248 Ten Days in Ohio. 



to cultivation. The soil is generally argillaceous, with a thin growth 

 of forest trees, chiefly pin oak, post oak, black jack and aspen ; but 

 on the western border, naiany trees of the Gymnoclydus canadensis, 

 or Kentucky coffee tree, and Quercus macrocarpa are found in ad- 

 dition to these — many wet swampy places are destitute of trees. 

 From the direction of the water courses which head in this singular 

 tract, and run along its sides, as is the case with Darley Creek along 

 its eastern border, I am led to conclude that the " Barrens" is a 

 more elevated region than the adjacent country. The soil is admi- 

 rably adapted to the growth of grass, rising to the height of four or 

 six feet ; the whole region may be denominated a natural meadow. 

 Vast herds of cattle are pastured in the summer and fed through the 

 winter on hay cut and put up in stacks ; a few years ago regular 

 herdsmen attended them through the season like the patriarchs of 

 old ; but latterly vast fields of several thousand acres have been en- 

 closed with fence and the cattle confined within them. 



The Barrens — Ldme water. 



" The Barrens" also abound in wild flowering plants through the 

 summer and autumn, resembling in beauty and variety an immense 

 garden. The most common and abundant belong to the families of 

 the Heleunis, Solidago, Rudbeckia, Aster, he. In penetrating the 

 earth for wells, water is usually found at the depth of ten or twenty 

 feet. It is highly impregnated with lime ; so much so as to coat over 

 the outsides of the buckets, and the ends of the poles, for they 

 here use the primitive fashion of " pole and sweep," with lime, which 

 at first I mistook for a coat of white wash. To render it fit for the 

 washerwoman's use " it is broke," as they call it, with a lixivium of 

 wood ashes ; thus neutralising the carbonic acid and rendering it 

 soft.* Sometimes wells are sunk to the depth of thirty or thirty five 

 feet before water is found ; and in those spots two or more beds of 

 gravel are passed, alternating with beds of clay of four or five feet 

 in thickness. In wet seasons the water rises to near the surface of 

 the wells. It is considerably cathartic to those unaccustomed to 

 its use. 



* Occasioning of course, as we presume a precipitate of calcareous carbonate, we 

 should like to know whether muriate of lime is not also, found in the water of lime- 

 stone countries. — Ed. - 



