THE CULTIVATOR 
139 
for commencing borings in the hope of reaching mine¬ 
ral salt, if the views here presented, are correct would 
be in the plaster formations and penetrating that and 
the gypseous shales to the red marl. Into this we think 
it would be useless to bore, and yet in this, strange as it 
may seem, all the rock boring hitherto conducted in the 
vicinity of the Salines, has been made. The grand er¬ 
ror we think in the examinations made for mineral salt 
at Salina, is found in the fact, that the borings have be¬ 
gun where they should have ended ; in the upper part 
of the red shale mass, and hence have never touched 
the strata in which mineral salt may be expected to 
exist. 
But if the source of the Salina brines is where we 
havg placed it, the question will doubtless arise, why do 
not salt springs appear along the whole northern out¬ 
crop of this strata from Manlius to Seneca Falls, ex¬ 
tending as the strata indicated do this distance, instead 
of only at Cayuga and Salina ? The question is a proper 
one, and will be best answered by a simple reference to 
the geological character and position of the saliferous 
strata. 
As before stated, the whole strata of the rock forma¬ 
tion of Western New York, has a dip to the south of 
some 40 or 50 feet to the mile, a dip remarkably uniform 
and constant, and to which the group containing the 
salt, does not form an exception. Some of these strata 
are more porous than others, giving above them a dry 
friable soil; this is particularly the case with the lime¬ 
stone formations. There are others which retain water 
for a long time, and through which it penetrates with 
difficulty, if at all. Of this nature is the great mass of 
red shales in which are the excavated reservoirs of 
brine. Of its capacity to retain water, the immense 
swamps scattered over it from Canneseraga to Monte¬ 
zuma, are the best proofs. It is clear then from the in¬ 
clination of the strata that no springs could be expected 
at the northern out crop of the strata, as this is invaria¬ 
bly the highest part of the formation, so long as the 
strata had been intersected or cut down through in a 
perpendicular direction several hundred feet below the 
line of out crop. This cutting down through the whole 
mass of the saliferous group has been accomplished at 
two places, and two places only, viz : Cayuga and Onon¬ 
daga ; and at the latter place the most deeply. In 
this place the gypsum and gypseous shales have been 
cut through, and the red shale below excavated to the 
depth of at least 200 feet, (how much farther not 
known,) and of course the brine, if its source is in the 
gypseous shales, would not flow over the rim of the 
basin to the north, but if we may use the expression, 
through the cracks in its sides, east and west, at Cayu¬ 
ga and Onondaga. The valleys of the Otisco, Skane- 
areles and Owasco lakes, where they open to the north 
upon the Seneca level, have not cut through the gyp¬ 
seous shales to any considerable extent, and not into the 
ed shale or marl at all; this last has only been done 
at Onondaga, and Cayuga, and hence, at these places 
only, was brine to be expected. 
It would seem then, that the source of the brines of 
Onondaga and Cayuga is to be sought in a position 
more elevated than the basins the brines occupy ,- that 
it was probable this position is the gypseous shale forma¬ 
tion immediately below the gypseous rocks ; that the 
currents of brine find an outlet into the deep excava¬ 
tions of the Onondaga and Cayuga vallies, beneath the 
masses of diluvial matter with which they are filled, 
at points farther south than has yet been discovered ; 
that the sulphate of lime or gypsum which forms the 
walls of the canal or bore through which the brine is 
discharged into the great Salina spring, may be consid¬ 
ered as proof of the source of the brine being in gyp¬ 
sum, and that the capacity of holding it in solution has 
been weakened of accessions of fresh water in its pro¬ 
gress from the fountain head, and hence its deposition ; 
and that boring below the gypseous shales or in the 
red marl, will not result in the discovery of mineral 
salt. 
Such are the conclusions to which we have arrived 
from a comparison of the saliferous region and strata 
of Onondaga with those of other places where mineral 
salt is known to exist. There is every reason to believe 
that the brines of the New York Salines have their 
source in beds of rock or mineral salt; it only remains 
that their true position should be discovered. The im¬ 
mense importance of the subject to the State and to the 
country, and particularly to the agriculturist,, to whom 
an abundant supply of this article is indispensable, 
must be our apology, if one could be needed, for the 
length to which this paper has extended. 
Above we have given a section, (fig. 70) showing the 
geological position of the rocks constituting the salifer¬ 
ous group, from the red shale at the level of the Onon¬ 
daga lake to the dip of the upper limestones of the 
formation below the diluvial of the Onondaga valley, 
some five or six miles from Syracuse. The relative 
position and general thickness of the strata only has 
been aimed at, and that these correspond with the facts 
any one who will cross the strata from north to south or 
from Onondaga Hill to Geddes may easily satisfy him¬ 
self. The rail road from Syracuse to Auburn furnishes 
also an excellent opportunity for examining the posi¬ 
tion of this group, commencing as it does on the red 
shale, and gradually rising to the level of the crinoidal 
mass at Auburn. The section also includes part of the 
thick mass of Marcellus shales, which overlies the sali¬ 
ferous group. 
Retention of Wool by the Merino. 
