Chapter 3

In the Kew _Bulletin_ for January an interesting account is given of the identification of the plant yielding the rhizome employed to make the well-known Chinese preserved ginger. As long ago as 1878 Dr. E. Percival Wright, of Trinity College, Dublin, called the attention of Mr. Thiselton Dyer to the fact that the preserved ginger has very much larger rhizomes than _Zingiber officinale_, and that it was quite improbable that it was the product of that plant. The difficulty in identifying the plant arose from the fact that, like many others cultivated for the root or tuber, it rarely flowers. The first flowering plant was sent to Kew from Jamaica by Mr. Harris, the superintendent of the Hope Garden there. During the past year the plant has flowered both at Dominica in the West Indies and in the Botanic Garden at Hong-Kong. Mr. C. Ford, the director of the Botanic Garden at Hong-Kong, has identified the plant as _Alpinia Galanga_, the source of the greater or Java galangal root of commerce. Mr. Watson, of Kew, appears to have been the first to suggest that the Chinese ginger plant is probably a species of _Alpinia_, and possibly identical with the Siam ginger plant, which was described by Sir J. Hooker in the _Botanical Magazine_ (tab. 6,946) in 1887 as a new species under the name of _Alpinia zingiberina_. Mr. J.G. Baker, in working up the Scitamineæ for the "Flora of British India," arrived at the conclusion that it is not distinct from the _Alpinia Galanga_, Willd. The Siam and Chinese gingers are therefore identical, and both are the produce of _Alpinia Galanga_, Willd.

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FLOATING ELEVATOR AND SPOIL DISTRIBUTOR.

We illustrate a floating elevator and spoil distributor constructed by Mr. A.F. Smulders, Utrecht, Holland, for removing dredged material out of barges at the Baltic Sea Canal Works. We give a perspective view showing the apparatus at work, and on a page plate are given plans, longitudinal and cross sections, with details which are from _Engineering_. The dredged material is raised out of the launches or barges by means of a double ranged bucket chain to a height of 10.5 meters (34 ft. 5 in.) above the water line, from whence it is pushed to the place of deposition by a heavy stream of water supplied by centrifugal pumps.

The necessary machinery and superstructure are supported on two vessels connected, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, with cross girders, a sufficient width being left between each vessel to form a well large enough for a barge to float into, and for the working of the bucket ladder utilized in raising the material from the barges. The girders are braced together and carry the framing for the bucket chains, gears, etc.

The port vessel is provided with a compound engine of 150 indicated horse power, with injection condenser actuating two powerful centrifugal pumps, raising water which enters by a series of holes into the bottom of the shoots underneath the dredged material, carrying the material to the conduit (as indicated on Fig. 4 and in detail on Figs. 6 and 7).

A steel boiler of 80 square meters (860 square feet) heating surface, and 6 atmospheres (90 lb.) working pressure, supplies steam to the engine. Forward on the deck of the same vessel there is a vertical two-cylinder high pressure engine of 30 indicated horse power, which helps to bring the barge to the desired position between the parallel vessels. A horizontal two-cylinder engine of the same power, fitted with reversing gear, placed in the middle of the foremost iron girder, raises and lowers the bucket ladder by the interposition of a strongly framed capstan, as shown on Fig. 5. The gearing throughout is of friction pulleys and worm and wormwheel. It is driven by belts.

In the starboard vessel there is a compound engine of 100 indicated horse power, with injection condenser, working the bucket chain by means of belts and wheel gearing, as shown on Fig. 2. A marine boiler of 46 square meters (495 square feet) heating surface and 6 atmospheres (90 lb.) working pressure, supplies steam. In this vessel, it may be added, there is a cabin for the crew.

