The New era. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1865-1871, 1865-10-26

me balmy breathe of spring inyades the
atmosphere OF summer; pleasurable ex-
hilaration tempers the sllltriesf Of July
days !. the blue grass maintains its rank
luXulrlance through the dryest season;
and scenes of rural beauty, outspread
upon those elevated plains and noun
tam slopes, fill the eye with their UMPIRE
tending magnifcence. Thousands in
each summer season gather here from
the poisoned atmosphere ofcities.
Eighty years ago Jefferson wrote Of a
burning SPRING. as follows:
I'm the low grounds of the Great Ka-
nawha, seven miles above the mouth of
the Elk river, and siXty-seven above
that of the Kanawha itself, is a hole in
the earth of the capacity of thirty or for
ty gallons, from which issues bitumi-
nous vapor in SO strong a current as to
give to the sand about its orifce the mo-
ton which it has in a boiling spring.
On presenting lighted candle or torch
within eighteen inches of the hole it
flames up in acolumn ofeighteen inches
diameter, and of four or five feet in
height, which sometimes burns out
within twenty minutes, and at other
times has been known to continue three
days, and then has been still left burn
ing. The flame is unsteady, of the den
like burning pit COAL"
This "spring," so called because it con-
tains water after rain, is yet in exis-
tence; the gas, still issuing to some ex-
tent, is carbureted hydrogen, 1t is on
land entered by General Washington.
one acre of which is reserved by his will
for the use of the public The flame re-
ssembles that of burning whiskey. It
was sometimes turned to useful account
in embarrassing, the water boiling
till evaporated, and the gas, which bub-
bled through small orifices in the sand.
continued to burn till extinguished by
wind or agency.
twenty years ago, or more, in boring
in this vicinity to the depth of nine
hundred feet for salt, similar streams of
gas We're struck, which poured forth
dense volume, and were employed in
salt furnace for heating purposes, being
equivalent to eight hundred bushels of
coal. These have ceased to flow, but
two others are still used, supporting
combustion in a salt furnace equal to two
hundred bushels of coal.
Charles S. Richardson, of Briarport
Mines, on Coal river, has experimental
thisssrson with cotton, tobacco, sorghum,
and other seeds from the department.,
with reasonable success, under unfavor-
able circumstances. The tobacco. which
was planted very late, and was therefore
partially destroyed by frost, yielded 500
pounds per acre, of superior quality, |
compensating fully in price for the def |
cheney in quantity. The sorghum, plant
ed when it should have been in vigorous
growth, had ripened no seed when at
tackled by the notable frosts of early
autumn, and yet 160 gallons of strip per
acre OF excellent quality We're made
quantity greater than the average
throughout the best sorghum districts. |
Besides, a miserable wooden mill was
employed, with an estimated loss of 80
gallons of sirup per acre.
He produced in thirteen weeks, from
the seed, well formed specimens of the
French long turnip, weighing 81 pounds,
The cotton, which came up about the |
middle of June, was, OF course, deficient |
in its proper season for growth, yet yield
eda few open hollis. Noportion of south
ern Illinois Or Kansas could have dcne
better.
SOUTHERN COUNTIES.
The counties south of the KanaWha,
Mercer, Raleigh, Boone, Cabell, Wayne,
Logan. Wyoming, and Mcdowell, are
isolated from markets, mountainous,
covered in great part with original for
ests heavily timbered, well watered by
the Guyandotte, Sandy, and other rivers,
and exceedingly rich in iron, coal, and |
other minerals. The minerals will at |
some future day be valuable, and the I
soils available for the production of fruit,
wool, and butchers meat. 1t is inter-
sected by mountains in continuation of
the Cumberland range, and nearly all of
it included i'll the great coal measures of |
the Ohio valley.
Mercer county, perched upon the slope
of the Alleghanies, is drained by the |
New or Kanawha river and several |
tributaries Great Flat-top mountain |
extends along the northwest border
Excellent pasturage exists wherever for
ests are girdled or felled. But one-sixth |
of its farms are improved, yet its yearly |
exhibit of animals slaughtered is$5S, 132,
and its corn amounts to 1871 ,654 bushels,
wheat 1871 bushels, and oats 55,s43
bushels. ,ftU
Raleigh with 116,945 acres in farms,
has but II 1852 acres which are improved;
the average value is re-
duced to So 81. Its cereals make a pro-