FARMERS' REGISTER— TORNADO— ITS EFFECTS. 



763 



at this cheap rate, would be a general and public bene- 

 fit, towards which public spirited citizens might con- 

 tribute for the promotion of the prosperity of their 

 country, without danger of being mistaken in the result: 

 and still more may be hoped from the patronage which 

 may be oifered, from similar views, by agricultural 

 societies, and by tlie dilferent legislatures of the United 

 States. 



Since -RTiting what is above, the arrival of some 

 works lately purchased in London, permits the follow- 

 ing comparison to be made of the present English 

 prices with those of the proposed republication. The 

 works are not cited as possessing peculiar value in this 

 country, but because their cost and amount of contents 

 are known. 



Radclili's .Agriculture of Flanders, cost in London, 

 13 shillings steriing, or at the usual rate of exchange 

 with this country, $3 12, without counting the duty, 

 or any other charges on the importation. This might 

 be republished in 72 pages of the Farmers' Register, 

 and at the cost (to subscribers) of -17 cents. 



The Complete Grazier (6th edition, 1833) cost 17 

 shillings, or $4 OS, in London. This work would fill 

 220 such pages as those of the Farmers' Register, and 

 might be published in like manner for $1 50. 



The most esteemed agricultural periodicals now in 

 the course of publication in England, are the Quarterly 

 Journal of Agriculture, and British Farmer''s Magazine. 

 The price of the former was 6 shillings the No., in 

 London, and of the latter, 4 shillings — or §9 60 a year 

 for both, omitting (as before) the duty and other 

 charges on importation. Both of these periodicals can 

 be published entire, in less than two-thirds of one 

 volume of the Farmers' Register, and might be fur- 

 nished to subscribers for $3 a year for both. 



These statements of prices will best show what may 

 be gained by subscribers to the republications proposed. 

 The plan has been long in contemplation: but it 

 would not have been announced until more time had 

 been taken for reflection, and consultation, but for the 

 unexpected necessity of the printing of the Farmers' 

 Register being moved to the country. The inconve- 

 niences, which threaten to attend the establishment of a 

 country press and publication office, will be much les- 

 sened, if not completely obviated, by giving profitable 

 employment to some additional printers, so that enough 

 of them, possessing the best qualifications, may be 

 always retained. To furnish such employment, is an 

 inducement to hasten the trial of this plan; and, accord- 

 ingly, proposals to publish the Faemers' Library will 

 be issued witliout more delay. 



THE TOUHTADO. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Petersburg, May lOih, 1834. 

 Dear Sir — I will give you my impres-sions on 

 the recent whirhvind, which is all the talk now. 

 The clouds were gathered thick and davk in the 

 Avest — which was all covered except a narro-\v 

 stripe of clear sky just above the horizon. Pre- 

 sentlj-, the cloud at one end of this clear belt as- 

 sumed an extraordinary aspect, Avhich I can com- 

 pare to nothing better than to dense smoke issuing 

 from a furnace. For some time it appeared to be 



stationar}-, the cause of which I suppose was, that 

 it was advancing in a right line towards me. At 

 length when it had approached near enough to be 

 more fully seen, it presented a regular figure — an 

 inverted cone, lunnel-shaped — not unlike a vast 

 balloon. Being black, and relieved on the clear 

 white back-ground of the sky, the cone was very 

 distinctly visible. By this time I concluded it was 

 no freak of the clouds, but a water-spout — as I 

 termed it, from its similarity to plates of water- 

 spouts in books. Suddenly the cone dashed off 

 through the top of the trees, at a right angle to its 

 previous direction. I then resolved that it must 

 be a fire in the woods. This was a transient 

 hj'pothesis however; for the balloon soon came in 

 lull view, and it was manifestly whirling on its 

 axis, and describing a rapid curve around the south 

 end of (he town. The dense cone of clouds seem- 

 ed all the while boiling up like a vast cauldron: 

 And a muttering lumbering thunder was audible; 

 sounding like a car dragged with locked wheela 

 over rugged ground, " grating harsh thunder. " 

 As soon as the cone had passed the town, in the 

 west the sun burst out "bright as the sun of Aus- 

 terlitz;" in the east the clouds were piled in grand 

 masses and fragments, in wild incongruity, and to 

 crown the scene, a rainbow in a moment threw its 

 span over the lurid sky. The effect w-as perhaps 

 worthy of a word, too often misapplied — the word 

 sublime. 



By reference to a Cyclopaedia, I have since found 

 that a whirlwind and a water spout are essentially 

 the same; that is, if a whirhvind should pass from 

 land to Avater, as sometimes happens, the whirl- 

 wind would produce or become a water spout. 



Malte Brun explains the phenomenon in this 

 w'ay. Two winds meet — a vortex ensues — any 

 cloud Avhich happens to lie between them, is con- 

 densed into a conical ibrm, and turned round with 

 gi'eat velocity. This rotation impresses all the 

 particles of the cloud Avith a centrifugal force; they 

 are driven towards the exterior surface; a vacuum 

 is produced within, about the axis of the cone; 

 Avater or any other body, lying beneath this vacuum 

 is carried mto it, by the effect of gruAaty striving 

 to re-establish an equilibrium. Vol, 1, Physical 

 Geography. c. 



EFFECTS OF THE TORNADO IN PRINCE GEORGE 

 AND ITS TERMINATION. 



To flic Editor of the Faimeis' Register. 



Dear Sir: 



At your request I attempt to give some account 

 of mj^ observations on the course and eflects of 

 the dreachul Avhirhvind, Avhich traA'ersed a portion 

 of this county on Monday the 5th of this month, 

 betAA'een three and lour o'clock in the afternoon. 

 We haA^e learned from other source.s that it com- 

 menced near Hungry ToAvn, in the county of 

 Lunenburg, and after passing through NottoAvay 

 and DiuAviddie, skirted the southern boundary of 

 Petersburg and entered Prince George. My oAvn 

 examination of its track Avas begun at Mrs. 

 TliAA'eatt's residence about tAvo miles aboA^e the 

 Court House. There its Aiolence and the effects of 

 its fury Avere more evident than at any other place 

 Avhich I have visited, probably from its haA'ing 

 ci'ossed a greater extent of open land before reach- 

 ing the dwclUngs. Every house upon the place, 

 Avith the exception of the family residence, and 



