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THE SOUTHERN WORLD, OCTOBER 15, 1882.
that hare been Introduced from abroad,
those only have been successful that were
brought from the Mediterranean sea coast—
countries farther south.
The true theory is, to look to the south of
us, to Mexico, Central America and the
central and northern states of South Amer
ica for varieties of wheat and oats that will
suit our climate, and we think it would be
wise in the U. 8. Commissioner of Agricul
ture, to devote attention and money to the
introduction of wheat, oats, etc., from those
countries. The seed distributions of the
Washington Department have been of very
little value to the South—whatever they
have been to the North—except to confirm
the truth that Russia, and other northern
European countries is not the source from
which to get seeds for the South. R,
Winter Comfort.
Editor Southern Would: What is the
meaning of the following, as found at the be'
ginning of Genesis (Bible)? Julian Period
0710; Cycle of the sun, 0010. Dominical Let
ter B. Cycle of the moon, 0007; Indiction
0006; Creation from Tisri, 0001.
W. L. M.
Crayton, 8. C.
Answrb.—The figures in question have
reference to the old system of chronology
(dates) established by the Emperor Julius
Ciesar. A cycle of the sun is 28 years, after
which time the days of the month fall on the
same days of the week as at the beginning of
the cycle. A cycle of the moon is a period of
10 years, after which the new or full moons
occur on the same day of the year (counting
from New Year’s day,) as at the beginning
of the cycle. Dominical letter is one of the
seven letters, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, used in at
manacs to mark the Sundays throughout the
year. The first seven days of the year were
marked by these letters in order, and kept
up throughout the year, thus enabling one
to find on what day of the week any day of
the month falls in a given year. Thus if the
first Sunday of the year falls on the second
day of the year, it will be noted by the sec
ond of these letters, B, and the latter will be
the Deminical letter of such year. The cycle
of Indiction was a period of 15 years, at the
end of which every Roman citizen was re'
quired to pay a special tax for the payment
of the Roman soldiers. The Julian Period is
a cycle of cycles, or a period at the end of
which all the previous cycles agree. It was
found by multiplying the solar cycle, 28
years, by the length of the lunar cycle, 10
years, and the product by the Indiction, 15
years. Thus, 28x19x16=7080 years, or the
full Julian Period or cycle. The beginning
of tills period was fixed so that it will expire
at the same time as the other three periods
on which it is based. The year 4713 B. C.
was taken os the first year of the Julian
Period, therefore the year A. D. 1, was the
4714th year of it, and the present year 1882, is
the 0595th. Then as the creation of man is
generally assumed at 4094, B. C., then 4714—
4004=710, the year in your Bible, By calcu
lating backwards it was found that A. M. 1,
the Year of the World, was the 10th year of
the solar cycle, the 7th year of the lunar cy
cle, and the 6th year of the Indiction.
Tisri was the name of the first Hebrew
month of the civil year, and of course the
first year of creation was within one year
from that month. These dates are all cal
culated backward, as, of course they were
not used until within four to six hundred
years B. 0. R.
The Coming Indnatry,
In publishing the letter of Miss Nellie
Lincoln Rossiter to Thx Southern World on
Bilk Culture, our vigorous and popular con
fre re, the National Clothing Journal,ot Chicago,
says:
" The letter will be perused with interest
by our many readers who have from time to
time had the privilege of reading the several
articles on silk culture which have appeared
in our columns.
The suggestions advanced by her are most
timely, and in advising the people of the
South to turn their attention to the produc
tion of silk, we can but feel that in case even
a small proportion of the readers of The
World take her advice, we shall soon see the
raising of silk worms carried on to a most
remarkable degree, and open an avenue of
industry which will within a few years be
come one of the most profitable as well as
one of the most pleasant occupations which
could be indulged in. As stated by her, the
climate of the South is especially adapted to
the growth of the silk worm, and experi
ments made by manufacturers in working
up the silk produced in that section have
been particularly gratifying, and show be
yond a doubt that we can in this country
produce as fine grades of silk as in any other
on the face of the globe.”
