The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-04-13

tides or winds. These rot and exhale miastie vapors. In many localities the smaller streams are entirely blocked, and the drainage of the surrounding country seriously affected.
 The shad fishery has for many years been an imported industry on the St. John river. Now. however, the fisher men find 1t not only difficult to use their nets above Palatka, but often for days together utterly impossible. Their seines become tangled in the floating masses and are carried away, becoming a total loss. In addition to the floating plants must be counted the dead ones. These cover the bottom of the river in many places to a depth of several feet, and interfere with the fish as we'll as the catchers of fish.
 But whether by machinery, chemi- calls, boolns or canals, the hyacinths must be met and routed. Thus far all methods of warfare have proved terri- bly, inadequate to check the beautiful monster that has gained such head way over the great waterways of Flori- da. Last summer the quantity of hya- einths floating in the river was greater than ever before. thus proving that they are steadily increasing in spite of all the efforts made up to that time to check their advance. & ....-..
 Some six months ago a ray of hope, almost certainty of success, shone out through the hyacinth cloud. The Florida delegation in Congress succeed ed in securing an appropriation of fifty thousand dollars to fight their floating enemy. A chemical preparation had been discovered, perhaps invented is "a better word, that had been thoroughly tested, and had proved to do what was claimed for it, which was to kill the hyacinths, root and seer, wherever it's spray fell upon them.
 It seemed. then. only necessary to send out several small steamboats fit ted up with tanks and spraying appa- ratus, in order to conquer the floating army of blockaders. The boats were secured and steaning up the St. John river, penetrated as far as possible into the mass they had come to destroy. The chemical did it's work. It killed the hyacinths wherever the spray, showered by seed. fell upon them.
 The tank boats passed on their way amid general rejoicining.ts But alas, the shout of triumph had hardly ceased to echo when it changed to vail of dis may. Reports began to come in from along the St. John river tnd it's tribu- tary lakes and streams of cattle dying by scores of some strange disease that had suddenly become epidemic among them. Then came close upon the heels of this notherreport. The dead cattle had eaten the sprayed hyacinths, and the chemical killed the latter, and had done more than was expected of it.. It had killed the cattle also. @
 One man alone. living near Sanford, lost sixty head of cattle, another far ther down the river lost forty-five, and so the reports kept coming in. At once telegramc were sent to the author ities in charge of the work, praying that it might be immediately stopped. The petition was granted, and a gov- ernment engineer sent to investigate and devise a remedy. if one be possi- ble. sa. E. ia .,.g .ssss
 This is the latest stage of the hya- cinth problem, which seems as far as ever from it's end. The only solution would seem to be to round up all the cattle in that section of the state and either drive them into the interior or else keep hem in bounds until the work of spraying the plants is completed and their bodies disintegrated beyond the chance of doing further nnicchief. Thousands are waiting anxiously to- day to see what further will be done. One thing only is certain, that vast hordes of hyacinths must be destroyed or the upper waters of the St. John river and all oe it's streams closed to navigation.--He Harcourt in the At lanta Constitution. ..:#