iusbanbrn. 
IL S. RANDALL, LL. D., EDITOR, 
Of Cortland Village, Cortland County, N*w York, 
DESTRUCTION OF SHEEP BY DOGS. 
[From March and April Report of the Department of 
Agriculture.] 
A partial enumeration of the sheep 
Killed the past year by dogs, as returned 
from four hundred and seventeen counties, 
aggregating 99,387, points to a loss of half a 
million sheep killed and as many more 
wounded by dogs, involving an actual loss 
of two million dollars, and a constructive 
and none the less real loss to production of 
many millions more. Millions of dollars’ 
worth of rich grasses and other vegetation 
annually go to waste in the open and grassy 
forests, and in the old fields and waste places 
of the South, because there are no sheep to 
feed upon them ; and the reason why sheep 
are not thus utilizing this spontaneous pro¬ 
duction, is the presence of dogs. 
[Here follow notes from various States and 
localities.] 
Similar notes could he multiplied indefi¬ 
nitely. While the reduction of taxation is* 
the tendency of the times, a tax by the Gen¬ 
eral Government upon dogs, like that of Brit¬ 
ish and European Governments, would prove 
a hundred-fold more benefit than hardship, 
relieving the poor of the great burden of 
keeping them, and society of the intolerable 
nuisance of worthless dogs, at the same time 
improving the animals worth the value of 
a tax, and taking from the industry of wool 
growing one of its greatest burdens of taxa¬ 
tion. The following table of actual returns 
is appended: 
Maine. 
Now Hampshire 
Vermont. 
Massachusetts . 
Rhode Island... 
Connecticut.... 
Now York. 
Now Jersey. 
PeriMSylvuniu... 
Delaware. 
Maryland. 
Virginia. 
North Carolina. 
South Carolina. 
(teoi'iria. 
Florida.. 
Alabama. 
Mississippi. 
l.tiiiislnnn. 
Tennessee.... 
Wed Virginia 
Kentucky. 
Missouri. 
Illinois. 
Indiana. 
M lehltfan. 
Wisconsin 
Minnesota 
117 ! 96,547 
The Legislature of New Jersey, at its last 
session, enacted the following law defining 
the legal status of the canine species, and 
levying a State tax upon owners of the same: 
1. Be itenaeltdby the Sniuite and General As¬ 
sembly of the State nf tfew Jersey, That a Slate 
tux of $3 on the owner of every ilotr, and $3 on 
(lie owner of every bitch, be levied and col I noted 
at t be sain c lime and in an tier I bat taxes are now 
collected. 
And be it enacted, That it shall In: the duty 
or all owners of do«B of either sex to provide 
the same with a collar, to he worn at all times, 
with the owner's name ami address thereupon. 
.). And bell enacted. That dojra of either sex, 
to he considered as property, shall be registered 
by numbers, Iren of charge, in the township or 
city clerk’s office of each township or city where 
such owner resides. 
+. And be it enacted. That no dainasfes shall he 
collected by the owners of any dog killed in the 
act of destroy)nir cattle, sheep or poultry. 
5. A nd he it enacted. That the ta xes collected 
by each county in pursuance of this apt he used 
by said county as a fund for the award and pro¬ 
tection of owners of sheep destroyed or killed 
by dogs—any surplus over and above the settle¬ 
ment in lull or all claims for killed cheep to he 
used annually tor public selioul purposes under 
the direction of the county school superin¬ 
tendent. 
ft. And be it enacted. That all sets or parts of 
acts inconsistent with ihlsact be,and Ihu same 
are hereby repealed. 
7. And In it enacted, That II. shall be lawful for 
any person or persons t<> kill and bury any dojr 
or bitch found running «t large without a collar, 
or known to ho unregistered, for which service 
he or they shall receive the sum of titty cents 
per head, to bo paid by Hie collector nf iho town, 
township or ward where said dog or hitch was 
killed, upon presentation of a proper affidavit to 
that effect. 