The dimensions of the vessels are as follows; Extreme length, 25 meters (82 ft.); breadth, 4.5 meters (14 ft. 9 in.); depth (moulded), 2.7 meters (6 ft. 6¾ in.); average draught of water, 1.4 meters (4 ft. 7 in.); space between the ships, 6.55 meters (21 ft. 6 in.) The iron structure connecting the ships is composed of four upright box-form stanchions on both ships, connected at the top by two strong box girders with tie pieces supporting the main framing. This main framing, also of the "box girder" form, is strengthened with angle irons and braced together at the tops by a platform supporting the gearing of the bucket chains, as shown on Fig. 5. The buckets have a capacity of 160 liters (5.65 cubic feet) and the speed in travel is at the rate of 25 to 30 buckets per minute, so that with both ladders working, 50 to 60 buckets are discharged per minute. The top tumbler shaft is placed at a height of 13 meters (42 ft. 8 in.) above the water line (Fig. 4), and the dredge conduit has a length of 50 meters (164 ft.), Fig. 1. The shooting is done at a height of 8.5 meters (27 ft. 10 in.) above the water line, and the shoot catches the dredged products at a height of 10.5 meters (34 ft. 5 in.) above the water line, the sliding gradient being 4 to 100. The dredge conduit is carried by timberwork resting on two of the upright box form stanchions.

All cables are of galvanized steel and provided with open twin buckles. The main parts of the apparatus are of steel, and all pieces subject to wear and tear are fitted with bushes so formed that they can be easily replaced.

The quantity of suitable soil removed by these apparatus amounts to 350 cubic meters (12,360 square feet) per hour. Four plants of similar construction have been built for the new Baltic Sea Canal, besides a fixed elevator of the same power and disposition, with the exception that the top tumbler shaft was suspended at a height of 16.1 meters (51 ft. 10 in.) above the water line, and the dredge conduit placed at a distance of 13 meters (43 ft.) from it.

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IMPROVED COLD IRON SAW.

The engraving given herewith shows a general view of the "Demon" cold saw, designed for cutting iron, mild steel, or other metals of fairly large sections, that is, up square or round, and any rectangular section up to 8 in. by 4 in. The maker, Mr. R.G. Fiege, of London, claims for this appliance that it is a cold iron saw, at once powerful, simple and effective. It is always in readiness for work, can be worked by inexperienced workmen. The bed plate has T slots, to receive a parallel vise, which can be fixed at any angle for angular cutting. The articulated lever carries a saw of 10 in. or 12 in. diameter, on the spindle of which a bronze pinion is fixed, gearing with the worm shown. The latter derives motion from a pair of bevel wheels, which are in turn actuated from the pulley shown in the engraving. The lever and the saw connected with it can be raised and held up by a pawl while the work is being fixed. In small work the weight of the lever itself is found sufficient to feed the saw, but in heavier work it is found necessary to attach a weight on the end of the lever. The machine is fitted with fast and loose pulleys, strap fork and bar. We are informed that one of these machines is capable of making 400 cuts through bars of Bessemer steel 4 in. diameter, each cutting occupying six minutes on an average, without changing the saw.--_Industries_.

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A RAILWAY THROUGH THE ANDES.

The railway system of the Argentine Republic is separated from the Chilian system by the chain of the Andes. The English contractors, Messrs. Clark & Co., have undertaken to connect them by a line which starts from Mendoza, the terminus of the Argentine system, and ends at Santa Rosa in Chili, with a total length of 144 miles. The distance from Buenos Ayres to Valparaiso will thus be reduced to 816 miles. The Argentine lines are of 5.4 foot gauge, and those of Chili of 4.6 foot.

The line in course of construction traverses an extremely hilly region. The starting and terminal points are at the levels of 2,338 feet (Mendoza) and 2,706 feet (Santa Rosa) above the sea; the lowest neck of the chain is at the level of 11,287 feet.

