Newspaper Page Text
TRR SOUTHERN WORLD, JULY 1,1882,
iP* 9^ft
Silk Cnllore.
This industry is taking on a decided
"boom" in this country, yet not of such a
wild and senseless character as the mania
that airected the South over forty years ago.
The number of men still living who lost
heavily in the moms multicaulii excitement
of that period, is sufficient to put the breaks
on any undue rush into the business of
growing mulberries and worms. The Wo
man’s Silk Culture Association of Philadel
phia, was organized two years ago, with the
avowed purpose of calling the attention of
the women of the country to this hitherto
neglected and undeveloped Held of employ
ment, and the ease and profit with which it
may be entered and occupied by tiie gentler
sex. The object in view is one than Bhould
commend itself to every friend of progress,
and especially to the women of onr country,
whose necessities compel them to labor for
the support of themselves or dependents.
The avenues to honorable and profitable em
ployment and independence open to women
are too few in number, and he who is suc
cessful in adding to the number, becomes a
public benefactor.
The success of this organization, so far, is
somewhat remarkable. A wide-spread inter
est in the subject of raising worms and pro
ducing cocoons, which must produce in a
few years very marked results, has been
awakened.
The Association announces that through
the liberality of Messrs, Strawbridge and
Clothier, the well known dry goods mer
chants of Philadelphia, it is again enabled
to offer to the silk cuiturists the sum of live
hundred dollarsinten premiums, as follows:
first premium, $100; second premium. $76;
third premium, $06; fourth premium, $00;
fifth premium, $60; sixth premium, $45!
seventh premium, $10; eighth premium, $30;
ninth premium, $36; tenth premium, $10.
These premiums are open to all residents of
the United States. From the ten largest
amounts of cocoons, one pound will be taken
without selection, and tested by reeling; the
quantity and quality will be the conditions
for premiums.
The advantages of the business as an em
ployment for women and children, are
these: Any one owning or having the use of
sufficient land to grow a few mulberry trees,
can engage in it on a scale commensuratp
with the time that may be spared from ordi
nary domestic or other duties. Very little
outlay is required to Btart the business. A
few dollars laid out in eggs, a dozen or two
mulberry trees, and a room whose ventila
tion maybe thoroughly con trolled, are about
all the requisites besides the nimble fingers
and watchfnl, but rather pleasant care of the
culturist. The work occupies but a small
portion of the year, and does not interfere
seriously with ordinary routine duties. In
deed, there arc thousands of women in the
country who could, if necessary, devote
their whole time to the work.
Notwithstanding the impoverished con
dition of the South, the number of women
who arc spending day after day in enforced
idleness, or at most, very unprofitable em
ployment, is very large. It is a well known
and lamentable fact that some of our young
ladies spend their time in utter Idleness,
wasteful dissipation, or in devotion to dress;
another still greater number are taught to
look forward to a husband as the one thing
needful to supply their victuals and clothes,
and "take care of them." Add to these the
great number of widows and other femmes
sole who have no one to lean upon, and we
find abundant reason to hail the progress of
thisand other kindred employments with
gratulations. R.
Placer Mince In the Month.
Mining Review.
The wet weather, prevailing during the
winter, and spring, was uot favorable to
prospecting. Nevertheless, I accomplished
the inspection of several placers in Burke,
Rutherford and McDowell counties, N. C.
They have many things in common with
those on the Sierra Nevada. Both are located
in the foothills of a great mountain chain
with this difference, that the Sierra Nevada
sends her foothills west, toward the Pacific
ocean, which can be seen from many of the
spurs; meanwhile, those of the Appala
chians tend eastward. I cannot subscribe to
the theory that their gold Is exclusively the
product of abrasion of the quarts rock in
which it was formerly contained, as there is
a great deal of it found outside of these
rocks in the ferrugeneous clay. It is not
probable, that the water of both these oceans,
then of much greater density and higher
temperature than at present, carried gold,
silver and other metals in solution, which
were in consequence of altered chemioal con
ditions, as the appearance of light and a
gradually lowering temperature preci pi tated,
where we find them now. The foot-hills of
both mountain chains may be of the same
geological age, but they probably belong to
a later period. The quartz pebbles and sand
carrying the gold east as well as west, are
tinged yellow with hydrate of iron, not un
likely the product of sulphate or a sulphide
of iron, which may have been the cause of
the precipitation of the gold as the former
is used to this day for the same purpose.
This fact may also account for the fine grade
of all the placer gold. I have no assays from
California placers gold at hand, but whatever
l saw of Georgia, South and North Carolina
washed gold, never fell below 090 fine and
some Philadelphia mint returns showed
even os high as (108 fine. The extent of the
placer seems to be conditioned by the extent
of the foot-hills from the main chain, not so
their richness, and I venture to say, that a
more complete exploration of the Appala
chians from Maine to Alabama will in the
future show more gold than the Sierra Ne
vada. For working and production, the
Rastern placers are much preferable, for
various reasons. They are situated at an
elevation 2,000 to 3,000 feet above ocean level
and under the most genial climate, that per
mits outdoor work all the year round, with
out hindrance by frost. Another advantage
is their splendid supply of water during all
seasons of the year, and in a few instances,
which came under my notice, where no
water is close at hand, it can be got at a
comparatively trivial cost. This I consider
a main feature and will remain so, until the
patents for dry working step out of their
tombs in the Patent office into practical life.