The “ sear and yellow leaf" and cool days
and nights of October admonish us of the ap
proach of winter—the “winter of discon
tent" It will prove to man and beast if
arrangements and provision have not been
made for convenience and “creature com
fort.” We have written several times on
this line, but not before, we believe, to the
readers of The World ; and we only wish to
drop them a very few and gentle reminders
of what ought to be done before the bad
weather comes. First of all, a man who has
a family should provide for the comfort of
his own household; not by laying in a sup
ply of fine clothing, or costly furnishings, or
rich provision of any kind, (unless he be
fully able to do these things,) but by atten
tion, biforehand, to do all those things of
which we are never more forcibly reminded
than when they have been neglected and the
discomfort is upon us. Among these are at
tending to the home building itself. To pro
vide repairs where needed for comfort or
looks, to see that every window or door is
properly adjusted, the floors tight, the “ fire
place” in good order, the roof rain-proof.
Next the supplies of wood or coal, that they
be convenient, sheltered and dry, ready for
immediate use, and sufficient to last through
the winter. It ought to be looked on as an
abomination—the custom so common of
sending to the forest for green wood, a load at
time and as needed, throughout the winter
and spring, and then the practice of cutting
wood as needed for fires for heating and
and cooking. The farmer who does not keep
his house and kitchen supplied with good
seasoned wood ought not to have any sugar or
cream in his coffee. (Housewives take this
hint and assert your rights). The old-time
style of kitchen in one corner, smoke-house
in another, wood-pile in the " back-yard ”
and water “ at the spring "—with all that is
unsaid but suggested, is rapidly going out of
date; but there are still a few farmers whose
wives are compelled to do a great deal of un
necessary work and suffer unreasonable in
convenience through want of a little fore
thought and less regard for the good old way.
It is not necessary to enumerate all that
might be done for indoor comfort. If our
wives will read this article and will speak
out, they can tell very quickly what has
been left out that might have been put in,
and will not be slow to remind their hus
bands or “big, grown up boys” of what is
wanted for the comfort and convenience of
the family, if they have the slightest encour
agement to do so.
Without neglecting other things, the com
fort and well-being of the horses, mules, cat
tle and other dumb creatures, should receive
prompt attention. Thier helpless condition
appeal to our better feelings, but the appeal to
our pockets is apt to be more convincing and
effective. It is the poorest kind of economy
to save a few dollars worth of lumber and
nails and a few days labor, Jby leaving live
stock exposed to the weather, or only parti'
ally protected by leaky roofs overhead, while
the winds and rains of winter beat under the
eaves and mako a mire of mud and filth for
their beds.
It is not economy at all, but wasteful neg
lect, or short sighted parsimony, or some
thing worse. A man does not deserve to have
a kind, gentle horse, or a strong, active, do
cile mule, or a meek-eyed cream-pot cow, and
has no good right to expect faithful and
prompt and vigorous service, or profitable
returns, from these valuable animals, unless
he is willing to provide for their comfortable
existence by erecting good, warm, dry sta
bles and sheds.
Now is the time to think of these things
and others that will readily occur to the
the mind, and make preparation in advance
of actual demand. R.
have no use for; he lives in habitual caU'
tion, with an eye always to the main chance.
Thus he refines and enhances the natural
discretion which doubles the weight and
value of every other gift, and yet keeps
them on an unobtrusive level, leaving it
self the most notable quality, till he is uni'
versally pronounced the man to go on by
people who do not know that it is steady
will that has made him what he is.”
Written specially (or the Southern World.
COMETH.
The Phenomenon of their Tails—Why
New Ones are Constantly Discov
ered—Their Origin and Purpose,
The man that talks of the great things
that may be achieved by a determined will
—forgets that this power of willing strongly
is, to a large extent, a gift of nature, and as
rare as any other good thing in the world.