Study having shown that a direction line without tunnels, and even with the steepest gradients for traction by adhesion, would lead to a considerable lengthening of the line, and would expose it to avalanches and to obstructions by snow, there was adopted upon a certain length a rack track of the Abt system, with gradients of 8 per cent., and the neck is traversed by a tunnel 3 miles in length and 1,968 feet beneath the surface. The number and length of the tunnels upon the two declivities, moreover, are considerable. They are all provided with rack tracks. The first 80 miles, starting from Mendoza, are exploited by adhesion, with maximum gradients of 2½ per cent. Upon the remaining 64 miles, traction can be effected either by adhesion or racks.

The track is of 3.28 foot gauge, and this will necessitate trans-shipments upon the two systems. The rails weigh 19 pounds to the running foot in the parts where the exploitation can be effected either through adhesion or racks, and 17 pounds in those in which adhesion alone will be employed.

The special locomotives for use on the rack sections will weigh 45 tons in service and will haul 70 ton trains over gradients of 8 percent. Those that are to be employed upon the parts where traction will be by adhesion will be locomotives with five pairs of wheels, three of them coupled. The weight distributed over these latter will be 28 tons. These engines will haul 140 ton trains over gradients of 2 per cent.

The earthwork is now finished over two-thirds of the length, and the track has been laid for a length of 58 miles from Mendoza. It is hoped that it will be possible to open the line to traffic as far as to the summit tunnels in 1891, and to finish the tunnels in 1893. These tunnels will have to be excavated through hard rock. To this effect, it is intended to use drills actuated by electricity through dynamos driven by waterfalls. The Ferroux system seems preferable to the Brandt and other hydraulic systems, seeing the danger of the water being frozen in the conduits placed outside of the tunnels.--_Le Genie Civil_.

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THE EMPRESS OF INDIA.

The Empress of India is intended to be the pioneer of three fast mail steamers, built by the Barrow Shipbuilding Company for service in connection with the Canadian Pacific Railway, between Vancouver and the ports of China and Japan, thus forming the last link in the new route to the East through British territory. Her sister ships, the Empress of China and Empress of Japan, are to be ready in April next. These three ships all fulfill the requirements of the Board of Trade and of the Admiralty and Lloyd's, and are classed as 100 A1. They will also be placed on the list of British armed cruisers for service as commerce protectors in time of war. For this service each vessel is to be thoroughly fitted. There are two platforms forward and two aft, for mounting 7 in. Armstrong guns. These weapons, in the case of the Empress of India, are already awaiting the vessel at Vancouver. The Empress of India is painted white all over, has three pole masts to carry fore and aft sails. She has two buff-colored funnels and a clipper stern, and in external build much resembles the City of Rome. Her length over all is 485 feet; beam, 51 feet; depth, 36 feet; and gross tonnage, 5,920 tons. The hull, of steel, is divided into fifteen compartments by bulkheads, and has a cellular double bottom 4 feet in depth and 7 feet below the engine room. There are four complete decks. The ship is designed to carry 200 saloon passengers, 60 second cabin, and 500 steerage--these last chiefly Chinese coolies, for whose special delectation an "opium room" has been provided on board.--_Daily Graphic_.

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CHICAGO AS A SEAPORT.

The prairie land in the southwest corner of Lake Michigan, which, seventy years ago, was half morass from the overflowing of the sluggish creek, whose waters, during flood, spread over the low-lying, level plain, or were supplemented in the dry season by the inflow from the lake, showed no sign of any future development and prosperity. The few streets of wooden houses that had been built by their handful of isolated inhabitants seemed likely rather to decay from neglect and desertion than to increase, and ultimately to be swept away by fire, to make room for the extravagant and gigantic buildings that to-day characterize American civilization and commercial prosperity. Nearly 1,000 miles from the Atlantic, a greater distance from the Gulf of Mexico, and 2,000 miles from the Pacific, no wilder dream could have been imagined fifty years ago than that Chicago should become a seaport, the volume of whose business should be second only to that of New York; that forty miles of wharves and docks lining the branches of the river should be insufficient for the wants of her commerce, and that none of the magnificent lake frontage could be spared to supply the demand.

