FARMERS' REGISTER— MATERIALS FOR CORDAGE. 



aj^plied to the manuring of 16 acres in crop, Avili 



therefore be, 



4 acres in corn, at 4500 lbs. per acre, 18,000 lbs. 



1 '< peas and turnii)s, 2,000 



3 " cane, at 10,000 lbs. 30,000 



50,000 

 which, if merely rotted by rain, will yield 100,000 

 ibs. of manure; and if rotted by the urine and dung 

 of stock, from 150,000 lbs to 200,000 lbs., or at 

 least 25,000 lbs. of manure to each of the 4 acres 

 proposed to be manured. To this supply of ma- 

 nure, must be added from 50 to 70 bushels of cotton- 

 seed, from seven acres of cotton, to be applied to the 

 four acres of corn; and the peas that are ploughed 

 in, preparatory to the potatoe crop of vines. 



MATERIALS FOR COURAGE. 



For the Fanners' Register. 



Dr. Pcrrine, American Consul at one of the 

 Mexican ports, has asked of Congress a grant of 

 land in the peninsula of Florida, lor the purpose 

 of introducing and cultivating the Jlgave jlmcri- 

 cana, (the famous centennial Aloe) which he re- 

 commends as a material lor cord.age. It is indeed 

 nmch used for that purpose in Mexico and South 

 A merica, where its growth is spontaneous. There 

 is no doubt that this plant would do Avell in any 

 part of the peninsula of Florida, for it bears the 

 whiters at Charles^ton, S. C. and at Augusta, Geo. 

 If, however, its cultivation is likely to prove pro- 

 fitable, I see no reason why congress should be 

 asked to give lands tor the pui-pose; and if not, we 

 had then better let it alone. 



If any additional material for cordage is requi- 

 site or desirable in this countr}-, we have one in a 

 native plant, probably not inferior, for that purpose, 

 to the Agave Americana. I allude to the Yucca 

 jilamentosa, which grows spontaneously in light 

 sandy soils, (and often on the very poorest) from 

 Virginia to Florida, and is conuiionly known under 

 the name oi' Bear grass, and sometimes under that 

 of Silk grass. The fibres of this plant are remark- 

 able lor their strength, and I have seen ropes made 

 of it, equal in strength and appearance to any other. 

 To obtain the fibres, the leaves are "rotted" in 

 water, or by burying them in the earth. Mr. El- 

 liott, in his "Sketch of the Botany of South Caro- 

 lina and Georgia," says of this plant, that "it ap- 

 pears to possess the strongest fibres of any vege- 

 table wliatever;and, if itcanbe raised with facilitj^, 

 may Ibrm a valuable article in domestic economy." 

 The root is also a substitute for soap in washing 

 woollens. 



01' the facility of its production, I entertain no 

 doubt. No plant is more hardy, or bears trans- 

 phmting better. Its roots are extensive, having 

 numerous eyes, or buds, and each one of these will 

 produce a plant. There are millions of acres in 

 the southern states unfit for the ordinary purposes 

 of agriculture, which would produce this plant very 

 well. H. B. c. 



A FLOOD OF THE MISSISSIPPT. 



^ Many of our larger streams, such as the Missis- 

 sippi, -the^Ohio, the Illinois, the Arkansas, and the 

 Red River, exhibit, at certain seasons, the most 

 extensive overflowings of their waters, to Avhicli 

 the name of floods is more a]ipropriate than the 

 term freshets, usually applied to the sudden risings 



of small streams. If we consider the vast extent 

 of country through which an inland navigation is 

 allbrdcd by the never-failing supply of water fur- 

 nished by these wonderfiil rivers, we cannot sup- 

 pose them exceeded in magnitude by any other in 

 the known world. . It will easily be imagured what 

 a wonderful sj)ectacle must present itself to the eye 

 of the traveller, who, for the first time, \'iews the 

 enormous mass of waters collected from the vast 

 central regions of our continent, booming along, 

 turbid and s^vollen to overflowing, in the broad 

 channels of the Mississippi and Ohio, the latter of 

 which has a course of more than a thousand miles, 

 and the former of several thousands. 



To give you some idea of a booming flood of 

 these gigantic streams, it is necessaiy to state the 

 causes which give rise to it. These are the sud- 

 den melting of the snows on the mountains, and 

 , heavy rains continued for several weeks. AVhcn 

 it happens that, during a severe winter, the Alle- 

 ghany mountains have been covered with snow to 

 the depth of several feet, and the accumulated 

 mass has remained unmelted for a length of time, 

 the materials of a flood are thus prepared. It now 

 and then hajipens that the winter is huiried off by 

 a sudden increase of temperature, when the ac- 

 cumulated snows melt away simultaneously over 

 the whole country, and the south easterly wind 

 which then usually blows, brings along with it a 

 continued fixli of heavy rain, which mingling with 

 the dissolving snow, deluges the alluvial portions 

 of the western country, filling up the rivulets, ra- 

 vines, creeks, and small rivers. These delivering 

 their waters to the great streams, cause the latter 

 not merely to rise to a surprising height, but to 

 overflow their banks, wherever the land is low. — 

 On such occasions, the Ohio itself presents a splen- 

 did, and at the same time, an appalling spectacle; 

 but when its waters mingle with those of the Mis- 

 sissippi, then kind reader, it is the time to view an 

 American flood in all its astonishing magnificence. 



At the foot of the falls of the Ohio, the water has 

 been known to rise upwards of sixty feet above its 

 lowest level. The river at this point, has already 

 run a coui'se of nearly seven hundred miles from 

 its origin at Pittsburgh, in Pennsylvania, during 

 which it has received the waters of its numberless 

 tributaries, and overflowing all the bottom lands 

 or vallics, has swept along the fences and dwell- 

 ings, which have been unable to resist its violence. 

 I could relate hundreds of incidents which might 

 prove to you the dreadful eftects of such an inun- 

 dation, and which have been witnessed by thou- 

 sands besides mj'self I have known, for example, 

 of a cow swimming through a window elevated at 

 least seven hundred feet from the ground, and six- 

 ty-two above low water mark. The house was 

 then surrounded Avith water from the Ohio, which 

 runs in front of it, while the neighboring countiy 

 was overflowed; yet the family did not remove from 

 it, but remained in its upper portion, having pre- 

 viously takeii off the sashes of the lower Avindows, 

 and opened the doors. But let us return to the 

 Mississippi. 



There the overfloAv is astonishing; for no sooner 

 has the water reached the upper part of the banks, 

 than it rushes out and overspreads the whole of 

 the neighboring swamps, presenting an ocean over- 

 grown Avith stupendous forest trees. So sudden 

 is the calamity, that every individual, whether man 

 or beast, has to exert his utmost ingenuity to ena- 