As a sensible writer says: "A man starts
on his career wltha tacit understanding with
himself that he is to rise. It is step by step
progress. He probably has no distinct aim.
It is only in books that he resolves from the
first dawning of ambition to become owner
of such an estate, or bishop of such a see.
But he means to get on, and labors to that
end. He fixes his thought beyond all im
mediate self-indulgence, chooses his friends
as they will help the main design, falls in
love on the same principle, and habitually
referring to a vague but glowing future,
learns to work towards it, and for it, is self-
denying and long-sighted. His instincts
quicken; he puts forth feelers which men
who take their pleasure from hand to mouth
Ten years or more since I showed that
these bodies constantly distributed along
their paths the meteors they gathered in
space, or threw off, as they passed their per
ihelia, and as constantly re-gathered what
was successively lost along their orbits un
til it became in ages, perihelioned. Of course
it will be observed that in case any of these
erratic strangers pass through our system
only, in their flight to distant regions, as
maintained, much of their unperhelioned
matter is lost to them. But portions of
this is gained in our system to be utilized in
time in the scheme of its solar structure.
The August meteors, which recently at
tracted so much attention and were the sub
ject of so much comment for a time, it is as
serted belong to a meteoric girdle. Scien
tific writers speaking of this girdle or zone,
says: "It is mysteriously associated with
the second comet of 1872.” I believe this is
known as Temple’s comet. The discovery
of this fact is attributed to Schiaparelli, and
is a corroboration of what had been main'
tained by me in relation to the meteoric
rings of our planetary system; for, if Tem
ple’s comet distributes the indraught of
its meteors in a zone around the sun, in like
manner it must be held that all comets of
un-perihelioned volume do so, unless we at
tribute this result entirely to indraught of
unexplored realms upon which our Bystem is
constantly entering. But both positions aro
undoubtedly correct, as the comets probably
take on more of this matter than they throw
off after their first voyages as embryonic
worlds around the sun.
It must now be obvious, admitting this
view, acknowledged on all hands to be sus
tained by Schiaparelli’s observations, that,
comets must be regarded in a different light
from that heretofore. We are accustomed
to view them as fiery balls with luminous
trains following, or preceding, according to
their position to the sun, when it must be
quite evident that the vast volume of unper-
ihelioned matter which surrounds them is
invisible, except in the different positions
they occupy to the sun. Instead of now re
garding these bodies as a nucleus of nebu
lous mass, sometimes with fiery appendages
before or behind them, it would be more
consistent with the facts already disclosed,
to assume that the nucleus is the central for
mation of an elliptical shaped volume—ex
tending in every direction—of unperihe-
helioned mass, only rendered visible at
different points of these bodies to the sun.
The appearance of new comets into our sys
tem is treated as a mystery. I regard the
whole subject, like everything in nature, as
profoundly mysterious; but with the facts
revealed so constantly in the heavens for our
instruction on this point, I do not under
stand why it should be clothed.with greater
mystery than other wonderful rela
tions not so regarded. The appearance
of new comets is a matter of course as long
as there is material in the heavens to con
struct them. Just how they are constructed
is a question. But if we are prepared to ad
mit that countless fields of meteors exist in
apace, there is not that difficulty about the
problem of new comets that we think. We
do know, however, that clusters of meteors
exist, and in addition we know that every
now and then, a new comet makes its ap
pearance. There are other facta equally as
well established in this connection that it is
unnecessary to allude to in support of this
proposition of these new formations. It is
impossible for these meteoric clusters to move
around the sun without being Infringed upon
more or less by the planets. A few meteors
falling from the same radiant point in the
heavens into the earth’s atmosphere indicate
a cluster of greater or less proportions passing
our planet. The planets occupy but a small
space comparatively, and if they intercept
these nebulous drifts, how much more likely
is it that the latter intercept each other—
especially are the chances, so to speak, ren
dered less remote or implausible at the
crowding points of their perihelia. We can
easily conceive how two or more rich fields
of this invisible nebulous matter might sud
denly become visible by contact. There are
many comets with no defined nuclei. It is
evident that their formation is more recent
than others of greater compactness about the
head. The layers are also evidence of subse
quent collision with new fields of this mat
ter. If we suppose a large comet, with its
elliptical volume sweeping space at consid
erable distances on all sides, moving directly
towards the sun, it is quite philosophical to
conclude that,in wedgingitspassage through
a number of these drifts, the impact with its
own volume hurls millions of meteors on its
surface at each round. Thus we see in this
way, also, that comets already moving in or
bits around the sun, and which have not yet
been sighted from the observatories, may be
come so enlarged by sudden agglomerations
from these sources os in a subsequent return
to their perihelia to be rendered visible. In
this way, too, comets lose their identity.
