neglect i t. A thorough farmer Uses ever}'' economical 
appliance to increase the product of the farm, llis 
draining cost about $30 per acre, which was re¬ 
turned by the increased production in about three 
years. Drains should be 30 to 35 feet apart, and 33 
to 30 inches deep. He is sorry to hear underdrain¬ 
ing discouraged. lie has Runid it profitable, not 
only where he grows nursery stock, but on a farm 
where ordinary larrn crops are grown. On a tenant 
farm, where the tenant told him he could not live 
without draining, very heavy crops are now grown. 
Mr. Brooks said be did not wish to be under¬ 
stood as opposing draining in all cases and under 
all circumstances; but he did not think it advisable 
to recommend it without qualification. He had 
sheep walks on lands iu Allegany county that were 
paying him the interest on $25 per acre, and he 
was satisfied that it was a good investment; but he 
did not believe the per cent, of profit could be 
Increased in that county by an investment iu under- 
draining. He did not believe the grass product 
could be increased a ton per acre. He had found 
irrigation profitable, however. Had cut five or six 
tons per acre —guessed at when it was not very 
dry—on a bottom land that has not been irrigated. 
But, in answer to a question, he conceded that the 
land was naturally underdrained. 
[There is little doubt of the value of irrigation in 
all cases, when the water can be made to pass grad¬ 
ually through the soil—or even flow gradually off 
it. In all cases where drainage is perlect, a heavy 
fall of water gives to the soil fertility.] 
Mr. Baker, of Steuben Co., bad increased the 
value of his land, by draining, from $40 to $125 per 
acre. He believed thorough underdraining an 
essential preparation of the soil to receive the bene¬ 
fits of irrigation. He has found drainage to pay on 
land used as sheep walks. The product of grass 
per acre is increased, and (he sheep are healthier 
when grazed on suck land. 
Mr. Peters said the soil of Allegany county was 
covered with a coarse grass, indicating the neces¬ 
sity of drainage. He believed the increase of the 
products in that county by drainage would more 
than pay the interest on the money expended in 
that way. He doubted if there was in that county 
a farmer that would not be benefited by under¬ 
draining. 
Mr. Brooks— The question is whether the benefit 
will be proportionate to the cost of draining. I do 
not believe it would. 
Sot,on Robinson 
proper plan ol the work, or great disappointments 
are likely to be expetienced. Many beginners iu 
draining suffer great losses for want of this kind of 
knowledge. 
We can hardly say that there are yet in this coun¬ 
try men lhat devote themselves to the business of 
giving the instruction that inexperienced beginners 
require in this branch of engineering; but in time 
we shall have these men as well known as they are 
now in England. For want of these advisers, per¬ 
haps the best thing for a man who intends to lay out 
much money in draining to do, is to consult books 
written especially to give the required information. 
Tbe best of these books that have come under my 
observation are Dempsey's Rudimentary Treatise 
on the Drainage of Districts and Lands, (this is an 
English work, and by far the most able 1 know,) 
and French’s Farm Drainage, an American book, 
so written as to be well adapted to our wants, very 
easy of comprehension, and of great value in every 
respect 
1 close these remarks, which are intended to only 
open the discussion of this evening, by saying that 
the modern art of draining is not a century old. It 
may be said to owe much to the discoveries of a 
Warwickshire farmer, Mr. Joseph Ei.kington, 
who, in 1764, happening to drive an auger through 
the bed ol a trench, discovered tbe existence, of a 
water-bearing stratum beneath, by drawing the 
water from which, the surface and subsoil became 
thoroughly drained. From this accident came into 
being wbat is known as ElkiNgton’s System of 
Drainage. In 1765 the British Parliament voted 
him £1,000, and the Board of Agriculture employed 
Mr. John Johnstone to write a book under Mr, 
Et.ktnoton'8 directions. In the writing of this 
book, this Jonx Johnstone is said not to have 
been as successful a teacher as our John Johnston, 
of Geneva, has proven to many of us. 
ing out in several directions in time to prevent any 
one from getting away. 
