The Ocala banner., 1914-12-04
INTERESTING LETTER FROM
FORMER ocALA CITIZEN

Los Angeles, Calif, NOV. y, 1918.
To the Editor OF the Ocala Banner;
was glad to see the interview on
the discovery of phosphate. as IL fix
ed the date OF discovery unquestiona'
bly, as the summer of 1889. Phosphate
saved the state from financial ruin
at the time of the great freeze, and
diversified farming serves q similar
purpose now while the cotton grow.
ing states are suffering for lack OF a
market for their product. There Is
always something in Florida TO meet
every emergency however threaten
ing and severe.
But what do you think OF state
that heaven helps by dropping down
valuables from the sky. and the earth
helps on such a tremendous scale as
that I am going to relate?
Near Healdsburg. Calf. month OF
so ago, there fell shower of SILK over
200 square miles of surface. hanging
on bushes, trees, telephone wires. and
on the ground-probably enough 10
give every woman in the state a
Christmas silk dress. | am enclosing
sample which was sent from
Healdsburg and brought TO me 90 see
if it really is siik. This would be
very mysterious were not the phe-
nomenon and it's cause known. All
mystery is the fiuit OF Ignorance.
Prof. Heber d. Quits of the IAsk cb-
servatory explains the phenomenon
as follows:
"The phenomenon is due TO a semi
migratory habit of the young OF many
species of spider known as balloon
ing it was formerly thought to be a
habit of the young of only the so
called gossamer spider. The spider
lets out a string of silk from its spin.
arets when a breeze is blowing. and
when the silk string is long enough.
lets go his hold and floats away in the
air, and is sometimes carried over
very great distances in this way. In
fact, this is supposed TO be the way in
which spiders have reached their pres
ent habitats in sea islands. When, as
is often the case. countless millions
are ballooning at the same time tgen.
orally in the fall of the year, there Is
a tendency for the threads to become
entangled and to form large masses
of gossamer Frequently one will find
the little spiders in these tangled
masses of floss, If one examines them
Immediately after they reach the
ground"
A piece of ordinary looking rock
that is used, crushed, as a filling In
common cement and concrete con
struction in Los Angeles, was brought
into my laboratory, as all rocks are
being brought "to see if it is any
good"
1t proved upon analysis to be nat
ural cement rock of the highest quail
ity, being just the right composition
to produce a perfect Portland cement
needing only clinkering and grinding
to proper fineness. This deposit is es-
timated to contain 1S5,OOO,000 tons OF
the rock, but, unfortunately, is too far
from the coast to compete with the
cements produced here. When, how
ever, the people come to their senses.
as they will some time. the govern
ment will use all such things, and put
the idle millions of men to work max
ing cement roads all over the country.
and building masonry dams for con
servataion of storm waters. and ce-
ment bitches for irrigations purposes.
making every desert in the country
bloom and bear as a garden.
Along these lines the Llano del Rio
Cooperative Colony, in this county, is
destined to furnish an object lesson
to the whole country. They have sew
eral thousand acres of fertile lands,
and a possible water supply sufficient
to efficiently irrigate 10000 acres, and
almost unlimited water power. by
building dams in the mountains they
are preparing to conserve the wa
ter; and already have pear orchards
worth over $4,000. and alfalfa fields
worth half this amount. A fish expert.
who had just visited the colony. told
the writer that they have possibilities
for a 100000 a year trout hatchery.
and a market in Los Angeles they
could not begin to supply. am ex-
amining 500 acres of this colony's
lands, and also the water supply; and
this ichthy-culturist is only awaiting
the results of the water analysis 10
determine whether he will become a
member and take charge of the trout