The Perrysburg journal. [volume], April 10, 1854, Image 1

About The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861

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THE
PERRYSBURG
JOURNAL.
BY S. CLARK.
"Agriculture, Commerce, Manufactures"
$1.50 In Advance.
VOL. 2.
PERRYSBUltG, WOOD COUNTY, OHIO, MONDAY", APRIL 10, 1854.
NO. 5.
Terrible Engine of War--Startling Inventions.
turn.. I
Pauls, March fl. The new inventions!
for tin, moiv. rapid destruction of human
beings which thu war is bringing to light,)
especially in England, will surpass allexpec-j
(:itinns. ' Tli'? arsenals of Endand have for
a Ions time b'cn closed to visitors, even to
numbers of Parliament, while these new
!)iid terrible machines were being made and
experimented upon, and no knowledge of
th ir existence was ever permitted until now
called forth hy actual service. Many years
ago, the English Government had a proposi
tion before, them to adopt Wagoner's float
ing gun, and hesitated. A member of Par
liament exclaimed :" He demands but
300.000, and vet you hesitate ! Hasten to
buy this machine, declare war against
France and you will destroy her marine in
a lew days time!" No attention was paid
to this apostrophe at the time in France,
and apparently none in England. But this
terrible invention, of which the public has
ceased to talk, and which was even ridiculed
at the time, has been maturing in conceal
ment in the arsenals of Woolwich, and is
now nearly ready to go out on its work of
destruction.
Count Lavalette, captain of military ma
rine in France, who knew the construction
of this gun.it is said, made endeavors to
have it adopted by the Minister of Marine,
tinder Louis Philippe. It is simply a long
congrevegnn, which glides along on the wa
ter in a straight line, till it strikes the ves
sel at which it is directed, when it thrusts
into its sides its iron head, containing two
pounds of fulminating powder of mercury.
When the fire attains this reservoir, it ex
plodes, blowing a hole 10 or 12 feet in diame
ter, which it is impossible for them to close
'ip as they do the round holes made by can
non halls. .
In admitting that the Russian fleets shall
retire under the inapproachable fortresses of
Cronstadt and Sebastopol, they cannot be in
.afeiv from this ten iDle congrevc gun, vwncij
carries to almost any distance wunin reacn
of the aim, and far heyond the reach of any
other gun. It cannot he prevented from
passing through the most contracted straits
where ships pass.
The submarine boats are so perfected at
this moment that they can reach und attach
a burner to anv enemy's ship without run
ning the. least danger. Experiments are also
hMug made with an asphyxiating ball, which
does not kill, but which paralyzes an entire
crew for several hours, or until they are made
prisoners. They are embarking also a large
number of burning explosive balls, which
oxplode invariahlv when they strike, even in
the body of a horse, for they inflame at the
moment of discharge from the gun, and fly
burning like small congreves until the mo
ment of the explosion, when they may apply
firo to the ammunition chests and other in
flammable material, as tasilyand as surely
;is if they were to fall in a stubble field.
They are furnishing also two small steam
boats of a singular appearance, which will
:avrv onlv two enormous Faixhan guns,
placed on' the. fore, part of the vessel. The
walls of these little vessels have, a thickness
of six feet, made of oak, standing upright,
:ind this covered with a matrass of cotton
substance a foot fnu a half thick, which is
impenetrable to a bullet, and this ngain cov-
r(,d with a sheeting of iron and lead. Its
prow lies the angular form of a cuirass in
tended to turn bullets; the roof or deck is
covered in the mine way, so ns to allow the
bombs to glide into the. sea without doing
damage.
The fire-fhip, very heavy, nnd a very
bad sailer, will be towed, and let loose at
the proper moment, to approach near the
enemy's vessels, cither when at anchor or
laying-to, which it will attack fore and aft
with bombs thrown between wind and wa
ter, and sprinkling the. ship with a shower
of Grecian fire.' One of their burners,
taking by surprise a fleet of vessels in a calm,
could with ease destroy the whole fleet, and
yet it only requires the labor of ten deter
mined men to operate it.
Tlie English fleet is largely provided with
balloons, intended to carry inflammable
materials to scatter over towns, villages and
fleets, when the wind favor ssuch operations.
The English land force will be largely pro
vided with rifles carrying the Minie ball
which has at last been adopted in England;
while, the French will send a still larger pro
portion of troops carrying the I3alle-a-tige,
which is used in the French service in the
place of the Minie ball. The Russian ves
sels will have one advantage in being more
largely supplied with Colt's revolvers than
either the. English or French, which will be
used with an overpowering advantage in
boarding contests. Altogether, the contest
will be. quite a different affair, as regards its
killing power, from those which were seen
as late even as fifty years ago. Already the
reader must have observed, that in the con
test on the Danube the numbers killed in
comparison to the numbers engaged is enor
mous, when compared with the last general
war between those two nations.