The surprise of the citizens and soldiers of War- 
renton at such a sudden entrance of our force may 
be imagined, but not described. The weather heir ; 
fine, nobody appeared to be within doors, and in 
many instances the women and children seenud 
petrified, and were too much frightened to run. It 
was soon discovered that we had bagged a large 
number of soldiers who had been wounded iu the 
recent battles, while others, amounting to several 
hundred, sent there to the hospital on account of 
sickness, had recovered, and were expecting the 
day following to return to their reglmcute. The 
whole force thus captured, amounting to 1,600, were 
paroled; and owing to this circumstance, I believe 
there was not an enlisted man among the whole 
number who was not really glad that we had come. 
One of them in particular, belonging to a Georgia 
regiment, wa3 in high glee. “To-morrow,’’ he re¬ 
marked, “ I will make Richmond, and providing 1 
can succeed in getting home, if they want me to fight 
any more, they will have to come and bring me 
back.” The same sentiment, l think, was shared by 
quite a number of others, although they wisely kept 
silent. The conversation bet ween our soldiers and 
the prisoners turned, of course, upon the battles 
recently fought, and the probable result of the war. 
All of the rebels claim, without exception, so far as 
I heard an opinion given, that they aro bound to 
to win and come off victors in the end. 
Many of them seemed very exultant over their 
victory at Bull Run, but all admitted that on the 
second day of the light we had greatly the advant¬ 
age of them on their left wing. A negro, who had 
followed tbe army for some time, stated to 113 that 
Stonewall Jackson was severely wounded in Mury- 
DISCUSSIONS AT THE STATE FAIR, 
[continued from first pace of this number ] 
Hon. Geo. Geddes, of Onondaga, Ex-President 
of the Society, read the following paper: 
The average fall of water, in the form Of rain and 
snow, in the State of New-York, is 35 28-100 inches. 
At Rochester, the fail is 31 20 100 ; while at Lewis¬ 
ton it is only 22 41-100 inches. At Rochester there 
are 177 days in the year in which rain or snow 
falls, and the total amount of water that falls on an 
acre is neatly one million of gallons. This water, 
by flowing over the surface, by percolation, and by 
evaporation, is carried off the ground; by streams 
and l ivers, part of it finds its way to the sea, and 
thence by evaporation to the clouds, and in rain and 
snow again falls to the earth. The average, water 
fall of the State is disposed of, by 5 30-100 inches 
running away in the streams as their ordinary flow, 
7 95-100 inches in freshets, and 20 47-100 evaporates 
from the earth’s surface, leaving 1 56-100 for con¬ 
sumption by plants, and in various other ways. 
Perfectly dry earth is one-third lighter than earth 
perfectly saturated with water, and every foot in 
depth contains seven inches of water when satu¬ 
rated, and will part with one-balf of this water, and 
not be too dry to support vegetation. Soils, consid¬ 
ered mechanically, consist of particles of all shapes, 
from tbe size of pebbles down to the finest powder. 
These particles cannot touch each other at all 
points and in all places; thus spac ‘s, of greater or 
less magnitude, that communicate with each other, 
exist in endless varieties and forms, making canals 
for water and air to pass through between the par¬ 
ticles. Jn well pulverized soils they equal one- 
fourth the whole bulk, and one acre of soil pulver¬ 
ized eight inches deep will thus have spaces equal 
to 12.545,280 cubic inches. The particles of the soil 
are themselves filled with very minute pores. 
These pores in the particles, though they may freely 
communicate with each other in the interior of the 
particles in which they occur, have no direct com¬ 
munication with the pores of the surrounding par¬ 
ticles. If the soil is perfectly dry. the canals are 
filled with air. If tbe soil is perfectly flooded with 
water, the canals can contain no air. If there is 
just sufficient water iu the soil to give the most 
healthy condition to plants, the canals between 
the particles will be free from water and filled 
with air, while the pores in the particles will 
be filled with water. This condition of the soil 
is commonly designated as moist; the earth will 
crumble to pieces when handled, without ad¬ 
hering together in the form of mud. Sandy 
soils, made up of coarse particles of flinty mat¬ 
ter, have few pores, and large canals; thus the 
air circulates freely, and the soil soon becomes too 
dry for healthy vegetation. The water that fills the 
canals bet ween the particles of the soil is called in 
some works I have read, free water; I prefer to call 
it the wafer of drainage; it is this water that makes 
it necessary to draiu soils. 
