820 
Yhe trohcal agriculturist. 
[May 2, 1892, 
Band and pebbles that are brought np just before 
the oil is struck, and wbnt do they indicate ? Solid 
rock. Yea, rocks such as are exposed in railway 
cuts and quarries, and which in such jilaces are 
found to be devoid of oil as any other thing, unless 
it bo a few fossil plants or shells. 
Those surface rocks are not to bo compared to 
those oil-producing sand rocks, for we ore positive 
that tho latter are as full of oil as a sponge thrown into 
a river is of water. They arc, indeed, so full of pe- 
troleum that it acts as a barrier against a tremendous 
pressure of natural gas, and it is this prossnre that 
lifts a solid column of oil (i in. in diameter and 
1,700 ft. or more in height, together with thousands 
of pounds of steel tools, out of the casing with 
apparently no effort. 
To be plain, and to avoid bewildering technicali- 
ties, we will state that, so far as chemistry has 
been able to ascertain, tho oil aiipcars to bo of animal 
and vegetable origin. There are exceptions to this 
finding of chemistry, of course, and theories 
that deal with tho spontaneous generation of petro- 
leum from other sources are common and some of 
thein are very plausible, but we believe that wo 
are justified in asserting that the majority of scien- 
tists are of tho opinion that this petroleum liad 
its origin in the abundant fauna and flora of pro- 
historic geological ages. 
In connection witli this statement, allow me to 
say that this word prehistoric is not a fit term to 
use in referring to the fauna and flora of tho De- 
vonian age. In speaking of some old ruins that 
may be scon on tho earth’s surface, sucli as tho 
walls of Dasa tiraiido on the G-ila desert, or tlio 
ruins of Y'ncatan, wo may with propriety use tho 
word, but in speaking of tho remote geological ages 
it has no bearing whatever, and is out of place. 
Are we, then, to understand tliat this oil was pro- 
duced from tho remains of ancient animal and vogo- 
tablo life. Is it possible to conceive of the neces- 
sary materials in such enormous quantities as would 
justify such a belief? 
In tho vast deposits of the upper and lower siluinan 
formations there are more than In.lJ(M) ft. of limo- 
stone made entirely of moluscs. 'rhese inunense 
bods of limestone are of vast extent, and everywhere 
they are amazingly fossiliferous. Take lOh.lXKl' .square 
miles of limestone 10,000 ft. in thickness, and en- 
tirely made np of the remains of animal life; add 
to this a similar extent of Devonian formations 
crowded with tho remains of fishes, moluscs, and 
crustaceans, and then add to that H,0(K) ft. or more 
of carboniferous matter, packed with the abundant 
remains of a tropical vegetation, and what have 
you got ? 
It is easy to conceive of an ocean of oil 
coming from all these things, providing they wore 
well squeezed like apples in some immeuse cider 
press and tho juices preserved. And what bettor 
evidence of a pressure suifioient to accomplish this 
is wanted than that which is obtained by studying 
tho gigantic upheavals and inwar'd lateral crushing 
convulsions that are snggestod by tlio Appalachian 
and Kocky Mountain ranges. 
Hero, then, wore the materials and there wore tho 
forces suflicient to account for this immense deposit 
of oil that has been released by artificial perfora- 
tion of the rocks at McDonald and other places. 
To come a little nearer homo in an effort to show 
the enormous quantity of vegetablo njattor tliat must 
have been buried by inundation and auirsequont 
elevations of tho surface of tlio earth, let us go to 
Mansfield, niue_ miles from I’ittsburg, on the I’an 
Handle, where, in cutting down an immense hill, tho 
workmen have discovered a vast and wonderful de- 
posit of fossil plants. 
There, packed in the solid blue and black shales, 
are tho abundant remains of the vegetation of the 
carboniferous age. I’erfoot casts of bcautifnl ar- 
borescent ferns and calamities, rushes of gigantic 
length, and curiously carved trunks of the lepido- 
dendron and sigiloria are all heaped and pent in one 
inseparable mass. Even the unlearned Italian labour- 
ers are amazed at the sight. On every Jjlock of 
shale are a thousand perfect casts of plants and a 
hundred different varieties. There are enough 
specimens hero to stock a million cabinets. A rood, 
bod for tho third track of the i’ittsburg, Cincinnati 
Chicago and St. Louis railroad is being graded with 
remains of one of the forests of the ancient world. 
