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6 "m MBrTHMwiMitrfTiq STORMS AND TORNADOES, the the the 'The Agent of the Signal Bureau for Thoir Investigation Establishes Headquarters in Kansas City The Information Ho Derives From People. Acting under the authority of 'Chief signal officer, in charge of United States weather bureau at "Wash ington, D. C , I have established my headquarters at Kansas City, Mo., a point admirably well fitted by the rea son of the completeness of its mail, telegraph and rail road facilities, for the prosecution of my labors in the ef fort to carefully investigate the torna does of 1882 and study the general 'features of violent wind storms. I shall give my individual attention to the tornadoes of what may be termed the lower Missouri Valley, embracing the states of Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, and Iowa. It is within this region that tornadoes occur with the greatest frequency, the most unexampled vio lence, tho most marked regularity and with the most complete manifer uliou of their peculiar characteristics. Hero is an opportunity for a com plete and satisfactory study of the phenomena of tornadoes, which is af forded in no other region of tho United Suites. I hope this year to take an ad vanced step in the work and present such information to the public as will result in practical good to all concern ed. Besides the work of investigatine any particular storm, with a view to gain new and important truths, I de sire to push the labor of ascertaining more definitely the conditions precedent to the formation of tornadoes in gener al, tho phenomena and laws of cloud development, the velocity and power of the centriputel currents within the oloud vortex, the arrangement of suit able plana preparatory to an effort to warn communities in advance of tho tornado, of conditions favorable to its formation, and, lastly, to prepare and disseminate such in formation as will direct people how to act in defense of their lives, and to a certain extent their property, during the approach and passage of the tornado cloud. To accomplish these results I need the hearty co operation of all intelligent people throughout the lower Missouri valley. I want every one who can give me any facts concerning a tornado of the present or past, occurring either in the 'year 1882 or at any time during the tpast fifty years or more. Much can begone by the press of the lower Mis . sonrd to aid in this great work, and J trust -ttittt there will be no lack of active syoip&Uiy. I hope that through your columns you will succeed in so encouraging a belief in the importance and necessity of the work that your subscribers, contributors and readers will flood me with facts, facts, facts. J desire every one to become familiar, as far as it is possible, with the exact i kind of data .needed in the work now contemplated, and with a view to aid In the accomplishment of this object, the following questions and remarks are published, which embrace most, if Jiot ull, of the important points: THE QUESTIONS '1. "What day of the month, and a wMt time of the day did the tornado .-cloud pass? Take great care in giving ' the exact time. Perhaps you watched , your .clonk or noticed the approach or ruuMrtio of a railroad train. . (Jive the position of your house with respect to the nearest postoflioe, 'indicating the Bame in miles or parts of mile3 or rods; state the distance in imrHiinfr and eastinc. northing and westing, southing and easting, south ring and westing, estimated along sec tion and to Unship lines. 3. How far and in what direction is your houso aituated from the center of tho path of destruction? a n?v f.hH direction and distance from your houso to your various farm buildings, if possible drawing a plan .of the S'imo and indicating the points of the compass. This plan need only be a-rough sketch. , 4 5 Give the dimensions of your build ings and state the character of each us to whether they are log, frame, stone oi ibrick, weak or strong. 6. In drawing a plan of your build ings indicate tho position of tho torna do's path with respect to each of them and the direction in which tho tornado cloud moved. 7. State in detail and separately the damage to each building; what portion or portions were taken away or injured ; how far and in what direction were hey moved bodily; what portion of each was first struck by the wind, and how far and in what direction was the debris carried? Bo very careful to give the exact position and peculiari ties of building, which were not dam "tfKl although standing near those W ich were destroyed. 8. Give tho direction, of tho wind while tho tornado cloud was approach ing, while the tornado cloud was pas sing and after the tornado cloud passed. 9. Give the general atmospheric con ditions of temperature, wind direction, humidity and clouds, for from ten to (If teen days previous to the occurrence of the tornado and from three to five days thereafter. 10. Wai the day unusually warm and sultry? Give the maximum temperature, if possible, and state the hour at which it was obseived, to gether with tho direction of the wind and state of tho sky existing at the time. 11. What had b een about the aver yge daily temperature, also tho maxi mum and minimum, together with the accompanying directions of the wind, for eight or ten days previous to the occurrence of the tornado, and for three days succeeding its appearance? 