3i0 
ACTION OF WATER ON LEAD PIPES. 
soon be “ all but a dream, at the best.” As for 
rabbits, and wild animals, What of them \ (a) 
If you want a choice pig, wean it at four weeks, 
feed high, and it will be worth any two of the re¬ 
maining six or eight; because it has an abundance, 
whereas, the others have not; and if allowed to 
suck, and yet fed equally high, it will not eat so 
much, but depend more upon nature’s beverage 
and will exercise too much. A colt, or a calf is not 
so easily taken care of; and a lamb, though easier 
to be provided for than the colt, will not attain the 
same size. These are the opinions of 
Southern Backwoodsman. 
(a) That cattle, swine, and horses, as well as all 
kinds of wild animals, will propagate and rear 
their young in a state of nature, without the aid 
of man, no one will pretend to doubt; but the most 
common knowledge of breeding our domestic ani¬ 
mals shows, that, with proper care in regard to fix¬ 
ing the season for the males to cohabit with the 
females, the choice of food for the latter during 
their pregnancy, and the regulating of the aliment 
of their young for the first few months of their 
growth, they are more healthy, attain a larger size, 
and are superior in evety respect. For interesting 
remarks on this subject, see pp. 31,60, 127, of the 
present volume. 
ACTION OF WATER ON LEAD PIPES. 
Some few months after the introduction of Cro¬ 
ton water into our city, my attention was called to 
investigate its action upon the lead pipes which 
were used to' carry it into dwelling houses, &c. In 
several instances, 1 detected lead in the water which 
had stood in lead pipes over night, in situations 
where free use was made of the water during the 
day, and, in some instances, this daily use had con¬ 
tinued for several weeks. 
I have also found notable quantities of lead in 
Croton water, which I drew from a lead pipe in the 
third story of a house, at least a year after the pipes 
had been fitted in the house. The water was but 
seldom used from this pipe, and that which I drew 
from it for examination, had probably remained.in 
it for more than a week. Subsequent to this, I 
made a series of experiments, with a view to de¬ 
termine the action of Croton water upon pipes made 
of pure lead, and of alloys ofAin and lead, and also 
those made of lead coated with ,pure_ tin, after the 
plan of Mr. Ewbank. These pipes, of some thirty 
or forty feet in length, were filled with water 
brought in a cask from the Croton River. The 
water was displaced from the pipes by admitting a 
fresh supply at intervals of a day or two, for three 
weeks ; and that which escaped was tested each 
time. The result proved that the water which 
passed through the lead pipe always contained lead, 
while that from the pipe made of the alloy of tin 
and lead, as also that from the pipe coated with tin, 
both upon the inside and outside, did not contain a 
particle of lead, but for the first few days yielded a 
trace of tin. 
It is possible that the water, in passing rapidly 
through a lead pipe of moderate length, in constant 
use, may not become so impregnated with lead as 
to be injurious to health. But there are hundreds ' 
©i instances where the pipes are conveyed to the 
second and third stories of houses, where the water 
is seldom used, but from which the servant may 
find it convenient to fill a pitcher. The internal 
use of the water from such situations, I have no 
doubt, is highly injurious, and manifests itself by 
tremulousness and general debility of the nervous 
system. James R. Chilton. 
New York, June 12th, 1848. 
MANURE FROM THE OCEAN. 
We were forcibly struck, while spending a few 
days, last season, in the pleasant neighborhood of 
New Haven, Conn., with the uniformly magnifi¬ 
cent fields of Indian corn, that everywhere met 
the eye. From the constantly varying surface of 
hill and dale, rocky eminences, and marshy plains, 
and the number of small, landed proprietors occu¬ 
pying them, the fields, though numerous, were 
not extensive. But they were invariably of the 
most luxuriant growth, and would yield from 50 to 
80, and perhaps 100, bushels of shelled corn per 
acre. 
This luxuriance was almost exclusively the re¬ 
sult of the application of fish and sea weed. The. 
latter is thrown upon the shore by storms, or, what 
is more usual, is gathered from the rocks, far below 
the surface of the ivater , by those who make it a 
business during the proper season, for the purpose 
of selling to the farmers. The fish are principally 
the mossbunkers, that come upon the whole east¬ 
ern coast in countless shoals during the summer 
months. But with these a great variety of others 
are brought to shore in the capacious nets that are 
used. We saw young sharks, of considerable size 
and number, among vast multitudes of others that 
were taken at a single haul; and we thought them 
much more appropriately employed in feeding corn 
to feed children, than feeding on them. 
The practice above noted, has raised the piece 
of land from $15 or $20 per acre, to $75 and $100. 
It shows, conclusively, the advantages to be de¬ 
rived by an intelligent husbandry, whose attention 
is awake to every object that can be enlisted for 
the promotion of its interests. 
THE WAY TO INDUCE SOUTHERN PLANTERS 
TO IMPROVE THEIR LANDS. 
Every sincere friend of America would be re¬ 
joiced to see the north, the south, the east, and the 
west enter into a spirited improvement of their 
land culture, morals, intelligence, good feeling, and, 
in short, enter fully into the spirit of elevating the 
standing of the American character. Now there 
are no two men in our land who are more desirous, 
and who labor more for this end, or with greater 
zeal, than do ourR. L. Allen and our “Reviewer.” 
The south requires a great stimulus, and all our 
country might take a small dose without any in¬ 
jury ; and I think the true and only plan is, to let 
time work its way. We must remember that it is 
only a few years since New York, Massachusetts, 
and others began. They had to be forced into it 
by necessity and an abundant population; and it 
is doubtful, to at least one, if the south has not im¬ 
proved in about an equal ratio. From an intimate 
knowledge of the entire south, I feel justified in 
saying, that there has been a vast improvement 
within the past ten or twenty years. Improved im- 