Look where you will, go where you will in the vici- 
nity of this cut, and everywhere you tread upon 
tho perfect casta of plants that grew in some old 
carboniferous lagoon, perhaps 10 , 000 ,(KX) years ago. 
Here then, probably, was the origin of our great 
deposits of coal, and it may, in conjunction with 
the other fossils above mentioned, have helped to 
produce tho vast supplies of “golden lie" m tho 
form of petroleum. — Vhemtcul Traile Journal. 
— ♦ 
Two of tho largest sugar-houses at Greenock are 
about to suspend molting operations temporarily, 
in consequence, it is said, or the high prices of 
I'aw auger, which, it is stated, docs not allow of 
refining at a profit. The firms in question have 
recently been paying off workers. — A. J'. l‘rem. 
Wattle UanK — An influential company, consisting 
of well known Hand sud Pretoria men, is in course 
of formation for the purpose of prosecuting the 
wattle Lark industry in the Transvaal. Land has been 
seloeted in one of the best districts in the sister re- 
public, and an old Natalian will pilot tho venture. 
It is Ftalid by Rxpcita that owing to tho ohemioals in 
the soil the bark grown in the republic will yield 
about three per cent more of tannic acid than the 
tree in Natal. 'I he Eohrme is to be started on a 
gigsntio scale.— IITfiiCM. 
Quinine as a I’ncniYLACTio.— Mr. Ehodcs, tho 
Prime Minister of Caj e Colony, nports that during 
his journey to Masbonaland ho took plenty of 
quinine in order to resist the malarial fever. 
Thunks to this, ho and his party got through 
the wilds without any of his party being laid up 
with fever, for, alihongh they felt feverish oocasionnlly 
they exccceded in warding oil the siteotion. Mr. 
hhodes’s experience confirms the published ex- 
perieuoes of Dr. Binz, Dr. Graeser, Dr. Buwalda, 
Dr. 0 . Sclieiling, Dr. Tschirch and other authorities 
who have travtlied in the tropics that quinine 
guards egainst and iftectually prevents malarial 
fever. — ChemiH and Druggist. 
Sweet Posir.r.os. — Mr. G. I. B., in a late number, 
asks information about gi-apo fruits and how to protect 
pineapples. 1 lately had an opportnuity of sampling 
tiro fruit of tho sweet pomelo, to wliicli yon refer, and 
think so higidy of it that I would urge G. 1 . B. not to 
plant any otlier. 'L’iiis pomelo originated in this vici- 
nity and seems a cross between the common pomelo 
and tlie orange. It is somewhat smaller than the com- 
moii variety, tlie peel tliimier and there seems an 
entire absence of tlie bitter taste wliich is found in tlio 
inner peel of tho ordinary pomelo. Tho Davor is very 
fine, ficitig a couiliiiiatioii of both orange and pomelo. 
It is liked at once and can bo eaten out of hand like 
an orange, as it requires 110 sugar. I do not know 
where trees of this variety cue be olitaiucd at present, 
but uiidcrataud they are lieiug budded by nurserymen 
and trees will doubtless soon bo offered on the luai’ket. 
— Farmei' and Fruit -(jrou'er. 
It is by no moans a now idea tliat tlio prairies of 
tho Par VVi^st are practically treeless owing to tlio 
extensive fires tliat devasLato them after the grass 
withers; but Mr. Miller Giiristy, i-'.i..s., has brought 
forward a largo amount of evidence in favour of it. 
Tlio most pvoiiiising of otlier llioories is to tlio effect 
tliat tlie prairies are tlie liods of largo lakes, the 
black mould being the sediment or mud. Mr. Giiristy 
regards tlio black mould as the ash of tho repoated 
fires. Pormerly the Indians used to burn the ]irairios 
in the fall, leaving patches for the buffalo to feed on. 
Now tliey are Iniriied by the settlers in tlio spring 
or by accidental ignition from neglect, or out of wan- 
touuoHH. Wliatover be the correct theory, it is cer- 
tain tliat trees will grow on the prairie lands where 
tliey are protected, as around liomostoads, or iiy tlio 
liatikH of rivers. Tliere seems to be nothing in the 
soil itself wiiicb forbids the growtli of timber — GW'C. 
