ern declivity of Mount /Etna, grazes the point of 

 Calabria (the southern district of Italy,) and severs 

 the Island of Zante into nearly equal parts ; and 

 while ^Etna is sending forth its columns of smoke 

 and flame, Calabria and Zante are frequently des- 

 olated by the most violent siilrterranean conuno- 

 tions. In 1783, forty thousand persons perished 

 in Calal)ria by the successive shocks, with which 

 it was visited. During their continuance Zante, 

 Cephalonia and St. Maura, which, as has been 

 seen, fall within the line of this great volcanic re- 

 gion, were convulsed in the same manner. In 

 1775 and 1820, Zante suffered severely from the 

 same cause. The recent earthquake is said to 

 have been more violent than any which has been 

 felt during the last sixty years, and to have oc- 

 casioned a greater destruction of ])roperty. The 

 following are brief and probably but imperfect 

 sketches of its destructive effects. 



Destructive Earthquake at Zante. — A 

 private letter, dated Corfu, Nov. 6, (received via 

 Venice) gives the details of an earthquake at 

 Zante, which commenced by a smart shock on 

 the 30th October ; and between thai day and the 

 4th of November, no fewer than 95 shocks were 

 felt in that town. Every house in Zante was 

 more or less damaged, and a considerable portion 

 of them totally destroyed, burying men, women 

 and children in their ruins. The steeples of four 

 churches were thrown down. The citadel was 

 so much shaken that the soldiers fled from it, ex- 

 pecting every moment to see it overthrown. 



Exlrcict of a Utter from Zante. lUh Oct. 

 " On the 30th ult., at halfpast nine in the mor- 

 ning, a violent earlhquako overthrew numerous 

 houses in this city and eight persons were buried 

 in the ruins. The total number of houses that 

 have fallen is 240, but all the others without ex- 

 ception, .have been more or less injured ; and in 

 the fortress only two or three have been left 

 standing. The damage caused to the country is 

 immense ; some villages may be almost said no 

 longer to exist, as only some portions were left 

 to njark the spots that have been inhabited. — 

 Some have suffered less in proportion than these. 



but have not been free from great loss. Of the 

 coutjtry houses of Zante, no mention need be 

 made, for they are all in ruins. It is sufficient to 

 state that Count Roma, who was the projjrietor 

 of so many, has only one remaining. Fortunate- 

 ly the day being fine, the inhabitantsof the coun- 

 try were out of doors, and up to the present hour 

 it is not known that any in the country districts 

 have been killed. The loss is enormous, and 

 many years must elapse before Zante will recover 

 from the blow. The Lord High Conmiissioner, 

 Sir Howard Douglas, arrived in our port just at 

 the time of the catastrophe." 



The subjoined from Corfu of the l\th, refers to the 

 catastrophe : 



" An awful earthquake took place at the ill-fated 

 island of Zante on Friday. Sir Howard Douglas 

 and suite are still[there, and have during the last 

 week felt upwards of 100 shocks, and some very 

 smart ones. The countiy has suffered severely 

 but providentially not moie than seven lives have_ 

 been lost. The inhabitants are still in a state of 

 tlie greatest alarm, and the damage done is estima- 

 ted at $1,500,000. Fortunately, "the weather was, 

 up to Friday last, remarkably fine ; or the suffer- 

 ings of the poor would have been ten-fold. A 

 subscription has been opened for the innnediate 

 relief of the poor wretches, whose houses are ut- 

 terly destroyed. Gentlemen who have come from 

 Zante say, that after the first tremendous shock 

 the town had the appearance of a place that had 

 been bombarded for a month ; and only fancy 

 what it must look like now that they have had 

 one hundred and more shocks, which it is said 

 have crumbled down those buildings which the 

 first shock rent. A small island in the harbour 

 of Zante has disappeared: there were a few fisher- 

 man's huts upon it, but we know not whether 

 any poor wretches were on it at the time." 



Since the foregoing was in type, we have seen 

 in an English paper a report of the Home De- 

 partment of the Russian Government, comprising 

 all the essential particulars above stated. J. A. D. 



Paiagraplis from the Alb.iny Cultivator. 



SisTEM. — System is as essential in farming, as 

 in any other occupation ol life. Let the farmer, 

 therefore, who has never reduced his methods to 

 order, commence now; let him e.vamine his farm, 

 make a tna]) of it, number each field, and having 

 provided himself with a memorandmn book, (a 

 few sheets of paper doubled will do, if a better 

 one cannot be had,) and a regular debt and credit 

 kept with each field. Charge to the field the 

 manure, labor, seed, &.c. and credit it to the crop 

 taken from it, whetlier of grass or grain. It is 

 only in this way that any thing like an estimate of 

 profit or loss can be correctly formed. In anoth- 

 er part of your book, enter in separate columns 

 all the cash received or paid out by you. Look 

 it over occasionally, and see if any purchases 

 have been improvidently or needlessly made. 

 This will be particularly necessary if you are in 

 the habit of purchasing articles on credit, one of 

 the very worst practices in our opinion, into 

 which a farmer can fidl. 



FnuiT.— We think there is too little attention 

 paid to fruit among farmehs. When it is recol- 

 lected that a good fruit tree costs no more than a 

 poor one, that it occu|)ies no more space, and 

 that for eating or for feeding, the fruit of one is 

 infinitely superior to the other, the general prev- 

 alence of inferior trees is surprising, and can on- 

 ly be accounted foi*, except on the supposition of 

 extreme negligence. A good paste may be made 

 for grafting by melting together three parts of 

 beeswa.x, three of rosin, and one of tallow ; and 

 working them together into rolls in cold water, 

 after the manner of shoemaker's wa.x. Some 

 place the wax directly on the tree ; but the bet- 

 ter way is to spread it on common cotton, and 

 then it may he cut into such strips or pieces as are 

 wanted. Warmed in the sim, or by the hand, 

 they are nuich neater as well as better appli- 

 cation than the old fashioned method of applying 

 the paste directly. Those who are intending to 

 graft next spring, will do well to prepare a quan- 

 tity of cotton cloth in this way now, or while 

 there will be more time than in the hurry of 

 spring work. 



Maple Sugar. — No one who has a sufficient 

 number of these valuable trees should neglect to 

 supply his family with sugar from the maple. 