8. And be it enacted, That this act shall take 
effect immediately. 
L tider the head of “ Diseases of Sheep,” 
the Report states the following facts:—“ For 
a few years past, scab and foot-rot have been 
very prevalent among large fideks in New 
York, Ohio, and several of the Western 
•Slates. During the past year, owing to the 
culling and killing of diseased sheep, and 
greater care and better treatment, these dis¬ 
eases appear to he less prevalent. There is 
still much foot-rot; in some counties twenty- 
five per centum of all flocks have it among 
them, and in a few instances a much larger 
proportion. These diseases have spread 
somewhat by the dispersion of flocks to the 
Uest and South. Liver-rot is reported in 
Cuyahoga, Ohio, and rot is mentioned re¬ 
peatedly in returns, without indicating 
whether foot-rot or liver-rot is meant. Grub 
in the head appears to he less common than 
heietofore. A disease of the loins has been 
fatal in Utah. In Ohio, several reports of 
deaths from ‘ pale disease’ are received. A 
few cases of dropsy are ment ioned. In Texas 
losses of lambs have been very severe from 
worms, and some fatality has been caused 
by exposure during cold weather. It does 
not appear that a larger percentage tlmn 
usual of mortality of young lambs has been 
suffered.” 
Wo will add to the above that in this 
(Cortland) county, and some of the adjacent 
counties of New York, a considerable num¬ 
ber of cases of a disease resembling “ hyda¬ 
tid on the brain ” (“ turnsick,” or " staggers,”) 
lias occurred among the English sheep, 
usually attacking those in high or good con¬ 
dition. it has pretty generally proved fatal. 
We have seen none of the cases. In one of 
them reported to us, watery bladders were 
found Imbedded in the bruin, and the skull 
over them had become so thin (by absorp¬ 
tion) as to yield under the pressure of the 
finger. * This was clearly a case of hydatid, 
the apparent bladder of water being that 
parasite. The reported symptoms in all the 
cases so far as they went, indicated affec¬ 
tions of the brain. 
SHEEP SHEARING IN RUSH, N. Y. 
We have received the following statement, 
of the sheep shearing of Peter and Georoe 
Martin, of Rush, Monroe Co., N. Y., which 
took place May 15. A committee of live 
gentlemen prepared ihc following report: 
"Wo. the tmdei’sixnod, to whom wna entrusted 
the weighing of sheep und fleeces thin duy sheared 
Inour presence, do hereby certify tin follows 
A tie. 
Ewe No. I .4 years. 
“ “ 4.4 " 
“ " 17.2 “ 
“ “ 813.3 “ 
" "2 . 1 « " 
*• " 23.3 “ 
Weight of 
Carcass. 
75 lbs, 
73 " 
75 “ 
77 “ 
87 “ 
77 “ 
Weliiht of 
Fleece. 
17. HI os, 
15.11 " 
15.04 “ 
15.01" 
15.05 “ 
15.00 “ 
“ These fleeces we consider Quite superior in quali¬ 
ty. Staple very long, fiber tine and strong, opeutiuj 
very white and free from yellow gum, the oil being 
clear and evenly distributed throughout tho fleece. 
’• The Ham Torrent sheared (29X) twenty-nlno und 
three-fourth pounds, weight of carcass (104) one hun¬ 
dred and four pounds. 
Richard Pbcic, nowr.ANi) Sherman, 
Hevhv h. hart, Matiikw Stull, 
Wm. J. Markham. 
A member of the committee sends us an 
account of the origin and history of the 
flock, hut we believe all the material facts 
have been before published by us. He 
slates the flock now contains 70 thorough¬ 
bred ewes; and that this year 57 of litem 
yielded 753 lbs. 6 oz. of wool of one year’s 
growth, being more than 18 lbs. 8 oz. each. 
