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THE SOUTHERN WORLD, NOVEMBER 1, 1882.
THE NPAAmiNO PLANTER AND
DISTRIBUTOR.
In the present age, the surrounding cir
cumstances of the farmer demand the em
ployment of labor-saving machinery in all
the operations of farm life. A very impor
tant saving of time, labor and money is im
peratively necessary in planting seed and
distributing guano. In order to leasen the
cost of production, it is not only necessary
to economise in time and labor, but the ma
chine itself must combine the essentials of
cheapness, simplicity and durability. The
Bprattling Planter and Distributor shown in
the cut below combines all these qualities in
an eminent degree.
While this machine resembles the planters
of John Ham and Dow Law, it performs
more than either of them, and does every
thing and more than the Globe, in flrst-class
style. It distributes guano and plants seed
with precision, opening the furrow and
covering the seed. While the above cut will
convey to the practical mind a very correct
idea of the machine, certain features of it
cannot be shown through the medium of a
drawing.
These relate to the means by which the
amount of guano is regulated, and also the
distance between the hills, and the number
of seed to each hill. On each side of the
wheel there is a hopper of convenient size,
one of which is designed for guano and the
other for seeds. At the bottom of each of
these hoppers there is a slot through which
which the guano and the seed are intended
to fall into the furrow opened by the point
attached to the beam. These slots are pro
vided with movable gates so that the open
ing may be reduced or enlarged at will. On
the face of the wheel next to the seed hop
per is a circular flange which fits closely to
the under side of this hopper. It is by re
moving parts of this flange that the distance
between the hills is regulated, and it is so
constructed that this can be accomplished
with convenience. To illustrate: If it be
decided to make the hills twelve inches
apart, that portion of the flange is removed
which will cause the slot made by such re
moval coincide with the slot at the bottom
of the hopper whenever the wheel measures
the desired distance. This being done the
seed will fall through both slots whenever
the wheel measures the distance of twelve
inches. If it is desired to make the hills six
inches apart, this is accomplished by remov
ing twice as many sections of the flange at
equal distances. These sections of t he flange
are arranged in such manner as to be readily
taken away or replaced. On that part of the
wheel which appears in each of the hoppers,
there are pins that project and operate to
keep the guano and the seed from becoming
packed.
The covering device is so adjusted in posi
tion that if it should meet solid resistance it
would pass over without causing delay or
damage to the machine. It has an inclina
tion backward, and is attached to flat, elastic
rods.
The inventor has attained a high degree (if
not the highest) of perfection in this ma
chine. In all that makes a planter and dis
tributor desirable, this surpasses all the
planters we have seen. Messrs. W. C. Smith
& Co., the proprietors, claim for their ma
chine the following features of excellence:
1. It opens the furrow, distributes the
guano, plants the seed and covers at the same
time.
2. It can be so regulated as to distribute
any desired quantity of guano to the acre.
3. It can be so adjusted as to plant any
number of seed in a hill, and make the hill
any distance apart.
4. It is simple in design and durable.
6. It can be cheaply built and sold for a
profit at a price within the reach of every
farmer.
ft Itisof light draught, being easily drawn
by one horse.
7. It is the only machine ever made that
plants any desired number of seed in a hill
and that regulates, with absolute precision,
the distance between the hills.
& It savesseventy-five percent, of theseed
usually required for planting cotton. Plant-1
ing enough seed in each hill to ensure a good
stand, and at the same time avoid crowding
ing the young plants, which is generally the
case, wiil at once be recognized by practical
farmers as a decided advantage. This ad
mits the sun's rays to the plant without ob
struction, giving them an impetus that they
will not receive if crowded upon each other.
In addition to this there is a saving of the
labor usually devoted to thinning out the
young plants.
The price is ten dollars delivered free on
board of the cars at Atlanta. They ex
pect soon to have it on exhibition at the va
rious State capitals, where they hope to meet
enterprising men who, when they perceive
its merits, will promptly contract for the
right to manufacture it. W. C. Smith &
Co., the proprietors, may be found at 31
South Broad street.
Written ipecially for The Southern World.]
COMETS.
A Depart tiro to Consider the Present
Comet and Nome Others In This Con
nection.
Since I began the series of articles on
“Comets, ” co-incidentally, if I may so
speak, the beautiful subject which adorns
our eastern sky at early morning has come
into view. The present comet has excited a
great deal of interest and given rise to the
usual indefinite and exaggerated statements
about these visitors. I shall endeavor to
correct a few of the erroneous impressions
made, notwithstanding some of these origi
nate in the observatories and come from
sources I would least expect to hear of them.
I have shown that if the observations and
calculations of astronomers are to be relied
on, the present comet passed its perihelion
not less than 200,000 miles further from the
sun’s surface than the comet of 1843, and not
less than 160,000 miles further than the
comet of 1880; and that the comet of 1682
passed nearer the sun than either the comets
of 1880 or 1882. As I gave the figures and
results of observation in three separate pub
lications before, I will not repeat the work
here. I have proved it out of the mouths of
the astronomers themselves and the public
is entitled to the truth.
