1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



1&5 



ful that the boldest men at work are afraid to con- 

 tinue their labor ; all ascend to the surface to 

 breathe the uj)per air, and stand on firm earth, 

 dreading — though no catasti'ophe has ever hap- 

 pened yet — that the sea will break in upon them 

 if they remain in the cavern below. 



Hearing this, we get up to look at the rock 

 above us. We are able to stand upright in the 

 position we now occupy ; and flaring our candles 

 hither and thither in the darkness, can see the 

 bright, pure copper streaming through the gallery 

 in every direction. Lumps of ooze, of the most 

 lustrous green color, traversed by a natural net 

 work of thin, red veins of iron, appear here and 

 there in large irregular patches, over which water 

 is dripping slowly and incessantly in certain places. 

 This is the salt water percolating through invisi- 

 ble crannies in the rock. On stormy days it spurts 

 out furiously in thin continuous streams. Just 

 over our heads we observed a wooden plug, of the 

 hickness of a man's kg ; there is a hole there, and 

 hat plug is all we have to keep out the sea. 



Immense wealth of metal is contained in the 

 roofs of this gallery throughout its entire length, 

 but it will always remain untouched ; the miners 

 dare not take it, for it is a part (and a great part) 

 of the rock which is their only protection against 

 the sea, and which has been so far worked away 

 here that its thickness is limited to an average of 

 three feet only between the water and the gallery 

 in which we now stand. No one knows what 

 might be the consequence of another day's labor 

 with the pickaxe on any part of it. 



VISITING SCHOOLS 



We know a man who, last summer, hired four 

 colts pastured on a farm some five miles distant. 

 At least once in two weeks he got into a wagon, 

 and drove over to see how his juvenile horses 

 fared. He made minute inquiries of the keeper 

 as their health, their daily watering, etc.; he him- 

 self examined the condition of the pasture ; and 

 when the dry season came on, he made special ar- 

 rangements to have a daily allowance of meal, and 

 he was careful to know that this was regularly 

 supplied. 



This man had four children attending a district 

 school kept in a small building erected at the 

 cross-roads. Around this building on three sides 

 is a space of land six feet wide ; the fourth side is 

 on a line with the street. There is not an out- 

 house or shade-tree in sight of the building. Of 

 the interior of the school-house we need not 

 speak. The single room is like toijl'many others, 

 with all its apparatus arranged upon the most ap- 

 proved i)lan for producing curved spines, com- 

 pressed lungs, ill health, etc. 



We wish to state one fact only. This owner of 

 those colts, and the father of those children, has 

 never been into that school-house to inquire after 

 the comfort, health or mental food daily dealt out 

 to his offspring. The latter part of the summer 

 we chanced to ask, "Who teaches your school?" 

 His reply was that "he did not know ; he believed 

 her name was Parker, but he had no time to look 

 after school matters! — American Agriculturist. 



^"The Chicago Journal says that the farmers 

 of Southern and Central Illinois are going into the 

 cotton raising business in earnest. Six car loads 

 of seed were sent from Cairo last week, to different 

 points on the Illinois Central. 



LEACHED ASHES. 



Wood ashes always contain a considerable 

 amount of carbonate of potash, lime, &c., and are 

 consequently very beneficial to such plants as re- 

 quire large quantities of these alkalies, such as In- 

 dian corn, turnips, beets and potatoes. Leached 

 ashes have lost much of the principal alkaline 

 salts, and have been deprived of the greatest part 

 of their most important soluble ingredients ; still 

 they must not be regarded as an unimportant fer- 

 tilizer, and other matter which they contain is al- 

 ways more or less beneficial to the soil. Uidess 

 the land is well worked and contains sufficient or- 

 ganic matter, we should not consider ashes, wheth- 

 er leached or unleached, as alone adequate to the 

 production of a good crop of wheat, turnips or 

 corn. 



There is something about old leached ashes that 

 we do not understand, though we have given the 

 subject considerable attention. We have seen in- 

 stances where old leached ashes have had an ex- 

 cellent efi'ect on wheat, while unleached ashes 

 seemed to do no good. We have thought that 

 perhaps the potash and soda which had been 

 washed out, were replaced by ammonia and nitric 

 acid from the atmosphere. The subject is one 

 worthy of investigation. At all events it is cer- 

 tain that leached ashes frequently have a very ben- 

 eficial efi'ect ; and if the above hypothesis is true, 

 the older they are the better. — Prof. Buckland. 



The Poll Evil in Horses. — Some persons 

 regard the poll evil as incurable. It is sometimes 

 called fistula. No matter how long the sore has 

 been running, it can be cured in a brief time, and 

 at a cost not exceeding ten cents. One dime 

 spent in muriatic acid will be sufficient to efi'ect a 

 radical and permanent cure of the most stubborn 

 fistula. The sore should be first thoroughly 

 cleansed by some abstergent fluid, and for this 

 purpose pure water is perhaps as valuable as any- 

 thing that can be used, and drop eight or ten drops 

 of the acid in twice a day till it has the appearance 

 of a fresh wound ; then wash clean with soapsuds 

 made of Castile soap, and leave it to heal, which 

 it will speedily do if the acid has been used long 

 enough. Should It, however, heal slowly, apply 

 the acid a second time, and in the manner above 

 described, taking care to wash out the pipe thor- 

 oughly, and it will be found an infallible remedy 

 in the most inveterate diseases of this sort ; but it 

 must be remembered that in order to do so, the 

 acid must be appHed till the corrupt or diseased 

 flesh is all burned out. — Germantcnvn Telegraph. 



Linseed and its Oil. — In addition to what we 

 have already said respecting tlie favorable pros- 

 pects for the cultivation of flax to obtain fiber, the 

 present prices of flax seed and linseed oil also of- 

 fer great inducements for its more extensive cul- 

 ture. Linseed oil has recently been selling for 

 one dollar seventy-five cents i)er gallon, at wliole- 

 sale, and fiax seed at from 83 "lo to .*3 oO jier 

 bushel. Flax for rope and cord-making is selling 

 for twenty-five and thirty cents per pound. Land 

 on which oats or corn have been planted in the 

 previous year is well suited for flax when put into 

 guod tilth. If the season is favorable, and the 

 soil suitable, 14 bushels of seed and <500 pounds 

 of dressed flax may be obtained from an acre. — 

 Scientific American. 



