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0 THE SOUTHERN WORLD, SEPTEMBER 1,1882, INDUSTRIAL AND SCIENTIFIC'. Rose, Georgia, has a large cotton factory. The cotton seed-oil mill at Rome, Ga., is approaching completion. The Abbott Iron Company, of Baltimore, will manufacture steel rails at their works. Roahoke, Virginia, is to have an iron fur nace, costing $300,000 with an output of 100 tons. In the past six months $15,000,000 has been added to cotton manufacturing in the South. Tcllahoma, Tennessee, has the only tile factory south of Baltimore. Besides this its has a hub and spoke factory, a woolen mill, a distillery and will soon hare several other establishments. Mike Campbell is the genius of the manufacturing world in Tul- lahoma. The manufacture of strawboard is a grow ing industry. The practice of putting man ufactured goods in paper boxes instead of bundles has been very generally adopted by manufacturers, and the consumption of boxes is now very great. Strawboard is used for paper boxes, buttons and binding books. Such lias been the demand for straw to make the board that the price has mate rially advanced. Some scientists predict the incandescent electric lamps will soon altogether supercede the arc lights now so rapidly coming into general use for lighting streets and large areas. They believe that the danger to life from contact with the wires used for electric lighting purposes may be overcome by using low tension currents, which are harm less. As to tire risks, it is maintained that they can only arise front gross carelessness. Dbonier claims to have discovered a sim ple method of rendering bronze as malle able as copper, iron, etc. This consists in the addition of a very little mercury—one and a half and two per cent. It seems to act mechanically rather than chemically. The mercury may be combined with one of the metals of which the bronze is made, before they are combined, by pouring it into the melted metal and stirring well, or it may be put into the melted copper along with the tin, or just aftej the latter has been added, or an amalgam of tin is stirred into the melted copper. A little over a year ago the writer passed through Roanoke, Va., then a mere way station known as Big Lick. To-day Roanoke has about 3,000 inhabitants, and will proba bly have more than double that number in side of a year. This wonderful develop ment is due to manufactures. The Shen andoah Valley and the Norfolk and Western Railroads determined to make this point their junction, and are now erecting shops in which employment will be given to about 1,000 hands. The managers of these roads interested some Philadelphia capitalists in Roanoke, and a Land Improvement Com pany, with a nominal capital of $2,000,000, of which $500,000 is paid up, was formed; then came a large furnace company with a heavy capital; then the Crozier Steel and Iron Company with $300,000 capital, fol lowed by numerous smaller manufacturing establishments; while we note the purchase of a site at that city for a large flour mill; the organization of a new iron company with a capital of $300,000; an increase of $300,000 to the paid up capital of the Land Improvement company; and, in addition to all these, a contract has just been closed for the erection of fifty new buildings. There are also a number of tobacco fac tories; a planing mill and sash and blind manufactory, and two others in construc tion ; a steam spoke and ax-handle factory, and a number of other factories, while a cot ton mill is talked of. This is what one Southern village has done in a year, and one in which the ad vantages, while very good are in no way su perior to those possessed by hundreds of other Southern towns and cities. Through out the 8outh there as many other places building up just as Roanoke is doing, al though probably not so rapidly. These places are thoroughly demonstrating the ad vantages of the Southern States for manu factures, and the actual results are doing more to convince the world of this fact than ail the glittering generalities ever publish ed.— Baltimore Journal of Commeace. Lumber Industry of tbe United States. The Census Department has issued a bul letin upon the lumber industry of the United States, from which we have compiled some interesting figures. The nnmber of estab* Bailments for tbe entire country is 25,708, having an aggregate capital of $181,180,122, and employing 148,000 bands. During tbe census year the value of the lumber used by these mills was $139,836,809, and the value pf the product after being sawed, was $233,367,- 729. Over $31,000,000 was paid out in wages. According to the value of the products Mich igan ranked first, with $52,449,028; Pennsyl vania second, with $22,457,359; Wisconsin third, with $17,952,347; New York fourth, with $14,336,910; Indiana fifth, $14,260,830; Ohio sixth, $13,864,460; Maine seventh, $7,- 033,868; and Minnesota eighth, $7,366,038. The statistics of the Southern States are as follows: Alabama... Arkansas Florida Georgia Kentucky Louisiana Maryland Mississippi North Carolina Mouth Carolina Tennessee Texas Virginia West Virginia Total.. 6,626 Capital. 