No. 244.] 163 



have a quantity of this water, and it is of much greater specific gra- 

 vity than the waters of the Dead Sea. Twenty gallons of this water 

 will make a bushel of 56 lbs. of deliquescent salt, which for agricul- 

 tural purposes is worth more per bushel than any other salt of which 

 I hate any knowledge. 



Salt can be made here for four cents per bushel. A barrel of the 

 water of this well run through a lead pipe of one inch bore, and one 

 hundred feet long, in a warm apartment, would condense as much 

 atmospheric air in twenty-four hours and convert it to water, as would 

 equal its own bulk. Thus it is qualified to operate beneficially on 

 dry lands in imparting moisture by transferring it from the air to the 

 ground. 



This deep boring passes a subterranean river of strong current, of 

 14 feet depth of volume. 



Selenite, in pretty eight-sided flattened prisms are formed instanta- 

 neously in this boring by the commingling of two veins of water, 

 which at the point of union are exact sataration, producing instanta- 

 neous crystalization, a pretty illustration of the harmonious action 

 of the sublime laws of nature. 



I have made several visits and extensive examinations of the salinic 

 districts of Onondaga. These salines are very extensive, and very 

 productive. Eight hundred cords of wood are consumed daily in the 

 manufacture of salt. Forty gallons of the natural brine produces a 

 bushel of 56 lbs, of salt. There has been no improvement made 

 there in the economy of salt-making; like the Chinese, they have ex- 

 perience without improvement. In all these extensive works there 

 is no shelter for wood in stormy weather; wet wood is burnt insteaa 

 of dry, and coarse wood instead of being split fine, and additional to 

 all this the wood is burnt upon the ground instead of grates. The 

 front kettles are heated red hot; the salt thus heated becomes fused, 

 and adheres to the kettles, and once a week the fires are stopped, the 

 caking of the kettles, sometimes six inches thick, cut out with axes, 

 which often destroys the kettle. This caking is thrown away as 

 valueless. I brought some pieces of it home with me. It is more 

 valuable for farmers for salting cattle or for manuring land, than any 

 other salt, for it dissolves very slow, and that slow dissolving also 

 makes it good for cattle pastures, for a lump of it will last a whole 