12. Give the direction, in degree.0, of the course pursued by the tornado cloud along its path of destruction in your locality, as for example: N 70 E; E30 N, etc , etc. 13. Send any newspaper article con cerning the storm which you may have, or can obtain without inconvenience. 14. Give name and address of any one in your state who is in the habit of keeping a meteorological record or who desires to keep one and would like instructions. 15. In all descriptions of the torna do's path; in giving any particular destruction in it, in detailing your ex perience while the tornado cloud wa passing, he careful to state on which side of the center (to the north or to the south and how Jar) the d image occurred or you were situated while a witness of the scene. 16. Do you know of any one who made observations on the presence of ozone in the ; .tmosphere on the day of Che storm? If so, send me their address or prive the result of the observations XI. Do yon know of any one who made observations with tho galvano meter or compass concerning the de flection oftheaeedle during the day of th storm, especially while the tor nado cibud was passing a given' point? If so, send me their address or give the result of the- observations. 18. If you recall the occirrrence in times pjwfc of asy violent hail storm in your stjite, give the plaso,- year, month, tiny of month, hour of day, di rection oif the storm, maximum and miniinum. width of path in rods or miles, siznwind steme of hail sonns and a narration of thu destructive effects. 19. If you resall the occurrence, in times part,, of any other tornado in your staUt, give) eai, mon.M),, day of month, hour ol day, the cured ion oi the course- of the path of destruction as pursrxid by the Tornado cloud, it, length in. miles, average width of de stuictivcv path in yards o rods, maxi mum wiUith, aoinimuin width, and, i.r possible, the hour of beginning atri hour oil disappearing of the tortnUo eloud. My aeport upon the tornadoes of .S82 will bo published in book form and can be obtain d free of cost by app)inu through your congressman, to W. 13. II.ren, brigadier and brevet major gen eral, chief signal filler, U. S. A. Wutdi ington, D. G. My report upon the tor nadoes of 1879, now ready in book form, as also another publication, Facta about Tornadoes," the letter of which contains practical rules showing J how to twold the violence of turmulues, can be obtained in the same manner. Please address, John P. Finley, Sergeant Signal Corps, U. S. A., Kansas City, Mo, Agent United States weather bureau, Whashiugton, under the direction of W. 13. ITakisn, Brig.a'id Bvt. MajGen., Chief signal ofiicer, U. S. A, by Sealing. From ,,SJriil8 nml Scullng In Uic Nnrlh Atlentlc," Krm.'Ht itiKoreoli, m St. flieiioins lor .June. The seals of the North Atlantic are not hunted for their fur, as aro their Alaska cousins, but chiefly for their oil, and secondarily for their skins. It is an industry which profitably employs hundreds of ships and thousands of seamen, and it receives the name of "sealing." You may know that near the end of winter enormous herds, chiefly of the harp seals, come down and congregate upon the floating fields of ice eastward of Newfoundland, where the young aro born in March. These aro the place and season of the largest fishery, but the locality is never fixed nor cer tain; the fields, approached simulta neously by sailing fleets and steamers from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Scot bind, England, France, Germany, and Norway, must besought for every year as though for the first time. This is in the icy, tempestuous North Atlantic, at the mo3t stormy period of the year. Dreadful gales may drive the ships anywhere but where they seek to go, bergs may be hurled against them, the ice may jam them between its ponder ous edges and crush the doubly braced hulls into splinters, or cleanly cut away parts of the bottom, and leave ihe vesae's to sink and the men to save themselves as best they may upon broken and drifting ice. Often a field of thin "bay-ice" will lie right in the path. Then the ship dashes into it as far a.3 its power can force it. When it sticks, the crew leap overboard, chop and break the field into ekes which are shoved under the floe or hauled out on top; or, if it is too thick to be brok en, saws are brought out, and a canal is slowly made fur the ship's progres3. This is a time of great desire for haste, and you may well believe that eveiy man works with all his might. Well, when all this toil and danger are passed, sometimes greatly pro longed, and in the midst of a fn zen sea and the most violent storms, and the ship has tho good luck to sight a herd, then begins for the crew of hardy sailors a season of about the most ard uous labor that one &m imagine. If the weather permit, the vessel is run into the ice, and moored there; if nt, it sails back and forth in open spaces, managed by the ciptain and one or two others, while the remainder of ibecrew, sorretimes sixty or seven ty, or even more in number, g-et into boats and row swiftly, to the floe. The yowag seals lie scattered about here and there, basking in tho sun or sheltered under the lee of a hummook, and they lie so thiekty that half a do ffia will often be seen in a space twenty yards pqpnre.