Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1877-04-19
NJ ISC LA N { 0 s.
THE GULF STREAM.

The Gulf Stream is q current III the AT
Iantic Ocean, issuing from the Gulf of Mexi-
co between Florida and Cuba, following the
general direction of the coast of the United
States so far as to near Long Island, thence
trending easterly, increasing in width until
it reaches mid-ocean. There it divides, one
portion going northwardly and probably
reaching the open Polar Sea If there be one)
via Spitzbergen another portion Washing
the shores Of the British Isles, while still an
other stream warns the Azores, Madeira,
Canary and Cape Verd Islands, finally join
ing the Equatorial Current, to be returned
to the place whence it started.
This stream is narrowest between Cape
Florida and the Bemini Islands, where it is
limited to forty-four miles in width. Its We
locity there is from three to five miles an
hour, and its highest surface temperature is
$50. 1t is bounded by walls of cold water,
the distance of which from the shores varies
greatly. At Cape Florida the inner wall is
only a little distance from the shore; at st.
Augustine it is often seyenty-ive miles; at
Charleston, seventy at Cape Hatteras, thir-
ty-tive; at Cape May, one hundred and
thirty-seven, and at Sandy Hook W hum
dred and fifty-five miles. This walls are
distinctly marked, rs are also the bands, SO
called, of the stream itself, the middle of the
stream being colder than either side, and
thus, in crossing the stream from Cape Hat
teras, we first find warmer water thirty-five
miles from shore, then we cross the first
maximum Or hot band, fifty miles wide,
then the cooler band thirty miles wide, and
again a second warm band fifty miles wide.
The middle of the southern portion of the
stream is considerably higher than either
side, and is readily seen by watching any
floating thing on a calm day. It will leave
the ship from which it is thrown, to the east
or west us the ship may be on one or the
other side of the center of the stream. When
it leaves the Florida Straits its waters are of
a deep blue, differing much in color from
those adjacent, and the boundary line is
marked by the color for more than q hun
dred miles.
The stream does not always occupy the
same position. In September it touches
Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, but in March
its northern limit is many miles further
south. The temperature compared with the
ocean waters shows a difference OF from 20
to 30 degrees at the surface. This difference
decreases with the depth of the water, and
more rapidly at the north, showing there
only a comparatively thin stratum of warm
water, while off the Florida coast a differ
cnce is found at a great depth, proving, it is
believed, the existence Of an under current
from the Arctic regions that goes to fill the
place i'm the Gulf that would otherwise be
left void.
1t is computed that the force required to
produce the Gulf Stream equals that which
would drive 100000 millions of tons up a
grade Of three inches in a mile at the rate of
three miles NJ hour. 10 the warmer waters
OF the stream are owing many of the excel
lent fisheries along the Atlantic Coast. The
fish prefer the cooler waters along shore,
where they congregate in large numbers and
are easily taken.-Rural New Yorker.
----4
POISONOUS FIREWORKS.
A correspondent, referring to our article
under the above heading stating that lady
in Bristol, N. H., died from the effects Of
fumes from red fire, doubts whether this was
the cause of her death. But if the red fire
used was such an absurd composition as nj
trate of s%trontia, black sulphide of anthony,
sulphur, and chlorate OF potash, it is evident
that the arising gases must be injurious to
health. Many recipes current in newspapers,
scientific books, and even school books, arc