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and if you desire to make any, I shall be happy to answer them to the best of my ability.

Mr. BEEBE. I would like to inquire whether the gentleman would be willing to give his theory of the origin and extent of the phosphates of South Carolina, in and about Charleston?

Prof. LESLEY. I have no special theory in regard to that, and only the general kind of knowledge which others possess, since I have never made a personal investigation of those deposits, and have only passed cursorily through the district. It is perfectly well known, however, that these phosphates have had an animal origin. They are the remains of animal organisms, although very much deformed. The presence of many large bones and teeth in them, shows that the animal life was large and abundant. The fact that these deposits are found at the mouths of rivers, and on the edge, or near the edge of the Atlantic, shows that the deposits were made in the shallows on the sea coast, and that in them were mingled the remains of both marine and river fish. There are extensive deposits of fine clay and sand containing incredible numbers of scales, teeth, and bones of fish, found in geological formations of much older date. In the Catskill rocks, for instance, there are three such layers of fish, lying as if they were all brought there at once. In the Iceland eruptions millions of dead fish floated on the surface of the sea, and were doubtless buried in the sea bottom. So in South Carolina it is possible marine animals may have been thus destroyed in immense numbers, or they may have been especially numerous, and died in the usual way; but in either case, their solid parts have been turned into phosphates, in conjunction with other organisms of the vicinity. How they were thrown there at the time they were, and the various movements of the land around, about, over and through them, would require a good deal of time to discuss in detail.

Hon. WILLIAM IRVIN, of Butler. I understood Professor Lesley to say, that certain formations are seventeen thousand years old. How does he reconcile that with the sacred Word?

Prof. LESLEY. I do not try to reconcile the two; anybody may do that who pleases. [Laughter.] The business of the geologist is to observe facts in nature, and to draw scientific conclusions from them for the practical benefit of society. I should add, that the phosphate deposits seem to range in belts parallel with the present sea shore. But these belts are in many places concealed beneath later deposits, which form the present surface of the country. The phosphate deposits have been cut down through by the rivers, and their edges show on the river banks.

Mr. EDGE, (the Secretary.) Are those broken belts found to be deeper in the center, and do they indicate deposits?

Prof. LESLEY. They are certainly deposits of the ordinary geological kind, and seem to share in the general slope of the rock deposits from the interior of the country towards the sea. It is therefore likely, and those whose judgment I respect, are disposed to believe that they pass under the present ocean bed.

Hon. A. J. QUIGLEY. Will you be kind enough to give the theory of coal oil?

Prof. LESLEY. I think we had better wait until Mr. J. F. Carll's third Report of Progress is published by the Board of Commissioners. The truth is, I know absolutely nothing of the origin of coal oil, and I do not believe that any body is yet competent to answer that interesting question. I can give my opinion like another, but it will not be worth much. There is a school of geologists who suppose petroleum to be the product of the distillation of the lower devonian (Marcellus) black slates, which

we know very well to underlie the oil rocks at a depth of from one to three thousand feet, and which outcrop in many of our valleys of middle Pennsylvania. They are full of bitumen. The opinion is extensively held, that the interior heat of the globe has distilled this black formation, and that the distilled coal oil has ascended slowly, and has been arrested by and stored away in the oil sands.

Other geologists of high reputation say that this is impossible, and appeal to chemical analysis to support their opinion.

There have been speculative minds rash enough to imagine that the whole of our petroleum deposits have been manufactured from the interior of the planet, out of the gases, hydrogen and carbon, in their pure and simple state after they have been set free from previous combinations in various solid form. But this idea is not entertained by any geologist so far as I am aware.

It is a very common notion that all of our rock oils have come from coal beds. But that cannot be, and the old refiners found that out before the first oil wells were drilled. Mr. Young of Glasgow, and the early refiners never went to the bituminous beds to distill coal oil. They always

used cannel coal, or the cannel-like roof shales of coal beds. Out of this material they could get coal oil; but they could not by any process get it out of coal properly so called. The fact that these cannel shales still hold coal oil shows that the petroleum has not been distilled out of them into the oil sands. The botanists teach us the reason why the bituminous coal beds haven't it. They show that coal proper has been made out of the woody fiber of air-breathing plants; whereas cannel and cannel slate is a muddy deposit made up to a great extent of the decay of water-plants which have no woody fiber in their constitution, but are like jelly fish. Our geological survey has completely demonstrated the fact that our petroleum deposits have had nothing at all to do with our coal formations. Another hypothesis, which I am myself inclined to favor, is this: Petroleum is the natural product of the decomposition of great quantities of sea weed and jelly fish, that is, of all kinds of gelatinous animals and gelatinous plants, living in the sea, or on the coast, hundreds of thousands of years ago, in the devonian age, when western Pennsylvania was all water; or, as we may express it, when the gulf stream occupied the place where our Allegheny mountains now stand.

