280 



FREEDOM FROM DANGER IN DESCENDING WELLS. 



make three attempt* — to abate the task-work of 

 farming, to raise maximum crops and profits, and to 

 surround your work with the exhilarations of intellec- 

 tual progress. Tou must elevate the whole spirit of 

 your vocation, for your vocation's sake, till no other 

 can outstrip it in what most adorns and strengthens 

 a civilized state." 



Appropriate to the subject, is a stoiy of our own, 

 which we wrote some time since for another journal: 



"A farmer and his wife, in easy circumstances, not 

 a thousand miles from this, had an only son, who 

 much to the sorrow of his parents, had imbibed a 

 desire " to go to sea.' He had read of the raging 

 billows — of strange people in strange lands — of Or- 

 ange groves — of lands where the Pine-apple grows — 

 of exciting scenes in capturing the whale — and his 

 whole heart seemed set on seeing foreign lands and 

 living on the ocean wave. In vain his parents en- 

 deavored to interest him in the operations of the 

 farm. He worked, to be sure, but his heart was not 

 in the work. It was a drudgery, and he longed for 

 the time when he could bid farewell to parents and 

 home, and see the world for himself At that time a 

 Horticullueal Society was established in the county, 

 and at the first exhibition fruits and flowers of the 

 finest kinds were displayed, n)any of them brought 

 from a distance, and such as had never been seen in 

 the neighborhood before. The young man attended 

 this exhibition, and looked at the dLsplay with won- 

 der and surprise. Nothing astonished him more than 

 the lively, joyous interest, those engaged took in the 

 arrangement o^ their several collections. While he 

 had looked upon every thing connected with the cul- 

 tivation of the soil as a heartless drudgery, here even 

 the ladies appeared to engage in it with a zeal and 

 pleasure he could hardly account for. One class of 

 flowers particularly attracted his notice; he procured 

 a few plants — planted them, and nursed and watched 

 them, and waited anxiously and impatiently for the 

 coming bloom. In due time his plants blossomed, 

 and their extraordinary beauty repaid him for his 

 his toil. He carried off the prize at the next show. 

 Elated at his success, and the pleasure it afforded him, 

 he increased his collection — forgot all about the sea 

 and strange lands — and became one of the most en- 

 thusiastic and intelligent cultivators, and the most 

 successful competitor for prizes at the shows of the 

 Horticultural Society. He now takes hold of farm- 

 ing in earnest — aims at the finest crops; and the pa- 

 rents reap in the society, perhaps the salvation of 

 their son, and in the better management of the farm, 

 the happy influence of flowers upon the young mind, 

 and the benefits of horticultural societies." 



prevents respiration; it extinguishes flame, and is 

 generally found at the bottom of wells, it being of 

 greater specific gravity than air. It is generated by 

 vegetable decomposition, and also by combustion, 

 and commonly finds its way into wells from seams in 

 the strata of the earth, from adjacent places where 

 chemical action is going on. Any well may be de- 

 scended with perfect safety by the use of quick or 

 fresh burned lime, recently slacked, or without being 

 slacked. When there is choke damp in the well, it 

 can easily be known by letting down a lamp or can- 

 dle by a cord. If the light burns freely, it is a sign 

 that no choke damp is there, and the well may be en- 

 tered with safety; but if the candle burns dimly, or 

 is extinguished, it is a sign of danger. To remove 

 this gas so as to render it innoxious to the person 

 entering the well, all that has to be done is simply to 

 throw down some pieces of fresh burned lime into the 

 water, and agitate it with the bucket on the rope, or 

 with a pole. Another plan is to slack the lime in a 

 small heap, mix it with water in a tub, and throw 

 down three or four pailsful into the well. Or, if it is 

 desired to enter the well and not disturb the water in 

 it, take about half a pailful of slacked lime, mix it 

 quickly ■ndth cold water in a small tub, and lower it 

 down into the well by cords attached to the lugs, so 

 as to rest on the surface of the water. The contents 

 of this tub must be stirred up for ten minutes with a 

 pole in the well, and then left suspended for an hour. 

 When drawn up, any person may descend the well 

 safety. The philosophy of this is, that moist lime 

 has a great affinity for carbonic acid gas, and it there- 

 fore absorbs it rapidly from the atmosphere. If we 

 take some fresh slacked lime, and stir it up in a ves- 

 sel containing cold water, and allow it to remain so 

 for five or six hours, a hard .scale, like that of thin ice, 

 will be found on the top of the water. This scale is 

 carbonate of lime, formed by the absorption of car- 

 bonic acid gas from the atmosphere (a very small 

 ((uantity of carbonic acid is mixed with all the air we 

 breathe) and the scale is a thin pellicle of stone — 

 marble. The lime of good mortar becomes hard by 

 returning to its former condition of limestone, by the 

 absorption of carbonic acid gas from the atmosphere, 

 and the formation of a thin scale of carbonate of lime 

 on a lime vat, affords evidence of the manner in which 

 sedimentary rocks were formed. No person need be 

 afraid of descending into a well if he pursues the di- 

 rections given. By letting down a candle into the 

 well, after the lime has been allowed to play its part, 

 its light will indicate when it is safe to descend. For 

 the safety of life, we hope this information will be 

 circulated far and near." 



FBEEDOM FKOM DANGER IN DESCENDING WEIXS 



In looking over our exchanges, we have been sur- 

 prised at the number of accidents and deaths caused 

 by imprudence in descending wells. We had pro- 

 posed to write a short article on this subject, but the 

 last number of the Scientijic American furnishes us 

 a good article on the subject, which we copy: 



" The cause of death in such cases is carbonic acid 

 gas, or as it is familiarly called, ' choke damp.' It 



Galls from the Harness or Saddle. — Major 

 Long, in his valuable account of his expedition to 

 the Rocky Mountains, says, that his party found 

 white lead moistened with milk, to succeed better 

 than anything else in preventing the bad effects of 

 the galls on the horses' backs, in their march over 

 the plains that border the mountains. Its effects in 

 smoothing or soothing the irritated and inflamed sur- 

 face was admirable. 



Hat. — A bale of hay is 300 lbs.; 100 cubic feet,, 

 in a solid mow of hay, will weigh a ton. 



