Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 1878)
January. THE WEST SHORE 75 From the Mining and Scientific Press. TREES AND RAINFALL. The same monsoon that blows across the hot sands of Arizona, sweeps also over the Colorado and Mohave deserts, hut for the same reasons that it could deposit no rain in Arizona it can deposit none in southern California. Moisture cannot be condensed from a wind that is cooler than the earth. The only summer rains that fall upon western Arizona or southern California are those locally denominated "cloud bursts," in which the rain, instead of falling gently, comes from the cloud as one sheet of water, and gives rise to mountain-torrents that carry every thing before thoin and add additional desola tion to the country. "Cloud bursts" have their origin in electrical discharges, as the electrical discharge takes place instantly, so does the water fall from the clouds where it had been held in repulsion while somewhat c presence ot high inuuuUuua. Ace find "cloud bursts" ure discharge! upon moun tains that overlook hot and sandy valleys. The reflected heat of the latter drives the clouds to the extreme point of the mountain, and, amid great electrical disturbance, sheets of water de scend so suddenly and with bucIi force that portions of the clouds are carried along. This water is from the South Atlantic, and the winds that brought it, being now almost completely deprived of moisture, are dclleeted by the Mo have mountains, and are not felt upon the coast or in tlu valleys ot ( alilorina anil Oregon. Hie Pacific coast, receiving no summer rains from the great Atlantic current that waters all the ,'nuntry to the c.ist, li.n oulv the winds ot CI; Pacific ooean from which to hope for summer rains. That no summer rains fall in California, but that they fall in abundance in Oregon and farther north, is well known; it is not so well known why. mi wish That blows upon the 1'aeilic coast from May to October is called a "trade wind.'' A northern equatorial current of water strikes the coast of Asia near the island oi ronnosu. is deiieeteii north and northeast, forming the Japan current, or the Black stream. This gives off the Kamt chatka current running up toward Hehring's strait; but the main body crosses over toward Alaska, then runB south as the Pacific coast current, and off the coast of Mexico, into the cuuatorial circulation. Accompanying this vast body of moving water is a strong wind, the north Pacihe tradu wind, which in Oregon blows from the north and in t .ililorma Inim the north west, mow ing over a sea cooled by an Arctic current, saturated with moisture at as Iowa temperature as 651 F., its relative humidity is very low, containing hut about four grains ot water to tho cubic foot of air, or only about one-third that lnissessed by the warm monsoon when it strikes the valley of the lower Mississippi. At this low temperature it strikes the coast of Cal ifornia, which is generally bare of troea, in many places sandy and heated up from "0' to W . I lie consequence is tnai oh soon its mo inoist, cool wind strikes the heated land its temjierature is elevated, its relative humidity is lowered, it relatively contains but half ns much moisture, it can now absorb more water, and instead of being in a conditon to impart moisture it will dry everything that it passes over. The Hummer trade wind can only be caused to deposit a portion of its moisture upon California by cooling it below its dew point, when it would probably deposit half its vapor before it reached the Sierras. There is but one way to accomplish this, and that is by the planting and maintenance of forests noon the coast ramie of mountains, and covering all the valleys not absolutely needed for the sustenance of the people, with living grass and trees. As long as tho present nakedness of the valleys ami mountains or cue coast coi tinncs there can lie no hope for summer rain nrl the interior of the State must, for tl greater part of the year remain a barren and burning region. is oimioN Summer rains frequently and regularly fall and are precipitated trom tlie same irane worn sum strikes the California coast, hut Oregon offers conditions whereby the wind is ended and its water falls. Western Oregon is densely WOOOM and to that fact is due the annual fall of fill inches of rain or three times as much as the avetage of California. Western Oregon, incon sequence of this rainfall, equally distributed throughout the year, has a far superior climate to and is far more productive than any portion of California, and her great Willamette valley is a iwradise when comjiared with hot and and wastes of the interior of this State. In Eastern Oregon the lofty Cascade moun tains squeeze from the trade winds the lalance of its procipitable moisture, and east of them Oregon has few or o forests, only a few inches of rain annually, and is in the generally luren condition of Nevada. North of Oregon the forests are still denser, the earth is still cooler and still more rain is thrown down. The rain ft.ii .. ... .MMMt uul time. flOOU the western coast of Mexico is substantially like that of southern California. IBM SPOTS AND RAIN. As all terrestial motion depends upon and is transmitted from the sun, it follows that more ... i.. f the sun will cause more or less activity in tho motive jowcrs at woik upon the earth. After many years of olervat in ...