Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1891 — Page 5

A MOUNTAIN SILOAM.

PECULIAR WATERS FOUND IN THE STATE OF WASHINGTON. A Medicinal Lake Without Visible Inlet or Outlet—The Strange Reptile that Deceived the Naturalists and was Wrongly Named. There are in the world many lakes and inland seas, each having water peculiar to itself. Most noted of these is the Dead Sea, whose surface is 1,300 feet below that of the ocean and whose depth is another 1300 feet. The largest js the Caspian Sea, also below sea level, and with an unfathomable bottom. Exploration of the American continent has revealed a number of saline and alkaline lakes, all of which are above sea level. Salt Lake, the largest and perhaps the oldest, has an altitude of 4,200 feet. Lake Como in the new “State of Wonders” is 7,000 feet up in the mountains, while Tulare has less than 300 feet altitude. The waters of the last two are quite brackish, but light compared with Salt Lake, whose contents are 20 per cent, salt, being but little lighter than Dead Sea water. The waters of Lakes Owen and Mono, on the eastern slope of the Sierra, have not been analyzed, but they are surcharged with sodium compounds. Borax lake, in Southeastern Oregon, is named from the boracic character of its waters. All these lakes and seas have a idsible inlet, a fresh-water supply, that compensates for evaporation, but there is a little alkaline and saline lake in Southern Washington that has no visible inlet or outlet, the supply coming from two hidden springs. It is situated on the great Columbia river plateau, sixteen miles southwest from Spokane and 2,300 feet above the rim of the ocean. From the remedial virtues of the water it has been appropriately called Medical lake. It lies in the midst of a great basaltic region through which the granite crops occasionally, aS on the western shore. The lake bed, too, is said to be granite. A high basaltic ridge to the westward is shaded by a pine forest.

Medical Lake has a maximum depth of sixty feet, is half a mile wide and twice as long. No plant grows close to or in the water, and the quiet that reigns over the dark pool is impressive. The water has been described us amber-colored. If amber is dark with a greenish tinge, the description is good. Fresh water is to be found only a few feet below the surface not more than twenty feet from the lake shore. The first date mentioned in connection with the lake is 1807, when, it is said, Antoine Dufour, a prisoner of an Indian band camping on the lake shore, discovered the virtues of the water in an accidental and unpleasant way. Exposure had made him a victim of inflammatory rheumatism, and one night while hobbling about in vain attempt to escape from captivity, be tumbled into the water. He barely missed being drowned, and expected the wetting to make worse his already stiffened joints, but to his surprise and delight next day he was better. After this he frequently bathed in the water, and was soon free from disease and captors. For three-score years after this we hear nothing of the healing waters. In 1872 Andrew le Fevre entered a quarter section of land where the town now stands. To this- French Canadian the Indians were quite partial, for other white men wore not allowed to stay unmolested. But they guarded jealously the “medical waters,” for they had long known of their virtues, though they told the white man they were “bad waters.” Some of Mr. le Fevre’s sheep, however, led him to think differently. They hod “scab” and their instinct led them into the water, which they also drank and were healed. The shepherd soon tried it for his rheumatism, and was cured as if by magic. The medicinal virtues of the water, of course, depend on the pressure’ of minerals held in solution. These are the chloridesof sodium and potassium the carbonates of sodium, iron, calcium magnesium and lithium; the silicate and borate of sodium; oxide of aluminum and sulphate of potassium. There are 101 grains of those solids to the gallon, which gives the water a specific gravity of 1012, and an alkalinity that makes the skin feel, after bathing in it, as if oiled. As in most such bodies of water, the sodium compounds predominate, nearly twothirds here being the carbonate. For Ibathing the water is much preferable to sea or Salt lake water, and others, when rubbed on the head, like fine toilet

