Scientific American Supplement, No. 810, July 11, 1891

Excerpt

COCOS PYNAERTI.

This is an acquisition to the dwarf growing palms, and a graceful table plant. It first appeared in the nurseries of M. Pynaert, Ghent, and is evidently a form of C. Weddelliana, having similar character, though, as shown by the accompanying illustration, it is quite distinct. The leaves are gracefully arched, the pinnules rather broader than in the type, more closely arranged, and of a deep tone of rich green. Such a small growing palm possessing elegant and distinct character should become a favorite.—The Gardener's Magazine.

COCOS PYNAERTI—A NEW PALM.

By JACQUES W. REDWAY.

The purport of the following paper is to show that corrosion of its banks and deposition of sediment constitute the legitimate business of a river. If the bed of the Mississippi were of adamant, and its drainage slopes were armored with chilled steel, its current would do just what it has been doing in past ages—wear them away, and fill the Gulf of Mexico with the detritus.

Many thoughts were suggested by Mr. S.C. Clemens, erstwhile a Mississippi pilot, and by Mr. D.A. Curtis. Both of these gentlemen know the river.

GENERAL GEOGRAPHY.

The Mississippi River, as ordinarily regarded, has its head waters in a chain of lakes situated mainly in Beltrami and Cass counties, Minnesota. The lake most distant from the north is Elk Lake, so named in the official surveys of the U.S. Land Office. A short stream flows from Elk Lake to Lake Itaska, a beautiful sheet of water, considerably larger than Elk Lake. From Lake Itaska it flows in a general northeasterly direction, receiving the waters of innumerable springs and ponds, among them Lake Bemidji, a body of water equal in size to Lake Itaska. After a course of 135 miles the steam flows into Cass Lake, absorbing in the meantime the waters of another chain of lakes, discharged through Turtle River. From Cass Lake the waters flow a distance of twenty miles, and are poured into Lake Winnibigoshish. The latter has an area of eighty square miles; it is twice the size of Cass Lake and more than six times that of Lake Itaska. From Lake Winnibigoshish to the point where it receives the discharge of Leech Lake, the river flows through an open savannah, from a quarter of a mile to a mile in width. Forty miles beyond are Pokegama Falls. Here the river flows from Pokegama Lake, falling about fourteen feet before quiet water is reached. All the country about the headwaters is densely wooded with Norway pine on the higher ground, and with birch, maple, poplar and tamarack on the lower ground. Between Pokegama Falls and the Falls of St. Anthony, the river receives the waters of a number of other similar streams, all flowing from the lake region.

At St. Paul the navigable stage of the river practically begins, although there is more or less navigable water above the falls at certain seasons. From St. Paul to Cairo the river flows between bluffs, the terraces of Champlain times, from ten to fifty miles apart. Between the bluffs are the bottom lands, often coincident with the flood plain, along which the river channel wanders in a devious course of 1,100 miles. The soil of the bottom lands is, of course, alluvial, and was deposited by the river during past ages; that beyond the bluffs is a part of the great intermontane plain, and is sedentary—that is, it has not been materially disturbed since the plain was raised above the sea level by the uplift of the continent.

From Cairo, at the junction of the Ohio River, the plain to the southward is nearly all made land, and in a few spots only does the river touch soil which it has not itself made....