From this, however, it will be seen that if
the present is the comet of 1843 and 1880,
there is no likelihood of it arriving at the
sun in the burry it was announced by Prof.
Boss, as its perihelion distance is actually
increasing from that body at each return at
an enormous rate—a rate measured by thous
ands of miles. Certainly Prof. Boss could
have improved his opinion somewhat by an
actual reference to that part of the elements
of tho orbits of those comets which had a
special bearing on this point.
This comet is in some particulars a re
markable body, as it has led some more re
cent observers into the conviction that
comets do have planetary nuclei—a fact that
8ir Wm. Herschel proved over and over
again. But when we are told that the nu
cleus of this comet burst into three frag
ments, one of which was elongated 25,000
miles, it leaves us in great doubt as to
whether our more recent astronomers are
well posted in cometology, Mo comet has
ever been discovered whose nucleus exhib
ited a diameter over 2,500 miles. How, then,
could this comet’s nucleus burst into three
fragments, one of which measured 25,000
miles in one direction? This statement is
said to be corroborated by the observations
of other astronomers than Prof. Barnard.
But, unfortunately for the first statement,
Prof. Brooks discovered the work of conden
sation going on and the breach closed up too
soon after it was made. Mr. Barnard was
simply deceived by appearances. He con
founded the inner layers, undoubtedly, with
the planetary nucleus; or, it is even more
likely that he only witnessed portion's of the
coma condensing about the nucleus. It is
easy to conceive how large portious of this
coma, which, when fully condensed around
the nucleus, forms the entire head of the
comet, could exhibit themselves in a state
of repulsion, and create the impression upon,
the observer’s mind from what he saw, that
the head of the comet was breaking up.
One objection to the startling idea that the
solid nucleus split into three parts is that
the force required could better have been
imparted when the comet was nearer the
sun, and however exerted, and when, would
have been aufllcient to have shivered and
dissipated the entire coma about the nucleus.
There can be hardly a doubt that os the
body recedes from the sun, immense quanti
ties of its-un-perihelioned and highly ex
panded mass is re-precipitated upon its sur
face and is exhibited in knots or protuber
ances. The agitation that must ensue dur
ing the comet’s passage of its perihelion
from the expansive effect of heat, and the re
condensation that follows, must and un
doubtedly does, produce great changes on
the surface and inward to the nucleus. If
the break in the present comet was, a* rep
resented, a division of its entire nucleus, it
would have been manifest in a separation of
the tail.
I was watching the comet closely oh the
morning of the reputed phenomenal separa
tion, and observed evidences of just such ag
itation of its un-perihelioned mass as I have
described. I have witnessed the same indi
cations of disturbances since it has been re
ported that the fragments have condensed.
These disturbances were manifest in the
flashes of light in the tail, and in the con
traction of. the appendage from one end to
the other. Sometimes the tail would con
tract to about a degree in width and widen
out again to two degrees, and in contracting
would have the appearance of bending along
the middle on the left, while the right would
appear to be more dense. The swallow-tail
terminus would at times be very plain and
at other times not visible at all. I hold that
these flashes, up and down the tail, are due
to the shutting off and letting on of solar re
fracted light, caused by the agitation around
the nucleus. Meteors have been falling from
this comet in the air, corroborating my pre
vious views, since the passage of its perihe
lion, and if in its swing about the sun it
distributed much of this matter along its
path, our planet may take up considerable of
it yet, notwithstanding the great distance at
which the centre of meteoric volume passed
from the earth. I have no doubt whatever,
but that billions of its meteors were hurled
upon the sun’s surface by its near approach
to that body.
While in some particulars this comet is
very remarkable,- in others it is not as much
so as some others which have been witnessed
in modern times. The tail of this one does
not appear to be over twenty degrees, while
that of 1843 was sixty degrees in length, and
it was so brilliant as to throw a bright light
upon the earth. The comet of 1880 had a
tail forty degrees in length. The comet of
1811 is described as the most splendid of
modern times. It was critically examined
by Sir Wm. Herschel, who demonstrated the
fact of its planetary character. He found
its nucleus to be by measurement not less
than 2,500 miles in diameter. Careful obser
vation of the first comet of 1811 showed that
it contained a nucleus of about 428 miles in
diameter, and that of 1807 was 538 miles in
diameter, so we see there is no room for the
concession, at this late day, of the fact that
a comet has a solid nucleus. Many comets
have no visible nuclei. The latter may be
regarded as more recent agglomerations of
nebulous matter, unless on their approach
to the sun.in close proximity to it, the outer
coatings are so condensed as to resist the
usual disintegrating effect of the sun’s heat
in separating the layers, and exhibiting the
nucleus within. But it is said that stars
have been seen through the nuclei of some
comets. This can not be true; for such
bodies have no nuclei in the strict sense of
the word. Stars may have been observed
through the heads of a few comets; but still
the question would be left in doubt unless
they were seen to pass from one side to the
other on a middle line, as a small nucleus
would not otherwise shut off their light.