soap. Whenever a rough breeze brushes the lake surface the soapincss of the water is said to manifest itself in a latheryfoam that sometimes rises a foot high. A valuable toilet soap is obtained by adding a vegetable oil to the concentrated water. By evaporating the water the salt is obtained, and is sold whereever known for use in bathing as a remedial agent. Animal life in this lake is not so scarce as plant life. There is a bug which sports on the surface, a species of terrapin living more on the bottom, and a curious animal called the “walking fish,'' which seldom comes to the surface. The last named, the Axolotl, is quite remarkable in appearance and one of the most interesting of American reptiles. The name “secretary tadpole’’ would be as appropriate us “walking fish,” for the gills stick out behind the head in a way io remind one of the “secretary bird,” and it much resembles a large tadpole, being eight or nine inches long. A finny membrane extends along the back, continuing along the upper and lower sides of the compressed tail. The fore feet have four toes, and hinder five. The eyes arc small and without lids. The mouth, like the head, is large and ugly. Our natural histories speak of the axolotl as a Mexican reptile, and it. has been given a separate genus—siredon. It is so abundant in Mexican lakes as to be a source of food to the natives. Not until the discovery of Lake Como, Wyoming, was it known that the animal lived the United States. Professor Marsh took some of them to New Haven from this mountain lake, and the scientific world was surprised to loam that in these new surroundings they passed through -another metamorphosis, losing their gilis and finny adornment, while their hitherto undeveloped lungs expanded so that they would live in the open air, and their eyes were protected with lids. In fact it is a true ainblystoma, and had been wrongly named, having never in its native habitat reached more mature existence than tho larval state. The existence of the axolotl in Medical lake, or even the existence of the lake itself is, perhaps, new to most zoologists. It is also said to sport in the fresh water >f Lake Waahatucna, Washington.—San Francisco Chronicle. A statistician in Paris had the patience Io count the number of words employed »y the most celebrated writers. The

works of Corneille do not contain more than 7,000 different words, and those of Moliere 8,000. Shakespeare, the most fertile and varied of English authors, wrote all his tragedies and comedies with 15,000 words. Voltaire and Goethe employ 20,000. “Paradise Lost" only contains 8,000, and the Old Testament says ail that it has to say with 5,642 words.

JAILORS SHUN THEM. VS

Hard Work to get Crews forthe Bennington and Concord. The real trouble in getting men just now for the cruisers Concord and Bennington is due to the cramped quarters on those vessels. Even the officers are protesting against men being sent to sea in such ships. The space between decks is so cut up and lumbered with all sorts of gear and appliances as to compel hammocks to be swung in untenantable positions. The machinists and leading men are compelled to sleep in the workrooms, and so crowded is the condition below decks that the ventilation is seriously affected. Seamen, it is declared by naval officers, are human. It is bad enough, they say. to be packed in like sardines, but when this packing is accompanied by a life on a rolling and plunging ship and in an atmosphere poisonous from being breathed over and over again, the situation becomes unbearable. In the big wooden frigates of former days the seamen enjoyed plenty of room and at least good ventilation. Five hundred men were easily curried aboard vessels of the Brooklyn class. Ou the Concord and her sisters 160 men take up every available bit of space. It is so crowded on the Concord that officers wishing to go forward at night have to turn mon out from the hammocks swinging near the door opening in under the topgallant forecastle before it becomes possible to open this door. The only remedy, officers say, for the state of affairs aboard the 1,700-ton vessels is to reduce the fittings on these ships, and then follow it up by sending naval constructors to sea, affording them an opportunity to personally observe how men live, and what is needed for their comfort. This latter recommendation has been curried out in the British Navy. Bluejackets assigned to a war ship servo on that vessel for three full years. From the fact that it is known that the Bennington is short in her complement bluejackets w'ho have had experience in the navy refuse to enlist ut the receiving shi;> Vermont. They know that the hrst draft sent out from the Vermont will be to the Bennington, and rather than serve three years in “that hot hole,” as they term her, they arc holding aloof together. Of all the vessels in the now navy the Chicago is the most popular one with man-of-war’s mon. Her gun deck and roomy space below give the crew plenty of swinging room. Last year when five crews of war ships petitioned the Secretary of the Navy to withdraw marines from service afloat, these saifie crews asked that in future designs our war ships be given gun decks. The value of gun decks is only appreciated by men who have actually to go to sea. Naval constructors who sit comfortably in their office chairs think only, naval officers say, of getting th greatest number of fittings into ships in the space and displacement allowed. There is little or no consideration for the sailor. The fact that men have to spend three years in ships is entirely forgotten, as is albo the fact that bodily comfort is a factor of prime importance in developing fighting efficiency. The condition of affairs has become so bad in oelisting mon at the Brooklyn yard that the commanding officers of the Yantic, Boston, and other ships needing a few men to fill up vacancies in their complements have received permission from the Navy Department to enlist direct for their vessels. In this way seamen in signing the articles of enlistment will bo assured that they arc not intended for the Concord and Bennington. When the Concord and Bennington will succeed in obtaining full crew complements is entirely problematical.—[New York Times.