Yet this is the situation to-day, the difficulties of which must increase many fold as years pass and business grows, unless some changes are made by which increased accommodation can be obtained. The nature of these changes has long engrossed the attention of the municipality and their engineers, and necessity is forcing them from discussion to action. As such action is likely to be taken soon, the subject is of sufficient interest to the English reader to devote some space to its consideration.

The most important problem, however, which the works to be undertaken--and which must of necessity be soon commenced--will have to solve, is not one of wharf accommodation or of increased facilities of commerce. It is the better disposal of the sewage of the city, the system in use at present being inadequate, and growing more and more imperfect as the city and its population increase. During the early days of Chicago, and indeed long after, the sewage question was treated with primitive simplicity, and with a complete disregard of sanitary laws.

The river and the lake in front of the city were close at hand and convenient to receive all the discharge from the drains that flowed into them. But this condition of things had to come to an end, for the lake supplied the population with water, and it became too contaminated for use. To obtain even this temporary relief involved much of the ground level of the city being raised to a height of 14 ft. above low water, a great undertaking carried out a number of years ago. To obtain an adequate supply of pure water, Mr. E.S. Chesborough, the city engineer, adopted the ingenious plan of driving a long tunnel beneath the bed of the lake, connected at the outer end to an inlet tower built in the water, and on shore to pumping engines. This plan proved so successful that it is now being repeated on a larger scale, and with a much longer tunnel, to meet the increased demands of the large population.

But to improve the sanitary condition of the city has been a much more difficult undertaking, as may be gathered from the following extract from an official report: "The present sanitary condition calls loudly for relief. The pollution of the Desplaines and the Illinois Rivers extends 81 miles, as far as the mouth of the Fox (see plan, Fig. 1) in summer low water, and occasionally to Peoria (158 miles) in winter. Outside of the direct circulation the river harbor is indescribable. The spewing of the harbor contents into the lake, the sewers constantly discharging therein, clouds the source of water supply (the lake) with contamination. Relief to Chicago and equity to her neighbors is a necessity of the early future." To make this quotation clear it is necessary to explain the actual condition of the Chicago sewage question.

Long before the present metropolis had arrived at the title and dignity of a city, the advantage to be derived from a waterway between Lake Michigan and the Illinois River, and thence to the Mississippi, was well understood. The scheme was, in fact, considered of sufficient importance to call for legislation as early as 1822, in which year an act was passed authorizing the construction of a canal having this object. It was not commenced, however, till 1836, and was opened to navigation in the spring of 1848. This canal extended from Chicago to La Salle, a distance of 97¼ miles, and it had a fall of 146 ft. to low water in the Illinois River (see Fig. 1). It was only a small affair, 6 ft. deep, and 60 ft. wide on the surface; the locks were 110 ft. long and 18 ft. wide. The summit level, which was only 8 ft. above the lake, was 21 miles in length. This limited waterway remained in use for a number of years, until, in fact, the growth of Chicago rendered it impossible to allow the sewage to flow any longer into the lake. In 1865 the State of Illinois sanctioned widening and lowering the canal so that it should flow by gravity from Lake Michigan. The enlargement was completed in 1871, by the city of Chicago, and the sewage was then discharged toward the Illinois River. But the flow was insufficient, and in 1881 the State called on the city to supplement the flow by pumping water into the canal.

In 1884, engines delivering 60,000 gallons a minute were set to work and remedied the evil for a time, so far as the city of Chicago was concerned, but the large discharge of sewage through the sluggish current of the canal and into the Illinois River proved a serious and ever-increasing nuisance to the inhabitants in the adjoining districts. To enlarge the existing canal, increase the volume and speed of its discharge, and to alter the levels, so that there shall be a relatively rapid stream flowing at all times from Lake Michigan, appears the only practical means of affording relief to the city, and immunity to other towns and villages lying along the route of the stream.

