Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 29.djvu/730

712 winter of 1746 water was frozen solid in the bouses at Charleston, South Carolina. In 1748 and 1768 the Mississippi River at New Orleans was frozen from thirty to forty feet from the shores. In 1823 skating was possible on all the standing water in and around Mobile. In 1827-'28 the ground in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina, was frozen hard from December till March. A flood in the lower Mississippi and a "fearful hurricane" on the Gulf coast were recorded in 1723; another destructive hurricane in 1732; and overflows of the lower Mississippi from January till June, 1735; after which came a long drought, and a lower river than had ever been known. In a hurricane at Dauphin Island, in September, 1740, a four-pounder cannon was moved by the wind to eighteen feet from where it had been lying. Other hurricanes of extreme fury were recorded in October, 1778; August, 1779; August, 1780; and August, 1781. In the last year the Mississippi at New Orleans, the Attakapas, and the Opelousas, were higher than ever before known. The Mississippi at St. Louis was equally high in the flood of 1785 and in July, 1884, and it reached its highest recorded flood in 1844. The flood of the Ohio River in 1832 was not exceeded till 1883. The year 1840 was one of almost continued drought in Alabama and Mississippi, and prayer-meetings were held in view of the apprehended famine. These are only a few of the instances of remarkable phenomena, comparable to those that now attract attention, of which mention is made in Captain Gardner's record.

Coal-Waste as a Manure.—Mr. J. A. Price, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, recommends the use of culm, or coal-waste, in agriculture, by reducing it to dust and applying it to land, to darken the color of the soil, produce porosity, and stimulate plant life. His opinion that benefits will be derived from this application is confirmed by the experiments he has made. A dark color of the soil is usually associated with fertility, and with reason, for it promotes the absorption of heat and thus makes the soil warmer and prolongs the season of freedom from frost at both ends. Mr. Price's observations of the effect of colors on soils side by side, and otherwise precisely alike, showed that a vigorous existence was maintained on a soil darkened by waste-coal, greatly in excess of that of the adjoining strip which was left in its original condition. So in the quality of porosity, in a soil treated as the author recommends—a blue clay or hard pan taken from an excavation and fertilized with organic manures—it was found that greater porosity as well as improved color was given, and the two sections, treated and untreated, exhibited all the peculiar features of two different soils. The corn upon the culm charged section exhibited a vigor of growth of tap and stay roots and of stalk and ear that surprisingly surpassed that of the other section. This result has been maintained through several plantings; and similar effects were observed with Lima beans. Since coal contains nearly all of the substances requisite for the healthy growth of plants, it is reasonable to suppose that its application will have the effect, as it is gradually decomposed by chemical action, of a positive manure. This supposition has also been confirmed by the experiments. The fertilizing results of this kind begin to reveal themselves in the second year.

The Irrawaddy River.—One of the largest rivers in the world is the Irrawaddy, and it is surrounded with a great mystery as to where is its source. The sea-front of its delta extends over about one hundred and fifty miles, with nine or ten mouths distributed over the space. The average annual discharge is about 521,794,000,000 of cubic yards, very nearly four fifths of that of the Mississippi River. But, while the Mississippi discharges pretty evenly all the year round, the Irrawaddy sends down three fourths of its total in the three months, July, August, and September, or in other words its monthly flood average is more than twice as great as that of the Mississippi. The extreme flood discharge of the Irrawaddy for one day in 1817 was at the rate of nearly 2,000,000 cubic feet per second, while the lowest known discharge occurred in the same year, and may be given in round numbers as 50,000 cubic feet per second, or one fortieth of the flood discharge. The highest flood discharge in one day is fifty per cent