-t. nf .1... .tl.ilu. it has lieen determined that the activity and dynamic quality of the sun varies from year to year and in a cycle of aUtut 11 years, and that this varied activity is coincident with an increase and diminution of .t- When the surfacr of the sun is .L:LifT i u,iik .i..t its notelicv is MM iniCKIV VIW mmwm . f . ' u' 1. miMislv mainlined, and the solar forces which -n ..... ..) i.tnoii.nitia an enrre.il" 'lot initly exalted. At such times great storms and cyclones sweep over the earth, free electricity :'i -I.- i I At iwanalll ef water evapo rated from tropical seas by the electro-dynamic action of thr sun is so large thstthe whole earth is weU watered by copious rains. On the other hand, during the period of minimum sun spots, the dynamism of the solar envelope is greatly lessened and its iutluence upon the earth is cor respondingly decreased. At such periods, the atmosphere is generally calm, ships sail through rjuiquu seas, not weather prevails, ami there is too little electricity in circulation to mechani cally produce the great tropical evaporation necessary to water the earth; drowths then prevail. This has been found to be invariably the case in India a country most admirably 'fitted lor meteorological exploration where it has been definitely ascertained that years of drowth and lamine correspond with tliose of minimum sun sends down his roots deep into the soil and far abroad, and through thousands of mouths sucks out of the soil vast quantities of water, and night and day the silent tubes are pumping, pumping, pumping, streams of misture from root to branch, and from branch to leaf. Part of this he combines in some solid form, but the larger part he breathes forth through uncounted leaves into the surrounding air. Every one knows how soon a hig weed will suck up and give off all the moisture near it. Cut off its root and what a quantity of water will thu little pumps Mow H)ur out of the stub in a single mgtit. iSow wiiat is a tree nut a lug vegetaole, and, like Che id, a great devourer of water. spots, and Pier rrmx. Consequently, it has been i And 1 allirin that a forest of average density possible to predict, approximately, the annual I draws from the earth twice as much moisture rainfall of India and its resulting plenteousness as is required by a crop of cereals or roots. 1 have or famine. The same has been tound to be true of the Cape of Good Hope, and of other places incic , ii. ' ' ..ill in- ubtv oeen mane, and it will be found true of all parts of the earth when science has encompassed it. The whole scope of the power and influence of buu snots, or of that solar condition of whieh led by the they are indicative -the learniug of which, iu Unillj any prophet braces all of the science that Ii value or stable foundation is not yet entirely understood, as the determination of their effect is unite recent, and profound investigations are still iu progress ; but enough is already known to ntlinu iu the strongest manner that the num ber and volume of sun spots is an indication and prophecy of mild or intense solar disturb ance and potency, to every variation of which the earth immediately responds, and as Che vol ume of the Bun spots increases toward the mid' dlo of the cycle so do the terrestrial forces in crease and ultimate iu tempests, electric storms, and esjiecially in that great equatorial evapora tion that brings copious rains upon the earth at lame. While the total amount of moisture falling upon the earth during a season is gauged quite accurately by the sun sjHits, yet the rainfall of, any particular country during any particular year is moditied by continental and cosmical in tlueuces at present hut imperfectly understood, as sometimes under a minimum of sun spots a country receives more rainfall than upon the average, and rice Mtva, the rain not being dis tributed Btrictly as the aspect of the sun would appear to indicate ; still die rule is surely as certained, and the general quantity of rainfall can be now confidently predicted far iu advance of its coming, and to a certain extent the proba ble local rainfall of any particular country. Hy