The capital required to bring water to many
of the placers in California has until now,
been a serious drawback to their utilization,
although judging from recent statistics the
production of gold from hydraulic mining
is already ahead of that from the quartz
mines. Labor in this section of the country
is exceedingly cheap; 1 was offered a con
tract to dig a ditch 600 yards long and three
feet deep and threo feet wide, at the rate of
50 cents for a rod; if we cannot beat Cali
fornia in richness we certainly can do it in
cheapness.
The valleys in which placer gold is found
are from thirty yards to a mile wide and per
fectly level, witli a watercourse in the center
or on the sides presenting an even fall of 25
to 60 feet per mile which makes sluicing and
the disposition of their tailings very easy.
With a view to ascertain their contents in
gold I had to be governed by the means on
hand. As an ore scale in this region is a
thing not to be had, I resorted to measure
ment. The surface soil, being a good agri
cultural loam, is never more than b!x feet
thick, overlaying the gravel, I had a hole
measuring a square yard, dug out, washing
the gravel and carefully cleaning down to
the bedrock, consisting of hard clay slate
shale and in one Instance, of Syenite, and
found from $1.60 to $2.80, in a scries of trials
of this sort, giving an average of about $1.80
per square yard. This brings the contents
of one acre up to about $8,500.
It Ib time that these placers, not more than
ten to fifteen miles from railroad facilities,
should be taken in hand, and if worked
with the same energy as those of California,
would yield large and steady returns.
Although there are in some sections of the
country a few companies at work on a mod
erate scale, hydraulic mining in this country
is yet in its infancy, but from what I have
stated here, certainly deserves the attention
of capitalists. There are now about 3,000
acres of placer ground under my control, to
which in a short time 2,000 more will be
added.
Lately I discovered a new use. to which
gold and silver is subjected by a population,
who is of a more saving and hoarding than
speculative turn of mind. Nearly two years
ago I bonded a tract will) the stipulation
that, in case of purchase, the money hod to
be paid iu gold and Bilver. It was in course
of time sold and paid for according to the
stipulation, although I had no little trouble
to get $6,000 together in coin. Passing by on
the road a few weeks ago I asked the former
owner wbat he had done with the money,
expecting him to by another farm or build
a new house; very dryly he replied: "buried
it." This is one out of a great many in
stances, and it is very natural that a popula
tion of whtch 00 per cent, can neither read
nor write, should resort to such old fashioned
ways. Chab. Q. Mann, M. E.
Use soda to polish silverware.
Manufacture or Chemicals.
The report of special census agent W. L.
Rowland upon the manufacture of chemicals
in the United States shows that there are
1,310 establishments, having a capital of
$85,486,856 and turning out products valued
during the census year at $117,407,054. The
value of manufactured manures or fertil
izers is placed at $10,921,400. The report
gives the following particulars:
Total number of establishments
in the United States 1,340
Capital invested, including the
buildings and machinery $85,486,856
Wages paid
MATERIALS.
TONS.
VALUE.
Anthracite coal
273,171
$968,432
Bituminous coal
320,398
924,791
All other materials.
75,451,058
Total value of mate
rials
$77,344,281
PRODUCTS.
POUND8.
VALUE.
Aniline colors
80,518
$107,202
Anthracenes
344,114
99,242
Sulphate of ammo
nia
10,575,088
618,485
Alum
39,217,725
808,165
Borax
3,602,443
277,233
Bromine
404,600
114,752
Phosphorus
66,202
20,271
Stearic acid caudles 18,363,066
2,281,600
Oleic acid soap...:...
33,088,411
1,707,900
Other hard soaps
378,743,627
18,290,350
Soft soap
34,404,100
358,280
Glycerine
7,117,825
961,477
Nitroglycerine
3,030,722
1,830,417
Dry colors
07,482,415
4,086,821
White lead
123.477,800
8,770,609
Other suits of lead..
11,375,466
758,680
/Cine oxide
20,121,761
766,333
Acetate of lime
6,593,009
156,892
Potash and pearlasl
4,671,671
232,643
Soda
40,259,038
866,560
Sulphur
1,200,000
21,000
Sulphuric acid
308,765,432
3,001,876
Glucose
151,830,435
4,551,212
All other products..
44,946.831
Castor oil
(IALLON8.
893,872
790,741
Manufactured ma
nures
TONS.
727,453
19,921,400
Ground Barytes
19,165
371,829
Total value of products
$117,407,054
Going Cutler Ground.