Value of the Corn Crop.
At a legislative agricultural meeting, held
in Boston, the subject of discussion for the
evening, was as follows: " Is the increased
culture of Indian corn, worthy the attention
of the farmers of the Commonwealth?"
We append a few of the remarks made.
Mr. Sprague spoke at some length upon
the history of Indian corn, and the progress
that has been made, in its cultivation. In
the old Colony the crop has been doubled.
Still there is much to learn in regard to its
culture, even by the best farmer in the State.
The importance of Indian com to the far
mer was also dwelt upon.
Dr. Reynolds of Concord, spoke of the
nutritive value of different crops. Taking
Johnson's estimates and applying them to
our crops, he made corn for home use to be
about twice, as valuable as wheat ; but for
sale about the same. He also made it much
more valuable than turnips one pound of
corn being equal to eight pounds ot turnips.
A similar result was shown in comparison
between corn and English hay, meadow hay
and oats. Dr. Reynolds thought the English
and German tables, upon which our esti
mates are generally made are not adapted to
our soil and crops, and need revision before
they can be adopted generally. He had
come to the conclusion that corn is the
most profitable crop the farmer can raise.
Maj. Wheeler, of Farmingham, presented
some statistics showing the. comparative
cost of raising different crops, and their
value, the result of which was, that corn
was more valuable than wheat, oats, car
rots, or hav. He believed corn to be one of
the most profitable crops the farmer can
raise at the present prices. Any farmer, he
thought, could raise 55 bushels to the acre,
if the land is ploughed deep.
Mr. Brown addressed the meeting upon
the renewed importance of the culture of the
corn crop, especially in view of the disturb
ances in Europe, the export ol wheat,
corn and flour, the fust two weeks of this
year, as compared with last year, shows a
great increase, o mounting in value to 81,
217,800. He advised farmers to go into
the culture of the com crop.
A IIkavy Family. The family of Col.
James Russell, of Temple, consisting of
himself, wife and six children, weigh in the
aggregate 15G5 lbs.; average weight of each
11)53 lbs. The heaviest member of the fam
ily weighs 330, and the lightest 14G lbs.
Fanmngton Chronicle.
" r-tnr.it Latk than Nv.vr.u." The Ohio
Statesman says Sam Medary has paid into
the Treasury the 9,000.whichhe received as
the outfit of the mission to Chili. The res
olution of inquiry adopted by the hou.se of
representatives, seems to Have quicKencu I lie
movement of the ex-minister.
Extraordinary Performances of a Lady.
The following is an extract of a letter from
a person travelling in the wild portions of
Delaware and Sullivan counties, New York :
As I was trudging along one afternoon in
the town of Fremont, one of the border
towns of Sullivan county, I was overtaken
by what I first supposed was a young man
with a rifle on his shoulder; and being well
pleased with the idea of having company
through the woods, I turned around and
said, ' Good afternoon, sir ;" " Good after
noon,'' said my new acquaintance, but in a
tone of voice that sounded to me rather
peculiar. My suspicions were at once
aroused, and to satisfy myself I made some
enquiries in regard to hunting, which were
readily answered by the young lady whom
I thus encountered. She said she had been
out ever since day light--had followed a buck
nearly all day, got one shot and wounded him,
but as there was little snow she could not get
him, and was going to try him the next day,
hoping that she could get another shot at
him, and she was quite certain that she
should kill him.
Although I cannot give a very good idea
of her appearance, I will try to describe her
dress. The only article of female apparel
visible was a close-fitted hood upon her head,
such as is often worn by deer hunters. Next,
an India rubber hunting coat ; her nether
limbs were encased in a snug, ' tight fitting
pair of corduroy pants, and a pair of Indian
mocasins upon her feet. She had a good
looking rifle upon her shoulder, and a brace
of double barreled pistols in the side pock
ets of her coat, while a formidable hunting
knife hung suspended by her side. Wishing to
witness her skill with hunting instruments,
I commenced bantering her with regard to
shooting. She smiled and said she was as
good a shot as was in the woods, and to con
vince me she took out her hunting knife and
cut a ring four inches in diameter in a tree,
with a small spot in the center. Then
stepping back thirty yards, and drawing up
one of her pistols, put both balls inside
the ring. She then, at thirty-five rods from
the tree, put a ball from her rifle in the very
centre. We shortly came to her father's
house, and I gladly accepted an invitation
to stop there overnight. The maiden hunt
er, instead of sitting down to rest, as most
hunters do when they go home, remarked
that she had the chores to do. So out she
went ; fed, watered and stabled a pair of
young horses, a yoke of oxen and two cows.