To Tell Good Mushrooms.

The mushroom that is coming intoour. markets every day now by thousands of bushels is known to scientific men as Agaricus campestris, but of this there are many varieties. It will grow only on the open pastures, meadows and downs which are exposed to tho winds; the unwholesome members of tho tribe like the shade und ‘ are clammy to tho touch. Even persons whose fields abound with this_plant cannot always distinguish tho wholesome from the unwholesome fungus, but whoever bears tho following facts in mind will have no difficulty: (1.) The table mushroom, or Agaricus campestris, is usually white on the outer surface, and has a skin which readily peels off. This is not true of the unwholesome mushroom. (2.) Tho gills or under radiants are of a beautiful salmon pink in the Agaricus campestris, but the gills, as well as the whole plant, turn to a mahogany brown after it has been exposed to sun and air in the open for two or three days. (3.) But this is the most definite test. (J’he inner ends of the gills are not joined to the stern in tho wholesome mushroom, but they are joined in all that are not edible. No one cun bo deceived by a poisonous plant if be keeps this fact in mind. Moreover, the flesh of the canipestris is solid and the perfume sweet and nutty. There is another edible member of this family, known us tho horse-mush-room, which grows four or five times larger thuu the one described; but it is course, stringy, and almost devoid of flavor. Xho plant, however, above all others to be avoided is the Agaricus fastibilis; it looks almost exactly like the edible fungus, but the gills are joined to the stalk, though many of them are of a salmon or coral pink on the unde - side. —[Harper's Weekly.

Birch Bark in Demand.

Birch bark is in great demand just now. The fad is to make boxes of the bark similar to the jewel cases of beveled glass. They are used for mouchoir cases, glove boxes, bonb >n boxes and jewel caskets. Most of these souvenirs are mementoes of some special occasion, and are all the more prized accordingly. Jack cuts the bark, and Dorothy’s dainty’ fingers fashion it into two pretty boxes. One is a long, narrow case, linedwith silk and perfumed; this is for the dear boy's gloves. Inside the cover are cut the initials J. D.. joined by a true lover's knot. The other box is square; there is no lining and no perfume in this one; it is for candies, and Jack has nobly taken upon hiihself the dvty of seeing that it is keptcontstantly filled, und only with Huylers best. Poor, misguided Ivor! Next summer ho Will be a wisei, but a very much poorer young man.—[Now York Advertiser

MISS CONNERS’ PLUCK.

Bow She Kept the Stan and Stripes Over Her School. One of the prettiest stories of the year comes from a little town in Indiana, where lives a plucky young schoolma’am who has recently shown a spirit not unlike the good old Barbara Frietchie. Her noble defense of the American stars and stripes has brought her through the press to the notice of the public from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Miss Emma Conners, the heroine of the story, teaches a district school near Crawfordsville, Ind. She is greatly humiliated to think that the little cotton flag upon which she set such store was torn down and destroyed by a crowd of men who had seemingly forgotten that the great

MISS CONNERS.

war epoch ended a quarter of a century ago. That such may not occur again she has made a fort and arsenal of her schoolhouse, and declares that she is now prepared to defend “Old Glory” with her life’s blood. That she will do just what she says no one doubts, for Miss Connors come of fighting stock. An ancestor fell in the war of the revolution; her grandfather’s bones bleach on the arid plains of Mexico, while her own father sleeps his last long sleep on a Scuthern battlefield. Through her personal efforts a new flag and flagstaff now takes the place of the one that was cut down, and Miss Conners sits inside the little schoolhouse instructing classes and keeping guard over “Old Glory” with a flrst-class repeating rifle, which stands in a little niche just back of her desk. She rooms just across the road and within easy rifle range of the flagpole, so a night attack is as likely to be attended with disastrous results as one made under the light of the noonday sun. A paper was put in circulation among the patriotic orders and over SIOO raised with which to purchase Miss Conners a silken flag of large proportions. This

CLARK TOWNSHIP SCHOOL.

has just been presented to her in an appropriate manner.

SAILED FOR LIBERIA.