That the Merino does not shed its wool annually as 
do the common variety of sheep is well known to every 
one who has grown the animal; and several instances 
are on record in this country where very heavy fleeces 
have been taken from sheep, where the wool was of 
two years growth. In an English publication of 1839, 
we find a letter from Lord Western, who has taken 
much pains to introduce the Merino into that country, 
and has now a flock of the pure blood animals, as well 
as a cross of the Merino and the South Down, which 
he calls the Anglo Merino ; in which he describes his 
experiments in feeding sheep on turneps in yards or 
stalls, and in which he maintains that a sheep fed in 
that way does as much better as any other animal does 
when subjected to the restraining process while feeding. 
From this letter of Lord Western’s, we make the fol¬ 
lowing extract : 
“ That sheep do not suffer from confinement, I have abundant 
proof; the Merino rams fight so furiously that I often tie them 
up like horses in a stall, and keep them there from season to 
season, and they are as healthy as any that are out, and some¬ 
times get very fat. As a subject of curious experiment, I kept 
three pure Merino wethers every year in the wool, three suc¬ 
cessive seasons, from the time of their being sixteen months 
old, till they were shorn of their three years’ fleece ; they 
were never out of their house, and I never knew them otherwise 
than healthy and in good fleshy condition when stripped of their 
three years’ fleece. I sent one to Oxford that was exceedingly 
fat, after having a fleece taken from him that weighed 28 lbs. 
and I shall exhibit another next month extravagantly fat, with 
a fleece of 30 lbs. weight.” 
It may safely be inferred, we think, that the pure 
merino flocks of any country, do not in general average 
more than three or three and a half pounds per year,nine 
or ten pounds in three years ; while here are sheep yield¬ 
ing three times that amount, or giving for each year’s 
growth of their w r ool three times as much wool as an 
ordinary sheep produces. Is this extraordinary growth 
of wool depending on the treatment of the sheep in 
folding and feeding? or is the growth of wool rapid in 
proportion to the time it remains on the sheep, occa¬ 
sioned by the extraordinary secretion of oily matter 
produced by the mass of wool it carries and the exclu¬ 
sion of external causes from their usual action on the 
skin ? This subject is worthy the attention of farmers ; 
for if such results could be obtained in all cases by stall 
feeding and retaining the wool, without greatly increas¬ 
ing the expenses of keeping, the clip of wool might be 
materially augmented without adding to the number of 
animals kept by the farmer. We very much ques¬ 
tion, however, whether the sheep could endure our hot 
summers, and remain healthy, if confined in stalls ; un¬ 
less great pains were taken to secure ventilation, and 
the best food. Still the fact that the Merino can be 
made to carry such a fleece is a curious one, as over¬ 
throwing the general opinion that all animals moult 
or shed their hair at least annually, and proving the 
counteracting influence of art or management over na¬ 
ture. 
Fattening' Animals. 
There are some rules which may be advantageously 
adopted in feeding animals, which however obvious they 
may be, are too often passed over, or neglected. Some 
of these will be specified ; and 
1st. The prepare?: "'tin of Food. —This should be so 
prepared that its nut 'juve properties may be all made 
available to the use cT the animal, and not only so, but 
appropriated with tne least possible expenditure of 
muscular energy. The ox that is obliged to wander 
over an acre to get the foiA-’ should find on two or three 
square rods—the horse tha>. \ v v /0 * - hours eat¬ 
ing the coarse food he would swallow ityWfeen minutes 
if the grain was ground, or the hay cui'as it should be 
—the sheep that spends hours in making its way into a 
turnep, when if it was sliced it would eat it in as many 
minutes—the pig that eats raw potatoes, or whole corn, 
when either cooked, could be eaten in one quarter of 
the time now used, may indeed fatten, but much less 
rapidly than if their food was given them in a proper 
manner. All food should be given to a fattening ani¬ 
mal in such a state, that as little time and labor as 
possible, on the part of the animal, shall be required 
in eating. 
2nd. The food should be in abundance. —From the time 
the fattening process commences, until the animal is 
slaughtered, he should never be without food. Health 
and appetite are best promoted by change of food 
rather than by limiting the quantity. The animal that 
is stuffed and starved by turns, may have streaked meat, 
but it will be made too slowly for the pleasure or profit 
of the good farmer. 
3rd. The food should be*given regularly. —This is one 
of the most essential points in feeding animals. If 
given irregularly, the animal indeed consumes his food, 
but he soon acquires a restless disposition, is disturbed 
at every appearance of his feeder, and is never in that 
quiet state so necessary to the taking on of fat. It is 
surprising how readily any animal acquires habits of 
regularity in feeding, and how soon the influence of 
this is felt in the improvement of his condition. When 
at the regular hour, the pig has had his pudding, or 
the sheep its turneps, they compose themselves to rest, 
with the consciousness that their digestion is not to be 
unseasonably disturbed, or their quiet broken by un¬ 
wonted invitation to eat. 
