532 



F A It M E R S ' R E G I S 1 E R 



DuUon or northern corn for sowinfi;, as ii suckers 

 ii;ore ihan any olher, and ripens earlier — ol'course 

 would admit ol'ilf? being ploughed in gooner, which 

 would give it more time to decompose." 



'J'he Ibregoing quoiaiion gives ihc recommen- 

 dation ot'my Irieml. which I am fully prepared io 

 subscribe to. I may now say that 1 feel a lively 

 interest lor the |iroa)oling of the pecuniary ad- 

 vancement of my friends in North Carolina, as 

 1 am very much Inclined to believe that important 

 ccnsequences are dcpen'Jeiit thereon. 



John Elliot. 



EXPLOSIONS I!V COAL HUNKS. 



Extract fioin the Edinbmgh Eiicyclopadia. 



To describe the catastrophe attending an explo- 

 eion of an extensive coal-mine, would rei^uire the j 

 p"n of an able writer, guided by one who has j 

 laeen present at such a scene ; but some faint idea 

 may be lormed from the Ibilowing descrifilion. I 

 We shall suppose a mine of great depth, periiaps 

 from lUO to 150 lathoms, with the workings ex- | 

 tended to a great distance, the machinery com- 

 plete in all its parts, the mining operations under 

 a regular and rigid discijdine, wiih railways in 

 every direction; the stoppings, passing doors, 

 brattices, and the wiiole economy of the mine so 

 arranged, that every part of the work is perform- 

 ed like a well regulated machine. To see a mine 

 of this extent at i'ull work is a scene of spirited 

 enitnation, and of wonderliii industry ; the "sound 

 of the hammer" is heard in every (juarier, and 

 the numerous cairinges, loaded and unloaded, 

 passing 10 and Irom the vvHll-laces to the i)ii-bot- 

 lom are seen clriving and thundering along in every 

 direction. At eacli door, a little boy, named a 

 a trapper, it" placed to open and shut if. Every 

 one is at his post ; added to which, there is a de- 

 gree of cheerf«lnes3 pervading the whole scene, 

 tvhich could scarcely be exfiec'ed in a place of so 

 Eombre an aspgct. While the work is thus going 

 forward, it .has but too frequently happened, thai, 

 from Rome unlbreseen cause, part of ihe ventila- 

 tion has become stagnant, or laid dead, as it is 

 termed, by which a great body of inflammable 

 air is gathered into one place, or the sudden open- 

 ing of a blower lias produced the same eti'ecf, the 

 C'Tlain consequence of wiiich is, that Ihe unsus- 

 pecting miner en'ers it with his can-He; ignition 

 lakes place; "sudden as the spark I'rom smitten 

 Fteel," ihe whole extent of the mine in that direc- 

 tion becomes one blaze of light and flame from 

 roof to pavement, in which the miners are enve- 

 loped. It hangs lor a lew seconds ; then from the 

 evolution of immense volumes of gases, vvnh 

 much heat, this pesiilence begins to move with 

 the violence of a tornado, and with the noise of 

 thunder, directing its course always in the nearest 

 direction to the upcast shaft. Its power is awful 

 and irresistible. Whatever obstructs its course is 

 Ewept onward like smoke before the wind. The 

 stoppings are burst, the doors are shivered to a 

 thousand pieces; while the unfortuaale miners 

 and boys who are within its ranne, with thg 

 horses, carriages, corves, and cpa|s, arc swept 

 along with inconceivable velocity"; and when a 

 pillar obstructs the direct course of the current, 

 they are dtished against it, and there lie mingled 



in one common mass of ruin, desolation and 

 death, as if they liad been blown Irom an im- 

 niense mortar against a wall ! Others are carried 

 direct to the shaft, and are either buried there 

 amidst the wreck, or are blown up and over the 

 |)it-tPouih: So powerful is the tilast, that even in 

 Ihe shaft it frequently tears the brat:ice walls to 

 pieces, blows the corves, which are hanging in 

 the sliaft, as liigh into the air as the ropes will al- 

 low iheni; and not unfrequenlly the ponderous 

 pulley wheels are blown oil the pit- head frame, 

 and carried to a considerable distance in the midst 

 ofa thick cloud of coals and coal-dust brnu<:hi from 

 ihe mine liy the volcanic eruption, which abso- 

 lutely shakes ihe solid mass of earth that confines 

 it. The dust rises to a great height, and some- 

 times obscures the light of the sun in the vicinity 

 of ihe pit. No sooner is this part of the catas- 

 trophe over, and an awful silence produced, than 

 the back draught commences, by the descent of 

 air down the shaft to replace the air of the mine 

 as it cools. Every part of the mine is filled with 

 the most deleterious airs, particularly azule and 

 carbonic acid, the result of combustion. Those 

 miners, who were in the direct line of the explo- 

 sion, have their late quickly sealed. Others who 

 are not in the direct current are dreadfully burnt. 

 But though the greater number of the miners are 

 at a distance iiom either of these calamines, yel 

 (heir (iite is periiaps the most severe. 'J'liey hear 

 the explosion ; they know well the certain conse- 

 (|uences of it ; every one thinks of his personal 

 ealely; and the great object is to reach the pif- 

 botiom. All the lights are generally extinguish- 

 ed, and ihey have to pursue their dreary path in 

 awful darkness — a daikness rendered terrible by 

 the com lunation of uncommon circumstances. 

 Some of them have been known to make most 

 providential escapes, alier clambering over fallen 

 rools, and the wreck where their lellovv workmen 

 lay entombed ; but others, deviating Irom the di- 

 rect course in the confusion of the scene, wander 

 anxiously onward, dreading every moment lo 

 meet the returning pestilential air. At last they 

 lieel ils power, and knowing the certainly of their 

 line, they cease lo struggle with what is irresisti- 

 ble ; they resign their hopes; liill down in a re- 

 clininij posture; nature is soon exhausted, and 

 they sink in death as if asleep! (Such is ihe liite 

 of tlie hardy and irulustrious miners, who venture 

 their lives every day fir the comtbrt of others : and 

 such, frequently, is the mislbrtune, which, in a 

 moment, comes like a whiilwind, upon ihe best 

 I arranged mining concerns, after the most laborious 

 exertions, and the most unremittinor anxious con- 

 I cerri of the mining engineers. The labors and 

 plans of years are in an instant destroyed. 



Sad and melanclioly as the scene described is, 

 ! perhaps it is the least, part of the melancholy pic- 

 I tuie. From the general arrangements of the col- 

 lieries, it is found a matter of economy and conve- 

 niency lo have the workmen's houses, where their 

 fimilies reside, near to the pits. Tlie consequence 

 of this is, that the instant an explosion takes 

 place, ihe alarm is general, and the wives and re- 

 lations of those who are in tlio mine rush to the 

 pit-mou;h in a state of distraction, where a heart- 

 rending scene lakes place — a scene which may 

 be imagined, but cannot be described. All the 

 violent effects of sudden griel" are the consequence. 

 They look to the horrible pit where those who are 