The no nuclei comets are not of that class
usually that excite our wonder. Few of
them even attract our attention when re
ported from the observatories. Many con
taining nuclei are very undemonstrative,
either from the small quantity of nebulous
matter they carry with them, or because
they are too far away to be interesting to the
large portion of mankind. It is the massive
comet that excites our curiosity—the flam
ing visitor to our neighborhood that insti
gates the common inquirer to seek informa
tion and to expect it from those sources
where it is gathered at some expense and
where the means are ample for this purpose.
But remarkable to say, most of the inf rma-
tion imparted from these sources has no
foundation whatever.
It is clear that the present comet is not a
myth of chaos—a floating breeze of insub
stantial nothing, but a real thing of the
heavens, containing a ponderable, condensed
mass within its surface layers, which, if it
were to come in contact with the earth,
would knock it out of existence as an inhab
ited world. 8uch would be the case if a col
lision between the earth and the comet of
1807, or either of the comets of 1811, should
at any time take place. Such an event as a
collision between a comet and one of the
planets is not impossible, though very im
probable, yet the fact of the ponderable
character of some of these bodies, and that I
class, too, which calls out the erroneous
statements about them circulated at the
time of a visit from one of these, is a dem
onstrated fact and has been for years as I
have shown. This fact is not an occular de
lusion—it is no dream of the night. If an
aereolite will bury itself into the earth by
its fall upon its surface, one of these bodies
coming in contact with our planet would
drive it out of existence in its present shape,
and leave it buried in the debris of its own.
molten wreck by the collision.
Qxo. R. Cathxb,
Athville. Ala.
A Better Knowledge.
The better results now so apparent from
the development of our mineral resources,
and the more profitable return from mining
investments, must be credited to a more
complete comprehension of mining as a pro
ductive industry. An era of speculative
activity—a craze kept alive by unreasoning
and unreasonable men—prostituting the
best features of a great industry for money,
has for years hidden from the eyes of the
great majority of our people, the true char
acter of mining as one of the substantial In
dustries holding in reserve immense resour
ces of the most desirable kind which can be
used to the advancement of a common and a
permanent prosperity. A better knowledge
has been gradually obtained concerning, the
part that the mineral resources of this coun
try are destined to play in future promin
ence and power, and as men have compre
hended the truth, it has made them free from
the toils of the speculator and the gambler
and the real object of the possession and de
velopment of a valuable resource has rapidly
come into the foreground. This change in
public opinion and growth in knowledge,
not yet complete, is shown in the increased
output from the mines, and a general ten
dency to develop mining properties to a pro
ducing basis. As this spirit predominates,
the halls of the stock-gambler arc dull and
deserted, and the field of development is
stirring with the busy forces of energy and
industry.
People are but just beginning to compre
hend the real place and power of the mining
industry, and the millions of dollars of bul
lion which are now each month pouringinto
the trade centers of the country, is but the
the result of the first touch of dawn upon
the threshold, the stirring of a mighty giant
at the break of day, before waking from his
slumber to put on the strength and armor of
battle.
The work of placing our mines in a pro
ductive position, so that the vast mineral re
sources in our possession may be utilized,
are but in the beginning and the magnitude
of the great storehouse of wealth, that nature
has so bountifully provided, is by no means
yet comprehended or understood.
The territory now known to be underlaid
with useful and precious minerals is suffici
ent to guarantee to a certainty that mining,
as an industry, can and will become, in this
country, one of the chief sources of national
wealth and greatness. The legislators and
people of this day and generation may not
possess sufficient wisdom, to be able to grasp
and use tbeimmense ad vantages within their
reach, and build the massive bulwarks of
security and prosperity upon a foundation
that can never be removed, but the grandest
and most wonderful mineral-bearing terri
tory the world has ever known waits, and
will wait, to pour out the measureless wealth
of its exhaustless treasure upon a people
whose intelligence and industry have made
them worthy to use to the best advantage
the blessings of a permanent prosperity.—
Mining Review.
Natural Enemies of the Telegraph,
There is, apparently, no apparatus so lia
ble to be interfered with by what we may
call natural causes as the electric telegraph.
Fish gnaw and mollusks overweight the sub
marine conductors on the subterranean
wires; while there is at least one instance of
agay and frolicksome whale entangling him
self in a deep sea cable, to his own astonish
ment, and the cable’s utter disorganization.
It is stated that within three years there
have been sixty serious interruptions to
telegraphic communications in Sumatra by
those seriously curious animals—elephants.
In one instance, these sagacious creatures,
not thoroughly comprehending the singular
contrivance, but most likely fearing snares,
destroyed a considerable portion of the line,
hiding away the wires and insulators in a
canebrake. Monkeys of all tribes and sizes,
too, use the poles and wires as an improved
gymnasia; while the numerous tigers, bears
and buffaloes render the watching and repair
of the line a duty of great danger. •