reference to a chart it will bo MOD that the dearth of the winter rainfall of California since 1H411 apitears to have Imjcu dominated hy the 11-year periods, nnd by the solar potency immediately preceding and succeeding the cycle years. Although locally it has received heavy rainfalls in certain years that do not appear to corrcBnmd with the solar disturbance, tile rea sons for which can at present be only surmised, vet it appears certain that the amount of rain fall has generally been rolative to the nnmhef and magnitude of the aim spots. The year 1871) was the close of a cycle, and was one ot minimum of sun snots. Drouths occurred India, Southern Africa, Australia, the Pacific coast of America, and especially in Cali fornia, i he solar aspect during the preBout tail. that of lHi i. is min li like tliat i'l 1K0, the sun now being but slightly more spitted than then, and averaging but about one-tenth the maximum sun spot area. While intluences ami modifiers, of whieh we nre at present in almost complete ignorance, may materially vary up or down Che totality of the rainfall UDOQ this coast during this winter, yet in consideration of the paucity of sun siHits and the absence of electro-dynamism the author, iu accordance with the latest deductions of science, ventures to predict Unit the rainfall this winter will not vary much iu Quantity from that of the winter of IHTii, when the rainfall at San Francisco was 1cm than ID inches, and that, consequently, another dry season upon the Pacific coast may bt confidently anticipated. Sttmwl i'urwll. an orchard 10 years old. 1 have irrigated it more than anv iiait ot mv farm, and to -dav it soil is dry to a greater d-ptli than any part of my larm. t allow no weeds to grew in my orchard, and raise there no crops. Unt the all- alworbing roots of this Id-year old orchard hav dried out the soil to a creator depth than any other OTOp 1 have raised. And the grand reason wnv no "Hot .-roii aiomiii oe riiinwed in an or chard is that THK TURK W ANTS ALL TUB MOISTVHK, Crops are only allowable in an orchard when irrigation is practiced, or su)erabumdaut rains are wont to fall. S. The cleared and well cultivated field will catch more thoroughly tho winter rains and retain longer the water than the forest. The broken surface and hard pan and the ridgey furrows catch the water as fast as it falls. It has little chance to form rills and rim away. It is all drank up and laid up in the camel's stomach for future use. Then too the pulveri zation of the surface forms the finest mulch to keep the water there, to feed the plants when the dry season has set iu. In the forest, in spite of shade and fallen leaf, the water seeks its hardened runways, its brooklets, its riven, and soon runs off. and the balance is voraciously levoured hv millions ol roots, ami is soon lireatlied forth noon the eireiinianioieiit air. I allirin that every lanner knows that the best way to keep his ground moist till the last part ot the dry season is to keen the surlai well pulverized, and that our usual cultivation keeps the moisture iu the soil much longer than Iocs a large maennis Pool. If then, the soil iu decent culture holds the moisture longer than the forest, and therefore, lias more to give oft to help the ram clouds at the lorest a better promoter of rain than culti vated fields: 1 allirm it is not; and that when (iod made man to cultivate the ground and made it a necessity to do so, be did not maki the mistake to have so made the earth thatsneli cultivation should disturb and disorder tin course of nature that necessary rainfall should he prevented and barrenness and famine ensue S. JtruloL A MULTITUDE OF Mol lis. A REPLY. The following article, taken from the 'oWflV luiral Prttt. is well written lad may lw taken as a reply to Mr. Purnell's articles, some of which we have published Iwfore: EDrroBi Pnwi Doei the ratting down of forests and the substitution in their place, by careful cultivation of the cereals and root Crops, tend to diminish the annual rainfall, and, there fore induce dry seasons and barrenness? Or will the planting of orchards, Uirder trees and clumps of forest trees here and there for timWr id for wood, enhance materially the moisture which falls, and consequently the annual Ifrioob tural productions. Theallirmative to these ques tions is so often assumed and dogmaCieally ex pressed, that I am tired of hearing it; for I don't bolieroi Word of it. 1 am a great lover ol trees but a hater of humbug. I dislike error, mix taken notions nnd theories, and arguments, u matter what guise they wear, and what the deskmed to uphold. 1 am not afraid to many trees will M planted, or that t.. much care will Inj taken to save our noble forest of MlnaUs timler from untimely deatructinn, But the sturdy axeman has something to say when assailed hv squadrons of over-wise theo- rista and dilettante fanners. 