The Mining Record, of New York, the
lending authority in mining circles, places
Georgia right behind Idaho in its account
of mining operations, which are now creat
ing so much interest throughout the coun
try, and such a boom among investors and
s|>ecuIators. The Record alludes witli
special prominence to the Dahlonega mines,
and gives a full and graphic description of
the Columbia mines, whose rich lead and
veins have been opened by the sui>erintend-
ent, Capt. Robertson, and which are now
worked by machinery, mining damps, bat
teries und wheels made in Atlanta. This
home enterprise and work is a valuable sign
of the times, and shows that Georgia is not
behind in the great era of progress. The
ore shows in ubundance, and the ten stamps
now at work will soon be followed by
twenty more under full headway.
The Record says that many sales of min
ing properties are making in the rich moun
tains of Idaho, and gives account of the
great operations that are in progress under
Col. Green who has charge of the Red
Cloud, Senate and Chief Mines. These are
among the richest yet opened, and their
smelters are turning out most valuable ores.
The Red Cloud ledge is thirty feet wide, the
seams extending to three and a half feet in
thickness, from which 1,200 to 1,800 tons of
ore are expected this season. The Senate
and Chief mines under the same manage
ment show same results, and the prospects
are most flattering for the company. These
valuable mines are being operated by the
Senate Mining Company, and the fact that
Augusta is Interested and investing in this
company, of which Col. C. H. Fhinsy Is a
trustee will make these facts read as pleasant
information.
In all the facts and findings Georgia is
holding its own and deserved to be clossed
with Idaho as a twin gem of the mineral
mountains. A new era is dawning and the
more we learn what is underground the
greater do we prise the wealth and wonders
that open to our view.
To produce a glue that will resist water,
boil one pound of glue In two quarts of
skimmed milk.
The Weather can be Foretold.
If any one can do better than the Signal
Service in this work of foretelling the
weather, he should receive such encourage
ment that the country may not lose a
moment of his most valuable time.—South-
kkn World, May 15,1882.
The subject is, in reality, one of great
national importance. ... If any scien
tific investigation could bring the subject
of weather changes within the region of ac
tual knowledge, so that reasonable forecasts
might be made concerning them, it would
at once become manifest that scarcely any
other subject could vie with them in univer
sality of interest.—London Timet.
Apply scientific methods and exactness
to this study of the clouds and the atmos
phere, and the result may be yet that “spells
of weather” can be foretold with as much
accuracy as eclipses, etc.—Troy, (N. Y.)
Daily Times.
It is singular that, notwithstanding the
attention which has been devoted to the
study of the weather for many hundred
years, its laws have not yet been mastered.
—New York Sun.
He who attempts to predict the weather
a few days or a week ahead, simply in the
language of Shakespeare, "writes himself
an ass.—Prof. J. IF. Chickering in American
(N. Y.) Agriculturist.
That the subject alluded to above is
one exciting great interest at this time can
not be questioned—that if reasonable pre
dictions of weather changes can be made,
their value cannot be estimated is equally
unquestioned. Has any thing been done in
tlds direction 7 The World stands on the
side of encouraging it. The London Times
says it would be a matter of great national
importance. The Troy Times doesn't doubt
that it may be done. The Sun thinks noth
ing hus been done, and Prof. Chickering in
a leading agricultural paper tells the farmers
any one attempting it is "an ass.” Thus
the matter stands before the reading public
in several quarters of the globe. But sup
pose predictions of weather changes for
quite a number of yeurs have been made a
few days, a week, a month und even now a
year in advance, would it not be a great
wonder that these newspapers were not bet
ter informed about it, especially if it should
also be proved that these predictions had
been utilized and are of immense benefit
where made and known 7
Now I don't propose to trouble your
readers about as small a matter as weather
predictions a week or a month ahead, al
though I have witnessed their entire success
several years in succession. But if the
Southern World will stand by its assertion
at the head of this article, we will soon have
the pleasure of seeing the New York Sun
take back what it said, and will probably
not be further bored by Prof. Chickering
under any other than un assumed name in
our agricultural journals.
I have before me the Western Farmers’
Almanac, containing predictions of the
weather for the year 1882. The weather for
January 1882 was prepared for the almanac
one yeur ugo, although it was not published
until lost December. Thirteen stations and
districts in the United States are given, and
the predictions for each one separately is
made. The weather os it occurred at each
one of these stations of the thirteen dis
tricts for each day in the mouth of Jan
uary 1882 lias just been received by me und
I have received reports for no other month
yet.
If it should appear upon comparison that
the weather predicted aud that reported for
the Bame interval were unlike eacli other,
and this liuppened more often than other
wise, it would be accepted us proof complete
that so fur os tills uttempt is concerned
Chickering wus right. But on the other
hand, if it so liapjiened that the interval of
weather predicted corresponded with that
reported for the sumo time more often than
otherwise the proof should be accepted as
complete that here, at least, was something
offering itself that could not so easily be
laid aside us an imposture, or fraud; in other
words, the fact must bo accepted as a vindi
cation from the suspicion of imposition or
fraud. But rather if it should be found
that throughout the month there was al
most entire harmony between the predic
tions and the report from all these stations,
wbat must we do about that? It is unnec
essary to say any more on this score. But
here are the predictions and the results for
only three districts. I would give the three
in succession from the first Btation, but I
Bent the comparison made with them to the
Dally (N. Y.) Troy Timet, as I had promised
its readers I would do last April, and I will