by saws or otherwise into the lengths before mentioned, and disposed of in the same manner. The eradication of the tree by this process, serves to loosen a greater or less quantity of the materials of the raft, which are taken up and reduced to pieces as before, and then turned adrift, or removed from the channel and conveyed into pools or bayous or thrown on shore.

As an example of the progress made in the removal of a raft, part of which was sunken, I have been credibly informed that an extent of more than a mile of compact raft was removed by fifty-six men in fifteen days.

In case a snag or sawyer of large size has to be removed, the snag-boat is brought up to it in a manner to thrust its inclined plane or lift under the end of the snag, as presented above the surface of the water, thus lifting the snag partially into the boat. The windlass chain is then applied to the main part of the trunk of the snag, as near to its root as practicable, and the entire snag is dragged into the boat, deposited on its roller-ways, reduced to pieces, and disposed of

as before.

When a planter (the trunk of a tree standing perpendicularly in the water, with its roots more or less firmly imbedded in the alluvion at the bottom of the stream) is to be op; erated upon, the snag-boat is made to run with its full speed and momentum against the obstruction, and to repeat this operation, striking the planter in different directions, till it is effectually loosened to its roots. The windlass chain is then applied, the planter lifted out of the water and deposited on the rollers of the boat, after which it is cut into pieces and disposed of as before.*

ner.

Logs more or less deeply imbedded in the deposits of the river, are grappled, raised and disposed of in the same manThe snag-boat is occasionally employed as a tow-boat to drag the materials of a reduced raft from the channel, and force them into bayous or pools, or to deposit them on shore. Other operations, having for their object the improvement of the river, are of the following character and import, and may be effected in the following manner:

A cut-off leading across the gorge of a bend or detour of a channel, is effected by excavating a new channel, eight to ten, or twelve feet wide, and to the depth of three or four feet below the high water surface of the river; the depth in all cases being sufficient to penetrate through the soil and below the roots of all trees and other vegetable products springing from it. Thus begun, the cut-off is completed by the abrasion of the current spontaneously produced in the excavated channel by subsequent freshets, one of which is sometimes sufficient to complete the operation.

In order to prevent the formation of a raft or the creation of other obstructions at or below the point of a contemplated cut-off, the trees, &c. standing upon the ground to be occupied by it should be felled and cut into pieces prior to the formation of the cut-off.

Short turns or crooks in the channel may be rendered less abrupt, and more safe and easy of navigation, by reducing the protruding points around which the channel passes. This operation is to be effected by cutting the trees and bushes from the points, extracting any logs contained in them, and loosening the earth of which they are composed, till the obstruction is sufficiently demolished, and its component parts swept away by the current.

In order to guard against the formation of new rafts, it has been deemed advisable to fell and reduce to pieces, in the manner before mentioned, all trees and saplings standing

* As a remarkable example of the difficulties of these operations, Captain Cooper, commanding the snag-boat Archimedes, informed me that he attacked a sycamore planter, seven feet in diameter, standing in the channel of the Missouri river near a sand-bar, and so situated that the snag-boat could be brought to act upon it from below and on one side only; and that the planter withstood more than one hundred shocks from the full power and momentum of the boat without any appearance of yielding; after which it was effectually loosened and entirely eradicated.

on the banks of the river, and within their respective lengths of its margin. This operation I should deem advisable and expedient, so far as it relates to the cutting of trees, &c. standing upon or near concave shores, and of all trees and shrubbery overhanging the channel. This operation, however, should never be extended to the removal of bushes and other undergrowth, at or near the margin of the river. On the contrary, an abundant growth of young willows, cotton wood, vines, and shrubbery of all kinds, should be encouraged and promoted as much as possible on the alluvious shores of the river, as the best means of protecting the banks from the abrasions and detritions occasioned by the current. In addition to the methods of improvement presented in the foregoing details, two others have been suggested, nei ther of which can I regard as effectual, for reasons already assigned. The methods alluded to are those of closing the principal outlets from the main navigable channel by dams at their heads, and of erecting levees along the sides of the main stream, to prevent overflows and extravasations of its water; the former having already proved ineffectual at several points, and the latter, though not yet fully tested, being obviously of doubtful efficacy, if not entirely subversive of any beneficial results.