1. We must I r lsiN THK roRKSTH. taTVaj BMsaU Ohio have been to-day if the for est had beN left standing? Or Indiana, or vrL tm Vtfwtnia. or t lire'-fourths of th nther Stub's ? So of F.nidsnd ami iermany and France, and nearly all Kurope. The deatru u r , ... i..r.-.(- u iu iiidnuK-innhlc I the existence of the immense popuUtioii they now sustain. ft The forest tree is a rosuootn turooui or wate. mm Ika limit sshssi !o- is iwoutwl to the day ol his death, "All his cry is watr, waUr:" His woo. 1, and bark and leaf, and flower and fruit are largely made up of water, lo g it ne Our correspondents note an unusual ahund auce of moths. Their presence is obotfTod and their ravages deplored over a wide area, from Sacramento to San Diego at least, and we know not how far beyond. Although particular stress is laid ii " "i the destruction caused by the house or clothes moth, the notes which we receive speak of the consumption of many other sub stances than fabrics, and the inference is that other species of the lepidoptera nre engaged in the ruinous work. Although the term moth was at first limited iu its application to a single genus of insects, it now includes one grand di- isiou of the order lepidoptera, and the name of tho included Bpeeies is legion. The clothes moth is Tinni jtiiv(l'rnitrllu, and it liulougn to a group called tineans fWn.M, which, ac- reliiig to Packard, cat OWpeti, clothing, arti cles of food, grain, etc. The remedies laid down y Harris for this class of pests are an follows 'Powdered black DBtRM strewed under the edge of carpets is said to I moths. Sheets of paper sprinkled with spuits of tnrpoatiOQ, caiiinhor in coarse powder, leaves of tobacco, or shavings of Itiissia leather, should be placed among clothes when laid away ; ami lurs and tlier small articles can he kept hy liemg sewed in bit's with bits of camphor wood, red cedar or of Spanish cedar : while the cloth liiiinits of carriages can Is- secured forever from the at tacks of moths by Iteiug washed or sHuged on both sides with a solution of corrosive siihlimaUt in poison (a rank iMiison), made just strong enough not to leave a wuiui sum on a mack feather." I'mf. Packard adds: "The moths can lt most readily killed hy muring beujue among them, though its use must b. much re stricted, from the disagreeable odor which re mains. The recent uxpeniiieiils made with oerbolic eoid, however, convince us that this will soon take the place of other substance as a preventive ind destroyer of noxious insects. " The prevalence of moths of every kind, as, iu beta Of nil other Insects, can, we doubt not, le attributed to the most favoiable conditions which have prevailed for their reproduction and development during the long series of warm, dry months. Cold olid a soil soaked with wa ter are fatal to many an (Moot embryo, When thus: are wanting, ami the bountiful prevision which is always mad for reproduction has free course to accomplish its natural results, there must 1mi a great increase in the aggregate of in sect life. Ouriug the last summer there were uoticed clouds of insects on orchard trees am) vines, and iu gardens ami fields, which had never before eiistod in tiutnleni large eUough to attract attentiou or exciu alarm. This is a serious evil to pnslucun, and the chilling storms ami Ixuintoous downjioura of rain which are now longed for, are quita as essential to check the on reae of noxious insects as they are to luducu fertility in our soil and urowth in our orchartls. vineyards and gardens. This is a tiuUtcr of great importance to all rfl4H Jtunil I'rtA. Tux projierty owned by the city of Han hrauciaco, in park reservation, puhhc sipusres, loU, buildings, etc., is valued at II,43.'i,UUU. UBKBIA. This American colony in Africa is coming more and more into notice Wcauac of its val uable productions and Kvanse of the move ment now in progress to induce Negro emigra tion thither from our Southern States. As all promising enterprises which arise find those who decry as well as uphold them, it is hut nat ural the growth of l.iWria should bring tolight such opposition. The development of Liberia is. of course, a project finding its proinotera in this country, and it is easy to see bow mer chants iu Fairepe, who have an eye on tho African trade, sliould find it convenient to slur American eltbrts iu the same direction. At all events a letter was written from Kiiropc to one of the departments at Washington and incor porated iu an offlolil report, which is claimed to do great injustice to the country and the movements for its development In reply there ll before us a letter written by Hon. F.dward S. Morris, of Philadelphia, who