What the geological survey has done in the study of petroleum is this; It has not settled the question of its origin at all; nor do I believe it can entirely settle that question. But the geological survey has done something a good deal better. It has for the first time counted the number of horizons at which the oil lies, and settled the exact order and position of them. And it has done this in the most conclusive manner, by thousands of facts actually observed.

It has shown that the sand deposits which hold petroleum lie at very different heights in the series of the rocks; the highest being two or three thousand feet (geologically) above the lowest. The highest is in the middle coal measures; this is the Dunkard creek or Greene county oil. The next below it is at the base of the coal measures; this is the Smith's Ferry or Beaver county oil. Then come, far underneath the last, the regular Butler county oils. Hundreds of feet under them lie the rocks of the Warren county oil. Under these again lie the curious rocks which hold the Bradford or McKean County oils. Far below these lie the Canada oils; and below these again the South Kentucky oils. We have also proven the oils from these different horizons to be very different from one another; and that the gases which come from these different depths are 4 AGRICULTURE.

also of different kinds. The amount of work done to collect and verify these facts has been something enormous. We have not yet got to the end of it quite; but we have made that much advance, and the results are practically useful; which is much better than settling any number of merely theoretical or speculative questions.

Mr. KELLER (of Schuylkill) moved that a vote of thanks be tendered Prof. Lesley for his able and interesting lecture; which was agreed to.

The President then announced that the next business in order was the reading of an essay on

FRUIT GROWING AS A SOURCE OF PROFIT TO FARMERS.

By Dr. JAMES CALDER, President Pennsylvania State College.

It is evident that farmers, in general, pay too little attention to the growing of fruit. Comparatively few of them extend their efforts in this direction beyond the care of an apple orchard, and the planting and subsequent neglect of a few peach and cherry trees. Many are led into this course by their want of appreciation of good fruit; and others, no doubt, by the belief that they cannot make fruit growing a source of profit.

Entertaining, as I do, the belief that many more farmers than are now engaged in fruit growing could do so profitably, I will mention some points, attention to which will serve to make the undertaking a success:

I. If Possible, Select Your Location near the Best Markets.

Most fruits are easily injured by transportation; and, as with all other commodities, distance from market increases the cost to the consumer, and diminishes the number of purchases. Then, other things being equal, it is evident that he may hope for the largest receipts whose farm is nearest to that market where is found the greatest number of consumers of fruit. We have illustrations of this in the advantages possessed by farmers in New Jersey, whose lands are near to Philadelphia or New York, and those in Delaware and on the eastern shore of Maryland, who, by means of water and railroad communication, have almost hourly access to those great cities.

But the extension of our lines of railway, and the perfection of methods of carrying fruit speedily and safely, have done much to give even the remote farmer a satisfactory nearness to markets. Thus, even those who live on the Pacific slope, now include among their customers, as to certain varieties of their fruits, consumers who live on the shores of the Atlantic.

II. Select such Fruits and such Varieties of them as are Adapted to Your Market.

The tastes of people differ greatly, and their tastes must be considered and gratified, if one would make money by selling to them. That the Delaware grape is sweeter and more refined than the Concord, will hardly be questioned; and yet "the Concord is the grape for the million," and the shrewd grape-grower makes a note of the fact. Some grape eaters have not yet advanced beyond a fondness for the Isabella and the Clinton. Much as we pity them, it is evident that if we sell grapes to them in pay

ing quantities, the varieties which we offer them must not be first-rate in quality.

Still, much can and should be done to introduce to popular favor, kinds of fruit which are beneficial to health, and pleasant to the palate. The taste of the people can be educated and refined indefinitely; and farmers can be helpers in the good work.

III. Select such Fruits and such Varieties of them as are Adapted to Your Climate and Soil.

Experience has shown that climate and soil have much to do with the determination of the question of successful fruit growing. Varieties which will flourish on one kind of soil, will fail on another, and those which produce at one elevation, or in a certain exposure, will be unprofitable under other circumstances. The Catawba grape rots and mildews so badly that it is hardly known on our lands in central Pennsylvania, and yet it flourishes on the shores of Lake Erie, and on the south side of the South Mountain. A better and more productive peach than the Susquehanna or Griffith, when grown in its native locality, the house yards of Harrisburg, cannot be found. But if planted in the field or orchard, even if within five miles of this city, it is a very shy and unsatisfactory bearer. The Agriculturist strawberry rejoices in the sands of New Jersey, but is worthlesss on our strong Pennsylvania soil; while the Triomphe Gand will do nothing there, but responds heartily to the influences which are met here.

