112 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



portance. It is elevated many leagues above 

 the earth, and fills the deepest subterraneous 

 cavities — being- invisible, insipid, inodorous, pon- 

 derous and elastic— of extreme rarefaction, obe- 

 dient to the slightest motion, the least percussion 

 deranges it, and its equilibrium, which is con- 

 tinually destroyed, is continually endeavoring to 

 restore itself. Philosophers have made, with 

 success, a number of experiments on the elasti- 

 city of the air, and it has been applied to the 

 greatest advantage in the arts. Atmospheric 

 air is navigated and journeys of one hundred 

 miles performed in an hour ! The time proba- 

 bly is not far distant when aerial voyages will 

 be made across the Atlantic ; such an idea is 

 only absurd because the journey has not been 

 performed. Should such an event occur, it will 

 cease to be a novelty, and will not be regarded 

 more than steam navigation or the growth of 

 our crops. There is more mystery in the evo- 

 lution and growth of plants, by the agency of 

 air, than there could possibly be in a line of 

 balloons wafted by this element from continent 

 to continent. And why? Because we are ac- 

 quainted with the laws of aerostation. Bal- 

 loons inflated with hydrogen gas, twelve times 

 lighter than atmospheric air, will rise, and no- 

 thing is wanting but air rudders to direct their 

 course. Now I would respectfully ask, if we 

 have as much information as it regards the 

 growth and evolution of plants by atmospheric 

 agency? Mr. Holland, a gentleman of scien- 

 tific habits, has strikingly signalized aerostation 

 of our day, for he traversed the continent of Eu- 

 rope in eighteen hours. His balloon rose from 

 Vauxhall Gardens (London) November 7, 1836, 

 at half after 1, P. M. and passed over Kent, 

 Canterbury, the British channel, and reached 

 the continent three thousand feet above the level 

 of the sea. Thence, passing over France, Italy, 

 Germany, &c. he alighted in safety at half past 

 6 the following morning, two leagues from Well- 

 burg in the grand Dutchy of Nassau. See 

 Blackwood's Magazine for 1836. 



The weight of this fluid on every square 

 yard of earth, is not less than twenty thousand 

 pounds, and its pressure on our bodies twenty 

 tons ; which would crush us to atoms, but for 

 its internal spring or re-action. Without air, 

 the vegetable and animal world is extinct ; there 

 could be neither rain or refreshing dews to mois- 

 ten the face of the earth, and the globe again 

 would become a chaotic mass. 



Galen. 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF 

 PATENTS. 



Mr. Ellsworth has introduced a new fea- 

 ture into the annual reports of the Commissioner 

 of Patents. He has undertaken to collect and 

 furnish to Congress some agricultural statistics, 



from which we propose to make a few extracts. 

 Although we give Mr. " Ellsworth" entire credit 

 for the labor and industry he has exhibited, so 

 very deficient and erroneous do we conceive his 

 estimates of different agricultural products in 

 different States to be, that we esteem it labor 

 lost, and lay it aside as rather calculated to mis- 

 lead, than to enlighten. With all means and 

 appliances to boot," it would be next to impos- 

 sible to ascertain the amount of the varied pro- 

 ducts of this vast country. The miserably de- 

 fective reports of the census takers of 1840, are 

 taken as the basis of Mr. Ellsworth's calcula- 

 tions, and though his ingenuity and research 

 have enabled him to detect some of their grossest 

 blunders, we verily believe it would require a 

 lifetime to correct one half their errors. 



But over and above these statistics Mr. Ells- 

 worth embodies information upon several sub- 

 jects of general agricultural interest, from which 

 we extract some views upon the subject of 



SILK. 



Mr. Ellsworth thinks that the prejudice against 

 this product, resulting from the multicaulis ma- 

 nia, is rapidly yielding to sober judgment, and 

 that the business is yet destined to be an impor- 

 tant one to the country. The difficulties inci- 

 dent to all beginnings are rapidly yielding to 

 information and experience. The energy and 

 intelligence of our people are proverbial, and if 

 circumstances favor us, as Mr. Ellsworth thinks 

 there is no doubt, that the Yankees will grow 

 and manufacture the article in its highest per- 

 fection. The production, it appears, doubles 

 annually. The South, says Mr. Ellsworth, on 

 account of its climate, affords peculiar facility 

 for conducting its culture, and there is little doubt 

 that it will one day, and that an early one, form 

 one of our great staple productions. 



" The American raw silk, it is perfectly estab- 

 lished, is in quality superior to the foreign arti- 

 cle. A person for many years, as he declares, 

 engaged in weaving of silk in different establish- 

 ments in London, having had (as he "says) for 

 fifteen years from 250 to 300 lbs. of silk of every 

 grade and name passing through his hands, 

 weekly, expresses the following opinion as to 

 the silk, &c. of our country." 



" I am qualified to affirm, from various expe- 

 riments I have tried, that the silk is superior to 

 any I have seen, from Italy, China, France, 

 Piedmont, or Valencia ; where the worms are 

 fed upon multicaulis, or Italian. Its brilliancy, 