Whatever the mode of improvement, care should be taken, as well to prevent too large a portion of the water of the river, from flowing in the improved channel as to prevent too great a reduction of its volume, and to ensure the requisite supply. The former of these evils will be likely to result from the erection of dams and levees for the purposes in question, should such structures prove stable and effectual; while it is by keeping the channel open, reducing its distances by means believed that the latter may be effectually guarded against of cut-offs, and thereby enlarging its capacity and increasing the speed of its current.

There is still another species of improvement deemed desirable and necessary by some, but which I regard as unadvisable under existing circumstances. The mode here adverted to contemplates a widening of the channel in various parts of the river, embracing an extent of several miles in each, in many instances, which cannot be effected without an expenditure vastly greater than the amount of the present appropriation.

If the channel as it now exists is cleared of all its obstructions, and kept free of snage, lodgments of drift, and other impediments of a character to impede the velocity of the current, and if effectual measures are taken to accelerate the current in places where it is at present too sluggish, the ob vious and certain result will be gradual enlargement of the channel and its volume, which will be brought about by the abrasion of the sides of the channel by currents of water, rains, frosts, and other atmospheric changes, and by the decay of logs and other perishable materials imbedded in the banks; a result which is exemplified in numerous bayous connected with the lower portions of the river, from which drifting materials have been for a long time excluded, and in which a lively current has prevailed.

In discussing the improvements of the river, there is still another consideration worthy of particular notice. The growth of willows and other shrubbery, vines, &c. along the shores and near the water edges, as also the growth of young cotton woods, bushes, and other furze upon the river banks, should be permitted to remain. The alluvion of the banks being held together and confined by the roots of these vegetable products, is the better enabled to withstand the abrasion of currents, and, in consequence, the channel is kept narrower, deeper, and hitherto almost entirely exempt from shoals and sand-bars. In several instances, where the surface of the ground has been cleared to the water's edge, there begins to be strong indications of an enlargement in the width of the channel, and of the commencement of shoals, occasioned by the formation of bars. Any changes in the river having a tendency to generate obstructions of this character, should be carefully guarded against.

[Then follow various plans for the improvement of the river which we omit.-ED. REG.]

The difference in the product of the different rows, I suspect is owing to the manure not having been equally distributed, for it is difficult to get precisely the same quantity put under each bed. If anything is proven by this experiment, it is, that between six inches and twenty-four, there is but little difference in the product; but the same experiment must be repeated for several years before the question, whether one distance is better than another, can be settled. Last year was very wet, and the weeds grew unusually large; this may account for the rows having the greatest distance producing as much as the others; but in a dry year the result might be very different. To make a satisfactory experiment, I would suggest that it be made upon cotton to which no manure is applied, on account of the difficulty of spreading the manure equally on the different rows. J. A. GILLESPIE.

P. S.-The land on which this experiment was made is upland, sometimes called oak and hickory land. Marlborough, South Carolina.

Southern Agriculturist.

75.020

78.000

Silk.

The New York Times states that Thomas Whitmarsh, of Northampton, Mass. is now feeding four millions of silk worms. A few years since many persons gave great attention to the cultivation of the mulberry, without regard to the manufacture of silk; consequently the product of trees was very great, and the loss of the cultivator proportionate; but when the different branches of the manufacture of silk are brought into harmony, it will be found a very profitable business to all engaged in it. The amount of silks imported into this country, for the last ten years, is stated at $150,000,000. Let the silk culture be encouraged, not the tree speculation.

Wheat Trade of Massillon, Ohio.

The wheat grown in the surrounding country is brought into Massillon and sold from wagons. For the two weeks ending on the 10th inst. forty-three thousand twenty-one bushels was thus purchased, being an expenditure of $25,000 a week. The Massillon Gazette says: "The gross amount of flour cleared at this Collector's office, during the last year, was forty thousand nine hundred and twenty-one barrels, which was equal to 204,605 bushels of wheat. And of wheat there was cleared at this place eight hundred and forty-four thousand five hundred and seventy-two bushels; making an amount equal to one million, forty-nine thousand, one hundred and seventy-seven bushels of wheat."

VOL. V.-12

MILITARY ESTABLISHMENT, EXCLUSIVE OF PENSIONS, FORTIFICATIONS, INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT, AND INDIAN DEPARTMENT.

Statement of the appropriations and expenditures each year, from 1829 to 1840, inclusive, for the civil list, foreign intercourse, and miscellaneous objects, for the military establishment, pensions, fortifications, internal improvements, Indian department, and the nuval establishment, exhibiting also the excess of appropriations over expenditures.