IV. If Possible, have a Variety.

The difficulties arising from unfavorable seasons, ravages of insects, and competition from other producers, combine to teach the farmer that his loss or profit cannot be built upon the cultivation of any one kind of fruit, much less upon any one variety of that kind. We run an unnecessary risk when we aim to make money by growing, for instance, apples alone; and much more wher we confine our efforts to one variety, even though it be so good a one as a Belle Flower or the Rambo. While we plant most largely of the kind which suits our soil, climate, and market best, we should remember the old adage, and "not put all our eggs into one basket."

Many kinds of fruit can be grown together. Thus, among our apple and pear trees, which come into bearing comparatively slowly, we can set ou peach trees, which come to maturity soon, and will probably finish their course before the apples and pears get large enough to require all the ground. While the trees are small, we can profitably plant among them raspberries, strawberries, and other low growing varieties of fruits, which will induce us to stir the soil, to the advantage of the young trees, and will bring in receipts more than equal to the annual outlay on the young orchard.

All the ground devoted to fruit should be occupied by fruit. Do not many of us find our orchards to be failures, because we begrudge the ground they occupy, and seek to make them, at the same time, fields for wheat or hay? We do not so treat the lands which we devote to the growing of hay or wheat.

Further, under this head, we would call attention to the fact that certain kinds of fruit could be profitably grown to a much greater extent than they are at present. Thus, quinces will flourish almost anywhere in Pennsylvania, and they always meet a ready sale, at good prices. But how few farmers have them? And those who own them have but few, and neglect even these.

New kinds of fruit, such as have not been known in our section, or even in our land before, should be experimented with, and such as may be found adapted to our circumstances should be planted, and, in due time, offered to our customers. In this connection, I venture the opinion that the Chinese persimmon will do well in our State, and that it can be profitably introduced here. From that which I found it to be in China, I believe our people would soon come to regard it as a great acquisition, both delicious and healthful, quite the opposite of our almost worthless native variety.

V. Plant other Crops among your Young Fruit until the Latter shall need all the Ground.

If the circumstances are such that you do not desire to put berries, for instance, among your young fruit trees, you can fill up the rows and intervals with garden vegetables. This, particularly in the case of apple trees, may be continued with advantage for a number of years; and thus the growth of the orchard be promoted, while almost as much will be made from the ground as if the trees were not there. Our thrifty German immigrant teaches us a lesson on this point which even worldly wise Americans may profitably consider. He puts into the spaces between his favorite cabbages, beets or onions, and then further crowds out the weeds, and fills his pockets by setting everywhere else in the rows and alongside of them, plants of head lettuce.

Carry on Fruit Growing Systematically and Vigorously as you can.

If experience has taught you that you can hope to raise but few kinds profitably, as apples, or grapes, or peaches, pay chief attention to those. Plant only the best, and plant enough of them. See to it that your stock is not only true to name, but also healthy, free from worms, and not too old at transplanting. Having set the plants out properly, care for them thoroughly, mulching them, cultivating them in the proper season, training and pruning them as they make growth, and guarding them from the ravages of worms, insects, mice, etc.

VII. Market your Fruit in the Best Condition.

Some men fail to make money even from good fruit, because they are careless, or slovenly, or dishonest in their method of presenting it to purchasers. Except in rare cases, and for peculiar uses, all fruit should be ripe when offered in market. If it is not ripe it should not find sale. It should be sound also. If the quantity on hand is large enough to justify, it should be carefully assorted, the best specimens put by themselves, even though they be few in number, and the least valuable placed by themselves. This will enable consumers to choose according to their purposes or means, and will most likely secure buyers for all the grades. To so arrange one's fruit in the boxes or crates as to have the finest specimens on the top, while below are mere odds and ends, is to act dishonestly as well as most foolishly. Fair dealing as to quality, quantity, and price, will always pay best in the long run.

Much attention should be given to the baskets, crates, or boxes in which the fruit is marketed. They should be neat, convenient in size, and attractive in appearance. Labels setting forth the name of the fruit and of the grower of his locality will greatly add to the attractiveness of the stock and the satisfaction of the purchasers. We would make more money if we were more mindful of the fact that buyers are largely influenced by their eyes, and that the sight often dictates peremptorily to the appetite.

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