was l.iherial Com missioner at the Centennial, and is one of the foremost friends of the UmIUQ colony. He eye em one thlnn: "Permit m to allude to one item ot the article iu question, lie 'there is not a plow in use in laU'ria, and ho is correct as to this fact; but lv it known that a man's thumb nail, or a stick, is all snttieient to scratch the eartli and make it biugh a harvest. Hut soil of Liberia is its own fertilizer, so rich s it, there is but one difficulty, that of keeping the woods down; hence, "cutlasses, hoes anil billhooks are all the tools necessary for agri cultural purpoNcs. Kvery feature of that offi cial information is as weak as the 'no plow in all Liberie.' Liberia today can ihoW you a intFeo commanding the very highest market price, a coffee indigenous to the soil, a coffee so hardy, rebus t and productive as to lw sought after by planters iu every coffee country, ' l ho cieiitihe Miinniarv ot the ro'nmr .innire nr- ittt, of Ismdon, for duly, lS,h, ays: 'Ihe fame of Uberien OOffeo is spreading far and wide among coffee planters, especially those of toy Ion: its introduction there luis been regarded as a great boon, and justly so, liquidities far sur passing anything hitherto know n. THK COMPOSITION OF WOOL. At tho recent meeting of the French Associa tion for the Advancement of Science, held at Havre, M. Ladureau read ft paper on wM com position of wind, showing that the generally adopted opinion that this material contains mineral salts is absolutely without foundation. Actually pure wool contains no such salts what ever, and now a days it is cleaned and prepared (or ntenaftotare to admirably that very ordi nary samples will leave no trace of them on careful examination, unless it be a very minute proportion of poteen or soda abnorbed la the process of washing. A very long series of experiments made by M. Itctiouard on numer ous samples of different kimU of wool gave the average amount of ash iu 100 grammes of wool as 0,648 gramme only, the most Impure ol all containing 1.84 gramme, while the finest and i prepared F.nghsh wool yields but 0.08 urammu of ash in the ouaiitity named. The proportions of different salts found in tho average ash were as follows: I'ur coiit I .ii I" -ii O. of ilM II M 'artxmklB ot mmIs (- 'hliiriile i IHinuallllil H. lb jolpeateef nntaoi 11 il rsrlHiiimli) nf Ihne Mesaavd Nbm -M Hieartsstoei Um u'0 Hllleitle of ahmiins S iM 1 " Nitrogen, therefore, is ahsolut. ly absent and must Im artificially added if wool refuse is to be need s manure. Hi Coren winder and 1'clieot einlomcd these obscrv at hum liolo their own uperUnoeii and M. Ladureau expressed the opinion that when sods is loiiuii at an hi prepared wool, its presence mind bt referred to the soap used in the process of cleansing the tleeco. A I'ossii. 1'isi.is, N.it alone to our period do fungi belong. At a recent mwting of tho WoolhOpC Club, Herefonl, Mr. Worthington Q, Smith, K. U S., read a K!r OB (a "fossil fungus," which he has named t'rrtmojoriU aaUjuariUi, and which be explained. It was found in the scalariforiu axis of the stem of a LnpidodendroO from tin1 coal-measures, and therefore indicating a reuioto antiquity. Mr. Smith said that no description, except that of a Mu cor, also from thu coal measures, had hitherto been published of any well-defined fungus Udonging to the IVfirozoie serms of rocks. The sK!cimeii of the fungus now under consideration shows DM of the most interesting groiq ol thren.ls ami inui, or, mom psvtssrij BHkihg, inyeelia ond z.Ks"rangia (or sgonia) as seen with the vascular axis of the Lssdntlen droll. A close examiustioii of the mycelium shows that it is supplied with numerous mints or septa. This seems to favor the conclusion that this fossil parasite Ulongs to l'erom-rs. One of the most perfect groups of these Pal-u-oxoic bladders containing the 0001 mohil spores having beta enlarged to 40") dismetrrs, revealed thu remarksble circiiinstaucu that thu bla.lder is exactly thu same in siwt and charac ter with average OOfOaJa f the present day, esiwcially with thu same organisms Udonging to Vror.i iVMM, or the tato fungus. The toutained w.sores are likewise similar in form and dimensions with the zoosiiores of ltronoini inf'stan when measured ti the tu-t)iousaiilth of an inch, so that when en larged and engraved, and placed d hy side, they appear to lie identical. Mr. Smith adds that in this lungus we probably hsvw one m the simple primordial plsnts of the great family of fuugi, and that if Puroii'jora it - have in J'froiumjiohU itifU Alw. I um a plant which, from its extreme antiquity, laBfln MBM favor U.tlie views of Sachs and other svolu tiomsU who plats! ths lower Alg amongst tfor primeval planU for which fungi aud all other cellular Cryptograms have branched.