4th. The animal should not be needlessly intruded upon 
between the hours of feeding. —All creatures fatten much 
faster in the dark than in the light, a fact only to be ac¬ 
counted for by their greater quiet. Some of those crea¬ 
tures that are the most irritable and impatient of re¬ 
straint while feeding, such as turkeys and geese, are 
found to take on fat rapidly when confined in dark 
rooms, and only fed at stated hours by band. There is 
no surer proof that a pig is doing well, than to see him 
eat his meal quickly and then retire to hi s bed, to sleep 
or cogitate until the hour of feeding returns- Animals 
while fattening should never be alarmed, never rapidly 
driven, never be fed at unseasonable hours and above 
all things, never be allowed to want for food. 
Blight of the Flum. 
It is distressing to witness the rapid advances made 
by the disease called the black blight, towards the en¬ 
tire destruction of our plum trees. So far as we have 
been able to observe, the unsightly excrescences that 
mark the existence and spread of the disease, are much 
more numerous than ever, and some fruit orchards that 
have hitherto been mostly or entirely exempt, now 
show that they have been severely attacked. The 
cherry is also beginning to suffer, and there is reason 
to believe that, when the destruction of the plum is ef- 
fected, that of the cherry will speedily follow, unless 
prompt and thorough measures are resorted to for ar¬ 
resting the evil ; indeed, we can see no reason why 
every kind of tree, that when wounded, give out juices 
in the form of gum, should not eventually share the 
same fate. 
There has been some dispute and doubt as to the 
cause of this disease of the tree, some contending the 
excrescences were the result of vitiating matters in the 
soil, a redundancy of juices, &c , while others have 
maintained that it is the work of an insect, the egg de¬ 
posited in the wood by the parent, and the larva; pro¬ 
duced from this feeding on the juices and rupturing the 
bark, gives rise to the escape of matter that should 
have gone to the promotion of wood, and thus produ¬ 
ces the unsightly masses that load the branches, and 
checking the circulation and vitiating the juices, cause 
the decay and death of the tree. There can be no 
doubt that the latter cause assigned, is the correct one. 
Many have been unable to find the grub in these wound¬ 
ed places, but they probably sought for them at the 
wrong time. The larvae does not spend the year in the 
diseased wood. Like the curculio in the fruit, he only 
feeds on the juices of the tree until the period of his 
change into the chrysalis state approaches, when he 
falls to the ground, which he enters, and undergoes in 
safety those transformations necessary to enable him to 
perpetuate the mischief already commenced. We have 
found the grub in these excrescences most plentifully, 
from the middle of June to the first of July; some 
make their appearance earlier and some later, but it is 
at this time we have found them most easily detected 
and observed. When the swelling of a branch first 
shorvs their presence, the grub is too minute to be 
readily noticed, and at a later period of the season, he 
has left the limb for other quarters. Gum appears to 
be their food, and when that ceases to form, or the 
elaborated juices have been changed to nerv wood, the 
worm is, as is the curculio, ready to leave the tree. On 
the 29th of June, in a single excrescence cut from a 
young sprout of plum wood, and from which a large 
mass of gum had exuded, we observed no less than six 
larvae, some of them three-eighths of an inch in length. 
Although the name and description of the parent in¬ 
sect is unknown, or not identified, and its habits of 
course not understood, any farther than can be gained 
from its works, still enough is known to point out the 
way of remedying the evil, which, if seasonably and 
thoroughly adopted, cannot fail of success. It is to cut 
off the branches infested with the larvae while they are 
in it, and burn them at once. Some cut off those in¬ 
fected or injured in the spring, or fall, but this does no 
good whatever ; the insect is then safe,and beyond the 
reach of harm. This has been done because the dis¬ 
eased branches are then more easily seen, than when 
the foliage is out; but from the time that the foliage 
puts out, till the middle of July, is the time to examine 
the tree and save it. Any person can determine whether 
the grub is present, as during the later stages of his 
residence in the branch, he is easily seen by the naked 
eye,, and a common hand magnifying glass is all that is 
necessary at any period. If seen in a plum or cherry, 
the grub might be mistaken by the inexperienced for 
the larvce or maggot of the curculio, but a closer obser¬ 
vation would shoAV they are entirely distinct. Let the 
man who has plum or cherry trees which he wishes to 
preserve, and who does not ? lose no time in examining 
them, and if a single mark of blight is found, let the 
branch be excised and burned at once. It is possible 
the insect may have already escaped, but it is possible 
he may still be in his haunts, and no harm will be done 
in any event, as a blighted branch will never produce 
good fruit, any more than a mildewed stem of wheat, 
will a plump, fine berry. But if too late now, let an¬ 
other season be improved, and from the putting out of 
the foliage till it falls in autumn, examine your trees, at 
least once a week, and carefully excise every branch 
where the disease manifests itself, and be particularly 
careful to burn them at once. Nothing is gained, if, 
when the branches are cut off they lie on the ground 
about the tree, while the enib matures, and again pre¬ 
pares for the miscliief of another year. This course 
would not be so confidently recommended, if instances 
were not known in which it had proved perfectly 
successful, and we have no doubt always will prove so 
where it is properly pursued. 