She then went to the saw mill, and brought
a slab on her shoulder that I should'nt like
to carry, and with an axe and saw soon
worked it into stove wood.
Her first business was to change her dress
and get tea, which she did in a manner
which would have been creditable to a more
scientific cook. After lea she. finished up
her usual housework, and then sat down and
commenced plying her needle in a very lady
like manner. I ascertained that her mother
was quite feeble, and her father confined to
the house with rheumatism. The whole
family were intelligent, well educated and
communicative. They had moved from
Schoharie county into the woods about three
years before, and the father was taken lame
the first winter after their arrival, and had
not been able to do anything since. Lucy
Ann, as her mother called her, has taken
charge of, ploughed, planted, and harvested
the farm, learned to chop wood, drive team,
and do all necessary work. Game being
plenty, she had learned to use her father's
rifle, and spent some of her leisure time in
hunting. She had not killed a deer yet,
but expressed her determination to kill one
at least before. New Years. She boasted of
having killed any quantity of partridges,
squirrels and other small game. After
chatting some time, she brought a violin
from a "closet, and played fifteen or twenty
tunes, and also sang a few songs, accompa
nying herself on the violin in a style that
showed she was far from destitute of musi-
' cal skill. After spending a pleasant evening
Ave retired. The next morning she was up
at four o'clock, and before sunrise had the
breakfast out of the way, and all her work
out of doors and in the house done, and
when I left, a few minutes after sunrise, she
had on her hunting suit, and was loading
her rifle for an other chase after the deer.
From the Far North-West. The Coun
cil Bluffs Bugle publishes the summary of a
"talk" with Col. A. G. Vaughn, Govern
ment agent for thirteen tribes of Northern
Indians. The Colonel distributed $50,400
among his charge, which sum they are to
receive annually as long as they maintain
the Laramie treaty. The tribes, amounting
in individuals to 70,000, were friendly and
at peace among themselves. He arrived at
Yellow Stone on the 4th of July. On the
3d he had seen " plenty of ice on the banks
of the Missouri." The whole country north
of Iowa is a broken, sandy, and valueless
waste, but to view presents scenery of the
most magnificent character. In one region
(north of Iowa) he found every thing on the
surface of the ground, logs, vegetables, ani
mals, in a partial or complete state of pet
refaction. He saw tortoises by the score
which would weigh upwards of 500 pounds
turned to solid rock. The Colonel brought
with him several specimens of petrefaction,
such as eagles, gulls, reptiles, pieces of wood,
&c. The country he traversed on his return to
Council Bluffs was not visited with any snow
and scarcely with any rain during the win
ter. He reports favorably of the Sioux, and
it is not the Sioux but the Sauntees who are
creating ill feeling against the Omahas. The
thermometer ranged between 90 and 100
in August at Fort Pierre, where Mr. Vaughn
wintered, while in December it fell below
zero. After leaving Sargeant's Bluffs he
visited the band of Sauntees who have been
in pursuit of the Omahas, and advised them
to return home, which they promised to do.
A better description of the manner in
which sea-sickness " takes down " the lofti
est and most pompous character was never
written than that which is furnished by that
illustrious flunkey, Mr. Chawls Yellow
plush :
" Gentel reader, av you ever been on the
otion? ' The sea, the hopen sea ?' as Barry
Cornwell says. As soon as we entered our
little wessel, and I'd look to master's lug
gitch, and mine, (mine was wrapped up in a
very small handkerchief,) as soon, 1 say, as
we entered our little wessel, as I saw the
waves, black and frothy, like fresh drawn
porter, a dashin against the ribbs of our gal
lant bark, the keal like a wedge, a splittin
the billoes in two, the sales a flappin in the
hair, the standard of Hengland floating at
the mast ead, the steward a getting ready the
basins and things, and the captain proudly
tredding the deck and giving orders to the
sailors, the white rox of Albany, and bathin
mashens disappearing in the distans then,
then I felt for the first time the mite the
madgiste of existence. " Yellowplush, my
boy," said 1, a dialog to myself, " your life
is now about to commens : your career as a
man dates from your entrans on board thiB
packet. Be. wise, be manly, be cautious;
forgit the follies of j our youth. You are no
longer a boy now, but a footman. Throw
down your tops, your marbles, your boyish,
games ; throw off your childish habits with
your inky' clerk's jackit throw up your
" Here I recklect, I was Obleeged to stop.
A fealin in the first place singular, in the
next place painful, and at last completely
overpowering, had came upon me while I
was making the abuff speech, and I now
found myself in a sityouation which Uillixv
for bids me to describe. Stilus to say, that I
now discovered what basins was made for:
that for many, many hours I lay in a h igony
of exostion, dead to all intence and pur
puses, the rain pattering in my face, the
salers a tramplink over my body; the panes
of purgertory going on inside !"'