Sixty-eight Colored Americans Emigrate to Africa. A shipload of colored people from the South, who were tired of Ameri-

REV. ROBERT O’NEILL.

lives on the soil from which their ancestors were dragged in chains. There were sixty-eight of these emigrants, frbm a dozen different sections in the South, and their departure may mark the beginning of an exodus of colored Americans to the African republic. In the party were people of all ages, from gray-headed men down to

little pickanninnies. About twenty of them were men, and of these fully a dozen were preachers. A s the ship lay in a slip in the East River, preraring for the voyage the' emigrants were

TYPE FROM GEORGIA

gathered around the deck in picturesque groups, says the New York Sun. Some of the men were ragged and barefooted, having already assumed the costume they expected to wear during the long voyage. Others wore the heavy shoes, the flannel shirts and big hats of the plantations.

FROM FLORIDA.

of Georgia. He wore an enormous beaver of ancient style, and his dialect was that of the orange groves. Many of the emigrants had been

induced to leave thelrhomes in America by the lectures’ of Bishop Turner, who recently traveled through the South talking about- Liberia, and t,he opportunities which it presents for colored men. The Liberia Colonization Society gives twenty-five acres to every colored man who settles in the republic, and the land is said to be very fertile, producing three crops of coffee each year.

A Portrait of the Famous Midget—Her Ix»vely OutfitBaby Cleveland is a sweet, sleepy little girl, and a born boss who rules one of the most distinguished houses on Madison avenue, New York. She is quick-tempered, rebellious, and unromantic, full of vital energy and intolerant of neglect. When she wants a thing done or not done she kicks vigorously; if her wishes are not respected she doubles up her little fists, opens her mouth and yells vociferously. Her bright little eyes are gray-blue, and she has quite a shock of long hair, black as jet and fine as corn-tassels. Oddly enough, she is not a dimpled baby; nobody could call her roly-poly, and she hasn’t even the suggestion of a magic bracelet or necklace. Unlike the average babe Miss Cleveland does not tub it in a china bowl. She has a little rubber bath in which she flounders and splashes every other day, and after being dried she is handpolished like a piece of tine old mohogany, powdered until she is as dusty as a jelly-roll, and then band-

aged, bundled, pinned, and blanketed in the usual way. Baby Cleveland’s measure was taken for a canopy cradle last week, but

Among those lately received is a handsome pap spoon from the famous dining organization, the Clover Club, of which the ex-President is an honorary member, and in the way of jewelry this idolized morsel of humanity has enough to warrant a private box in the family safe. The happy young mother doesn’t say much, but it is learned on authority that she is afraid her baby girl will be squeezed and hugged to death.

Scenes of Horrible Outrages Perpetrated Against Foreigners. Considerable interest has been centered in the treaty ports in the interior of China, because of the horrible outrages there committed against foreigners. Christian missionaries especially have been subjected to the most cruel indignities and merchants from European countries residing in the treaty ports have not escaped the wrath of the Chinese fanatics. At Ichang and- Wuchang, towns «n the

ca, sailed from New York recently on the little bark Liberia. They were ' bound for Monrovia, the capital of the negro republic of Liberia, on the west coast o-f . Africa, and if their ship is not < wrecked they 'will live out the balance of their

FRANCISCAN MISSION AT ICHANG. The rioters burned these buildings and cast the sisters into the river, but the latter were rescued by converted natives.

Yang-tse-ifiang River, the mission houses have been burned, the residences of the missionaries plundered and then fired and even the consulate buildings have been attacked. The convent of the Roman Catholic Sisters of St. Francis was bujrned and tho sisters were carried out and thrown irfto the river, from which they were rescued by converted natives. The native civil and military authorities were helplessly inactive. They feared to seize the leaders of the outrages and crush the riots, lest sivil war result. The European pow-

THE BRITISH CONSULATE AT ICHANG. These buildings were attacked by the Chinese, but the authorities saved them.

ers and the United States government have made demands upon the Chinese government to protect their subjects and threaten war if the demand is not acceded to. A reply as to what the government intends doing is anxiously awaited and if it be not speedily forthcoming vigorous steps will be taken by the foreign governments. Rutu Cleveland Is a pretty name and an apt one. It has one danger. It will tempt autumnal poets into ditties that will make its happy mother and proud father wish it had been named Abelbethmaacah; Thelgathphanasa or Og, which are equally authentic Scripture names and less inviting for jingle

The preachers were more formal in their manner of dress, wearing clerical tail-coats buttoned up to the chin, and there were several weather-beaten silk hats. The 'oldest and most dignified of the party was Rev. Robert McNeill,

THAT WONDERFUL INFANT.