The first great injury that this water of drainage 
does I he soil, that I desire to call your attention 
to, is its effect on the temperature. Mr. Dempsey 
says that he found by careful experiments, that 
excess of water reduced the temperature of soils 64 
degrees of Fahrenheit in summer. So that, if we 
have two fields, lying side by side, one of them 
thoroughly drained, the other filled with water, they 
are to be considered as seven degrees of latitude; or 
two thousand feet of elevation, apart, so /Ur as the 
temperature of the soil is considered. 
The second point to which I desire to call your 
attention, is the injury resulting from the exclusion 
of air from the soil. Without air in the soil, nothing 
but aquatic plants will grow; and in undrained 
land, the farmer must delay planting in the spring 
until evaporation has removed the water from the 
surface, or be will put his seed in the ground but 
to rot. 
Most soils are partially drained by natural pro¬ 
cesses. Some soils are in this way perfectly drained, 
but many large districts of land, abounding in all 
that is necessary to produce lar^e crops, are ren¬ 
dered useless by excess of water, and until it is 
removed by artificial drains, are of little or no value. 
Various things indicate to the practical and expe¬ 
rienced farmer the places that require draining; 
among them may be mentioned the presence of 
wide-leafed plants growing in tufts, the presence of 
water in digging post-holes, and tbe places where 
early and late frosts do the most injury to his crops. 
The best manner of removing any excess of 
water, must be determined in each case by its pecu¬ 
liar circumstances. If only the rain that falls on 
the field is to be provided for, the case will bo a 
simple one. Find the line of greatest descent, and 
make drains often enough and deep enough, and 
carry the water by tbe shortest lines to the best out¬ 
let. On stiff, retentive clays, this will be an expen¬ 
sive process, for the drains must be near each other; 
but as expensive as it is, this is the only way to make 
the land of value, and from extensive inquiries 
made of those men who have made the largest out¬ 
lays of money in this way, in our State, I am satis¬ 
fied that no money can be better invested by the 
owners of such lands. I have uniformly heard these 
men speak in strong terms their satisfaction as to 
the results obtained. 
In many cases lands are rendered too wet for suc¬ 
cessful farming, by springs that owe their origin to 
water that has settled down through the soil of some 
distant field, and has found Us way through sand or 
gravel, based on a stratum of clay, to its outcrop. 
These springs may be cut off, perhaps, by a single 
drain, and thus dry acres of ground; or, the rains 
that fall on extensive plains rnay find their way 
through many feet of earth to some stratum of gra¬ 
vel that descends for many miles, and then bends 
upward, and thus delivers the water, in boiliDg 
springs, on land that but for this subterranean sup¬ 
ply would be dry. Wells Bunk at proper points 
may receive such supplies of water, andafew drains 
carry it off, and at little expense. 
The case last mentioned requires great skill on 
the part, of the man who directs the work, or money 
will be thrown away. In my own experience, I was 
a great sufferer by a mistake in such a case. I cut 
Heroic males the country bear*, 
Hut daughters give up more than sons ; 
Flags wave, drums beat, and unawares 
You flash your souls out with the guns. 
But we ( we empty heart and home 
Of life’s life, lovo I We bear to think 
You're gone—to feel you may not come— 
To hear the door-latch stir and clink, 
Yet no more you I—nor sink.” 
■Mrs. Broiming. 
ROCHESTER, N. Y., OCTOBER 18, 1862. 
Mr. Peters, of Genesee Co., believed a system of 
draining, judiciously conducted, on the cultivated 
lands of this State, would add one-third to its pro¬ 
ductions. But little land in the State but might be 
benefltted by drainage; in Borne cases the produc¬ 
tive power can be doubled. He regarded the effect 
of drainage on the temperature of the land of great 
importance in arriving at the true value of drain¬ 
age. It makes 100 per cent, difference in the value 
of tbe soil, in the matter of altitude. Drainage 
brings the temperature down from the mountain 
side to the valley. Early frosts in autumn are pre¬ 
vented, and good corn lands are made out of our 
Western New York wheat soils, by draining. 
