92 Account of a Tornado. 
a 
“The road from the north approached the pine woods on what 
was the northern verge of the tornado, and the first appearance 
of the country in front was that of woodlands in which all the 
trees had been broken off at the height of 20 or 30 feet, leaving 
nothing but countless mutilated trunks. On entering the narrow 
passway, however, which with immense labor had been opened 
through the fallen trunks, it was perceived that much the largest 
part of the trees had been torn up by the roots, and lay piled 
across each other in the greatest apparent confusion imaginable. 
Fortunately for our view of the whole ground, a few days before 
our arrival, fire had been put in the ‘ windfall,’ and aided by the 
extreme dry weather, the whole was burned over so clean, that 
nothing but the blackened trunks of the trees were remainihg, 
thus disclosing their condition and position, most perfectly. This 
position was such as to demonstrate beyond the possibility of a 
doubt, the fact that the tornado had a rotary motion against the 
sun, and in perfect accordance with the course which we in a for- 
mer volume of the Farmer have ascribed to such electric aerial 
currents, a theory first developed by Mr. Redfield of New York. 
“The first tree met with, prostrated by the tornado, was a large 
pine, which lay with its top exactly to the N. of W. or precisely 
against the general course of the storm. Hundreds of others lay 
near in the same direction on the outer part of the whirl, but 
immediately after entering the fallen timber the heads of the trees 
began to incline to the centre of the space torn down, and south 
of this the inclination was directly the reverse until the outside 
of the whirl was reached, when they all lay with their tops to 
the east. This almost regular position of the fallen timber, was 
most distinct in the bottom courses, or that which was first blown 
down, those that resisted the longest, being, as was to be expected, 
pitched in the most diverse directions. That there was also av 
upward spiral motion, causing a determination of the rushing aif 
to the centre of the whirl would appear probable from the fact 
that articles from the buildings destroyed were carried high in the 
air, and then apparently thrown out of the whirl, into the com 
mon current; and also from the fact that a large majority of the 
trees both to the south and the north of the centre of the gale, 
lay with their heads inclined to that point, while the centre was 
marked by the greatest confusion imaginable. A diagram formed 
of a continued succession of circles moving from the right to the 