31,545,655 1,067,840 2.219,5 V) 3,101 ,<52 2,290.558 903,950 1,237,094 922 595 1,743,217 1,060,265 2,004 Nd 1,660,962 2,122.925 1,668.920 123,550,076 32,302 Total value of product. $2,649,634 4.375,310 4,064,961 1.764,640 1.813,332 1,920,635 2,672,796 2.031,507 3,744,9-5 3.673,449 3,434,163 2,431,967 39,930,628 While these figures show there is a large lumber business at the South, yet, at the same time, they give some idea as to how very small it is when compared with what other sections do, or when compared with the amount of standing timber in the South. A few comparisons may show the force ot tins. During the census year the value of lumber cut in Michigan was over $52,000,000, against $3,600,000 for Texas; but the latter State now has 68,000,000,000 feet of pine standing, while the former has 85,000,000,000 feet. Louisiana has 48,000,000,000 feet of pine standing, and the value of her lumber products for the census year was only $1,745,- 640, while Wisconsin has 41,000,000,000 feet standing and her lumber product was valued at nearly $18,000,000. The vast lumber interests of the South are just beginning to attract the attention which they deserve, and there are already signs of local development which promises to be very rapid in the future. The Northern and Western States have in many instances cut the bulk of their best timber and the mill- owners are now looking to the South with a view of transferring their operations to that section.' In some of tbe Southern States, especially Florida, the demand for lumber for building purposes is very active, due to the heavy immigration, and this must con tinue for many years.—Baltimore Journal of Commerce. To show how cheaply iron is obtained, and how the mechanical skill and labor ex pended upon it exceed the price, a writer In the British Quarterly Review gives the fol lowing calculations: Bar iron worth £1 is worth when worked into— l. * Horses Shoes 2 Table Knives 30 Needles 71 Pen Knife Blades 657 Polished Buttonsand Buckles... 897 Balance Springs of Watches.... 50,000 Cast iron worth £1 is worth when con verted into— Machinery £4 Large Ornamental Work 45 Buckets and Berlin Works 600 Neck Chains 1,386 Shirt Buttons 5,806 Thirty-one pounds of iron have been made into wire upwards of 111 miles in length, and so fine was the fabric that a part wat converted, in Ben of horse hair, into a bar rister’s wig. The bill modifying the money-order sys tem provides for the issuing of a "postal note" at a charge of three cents for the trans. mission through the mails of sums of less than $5; that amoneyordershallnotbe issued for more than $100, and that the fees for money orders shall be as follows: For orders not exceeding $10, eight cents; exceeding $10 and not exceeding $15, ten cents; exceeding $16 and not exceeding $30, fifteen cents; ex ceeding $30 and not exceeding $40, twenty cents; exceeding $40 and not exceeding $50, twenty-five cents; exceeding $50 and not ex ceeding $00, thirty cents; exceeding $60 and not exceeding $70, thirty-five cents; exceed ing $70 and not exceeding $80, forty cents; exceeding $80 and not exceeding $100, forty- five cents. __ Obey the injunction: "Make hay while the sun shines." Written specially tor tbe Southern World. THE PHENOMENA OF THE CLOUDS. As recently remarked, “the study of the clouds is among the most thrilling of all sub jects, especially daring tbe intervals of great electrical excitement.” But I will add, of all subjects connected with nature, tbe phe nomena of the clouds are, perhaps, the least studied. This is tbe more remarkable from the fact that ot all objects of nature nothing is more vividly, or more frequently, or more impressively presented to our minds, or with more varied changes, or in loftier situations attracts our observation; and in addition to this, the clouds in every age, have been made the theme of the finest poetical sentiment; while their sublimity has ever afforded the grandest illustration of human emotion and aspiration, their movements and fierceness have furnished the most striking and forci ble portrayal of human action in its great efforts, contests and controversies over the environments of mental and moral progress. In times of great atmospheric excitement, the mind is usually either overawed, or filled with so much wonder at the awful grandeur and magnificence of the scenes thrown as it were, so magically over the heavens, as to entirely lose sight of the more common place business investigation. If we are al lowed to think at all, it is more the contem plation that inspires the work of the artist than the calmer inquiry that investigates tbe "why and wherefore” of a deeper thought. Tbe philosopher is usually lost in the poet— the matter of fact of nature in the fancy of the varying scenery of the heavens. But at other times the effects are not such as to ex cite an interest. Ordinarily that character of weather which fulfills our wants more directly affects our feelings, but hardly ever stimulates our reasoning on the subject. If rain is needed we are delighted to see the mists forming and gathering over head; if it is otherwise, however, a sense of relief is experienced when the clouds dissipate or depart, and the surrounding earth sparkles again in the sun shine. Sometimes, indeed, the glory and beauty of the clouds evite a moment’s thought which would lead us away from the merely fanciful in contemplating all this into the deeper and more important philosophical inquiry into these conditions of nature, but the want of time and means, too often thwart our indulgence of more than a pass ing or momentary thought. While there is much known about the clouds, patiently brought out by a few who have given some attention to their’investi gation. much yet remains secreted in their phenomena to incite farther observation and study. Mysteries exist connected with the subject that science, so far, has been unable to explain, and undoubtedly there is much more of the phenomena of the clouds yet unrevealed to our observation, which, from time to time, in the progress of meteorology, will disclose itself, and excite the inquiry of science for its meaning. Clouds are divided into different kinds ac cording to their shape, formation, and ap pearance in some respects. While tbe out ward indications denominate the kind of cloud we observe, its formation depends upon certain philosophical conditions re lated to the atmosphere which enter into its origin and make-up, and this remark ap plies as well to the shape and appearance of clouds, as will be noticed hereafter. Cnmulus clouds are the most common and are usually observed in greater