In answer to a question as to the proper distance 
apart and depth of drains, Mr. Foster, of Seneca 
Co., said he lived close to John J ohnston, and could 
give his practice. 
was unwilling to allow the 
aspersion so rest upon the farmers of Allegany Co.; 
that they did not know their interests sufficiently to 
adopt a system that has in all cases, where success¬ 
fully practiced, doubled the value of the land, 
counting its value upon the basis of the interest it 
produces. An expenditure of $30 an acre for drain¬ 
ing will hardly ever fail to increase the products of 
the land, so as to give it an increased value of $100 
an aero. The improvement is not only iu freeing 
the soil of water, but in airing it, so that it becomes 
more lriable. Undraiut’d land that plows up in 
clods in Spring, when drained crumbles easily and 
earlier. This is the experience of Mr, Thomas, and 
so it is of every one who has practiced the system. 
Mr. Geodes inquired if there was any ouo pres¬ 
ent who had ever lost money by underdraining. 
Mr. Pkinplk, of Genesee county, said that he 
had lost money by underd raining; still, he believed 
that there are cases where it would pay. The soil 
that ho operated on was a hard-pan clay. By his 
argument, however, against draining, he proved 
that he did his work very inefficiently, using his 
eye only as a level, and that, some of his drains 
have stopped by failure of tiles on some other 
course. 
Mr. Geodes said that the question of how to 
drain hard-pan is answered in all the books upon 
drainage. The operation of draining the hardest 
kind of clay is to dig it and crack it, and finally 
drain it, though it may be more expensive, and 
require drains every ten feet, but the stiffened clay 
can be drained. He said tbat he had lost money by 
draining, but it was through ignorance of the busi¬ 
ness. But because I sunk money from ignorance, I 
did not cease the effort to drain all the land upon 
ray farm that needed it, and the result has been in 
the highest degree satisfactory, for it has been 
profitable. 
In the course of the discussion, a remark was 
made conveying the impression, either that the soil 
ot the prairies produced enough without draining, 
or that, because land was cheap and rich, and pro¬ 
duce low, it would not pay to drain; that farmers 
had better go to the prairies, where they ueed not 
drain, rather than invest so much money in Eastern 
lands. Tho reporter hereof announced himself 
from Illinois, and reported that the Suckers were 
sensitive to anything that reflected upon their pluck, 
their patriotism, or their prairies. The prairie soil 
was not too poor to underdrain ; it was rich enough 
to pay for draining; it did pay to drain it; and no one 
need migrate to the prairies with the hope of suc¬ 
ceeding in their cultivation without draining them. 
Tile is little used, but the mole plow, or ditcher, is a 
good substitute, making durable drains on most 
prairie soils. 
The effect of drainage on temperature is a very 
important teature of drainage. It should not be 
overlooked. It not only elevates the temperature 
of the soil, but it lengthens the season materially, 
securing the development and maturity of the crop. 
Had seon a striking illustration of this in 1859. 
Early in September there had been a heavy frost, 
seriously injuring the bulk of the corn crop of 
Northern Illinois. Passing through one of the 
northern counties of that State soon after this frost, 
he saw two fields of com adjoining each other, sep¬ 
arated only by a two year old hedge, the one dead 
by the bite of the frost —the other grew as in mid¬ 
summer. The soil was similar, the elevation the 
same; but the effect of the frost very unlike on the 
two pieces. Inquiry resulted iu learning that the 
field on which the corn stood green and growing, 
had been underdrained with the mole-plow the 
spring previous—that was all the difference in the 
treatment of the soil and the crops. It was certainly 
a marked difference, and a remarkable illustration 
of the effect of drainage upon temperature. 