The remaining ones whose wool was hut of 
eleven months growth, averaged a little less 
than 13 lbs. The ewe No. 1, whose fleece 
last year weighed I9h£ lbs., (and 7 lbs. l oz. 
Cleansed), this year yielded 17 lbs. 10 oz., and 
she has raised a promising ram lamb. We 
regret that we have not space for our cor¬ 
respondent’s animated account of the shear¬ 
ing and the. dinner. Great were the achieve¬ 
ments performed tit, each ! 
--- 
MR. MORRILL ON THE TARIFF. 
IIon. Justin 8. Morrill of Vermont, a 
firm and consistent friend of the wool tariff, 
in an able speech made in the United States 
Senate, May 9, 1870, made the following re¬ 
marks on the protection of wool: 
“In Northern climates woolen clothing is not. 
less vital than food itself, and no country should 
he dependent upon foreign and distant lands for 
either one or tho other. If our Government did 
not connive at smuggling hianketa from our 
enemy In the recent war, aa It did in the war of 
1812, we yet in point of fact obtained a eousid- 
orabio part of our first supplies from abroad. 
That a country continental in Its dimensions, 
surpassingly rich in its broad extent of pastor- 
utfo. should he unequal to tho production of tho 
wool it. annually consumes is not. for a moment 
to be supposed. It is a fact, however, that for 
years we have drawn from abroad a lurjje quan¬ 
tity of the wool we have consumed, us well as a 
much larger proportion of woolens. 
“The amount or wool Imported In 18(38 was 
»}, 119,321 pounds, and 40.tflZ.392 pounds In 18«9, 
valued a! $7,388,318, or at an average cost of 14.4 
cents per pound. The value of woolens in 1806 
amounted to $85,064,40*. Of carpet* alone we 
Imported 3.881,830 yards, valued at $4,381,258. 
Ihese facts prove Mint the duties on wool arid 
woolens are by no means prohibitory. 
" II Is true that many classes or woolonsdonot 
bring first cost, but that is trim of cotton goods, 
and I- to be attributed to the general depression 
of trade and t ho character of our ctirrenoy: and 
It is also true that uo wool produced above forty 
degrees north latitude now brings over three- 
fourths of its not ua I coat. 
“The policy m- Impolicy of a duty on foreign 
wool has long been debatable ground both here 
and abroad. In France the doty on woo) was.10 
per cent. ad. Mama up to IBM, when it was made 
tree, but tho price there for line wool In 1837 was 
less t hail 335 cents per pound. The Homans atan 
early day introduced the spinning of wool and 
weaving Of woolen oloth to the Inhabitants of 
England, who previously wore only clothed in 
skins. Woolen manufactures were firmly estab¬ 
lished In England in the reign of Edward III., 
A. 1 ). 1.331. Only six yours thereafter the expor¬ 
tation of wool was Interdicted, and the ‘wearof 
any cloth math: beyond the sea’ prohibited. 
From the reign of On a husk II. until a recent 
period no one was permitted to lie buried nolesa 
wrapped it! u woolen shroml. The Importation 
ol even Irish wool w«m prohibited in 1000, and 
the non-exportation law, as to English wool, was 
not repealed until 1824. Tho Hr Irish tariff on 
wool m modern times has been fluctuating. In 
1819 it whs raised to 3 pence per pound. In 18:34 
it wan reduced to 1 penny per pound on wool 
costing 1 shilling or over per pound, and to a 
hall penny on all costing less; but it admitted 
colonial wool free. Prices foil • Southdown wool 
brought Is. 4d. In 1-36, and only (I pence in 18139 . 
In 1844 it was provided that nil wools should be 
admitted free. Surely this is u checkered record 
of the road to freo trade! Very recently the In¬ 
crease In the production of wool the world over 
has been prodigious. The broad, unfenced plains 
of Smith America, Africa, and Australia seem 
to have been suddenly covered with docks of 
sheep in untold numbers, and the chief expense 
of ruining wool Is reduced almost ro the bare ex¬ 
pense of washing and shearing the (locks, and 
for even that sumo machinery is resorted to. 