MRS. CLEVELAND AND THE BABY.

for the present she is restricted to a little Moses basket, similar to the one found in the bulrushes ages ago, but with slightly more embellishments. The baby’s outfit did not come from Paris, as has been stated by several imaginative fashion writers, nor was it bought in Boston. To quote a very high authority, “it wasn’t bought anywhere.” Mrs. Cleveland preferred to make the little baby garments with her own hands. All the elaborate things were sent by friends.

THE CHINESE RIOTS.

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The surveyors of the projected chip Sanai to connect Puget Sound with Union and Washington at Seattle, have oonipletod the maps and estimates. The scheme, if carried out, will make Seattle uno of the finest harbors in the world. The improvement would cost $3,000,000. The Astor family have a million sterling invested in English securities. The founder of tin? family left an injunction in his will that the family should always continue the investments in the English funds and in English securities that ho bad himself commenced. The sons and grandsons have always respected this sotnuiand. A fourteen percent, tax on profits is a new discourager of enterprise in Italy. The boast of having two of the most powerful ironclads in the world is scarcely worth what it costs the Italians —terrible poverty among the poor and a struggle for life even among the middle classes, owing to oppressive taxes. The Fourth International Railroad Congress, which had originally been set down for September of this year, will, it is now announced, be held in June, 181)2, at St. Petersburg. The first congress was held nt Brussels in 1885; the second at Milan in 1887. and the third at Paris in 1881). Vienna has already been chosen as the place for the fifth congress, to be held in either 1894 or 1895. It is said that the German public is heartily disgusted with the outcome so far of the expensive colonization schemes that the Government has been operating in Africa. People say that colonization costs too much in blood and treasure and yields too little in return, and frequent use is made of Bismarck's famous declaration, “ I am not one of your colonial enthusiasts.” On the other hand, it is reported that the Emperor is wedded to his colonial ventures, in which ho desires to surpass England, and has several times refused to sell to English offerors trade concessions with his African provinces, that have so far paid Germany nothing of value.

The homely and comforting ocrncob pipe, which may not inaptly be termed the representative American pipe, is made in three factories only in the United States, and they are nt St. Louis, Greenwood, Neb., and somewhere in Kansas. The cobs, which are obtained from the Collier variety of corn, come from Missouri, and uro heavy, hard and “woody.” The stems used are of Arkansas swamp cuno or reed. The cobs are cut the right size by a circular saw, and then pass on to the boring-machine, which hollows out the bowl with a lightning movement. A twisted drill makes the holo for the stem, and the bowl is sandpapered ami varnished. About 10,000 of the pipes are made every day.

Captain Rehen, Commander of the North German Lloyd steamer Nockur, has written to the German Marine Observatory- at Bremen,describing a most singular occurrence. When off Sakota, ono night, the sea suddenly became milkwhite with a glow that seemed to flame up from the depths like the increased luminosity of an electric lamp when the current becomes too strong. When soundings were taken no bottom was found. At ten o'clock the sharp edge between the bright and dark was reached, but twenty-five minutes later the glow again appeared. It slowly disappeared after eleven o'clock. The next night the phenomenon was visible in still greater intensity, but it was not again observed. Captain Reben insists that there was nothing phosphorescent in the character of the display. Hunan, the Chinese province which is held chiefly responsible for the recent outrages upon foreigners, is said to be us fur behind the rest-of China in all modern ideas us China is behind Europe. The inhabitants of it are fanatically hostile to any kind ot change or foreign influence. Only a few weeks ago ten thousand of them assembled on their frontier to oppose the Government workmen who wore erecting telegraph wires between Pekin and Tonquin, and stopped the further progress of the work in spite of the edict of the Emperor. Hunan contains 84,(XX) square miles, and is exceedingly billy and mountainous. The towns and villages, therefore, are isolated, and intercommunication is difficult. This is why new ideas circulate so slowly. TheHunanese are reported to bo honest, industrious, and brave, and are accounted among the most valuable recruits for the imperial army. ,