- Obey can not irpfi Rwav. or at most o-wi only flounder abtmt, and their plaintive bleating and white coats might, almost be those o3 lambs. The-old seals are frightened awa;; by the approach of the sailor, awd never sho tv. fight, and the young sters are easil.. kil od; so the men do ,not take guas, but only clubo,. with which thev strike, the poor Little fal lows a single blow on the heacl usiudly 'killing tberi-at once. Having struck down all. they see within a short distance, Hie rmiall squad of saen wbo work together then quickly bltin, ot (as they Crtllit) 'sculp" i hem, with a broad clasp knife cutting clear through the thic-X lay or of fat which lies underneath the hide, and so leaving a surprisingly small carcass be hind Bundles are then made of from three to seven "pells " and each man drags a bundle toward the boat. This is sometimes miles distant, the ice is rough and biokon, he must leap cracks, trust himself to isolated oakes, and often ho falls into the fiering water, or loses his way in a sudden squall of snow, It 1b limb cracking and life- risking work, and, to accomplish it successfully, a man must school his muscles to endurance, his nerves to peril, and his heart to bitter cruelty; but every pelt is worth a dollar! By night, after a "seal-meadow" has been attacked, the decks of the vessel are hidden under a deep layer of fat, slippery pelts. After these have lain long enough to set cool, they are &towed away in the hold in pairs, each pair having tho hair outward. The hold is divided by stout partitions into compartm nts,or "pounds," in order to prevent the cargo from moving about and so rubbing the fat into oil, which would speedily Gil every part of the hold and the cabins, spoiling all the provisions. A vessel ooce had to bo abandoned from this accident, because it had not been "pounded." The European ships, however, generally sepeiate the fat at once and stow it in casks. Feed the Calves Well. The Western lloiniaiend. Good feeding is always profitable, and never more profitable than when be stowed upon young animals. The younger the animal the less is tho cost per pound for the increase of ftVsh ob tained. A given amount of food will produce more pounds of flesh when fed to a calf three weeks old than one three mouths old. In an experiment in "feeding several calves it was found that during the first week of feeding eleven pounds of milk were required to produce one p.mnd of increase; the second week, twelve pounds; the third week, thirteen pounds; the sixth' weekr fifteen pounds; at the ninth week, seventeen puinds, or a third more than the first week. Tho wise farmer will readily see the importance of generous feeding while the animal is young. The less cost of increasing weight is not the only advantage derivable from generous feeding while young. If the young animal is furnished with so scanty a supply of food that his growth hs checked and he 'falls out of condi tion, he is permanently injured.- Ut is seldom that he can by subsequent good' feeding bo thought to as good a condi tion as he would have attained if the feed had been good all the time. An experienced Irish farmer says : "As a breeder you must be careful not to lose the calf-flesh.. If you do so by starving, tho animal a-fc any time of hi3 growth you lose the cream, the covering of flesh so much admired by all retail butchers. Where do all the scraggy,, bad-fleshed beasts come from that wo see in our markets, and what is the cause of their scragginess? It is be cause they have been stintei and) staived of the?r growth. If the calf flesh is once lost it can never be re gained." Tlbose'who wish to have thrifty, fine-luu&ing animals should feedt well while fcky are calves. Preserving Ircvn. A- new process for preserving iron, consists inT treating the casting with diluted hydraulic acid, which dissolves a little of the metal and leaves a skin, of homogeneous graphite holding well to tho iron. The article- is then washed' in a recolver with hot or cold water,, or cooked in steam, so as to remove completely the chlo?ide of iron that, has been- formed. Jfinally, the pieco is allowed to dry in the omptied ro--ceivor,, and a solution of caoutchouc,, gutta percha or guui rosin in essence of pet role w is injected, and the essence afteuward evaporating, jeaves a hard and solid enamel on tho surlaeo of the-iron-woik. Another ylan is to keepi th chloride of iron on ine metal irb cii'jtA ni' M'.iutii'Arr lh i .f4 mirl t tho niece into a bth of borate of soda. Thus i.3 formed a, silico-borate, of iran, vioy hard and brilliant, which tills tho pores of the metal skin. As for the chlorine dis enged, it combines with thG soda to form cbloride of sodium, which re mains in the pickle. vo niung silicate ana It Is popularly supposed that tho blto of a tarantula is eurd by music. Sheriff Gabiiel, of Pinal county, Arizona, had an opportunity to test this popular bollof, and found it Illusory. !li ttM r 1