The quantity outstrips the present requirements 
of tho world. Australia.according to M.Timisks 
In a recent speech, produced Iasi year 830,000,000 
pounds, and could furnish 600,0110,000. La Plata 
Could produce, he says, a similar quantity. < nin- 
missioner Welds says, ‘The wools of lhe United 
States arr mainly the Merino clothing wools, 
which can bo produced in any quantity and at 
prices which defy foreign competition : and he 
immtioiiH Texas wools as having been produced 
at a cost Only of 7 ecu la per pound, which sold 
for 25 cents In gold. Tho defiance Is a very hold 
Utterance, but one not likely to find any backers 
among wool growers. 
“ It is possible that, on the wild Prairies of the 
Far West, and in California ana Texas, some 
faint competition can be maintained with coun¬ 
tries having similar pasturage abroad: but it is 
obvious that where any ownership to land is 
maintained, or where it possesses any marketa¬ 
ble value, unprotected wool cannot long be 
grown. Wo might as well undertake to compote 
with tho mountains of the moon ns with tho un¬ 
claimed tropical plains. Iowa. Missouri, win- 
cousin, and Illinois, as well as Ohio, Pennsylva¬ 
nia, Now York, and Vermont, must abandon 
sheep husbandry, so Indispensable lo tbc con¬ 
tinued fert ility of their soli, if Ihc wools nf the 
unsold, unruriecd, tin taxed, wild wastes of the 
southern half of tho globe arc permitted to en¬ 
ter our markets free of duty- Nor will any ad 
valorem duty serve any good purpose. The for¬ 
eign Valuation is at so low a figure that an ad 
valorem duty of even ISO percent. Is tail a baga¬ 
telle. Wo have tried 30,40, and even 50 per cent., 
and always with the same result. Nnfhingehort 
of a sped tig dot.y w f 11 give any positive protec¬ 
tion. It. Is true that I he present, prices nf wool 
are so low that tho number or sheep has been 
very greatly' reduced within the last year In 
Australia, as well ns in large portions of the 
United States. No Industry there or here now 
pays less profit than sheet) husbandry; but it 
may legitimately be expected henceforth to im¬ 
prove. Besides (his, it ought never lo bv forgot¬ 
ten that the fiber of most foreign wool la ex¬ 
ceedingly tender, while that grown in the Uni¬ 
ted States Is strong, (doth made of American 
wool Is much more durable than that made of 
foreign wool. The future of the American wool 
grower is not too bright.; it has no advantages 
to excite envy ; and tt Is the duty of an Ameri¬ 
can Congress to doall In its power hi preserve 
one of the highest forma of agricultural linlus- 
try, und at till hazards to stive It from being 
crushed by evasions of the law, by the natrons 
of free trade opinions, or by the blind selfishness 
of a few tiianufucturers. The exaggerated prices 
of wool and woolens during the war have passed 
liy, ami free traders would have us believe that 
the present low prices arc the legitimate result 
of high protective duties. They predicted, on 
the passage of the wool tariff, that the poor man 
would have to pay many dollars In the shape of 
a bounty to the wool grower on every suit of 
clothes bought; but it so happens that tho poor 
mao never bought woolen clothes cheaper Ihail 
at. ihe present moment. Thu consumer lies 
nothing to complain of, and has not been sheared 
by the wool grower.” 
lertrsnuxn. 
putnait. 
HIVING BEES. 
There are very few people who under¬ 
stand exactly how to manage Does,—that is, 
to keep the worms from the hive, taking 
honey, hiving them, &e. A great many bee 
owners, in hiving bees, uso a great many dif¬ 
ferent articles to make-41io bees remain in 
the hive; but I think there is no necessity 
for anything at all; if anything, some apple 
leaves, with a little sugar on them, rubbed 
in the hive, is about ns good as anything else; 
and when you go to hive the bees, put the 
hive under the bees, with one Hide raised 
with two atones so as to let the bees go in. 