The people of Afghanistan, groaning under the heavy taxes their ruler imposes, are skipping over the border at a lit ely rate. The hist census shows that the population of the Caudahur district has decreased 10,000 us compared with the census taken in the time of Shore Ali. Many Afghans have sold their possessions und gone to British India and Beloochistan. In the northern part of the country the exodus has boon still greater, the people emigrating to the Russian possessions. In Tashkurgun, for instance, where, when the present Ameer ascended the throne, there were 16,(XX) occupied houses, there are nowonly 6,(XX) houses with tenants. The Ameer's country used to be called the land of men and stones, but an Indian journal suggests that.if the present fight continues it will be only a land of stouts. The absence of the American flag in foreign ports has long been a matter of comment. Any discussion of the causes of und the remedies for this humiliating state of things, must attract wide attention. Mr. Charles H. Cramp, the president of the great Philadelphia company that is building so many of our warships, treats the mutter in the Forum, and, after an historical review of the subject, comes to the conclusion that the different attitudes of the British Government and our own toward shipbuilders is largely responsible for the state of our merchant marine. This country, he thinks, will never have a fleet of merchant vessels so long os the United States Government pursues its present policy. Two decades of a liberal treatment of shipbuilders, ho thinks, would place us far in advance of England on the seus.

It will surprise many readers to be told that a large and strikingly marked duck, which within fifty years was moderately common upon the Northern Atlantic coast, is believed now to have become extinct. A lad shot ‘one in New York on the Chemung River December 12, 1878, and none have been seen since. The last one known to have been seen before that time was killed at Grand Menan in April, 1871. The one killed in 1878 was eaten before any naturalist beard of its capture —a costly meal, ns. according to Doctor Coues, two hundred dollars has been vainly offered tor a pair of skins. The head and a portion of the neck were preserved. The history of the duck in question, the Labrador Duck or the Pied Duck, is made the subject sf an article by Mr. William Dutcher iu a recent number of the Auk. Only thirtyeight specimens are known to be extant

in all the museums of the world—twen-ty-seven in America and eleven in Europe. Yet it is only a short time since ipecimens might have been secured with comparative ease. , No World's Fair scheme is too daring and colossal for the Chicago imagination to entertain. Here is one gravely presented by Mr. L. C. Dillman, ono of the now millionaires of the new State of Washington, and as gravely laid before the public for consideration. “In order to promote the study of ichthyology,” said Mr. Dillman, “and at the same time add a feature to the Exposition that would bo thoroughly unique, a railroad tunnel might be run out n few miles under the lake. At the end of the railroad might be built the finest aquarium the world has over seen, and this aquarium might be stocked with every species of fresh water fish known to natural history. The idea of standing in an enclosure beneath the waters of the lake and watching thousands of the vari-hued inhabitants of the waters swimming around in a groat glass room is something that would appeal strongly to the imaginations of many. Then, if there is to bo a great tower for the Fair, the foundation could bo built over the aquarium, and visitors could ascend in elevators from deep beneath the waters to a platform a thousand feet in the air.”

BUGS FOR FIG TREES.

Queer Insects that are Imported from Abroad. Some very valuable bugs wore imported to this country for the first time in July last. Upon them rest, so a Star reporter was informed, the hopes of persons who uro anxious to make fig raising u success in the United States. The tree which bears this fruit has a very marked peculiarity respecting its blossoms. They are actually inside of the embryo figs themselves, so that the casual observer would suppose that there were no flowers nt all. However, if you will cut open u baby fig you will find inside it the parts of a flower necessary for reproduction curiously packed away. Both stamens end pistils uro there —namely, the male and female parts—audit is only required that they shall be mixed together in order that the fruit shall ripen. Unfortunately, in the case of the variety of fig which is preserved and brought hither from abroad, this mingling does not usually take place of itself. Thus the trees "would be nearly if not quite barren were it not for the efforts of certain insects of the kind above referred to.

