38 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Feb. 



rice and sugar, and wear slave-grown cotton, if 

 these things are only sold a little cheaper, so that 

 the consumer divides with the planter the profits 

 of unrewarded labor ! The constant cheapening 

 of productive toil in the free States, in Europe, 

 and the slave States, I regard as a wrong which 

 a just God will not fail to punish. But those 

 that think they profit by getting from their fel- 

 low beings more than they give in exchange, 

 will not tolerate a discussion of the rights of labor 

 in any country, so I dismiss the subject. 



It is much to be regretted that agriculturists 

 do not travel more and see how their brother 

 farmers manage things in distant quarters of this 

 nation of thirty States. Travel will cure a thou- 

 sand prejudices and errors which every man 

 unconsciously falls into. It will enable the best 

 informed to impart most valuable information to 

 tho?e who are farming precisely as their great 

 grandfathers did a century ago. Some of the 

 implements used by this class of cultivators are 

 truly curiosities. Railroads and steamboats 

 ought to mingle the citizens of every State with 

 those of all the others. 



This is a good country for poor northern men, 

 if they are only steady and industrious. Labor 

 is not looked upon as disreputable. On the con- 

 trary, white laboring men are more esteemed 

 here than at the North. Mechanics are scarce, 

 and command high wages. I have heard more 

 said in favor of home manufactures at the south 

 than I ever did in Rochester and Buffalo. The 

 spirit of improvement has taken a strong hold of 

 the public mind, and great and salutary changes 

 will soon be witnessed. Any people can achieve 

 almost any amount of good, if they will. All 

 should aim to improve their system of farming a 

 little every year. The planters of the south 

 beat the farmers of the north in ditching side 

 hills. These ditches go around the hill at a 

 small inclination, (six inches in a rod,) by which 

 all surface water after rains is carried off gently 

 so as not to wash plowed land. On pretty steep 

 hills the ditches are more than 40 or 50 feet 

 apart. They are not crossed in plowing. 



Considering their long life, and their powers 

 of endurance, mules are far more economical for 

 farm work than horses. Here, too, northern 

 farmers might take a useful lesson in this region. 



Augusta, Ga., Jan., 1848. 



Scientific Notices., &c. 



Urine of Herbiferous Animals. — The urine 

 of the hog contains 1 part in 100 of phosphate 

 of potash, which neither the cow or horse pro- 

 duces — while the cow contains 16^ parts and 

 the horse 45 parts of the hippurate of potash, the 

 urine of the hog contains none. The horse con- 

 tains 101 parts of lime ; in all the other valuable 

 qualities the cow excels. The only reason why 

 the manure of the hog is found the most valuable 



is that it is produced from richer food and in a 

 more concentrated state. 



Artesian Wells. — The deepest bored well in 

 the world is at Mondrof ; it is 2200 feet deep 

 and still progressing ; its waters are 95" Fah- 

 renheit — within 3 degrees of blood heat. The 

 well of Crenelle, at Paris, is 1794 feet deep, 

 mostly through a chalk bed. Its temperature is 

 72° F. It d it charges 20 barrels of water per 

 minute, and rises 50 feet above the surface. It 

 is difficult to account for the rise of the water in 

 these bored wells ; inclined strata of rocks hav- 

 ing a source higher than the issue, is generally 

 supposed to be the cause ; but water is as readily 

 procured on high as low lands. Condensation 

 of steam, and the great pressure from central 

 heat, has also been suggested. 



Potato Disease. — This disease has been kown 

 for several years at Bogota, in South America, 

 (where they are indigenous,) especially in rainy 

 seasons. 



Electricity applied to Plants. — It seems by a 

 carefully conducted set of experiments, that arti- 

 ficial or increased electricity, or the electro-mag- 

 netic fluid, has not the remotest effect on the 

 vegetable tissue, neither increasing or retarding 

 growth, and that the reports on the subject are 

 one of the humbugs of the day. 



Carlon from the Lungs. — An adult person 

 expires every hour from his lungs 174 grains ; 

 from the pores of the skin near 6 grains ; amount- 

 ing in 24 liours to 9 ounces of solid charcoal or 

 carbon. This article is elaborated by the ani- 

 mal economy from the food, and disolved by the 

 oxygen we inhale in the atmospheric air, and is 

 thrown off in the shape of carbonic acid or fixed 

 air. * 



Atmosphere of the Moon. — Astronomers for 

 a long period have not admitted that the moon 

 possessed an atmosphere, but from late improve- 

 ments in astronomical instruments, it seems to 

 be settled that, that luminary has a slight and 

 very rare atmosphere, of about one quarter of a 

 mile in height, capable of supporting (according 

 to the calculations of Prof. Loomis, of the Cin- 

 cinnati observatory,) about the 45th part of an 

 inch of mercury — while our atmosphere supports 

 30 inches. It is so rare that it exceeds the most 

 perfect vacuum that can be produced by the air 

 pump. An European astronomer maintains, 

 that its reflected light contains an appreciable 

 quantity of heat ; for he was able, by concentra- 

 ting the rays through a 3 foot concave lens, to 

 effect a most delicate and sensible thermometer. 



Nutritive quantity of Dry and Green Fodder. 

 — It is generally supposed that there is more nu- 

 triment derived from grass in a green state, than 

 there is after it has been cured. A young heifer 

 was carefully weighed, and fed 10 days on green 

 food, while an equal weight was nicely cured, 

 when she was again weighed and fed with dry 