or less num ber in an open sky on warm days. They are more frequently seen in summer, and for this reason, have been called summer clouds. They are sometimes observed as small, fleecy bodies, but, but more often rolled up into huge bundles or packs with white fleecy edges and dark, irregular planes toward the observer. At times they rise in monumental piles with tall pinnacles tow ering heavenward, reared upon pedestals of great proportions. From these clouds all oth ers may be, and are very frequently formed; from the whisk-like cirrus, to the deep, dark or blue and dense nimbus. From these may come the cooling zephyr which fans away the heat of a summer mid-day, or the frightful blast of the whirlwind, with the deep-toned and quaking voice of the storm- king. The timid maid sports in the flattery of their gentle touches, yielding willingly the fresh outburst of her young happiness, as Bafely their soft embraces encircle her and bring smiles and roses to her cheeks without a blush; yet the stoutest heart may be made to shrink before their united effort when they stir the atmospheric sea to its greatest depth, or awake the elements of earth and sky by their dreaded blasts and fiery pas sion. It is when separated and marshaling over the heavens at intervals of space between them, that we luxuriate in their cheerful breezes, but when collecting into huge, mas sive shapes, or into mountain ridges, sus pended in the air they often become the parent of the cloud-burst, cyclone or torna do. They then cease to be the cumuli and become what is best known as the cumulo- stratus. Like tremendous blocks, gray, black or blue, piled one against or on anoth er, they form impending ridges of impreg nable aspect. When they unite in a heavy dense volume, either befoie or in the back ground of others, or when they compact into one apparent solid mass, they become the nimbus cloud; and in their various forma tions we have the gentle winds and showers, the storm-blasts and rain torrents. The coloring of the clouds is due to the state of the air, the passage of light through different degrees of rarefied nuclea, beat of different intensities and the position of tbe moisture to the direct or reflected rays of the sun, moon, and stars. And their vari- agated hues, shadings, and tinsellings are often beyond the conception of the mind, and certainly defy any effort at description. The cumuli frequently appear to possess an affinity for each other, and as often one seems to repel the other. This is supposed to be due to the kind of electricity with which they are charged. This may be so, and yet it is not unlikely this phenomenon results alone from the temperature. An equalization of temperature, either in the surrounding air, or in the clouds, would tend to spread or unite the particles of the sepa rated clouds. In giving up their temper ature to the air, the latter expands, driving the clouds further apart. Again, a higher temperature rising from a lower air stratum or the earth, would tend to separate or drive these clouds apart, not by expanding the cloud particles, but by increasing tbe ex panded air volumes which hold the clouds apart. It is also said that the cumuli are formed from vapors which rise from marshes, lakes, and rivers into the saturable air. This un doubtedly accounts for the moisture out of which they are formed, but does it satisfac torily explain the mystery of the appear ance of large bodies of moisture floating in the air during the day, and about noon gen erally collecting into cumulo-stratus, or the nimbus clouds, and frequently suddenly disappearing in the afternoon? Would it not appear that this interesting phenome non indicated rather that the air is always more or less filled with particles of moisture interspersed through out it—that as the sun rises its heat produces relative vacua or un- dulatory waves in the atmosphere, and these air bubbles concealed are troughed as it were by the air expansion ? The solar and lunar corona), paraselenes, halos and parhelias are all only indications of moisture suspended in the air in this condition. The haze or aeriform mist which produces these in the light of the sun, moon and stars once gave substance and shape, perhaps a few hours only before to the cumuli. The altitude of air-support may be regarded as a surface to the moisture suspended, and in the evening as calmness and a more uniform temperature above ensue, the moistures float out into a thin haze and at last become invisible over a denser air surface, so to speak. During the night the atmosphere is once more charged with these particles interspersed downward from the position they occupied during the day, and they settle, as radiation of heated airat the earth’s surface diminishes, in small vesicles, or globules of moisture called dew. They descend invisibly, but often rise vis ibly in the morning and disappear to form again. But it must be understood that the ascend ing vapors of the earth from Us swamps, springs, rivulets, creeks, rivers, lakes, seas and oceans supply tbe moistures that form not only the cumuli but all other clouds, yet these vapors may be retained in the at mosphere in an invisible torra at night and be presented to view in the various ways noticed in the day time. It settles in great quantities oft-times wetting the grass as if by a shower, but unless from a stratus cloud no one ever saw it descend, and it is seldom ever seen to rise. When observed at all to rise in the morning it is usually along the mountain gorges or from its sides. Athville, Ala. Gao. R. Gather. The Chicago Journal of Commerce says that the lessons of last year’s dry season was that land should be drained and cultivated deep. The lesson of this year’s wet weather is that land should be drained and the soil made deep so as to carry away the water. Drain ing will double the value of nearly every acre of land.