For the purpose of eating the pollen these insects crawl in through a little hole in the incipient fig and wander about within until they have Incidentally caused a stirring together of the pollen and pistils. Now it happens that the bugs are not plentiful enough on the cultivated trees, and so the growers abroad fetch twigs laden with their from wild fig trees and hang them among the brunches. If it were not for this the quantity of the fruit produced in the world would bo comparatively small, although the ripening can be effected by poking little splinters of wood into the blossoms and turning them around. It has been found that figs of this sort, which are the kind valuable in commerce, cannot be produced on this side of the water without these insect friends, and so consignments of the latter have boon landed in California, whore it is expected that they will be successfully propagated. Upon this prospect depends all the expectation at present entertained of fig culture hero. The creation of new varieties of fruits by artificial cross-fertilization has become a science. For example, efforts arc being made nt present to produce an apple that will grow and ripen in Dakota, Minnesota and other parts of the northwest, whore it has hitherto been found impracticable to cultivate this fruit, owing to the inevitable destruction of the trees by excessive winter cold. For this purpose a hardy crabapple has been taken and bred for size with a desirable large variety, the object being to get nn apple that will have the sturdiness of one parent with somewhat of the flavor and size of the other. To accomplish this the experimenter takes a crabapple tree before its blossoms - uro open. Ho opens each bud gently and cuts off with a pair of scissors every stamen. Having thus removed the male parts of the flower he covers the latter with a paper hug, and goes through the same performance with a number of others. Subsequently, when the flowers have opened of their own accord, ho goes to ouch with pollen from a tree that boars great big, juicy apples. Lifting off each paper bag separately, lie touches the pistils of the blossoms with a little brush loaded with the pollen. After the operation he ties the paper bag on again, in this way making sure that no other mule germs can come to any flower so treated. Ho leaves the paper bags attached to the twigs until the, blossoms inside of them have developed into ripened fruit. Of this fruit he Knows the parentage absolutely, and, if it is good, it simply remains for him to establish it as a variety by planting the seeds. Out of 500 seeds 499 will very likely turn out worthless, but the five-hundredth one, perhaps, will grow into a sturdy tree and reproduce the apple obtained from (ho cross So a new variety is established.

What Napoleon Cost England.

The steward of Napoleon I.’s household at St. Helena, received ffi/XX) n month for living expenses Every fortnight there landed, for the table of h's ex-Majesty. eighty-four bottles of ordinary wine, 266 bottles of strong win?(Constantia, Teneriff, etc.) and fourty-four of porter. In all, the period of his stay on the island is said to have c«»4t England $lO,000,(XX). Of course, there were no poor wretches starving either in England or in 'France nt the time.—[American Notes and Queries.

Even Corn HnXks Are Valuable.

The fates are combining to make things pleasanter for the Western farmer, the latest discovery of value to him being thut the husks of corn will make excellent paper. Hitherto husks have not had any commercial value and have only been eaten by stock under protest and during hard spells. Now, however, the estublishmentof paper mills in the West should put a stop to the constant shipping of paper from the East, and also convert a waste article into what manufacturers would call a “residuary profit,” such as coke in a gas factory. It is not many years since old rags were looked upon as the only possible raw material for the manufacture of paper, and the course from cast-off shoddy to the covering of corncobs has been both steady and interesting.—[St. Louis Globe. Australia liai 75) acres devote! to hop culture.

MILLIONS IN BARBED WIRE.