Those of short periods are easily recognizable
from features connected with them and their
periodical return, but those of longer periods
undergo changes which often render tlieir
identity doubtful. It is not unlikely that
these meteoric fields tend to increase or re
tard the motion of these bodies in space-
more often than otherwise—offering a resist
ing medium to them. Any one who has ever
observed the impact of their tangent to the
earth’s atmospheric envelope, could not fail
to have noticed the great difference of their
velocity. In the study of this subject this
is a remarkable feature. When observed
in any number, radiant from the same
point on the same night, their velocity
is usually uniform, whether sluggish or
rapid. But certainly one fact is disclosed,
that while on one occasion their motion ap
pears slow, on another they move tfith a
rapidity that is startling. The inference is
clear that where no difference is detected in
their velocity at the same observation they
evidently belong to the same field. But
where a difference is detected at the same
observation in their velocity it is patent that
more than one swarm is in the neighborhood
of each other. On the other hand, if the
meteors move with a sluggish motion on one
night, and several nights thereafter they are
observed again with a more rapid motion, it
may reasonably be inferred that those first
observed were nearer the vortex, while the
last were nearer the periphery of revolution
of the same cluster. Again to identify
them us belonging to the same cluster they
must move in the same direction at the same
observation, making allowance for a few
whose direction of motion may be inter
rupted by contact with each other. If these
are observed for nights in succession their
identity may further be established by any
deviation which takes place in their direc
tion of motion.
Whatever may be the facts wanting to sus
tain the assumption, it is a forcible conclu
sion of mine that no one can study the rela
tions which appear to exist between the
comets and meteoric fields without the im
pression that the origin of the former finds
its solution in the primordial conditions of
the latter. In other words, my own opinion,
for a long time, has been, that in a comet we
see the second visible step in the process of
creation—that here, Indeed, we observe only
a more condensed field of meteors swarming
and massing about a given point, called the
head. Encke’s comet is an illustration of the
process nearly completed. All comets of
short periods indicate a like result. But I
must reserve the further consideration of the
subject for another article.
Geo. R. Cather.
AshvtUe, Ala.
Few persons possibly have any conception
ot the vast amount of capital invested in
railroads in this country. It is authorita
tively stated that the total invested capital
in American railways, January 1,1882, was
$6,314,000,000, or more than three times our
national debt. The total earnings were, for
1881, $725,325,119. The net earnings were
$276,654,110. Of this $6,214,000,000, $3,319,-
000,000 is controlled by nine great corpora
tions, as follows: The Pennsylvania com
pany, $629,000,000; the Gould associates,
$565,010,000; the Huntington combination,
$321,000,000; the Jewett and Erie combina
tion, $347,000,000; the Garret (Baltimore &
Ohio combination), $194,000,000; Pennsyl
vania coal roads, $508,000,000; Mitchell man
agement, $129,000,000; Garrison manage
ment, $62,000,000.
There is a counterfeit olive tree in Pales
tine. It is called the wild olive, or oleaster.
It is in all points like the genuine tree, ex
cept that it yields no fruit.
Philadelphia has discovered that women
live the longest