If they are settled on a low tree, you can 
bend the limb down and shake them oil' by 
the hive, anil they will go up into the hive 
immediately; if they fail to go in, sprinkle 
a little water on them; hut if they are in a 
large tree, and high, go tip the tree and saw 
the limb off, bring them down and shake 
them by the hive. I don't think it is neces¬ 
sary to put them in the hive; put them down 
by if, for if they will not. go in from the 
ground, they would not stay in when you 
put them in. 
I have tny hives sixteen inches high by 
twelve square. 1 put four inch auger holes 
in the top of the hive, and put a box on it, 
with a glass in one side, so you can see when 
it is full. 1 put over this box, one large 
enough to go over the smaller, to keep il 
from being exposed to the weather. When 
I take the cap or box off, it is full of nice, 
white honey, and by usiug caps on my hives, 
I get better honey, never kill any bees, for 
there are but few in the cap, and those I 
drive out. Franklin. 
- -* 
BRIEF BEE NOTES. 
Ground Client, for Hoc-Feed. 
Bknj. R. Hudson, Culpepper Go,, Pa., 
writes the Bee Journal:—Last spring, I had 
about two bags of cheat to grind; there was 
some wheat mixed with it; and before I had 
ground the half of it, my bees came to the 
meal chest in large numbers, and commenced 
packing it on their legs. I then ground some 
nice rye, and placed it in a box side by side 
with the cheat, the result was the bees would 
not touch the rye, but worked vigorously on 
the cheat. I then took a box of each, and 
placed them near the hives, with the same 
result. 
ProfM of Ben Keeping. 
Mr. Quinbv says on the subject-,—“ I do 
not hesitate to state my firm conviction that 
bee keeping, In its present advanced condi¬ 
tion, taken up by intelligent, enterprising 
young men, will compare very favorably 
with most other pursuits. The great danger 
of failure I have found to lie in the mistaken 
impression that seems to prevail, that this is 
a business that will take care of itself, that 
active, careful supervision, so necessary in 
other pursuits, may be remitted in this. I 
know of few occupations that make greater 
demands on one’s attention and watchful- 
FEEDING CALVES. 
A Substitute for 31Uk. 
A correspondent from Nettle Lake, 
Ohio, writes us that he has used a tea made 
of clover liay and mixed with milk as a feed 
for young calves, and finds it quite as good 
and even better than new milk alone. He 
says:—“ Tim calf should run with the cow 
until it is about a week old, when the clover 
tea and milk may he given in proportion of 
one-third tea to two-thirds milk. Skimmed 
milk may be gradually substituted for new 
milk in the mixture, and after that sour 
milk, buttermilk, or even whey may be used 
with the tea. The tea should lie increased 
in strength and quantity as (lie quality and 
quantity of milk is decreased, so that at the 
end of three months the proportion of the 
mixture would lie three-fourths tea and oue- 
fourtli milk.” 
He says:—“A calf may be fattened on 
this mixture, and the veal will he sweeter 
and more palatable than when fattened on 
milk alone.” 
We have no doubt that tea made by steep¬ 
ing a nice quality of early-cut clover bay, is 
an excellent, substitute for milk in feeding 
calves. Of course such feed is very much 
cheaper than new milk, but we can hardly 
agree with our Correspondent thqt il is better 
than new milk. We have seen calves raised 
by feeding hay tea and a small quantity of 
milk, as suggested; but the trouble of pre¬ 
paring the food is sometimes urged us an ob¬ 
jection to its use. 
-- — 
NOTES FOR HERDSMEN. 
Import 1 ur Stock—A Bouev. 