Mr. Thomas, of Wayne, had let his ditching by 
the job, and got it done at 5 to 74 cents per rod, two 
and a half feet deep. The soil was clay. He could 
get it done at the same cost by the day’s work. 
Thus ended the discussion. The weight of the 
testimony was in favor ol the profit of draining. 
But the fact was also developed that it required 
great care and judgment to succeed in it at first — 
that it was essential that the drainer should have a 
thorough conception of' Avliat he was going to do, 
and understand how to do it. 
[The Third Evening’s Discussion —on Fencing, 
&c., — will be found on second page of this paper.] 
The tievr Confederate Flag. 
By a late act of the Confederate Congress, anew 
flag has been adopted, and we give a representation 
thereof. The imitation of the glorious old Stars 
and Stripes has been done away with—the Stars 
and Bars of the Rebel rag are in disgrace. 
His drains are 2<i feet deep, and 
two rods apart. 
Mr. Swan, another neighbor, drains in the same 
way, and by doing so has caused land to produce 
forty bushels of wheat per acre. The effect is good. 
The grass crop has been increased more in propor¬ 
tion than the wheat The effect of Mr. Johnston’s 
example and demonstrations has been to largely 
increase the amount of land drained. 
Mr. Foster sought to impress tbe importance of 
making a map of the ground to be drained and lay¬ 
ing the drainsjiccorvijng to the map; recording the 
distances, in order that, if it was found necessary to 
increase the number ot drains, it might be done 
intelligently, and without interfering with what had 
been done. Some men, who had neglected this 
matter, had ’aid new drains too Close to old ones, 
incurving great expense without proportionate ben¬ 
efit. Tile is to be preferred to stone druins. 
Mr. Brooks, of Wyoming—What does it cost per 
acre to drain with tile? 
Mr. Foster — About twenty dollars per acre. 
Four inch tile are used in the main drains, and two 
inch in the minor drains. 
Mr. Brooks—W as it tbe draining, or the manure 
applied to the laud, that increased its product to 
forty bushels of wheat per acre? 
Mr. Foster —When lauds want draining, the ma¬ 
nure applied to such lands is thrown away. When 
lands are drained, the mauure, if applied, is not 
lost, nor the lands injured. 
Mr. Peters —There are few localities in this State 
where thorough drainage will not pay. Dp to mid¬ 
summer water will stand in post-holes dug in almost 
all parts of the State. On such lands clover kills 
out, grass is coarse, and frosts come early in autumn. 
Had seen water stand on the surface of some soils 
right over draius—but it was on stift' clays, that had 
been partially puddled in the process of draining. 
The same soils, broken with a plow or harrow, the 
water would disappear. Wished to ask Mr. Geddes 
if he supposed the water, when it falls on tbe earth, 
sinks to the water-level, wherever that may be, and 
then rises until it finds a way to run oft) or evapo¬ 
rates. 
Mr. Geddes said tbe water might stand in pud¬ 
dled clay any where,—right over a drain,—and yet 
the soil be thoroughly drained. The water un¬ 
doubtedly goes down till it reaches the water sur¬ 
face, and then rises into the tile or drain. It does 
not run to it. Drains serve to lower the water-level. 
Drains should be 24 or 3 feet deep; iu most cases 
would rather have them three feet deep than less. 
The matter of depth and distance depends some¬ 
thing upon the character of the soil and the cost of 
tile. If the soil is hard and tile cheap, dig shallow, 
and make drains near each other; if tile is costly 
and soil soft, dig deep and a greater distance apart. 
Mr. Faii.e, of Westchester Co., gave an instance 
of a farm that was worthless, that had been made, 
by an outlay of $30 per acre, worth $200 per acre. 
Mr. Brooks, of Wyoming, had pronounced drain¬ 
ing the stupid blueing of property. He had been 
surprised at the course of the discussion of this sub¬ 
ject. It had been discussed without qualifications. 
