The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1892-07-07
MetcOroloc.cal Matters.

June 30 to July and July q TO 10, and the
next will reach the Pacific coast about tho
10th, cross the Western mountains by
close Of the lIth, the great central vail VS.
from 18th 10 18th and the Eastern States
about the 18th.
The path of this storm will be well 10
the north. very hot weather south of it
along the middle and southern latitudcs,
and it will b. ut its greatest force from
18th TO l tn, after paSSin. east of the
Mississippi.
A wave of cco..r and refreshing
weather will move eastward, crossing
the Western mountains about the 18th,
the great central valleys abou: the 18th,
and the Eastern States about the 18th
The 1892 drOu h, which made its ap-
pearance in 81 o.s during April and May,
will have spread 10 about its greatest
dimensions 10y the 18th of July, and 9;
ia estimate may then be made as 10
what will be the effect on crops. The
turnin. point Of the .rpu:h Will kc about
the middle of July. but many laces
will not be relieved III late III August.
/ have no reason TO change my esti-
mate, made in 1891, that our greatest
crops will be found ;lony and North of
the fortieth parallel, while many local
crop failure will b. found in the south
ein part of the United States. Coun-
ties of more than 2,ool feet elevation
We're not Z. ncra!ly inc r'ulcd among those
where crops would fail.
Vegetation aud Coal.
Newberry, the Eco.ogist. says that
fui g Il number OF forci9 bouldcrs anl
other transp rted rock are found in the
coal veins of Ch'o. These bouldcr=, in
order to be in the ctal vein MI st have
-.,I T.: la, :
ing. II, w could these n,mcio Gus for
! c!en rocks get in o a coal vcin being
formci of vegetable decay,
The only means by which foreign
louiders an other rock arr transported
i in Geep water by i,e or Ioots of trees.
and 10 hive this deep water an the
| forming coal vein AT the same time is
| ;,n imross.blity. TO form coal from
vegetation tn, r must be dry or swamp
| land aftcrwa"d covered with water,
| and with these conditions the Iou.dcrs
| are found on the top OF :he coal veins.
But, as Ncwberry says. there are nu-
mcrous ca es where these I ckS that
| have come long io .rneys arr found inn
| hcdded III til" coal win. complt tclv i'm
| mers d in coal.
| Remember that these coal-imbcdded
| boulders are not otherwise folnd in the
vicinity of the &C al veins, but are gem
| orally recognized as belonging to rock
formations that lie hundreds of miles
away to the nor,hward Now let some
advocate give If he an, any reasonable
means by which these foreign ston. s got
to the forming coal-bcds while vcge1a-
ton was growing.
| Evidently this proves that the coal
veins were lad down in deep water.
where coal producing vegetation can
| not grow, aud indicates that or coal
| beds came fiom sources similar to those
| from whence are the other formations
| of the earth.
Prof. Vail says that boulder weigh
| ing 20l pounds. found in the middle of
| a coal seam. is now in the museum at
| Columbus. Ohio, and is an irrefutable
evidence that the coal Vein from which
| it was taken iiniSht d its formation after
the boulder fell into it and that foreign
| boulders thus Undecided are often found
| at Nc.sonvllc and Carhondalc. Ohio.
| Numerous ms ances are known where
| clay seams no thicker than knife blade
are 70 md parting two coal veins, no
vegetable fossils in ,h" clay and a foot
or more OF coal above this clay seam.
! How could the vegetation exist to form
| these heavy coal veins above that thin
as paper clay SCAMP
| Is il not far more reasonable that the
| coal fell from above into the sea, and
after a portion Of it settled, a great
| river, at its flood, muddiad the water,
the clay quickly setting on TIL first
coal vein and after that the carbon that
still i.oated in the waters settled on the
clay ocean?
| Carbon forms in the stove-pipe or the
chimney from smoke, because the oxy-
gen of the atmosphere does no. reach
the smoke in sufficient quantity To COM
bin" with it and form carbonic acid gas.
But the greater portion If the carbon
which is carried up in the form of
smoke forms the gas 10y uniting with
oxygen. This carbonic acid gas is tho
food OF plant life, and although it is not
combustiblc-will not lurn-it fur
nishes the carbon of vegetable growth.
and is the substance of vegetation
which gives its fuel properties.
Cartonic acid gas also untcs with. or
dissoives in water. in the proportion of
2 volumes Of gas 70 ) of water. There
are. therefore, two ways by which ear
bon in the atmosphere may return ia
solids of the earth; one through veg ta-
ton and one through water. Chemists
tell us that there is now about one part
! of cartOnic acid gas i'll our atmosphere
to = 900 parts o other matter.
| The smoke that constantly rises from
all kinds of fires, including volcanoes,
saturacs our atmosphere with carbon,
and we know that portion of this comes
back to solid earth through vegetation
But does any part of it change back t.
carbon in any other way?
| Tens OF thOus; n g of lakes in North
America and Northern Europe have their
of these lakes have been drained and
the back mud at their bottoms is found
to g very similar to kennel coal. AS a
rule these ponds have 10 V, Getation
and tn .refo G This carbon mud ,uld moi
hav' come from vegetable decay. II
must have been, in the long ages. pre-.
c,ritattd from the atmosphere, and as
evidence of this the fact that carbonis
ac;d gas readily unites with water has
has al inn ortant hearing.
Another pertinent fact is that where
peat is found it is underlaid 10y this
same black carbon mud that we find al
the lotion of lax s, ard this is strong
evidence that this carbon mul was first
a'd down, and from it originated the
vegetation that forms our peat beds.
Take fresh scot from the stove-pipe
) submit it to hcatel steam vaoors, place
it in vessel of water where light car
reach it, and you will see vegetation
spring up, propa ate their kind, and
die, and herein we have strong evidence
, that the carbon produces the vegeta.
, ton, instead of vegetation PRODUCING
, the carbon. Is it, therefore, not more
reasonable TO affirm that peat moss
originates from the carson mud found
in the bottom of our lakes than that the
8 reverse is true?
: TO utterly overthrow the accepted
, theory of the origin of coal, all that is
necessary is to show how the carbon
, could have reached and remained for a
time suspended in our atmosphere with
out destroying all animal and vegetable
ife, and this I will eudeavor to do when
[ am done with the negative side of the
subject and proceed to the discussion nj