An excited correspondent sends the Rural 
New-Yorker the following communica¬ 
tion :—“ If we cannot make our common do¬ 
mestic animals, by judicious crossings and 
improvements, do for us without going lo 
England or some other country, for favorite 
Wood, then why not go to England for our 
editorials Y Now I say D. D. T. M. is a good 
editor; and 1 have, a strain of cows of com¬ 
mon stock, ot which I would not exchange 
one of them for two of the best thorough- 
bred Durhams that you can start, for my use. 
My cows are small, it is true; hut they will 
eat anything that cows ought to eat—rough 
ness of any kind; and they are docile and 
good milkers. I have tried thorough-breds— 
have one now. She is dainty, poor and ruw- 
boned ; and her offspring, a yearling, is worse 
than herself, although i led, in winter, good 
hay or fodder, and corn twice a day. I have 
two others, of common stock, to which Ill-d 
buy and no corn and they are fat and fine. 
This is not the first experiment of the kind. 
I find if I have an extra Durham, I have to 
feed on the very best; and my roughness 
may go to rot, for these dainty animals will 
not eat it.” 
Garnet ill Gown. 
L. E. Babcock has a cow which has tin: 
garget, and asks for a remedy. “An Old 
Farmer,” Schuyler Co., N. Y., on page 647 
last volume of Rural New-Yorker, gives 
the following remedy, which he says never 
failed with him:—“Give a teaspoonful of 
pulverized niter (saltpeter) three times a 
week; also, one pound of poke-root (Poke- 
weed - Phytolacca dmtndra — which grows 
on uplands and hears berries in form of 
grapes and nearly black when ripe, from 
which school children often make red ink,) 
cut fine, and mixed with a little chopped 
feed, fed every other day until a cure is ef¬ 
fected.’’ 
A correspondent of the Country Gentle¬ 
man says“ 1 have tried seven drops aco¬ 
nite, dropped on a piece of bread and given in 
a bran mash for garget in cows, with great 
success.” 
Remedy for Red Water. 
Wm. 8. Foster, North Tunbridge, Vt., 
had a cow badly afflicted with Red Wator. 
A neighbor told him to take a pint of spirits 
of niter and tin equal quantity of water, and 
give it in three doses once in six hours. He 
gave two doses as directed, and finding her 
so much better, gave no more. In twenty- 
four hours she was perfectly well, and re¬ 
mains so. 
A I.unro Calf. 
Justus Pierce, Farmington, O,, writes us 
that lie lias a cow that dropped a calf that 
weighed one hundred and twenty-five pounds 
when it was twenty-four hours’ old. It 
girted three feet two and one-half inches 
when one week old. He asks New York to 
try again. 
A Double-Headed, Triple-Tailed Calf. 
J. D. Merrett, Forestville, N. Y., writes: 
“John M. Smith, Villenovia, Ghaut. Co., 
N. Y., owns a cow that recently gave birth 
to a calf with two heads, two bodies to the 
hips, three tails and six legs,—each body 
about the same size us calves usually are.” 
rientific anb ttsrfnl. 
OUR INLAND BASINS. 
Ancient Luke* of Wes tern Novili America. 
Prof. J. L. Newberry recently read a 
paper before the Lyceum of Natural History, 
New York City, on the “Ancient Lakes of 
Western North America, their Deposits and 
Drainage,” of which the following is a brief 
abstract: 
The topographical changes of the western 
part ot the continent have been extensive, 
and have deeply affected the animal und 
vegetable life once nourishing in regions now 
desolate. The tertiary deposits of l he Atlan¬ 
tic slope, and some in the region of the 
Sierra Nevada, are marine; but the vast in¬ 
land basins contain tertiary fresh water de¬ 
posits, containing fossil plants in great num¬ 
bers, and a remarkable series of animal 
remains. Among these the speaker men¬ 
tioned two species of rhinoceros, tho ele¬ 
phant, various horses, and the sabre-tooth 
eat, the tooth of which measures, in one 
specimen, eight inches outside of the jaw, 
the most formidable tooth of an animal of 
which we have any knowledge. These 
tertiary deposits of the West arc made in 
fresh water basins, in a region where almost 
no fresh water basins can now lie found. 