It had qualifications. In Allegany county there 
was scarcely an acre of land that had been under- 
drained. It would cost $25 per acre to draiu this 
land, and it was worth $25 per acre now; but it 
would not sell for $50 per acre after it was under- 
drained—so that there is one section of the State 
that will not pay for draining. In order to make 
draining profitable, land should be worth some¬ 
thing after it is drained, and before also. There 
is land that will not bear white beans if you drain it 
to the center of earth. The cost of doing this work 
is some consideration. Much depends upon local¬ 
ity, markets, and the kind of husbandry adopted. 
Three-fourths of the laud of the United States does 
not need draining. 
Mr. Thomas, of Cayuga, wished to say a word, 
without directly replying to the opinions of Mr. 
Brooks. He had put in fifteen or twenty miles of 
tile drain, and in one case he is sure that he was 
benefited $500 by the expenditure of $100. He 
Brigadier-General Ilodman. 
The telegraph makes the melancholy announce¬ 
ment of the death of Gen. Isaac P. Rodman, of 
mortal wounds received at the battle of Antietam. 
He was carried from the field to a farm house in the 
vicinity of Hagerstown, where he lay until his 
death. Gen. Itodman was one of Maj.-Gen. Burn¬ 
side’s most esteemed officers, and his loss will be 
deeply deplored throughout the Ninth Army Corps. 
He was born in the “Narragansett Country,” in 
Rhode Island, and has been a resident of the .State 
all his life. He received a good education, and 
while never remarkable as a brilliant scholar, was 
always distinguished for industrious application to 
his studies, and, in matnrer years, habits of system¬ 
atic reading. At an early age he engaged in a man¬ 
ufacturing business, and for many } ears his firm 
was celebrated for its staple woolen goods, which 
found their way into tho markets of all the States, 
especially throughout the South. 
Last year, when tho rebellion broke out, he was 
representing his district in the Senate of Rhode isl¬ 
and, and was one of those who supported the Peace 
resolutions which were introduced into that body. 
But finding that no concessions on our part were 
likely to satisfy t,he Southern rebels, he lett bisdesk, 
recruited a company for Ike 2d Rhode Island regi¬ 
ment, and, as its Captain, went to the seat of war. 
His company were deployed as skirmishers at Bull 
Run, and were the first to fire upon the enemy. 
Captain Rodman was subsequently appointed Lieu¬ 
tenant-Colonel of the 4t.li Rbodu Island, and a short 
time after promoted to the Colonelcy. The 4th was 
ordered to Annapolis in January, and reported to 
Gen. Buvuside a few days before tho expedition 
sailed. It took part in tho battle of Roanoke Island, 
and at Newbern made the brilliant charge which 
turned the fortunes of the day. For this Col. Rod- 
man was made Brigadier-General, on the recom¬ 
mendation of Gen. Burnside and Gov. Sprague, 
about the time of the fall of Fort Macon, in the 
investment and reduction of work which the regi¬ 
ment participated. An attack of typhoid fever, 
induced by fatigue and exposure which he under¬ 
went during the siege, made it necessary for him to 
come home on sick leave, and he only recovered in 
time to rejoin Burnside’s command at Fredericks¬ 
burg. Expecting only to command a brigade un¬ 
der Gen. Parke, he was most agreeably surprised to 
receive from the Commanding General the com¬ 
mand of Parke’s whole division, that able General 
being appointed Chief of Staff. He led bis division 
in the retreat from Fredericksburg to Acqufa Creek, 
and subsequently from Washington to South Moun¬ 
tain and Antietam, showing in both those bloody 
battles evidences of military genius of a high order. 
In manner, Gen. Rodman was reserved and un¬ 
demonstrative. He had few intimate acquaintances 
in the army, but by those who knew him well, was 
esteemed and beloved. He had a stern integrity of 
character, modesty of statement, and patriotism, 
which won the love and confidence of Burnside and 
Parke, themselves men of the highest moral tone. 
He was a hearty hater of all false lurms and osten¬ 
tation, aud as Colonel and General was distin¬ 
guished in dress for extreme simplicity, and in diet 
for a frugality which few officers of equal rank would 
care to imitate* _ 
Items Bud Incidents. 