The physical nature of the country is well suited for carrying out such a project on a scale far larger than that required for sewage purposes, and works thus carried out would, to a small extent, restore the old water _regime_ in this part of the continent. Before the vast surface changes produced during the last glacial period, three of the great lakes--Michigan, Huron and Superior--discharged their waters southward into the Gulf of Mexico by a broad river. The accumulation of glacial debris changed all this; the southern outlet was cut off, and a new one to the north was opened near where Detroit stands, making a channel to Lake Erie, which then became the outlet for the whole chain by way of Niagara. A very slight change in levels would serve to restore the present _regime_. Around Lake Michigan the land has been slightly raised, the summit above mean water level being only about 8 ft. Thirty miles from the south shore the lake level is again reached at a point near Lockport (see Fig. 2); the fall then becomes more marked. At Lake Joliet, 10 miles further, the fall is 77 ft.; and at La Salle, 100 miles from Chicago, the total fall reaches 146 feet. At La Salle the Illinois River is met, and this stream, after a course of 225 miles, enters the Missouri. In the whole distance the Illinois River has a fall of 29 ft. "It has a sluggish current; an oozy bed and bars, formed chiefly by tributaries, with natural depths of 2 ft. to 4 ft.; banks half way to high waters, and low bottoms, one to six miles wide, bounded by terraces, overflowed during high water from 4 ft. to 12 ft. deep, and intersected in dry seasons by lake, bayou, lagoon, and marsh, the wreck of a mighty past."

The rectification of the Illinois and the construction of a large canal from La Salle to Lake Michigan are, therefore, all that is necessary to open a waterway to the Gulf of Mexico, and to make Chicago doubly a port; on the one hand, for the enormous lake traffic now existing; on the other, for the trade that would be created in both directions, northward to Lake Michigan, and southward to the Gulf.

As a matter of fact this great scheme has long occupied the attention of the United States government. A bill in 1882 authorized surveys for "a canal from a point on the Illinois River, at or near the town of Hennepin, by the most practical route to the Mississippi River ... and a survey of the Illinois and Michigan Canal connecting the Illinois River with Chicago, and estimates from its enlargements." This scheme only contemplated navigation for boats up to 600 tons. In 1885 the Citizens' Association, of Chicago caused a report to be made for an extended plan. The name of Mr. L.E. Cooly, at that time municipal sanitary engineer, was closely associated with this report, as it is at the present time for the agitation for carrying out the works. This report recommended that "an ample channel be created from Chicago to the Illinois River, sufficient to carry away in a diluted state the sewage of a large population. That this channel may be enlarged by the State or national government to any requirement of navigation or water supply for the whole river, creating incidentally a great water power in the Desplaines valley." Following this report and that of a Drainage and Water Supply Commission, a bill was introduced into Congress supporting the recommendations that had been made, and providing the financial machinery for carrying it into execution. Since that date much discussion has taken place, and some little action; meanwhile the sanitary requirements of the city are growing more urgent, and the pressure created from this cause will enforce some decision before long. Whether the new waterway is to be practically an open sewer or a ship canal remains yet to be seen, but it is tolerably certain that its dimensions and volume of water must approximate to the latter, if the large populations of other towns are to be satisfied. In fact the actual necessities are so great as regards sectional area of canal and flow of water--at least 600,000 ft. a minute--that comparatively small extra outlay would be needed to complete the ship canal.

The attention of engineers in Chicago, as well as of the United States government, is consequently closely directed at the present time to such a solution of the problem as shall secure to Chicago such a waterway as will dispose of the sewage question for very many years to come; that shall relieve the inhabitants on the line of the canal from all nuisances arising from the sewage disposal, and shall provide a navigable channel for vessels of deep draught. The maps, Figs. 1 and 2, give an idea of the most favored scheme--that of Mr. Cooley.

As will be seen, the canal commencing near the mouth of the Chicago River passes through a cut in the low ridge forming the summit level; then it runs to Lake Joliet, and through the valleys of the Desplaines and Illinois Rivers, to the Mississippi at Grafton, a distance of 325 miles. The elevations and distances of the principal points are as follows: