The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1903-01-31
VIRTUES OF VOLCANOES.
They Furnish 3Eankind with Some of It's
lmDortant Needs.

| ."%E "'"A>'h w IL SohC VI
| Important Needs.
The crops Of the country round Vcsu.
rius were spoiled laai spring by rair
, charged with hydro1hloric a&id. But il
is the first time such a thing has hap
pened lCr more than +hiry years, and
this very acid, in tnn small amounts
| which the volcano usually gives off has
| been largely responsible for the enor-
nous crops which this district usually
| yields.
The slopes Of Mount ye5uvius pro-
duce, in fact, nearly treble the crops
which other neighbcring parts OF Italy
can be made to yield, and this is only
one of .-andred such districts which
owe their fertility to the soil being
composed OF crumble4 lava.
Even The dust which volcanoes eject
is often extremely vallab to the far
mers upon whose land it falls In 1872
a violent ernption of La Souffriere, the
great st. Vincent volcano which has
recently given so much trouble COW
erred he whole of Barbados with some
two inches of ashes. At the time Bar
Eados was suffering from a fearful
plague OF red ants, which rendered
some parts OF the island almost jnhahi-
table TIC dust absolutely DESTROYED
these pests, and not only that, but Gou-
Dled the crop Of sugar cane the next
year Tle fertilizing effects of that
dust were visible up to the year 1880
Not even the great rivers of the
world can compare in fertilizing pow
ers with volcanic outbursts. TomLora,
at its last great eruption, emitted
enough dust to have covered the whole
Of Germany two feet deep, and the
dust greatly improved the land it fell
upon.
s. Bat others besides farmers owe much
to the action Of volcanoes. Does it &C.
cur to you that warfare aad sport as
practiced during the past ts1rce or four
centuries would have been impossible
but for volcanoes? Gunpowder's most
important ingredient, is sulphur, and
sulphur is purely volcanic PIC duct.
Another mxit indispe nsable product
OF vclcaA1c action is gypsum, better
known as plaster of paris. Sculptors,
cast makers and surgeons alike would
be lost Without this substance. Build
ers, too. make great use of stones
which owe their hardness to having
been brought up molten from the
depths of the earth by volcanoes. The
"tuff' Of which Naples is bgllt is an
old lava OF Vesuvius. Rasalt is an
other volcanic stone.
All those beautiful veined or semi !
transparent stones known as cnalced- |
cny. Dorphyry and jasper have been
formed by heat and thrown up into
cur reach by volcanoes. Clay has been
found tlrI-ed into jasper simply by
the heat OF lava stream which has
passed over it. Felspar and horn
blende are other well-kncwn and val
liable volcanic products.
The domestic use of pumice stone is
too we'll krown to need description
Pumice is also employed in ,nany of
he arts and crafts. fer instance, by
painters to remove old paint from tim
Ter. Hundreds Of people gain a liveli-
accd digging pumice from the volcanic
district of Middle Italy. Mention must
.lso be mare of rock crystal, SO valua-
,le for fine lenses. This ia sort of by
product Of the great volcano factories.
Mr.. Rhodes would probably never
lave been a millionaire but for vol
anoes. The great bed of blue clay at
from which pactically the
7hole OF the worlds supply of dia-
nonds is now procured. is nothing but
he core Of an ancient, WORKOUT
'o'cano. A diamond is only a bit CT .
arbon which has been crystalized by ,
lmost unimaginable heat and pres
ure. The volcano has done easily
THAT all the art of man can hardly
ucceed in mitating-Pearscn's Week.
7.