The Funny Way in Which Investor EH* wood Began His Great Fortune. The saddest thing I saw in a Journey to the West was the old-fashioned rail fence in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Eastern Indiana and Southern Michigan.' How cruel of fate not .to permit the wire fence to be invented 200 years before it was. Probably enough labor and timber have been wasted in the building of the old “worm” fences in the past to pay off fifty national debts like ours. It makes one almost weep to think of the backs that have been broken,, of the hands worn, out, the energies sapped, the boys kept from school—in felling trees, splitting logs, driving posts, laying rails for those thousands of miles of rail fence! When our Western farmer wants a fence now he buys a few posts and a lot of barbed wire. Three men can put up half a mile of fence In a day. A rod of fence costs complete —labor, posts and a 11—25 cents. A ■die of fence costs $80! If the farmer had plenty of growing tlm-’ her of his own he could not hire a man to cut out the posts alone for that money,* to say nothing of the rails. , “Did you ever hear how Ellwood,| the barbed-wire man, of DeKalb, 111.,, made his money?" asked one of my train acquaintances. "Well, you see,l twelve or fifteen years ago he was making a little wire in his black-; smith shop, putting the barbs on with a pair of pinchers. One day a couple of young men stopped in hisi shop to get out of the rain, and asj they thought the wire looked like al good thing they asked Ellwood to sendl them out on the road to sell it. After a week’s trip they came in and corn-i pared notes. Both had found the wire a great hit; everybody wanted, IL But they were pretty shrewd! boys, and they fixed it up between 1 them to fool Ellwood. When ho| asked how business was thoy.showed : him a few orders and shook their heads cautiously. ‘Not much In it. ’ ‘Better try again/ said Ellwood.l ‘Well, if you’ll give us a five-year con-j tract on Missouri, Southern lowa, Arkansas and Texas we’ll go out and' see what we can do.’ • “Ellwood agreed, and one of the young men started for Texas. In a week hp sent an order for a car load of wire. Ellwood was astonished.' It would take him a month to make a car load. He carried the letter over to his bank. ‘Must be some mistake,’ ho said. ‘No,’said the banker, ‘it’s plain. He wants a car load.’ ‘lm-' possible,’ replied Ellwood, ‘l’ll telegraph him.’ The reply came: ‘Yes,l a car load, but make It three car loads. Ship quick.’ Again Ellwood went to his banker. He was puzzled.! It seemed like a hoax to him that any one should want three car loads of wire. Preposterous! The banker, finally convinced him the order was genuine. ‘Mr. Banker,’ said Ellwood,; 'l’m a poor man. I’m worth two or three thousand dollars. How much can 1 draw on this bank for on my reputation and my prospects?’ ‘Fifteen hundred dollars.’ ‘Good. Give me SSOO now? In an hour Ellwoodi was on his way to Chicago. In two weeks he was making barbed wire by machinery. In ton years he was worth $14,000,000.” —Augusta Chronicle. I

Danger of Cycling. ■/ Those who believe in the necessity of physical exercise—and we belong! to that number—have need also to. remember that even so good a thing; as this is in excess ap, :| cvil. The use, of the cycle Is a form of bodily recreation in itself doubtless wholesome; none the less is it open to the-, mischievous effects of undue indulgence. Tempted by the ease of movement, combined as a rule with at-r tractive scenery, every one tries it 4 Every one, too, finds he can do something with it, and considerations of wealth, constitution, age, and health are apt to be dismissed with summary imprudence. I One fruitful source of injury is competition. In this matter not even the strongest rider can afford to ignore his limit of endurance. The record-breaker, who sinks exhausted' at his journey’s end, hhsgone a point beyond this. The septuagenarian; who tries to rival his juniors by doing and repeating his twenty or thirty miles, perhaps against time, is even' less wise. Lady cyclists, too, may bear in mind that their sex Is somewhat the weaker. So likewise among men the power of endurance varies greatly, and it is better for some to admit this and be moderate than to labor after the achievements of far more muscular neighbors. In short, whenever prostration beyond mere transient fatigue-follows the exercise, or when digestion suffers and the weight is markedly lessened, and a pastime which ought to exhilarate becomes an anxiouslabor, we may be sure that it Is being over-' done. He that would reap its best results must content himselh with; much less than this; but unless.hacan observe such moderation he had better abstain from it altogether,—Lon-* don Lancet- ; , .

Quite a Difference.

Assuming the population of the world, according to the latest estimates, to be about 1,450,000,000, it isestimated that 1,050,000,000 are nonChristians, and of course 4.00,000,000 only are Christians. Estimated of! such matters are usually crude, but' according to the most reliable, if such; figures are reliable at all, of the non-, Christians, Brahmins, 180,000,000 arej Mohammedans, 150,000,000 are idol,i or fetish worshippers; there are 8,000,-[ 000 Jews, and 62,000,000 are classed, as miscellanous. Of Christians, then Roman Catholics are estimated at. 200,000,000, the Protestants of all de-! nominations at 120,000,000, the ad-i herents of the Greek Church at 80,4 000,000, and 25,000,000 are classed as miscellaneous. ;

He Wahted It Clean. ! .

“Why don’t you keep that child’s, face clean?” asked a Woodward nue man to the new French nurse. 1 “Je ne sals quoi,” replied the nacse, testily. “Come off,” he exclaimed, angrily. “I don’t care what Jennie says, or anybody else; if you don’t keep that boy’s face in some sort of presentable shape, ybu’ll have to pack up your duds and mosey. See?"—Free Press,