Almost everybody going to California 
bdks about clmlk deposits. Following in 
the old emigrant train you will sec various 
8labs ot this chalk-like earth set up for grave¬ 
stones. These infusorial beds arc portions 
'of these fresh water deposits. On the west¬ 
ern side of the Rocky Mountains the depos¬ 
its are similar, aud are rich in diatoms. The 
fauna are interesting. On the cast, side of 
the Rocky Mountains the tertiary deposits 
have been hut. little studied, although I have 
paid some attention to them. There are 
many beds along the upper waters of the 
Missouri. The banks of the Deschutes or 
Falls River, a tributary of the Columbia, 
show strata of volcanic ashes, "chalk,” and 
beds of columnar basalt. The basalt fre¬ 
quently overlies the sedimentary beds. 
The rivers of the Inland basin run through 
a sort of talkie lands comparatively level, in 
which they have cut down deep canons, the 
walls of which ure sometimes 1,200 to 2,000 
feet high, and uearly vertical. The conclu¬ 
sion to be drawn is that on both sides of the 
Rocky Mountains there were at one period 
vast fresh water lakes, covering an area 
many times greater than our present lakes— 
Superior, Michigan, &c. The climate of the 
period was sub tropical, and the fauna more 
abundant than in any part of the world at 
the present time. In that well-watered age 
men lived, and vegetation luxuriated even 
in Greenland. 
The Great Salt Lake Basin represents a 
series of such lakes, aucieutly fresh, hut now 
salt, because of the lack of drainage. A 
large part of this basin now consists of al¬ 
kaline plains, carried by the drainage from 
the mountains, the streams of which dis¬ 
solved various salts in their CO Ill's* and left 
them in the basin bv evaporation. The cen¬ 
tral portion of the inland basin is not 
drained ; but to the north and south the 
drainage by the Columbia and Colorado and 
their tributaries is good. The water must at 
one time have stood some four thousand feet 
higher than it now does. At the bottom wo 
have the deposits of these deep fresh waters. 
Their ancient, outlines can still be traced. 
The Rocky Mountains are older than the 
Sierra Nevada, and were originally the coast 
range, the latter being under the ocean. The 
emergence of the Sierra made fresh water 
lakes in the central plateau, the drainage lor 
a time flowing north and south between 
them. This is the period of the fresh water 
deposits. On the east of the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains these lakes reached from Texas far to 
the north, giving us immense fresh water 
formations, of which our present lakes are 
but miniature representations. As the drain¬ 
age was cut off from the central basin, and 
the annual rainfall decreased, the undrained 
lakes became salt, and shrunk until llm an¬ 
nual •vuporation balanced the annual sup¬ 
ply. This is now the case ; and Salt Lake, 
though subject to miuor fluctuations, is on 
the whole, dryiug up. 
-*♦+- - 
PREVENT THE DECAY OF WOOD. 
An English journal gives the following: 
“ A process has been discovered for the pre¬ 
vention of the decay of wood. A* the re¬ 
sult of a five years’ experience, a paint is 
recommended, which at the same time pos¬ 
sesses the advantages of being impervious 
to water. It, is composed of fifty parlH of 
tar, five hundred parts of fine white sand 
four parts of linseed oil, one part of the red 
oxide of copper in its native state, and 
finally, <>nu part of sulphuric acid. In order 
to manufacture the paint from this multi 
pliejty of materials, the tar, chalk, sand, and 
oil, are first heated in an Iron kettle; the 
oxide and acid are then added with a great 
deal of caution. The mass is very carefully 
mixed, and applied while hot. \Vhen thor 
oughly dry, this paint is aa hard as stone." 