The Fruiting at Antietam,— The Rochester 
Democrat has been permitted to make the following 
extract from a private letter: 
“Dr. Muir, Surgeon-General of the English Army 
for Canada, was present at the battle of Antietam, 
and told a friend of mine in this city, that he had 
been in India, in the Crimea, and in China, and was 
present at Soll'erino. and lhat he had never before 
seen such fighting as at Antietam, and that Le felt 
proud of the fact that the men on both sides were of 
his own race.” 
Devastation by tbe Rebels in Maryland. 
Ai.thotkiti the rebels put themselves upon thoir 
good behavior while in ! 1 agerstowu, and with the ex¬ 
ception of passing several thousand dollars of their 
worthless scrip, inflicted no material injury upon 
our people, we hear that in other purts of the 
county through which thoir army passed, they took 
what they wanted, and paid for it in currency which 
13 not worth here the paper upon which it is printed. 
The horses, cattle, hay, corn, oats, &c., of the farm¬ 
ers were taken and paid for iu that kind of currency, 
some farmers having received as much as a thou¬ 
sand dollars. 
During their retreat through Sharpsburg, they 
stripped the houses of their contents, taking even, 
as we have been informed, the wearing apparel and 
bed clothing of the families who had tied to the 
river cliffe for protection while the battle raged 
around their homes. We presume a million of dol¬ 
lars will not more than cover the total loss inflicted 
upon our county by this rebel raid. Two armies, 
probably numbering a hundred thousand each, have 
swept over it, and tho uecessary and unnecessary 
destruction of property has been enormous, while 
the consumption of food for both man and beast bas 
been equally great The county will not recover 
from the effects of the beart-rendiDg disaster for 
years to come—probably not in our day and gener¬ 
ation. 
A very large amount of property was set on fire 
and burnt by shot and shell in Sharpsburg and its 
vicinity during tbe battle of the 17th ult. Such a 
scene of desolation as that town and the rich 
country around it now presents, has not been wit¬ 
nessed during the progress of the war. The de¬ 
struction of property is not the only injury which 
has been inflicted upon the people of that vicinity. 
The consumption of food of every description by 
the two armies has been so enormous tbat the inhabi¬ 
tants, including even tbe wealthiest of them, have 
scarcely been able to procure subsistence enough to 
keep soul and body together. There has, therefore, 
been much suffering among them for the want of the 
uecessaries of life, aud we would take the liberty of 
suggesting to other portions of the country, who 
have, in the Providence of God, thus far escaped the 
ravages of war, to extend some relief to the poorer 
classes of them .—Hagerstown Herald. 
Brilliant Reconnaissance to Wnrrenton. 
The special correspondence of the Philadelphia 
Inquirer, from Centerville, Va., October 1st, says: 
A reconnoissance by a cavalry brigade, consisting 
of the 1st New Jersey, Lieut.-Col. Karge, the 1st 
Pa., Maj. Falls, and the Harris Light Cavalry, Maj. 
llarhouse, the whole being under command of Lieut. 
Col. Karge, acting Brigadier General, was made to 
Wnrrenton, on the 29th ult,., via Bull Run, Gaines¬ 
ville, Buckland and New Baltimore, for the purpose 
of feeling the position of the enemy in that quarter. 
Every needful preparation having been made, at 
precisely six o’clock A. M., the column moved. No 
obstacle being encountered to stop our progress, we 
kep steadily on, and by two o’clock P. M. some cav¬ 
alry pickets were discovered about four miles this 
side of Warrenton, but our forces were so admira¬ 
bly disposed that none of them escaped. This was 
effected by keeping the flankers and skirmishers on 
either Eide of the road, just far enough ahead of the 
advance guard to cut oft' their retreat. Having 
approached the town quietly aud unobserved, the 
bugle sounded a charge, and the 1st New Jersey, 
with Lieutenant-Colonel Karge at their head, dashed 
furiously forward through the main street, followed 
closely by the other regiments composing the brig¬ 
ade. Simultaneous with this, however, the skir¬ 
mishers, under Oapt. Bristol, and the advance led 
by Lieut. Hobensack, 1st New Jersey, moved rap¬ 
idly to the right and left, reaching the roads branch- 
