Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 September 1893 — NOTES AND COMMENTS. [ARTICLE]

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

The typical plant of the new world is maize, or Indian corn, declares the Chicago Herald. The early adventurers and settlers both in North and South America found in it a delicious food, easily cultivated, apparently indifferent to soil or climate, yielding in abundance twice that of any other grain, with much less labor, and susceptible of preparation for the table in many forms. The white settlers found it the food of the Indians aod made it their own, and for four centuries it has l>een the best knowu, as it is the cheapest and most nutritious, of the food supplies in the western hemisphere. And vet. after these centuries of knowledge, it has not obtained great favor iu Europe. The potato, another plant indigenous to America, early became a popular European food, common to the tables of the rich' and poor, and the chief support of the poor in Ireland, but corn, a much more nutritious food, and quite as easily cultivated, has never been widely adopted. Our most persistent missionary efforts have accomplished but little more than convincing Europeans that our corn is good food for animals, though Colonel Murphy hopes for good results from his efforts of the past few years. We who are familiar from childhood with rousting ears, mush and milk, corn bread, johnrfy cake, and all the various'"Toims of toothsome dishes that can be made out of Indian corn, wonder at the supineness, or rather obstinacy, with which people abroad meet our recommendations of it. The poorer people stick by their heavy and unpalatable black bread, while the wealthier classes look with disdain upon a grain they think only fit for horses and hogs. The American aborigines regarded it as the best gift of the Great Spirit, and their folk lore abounds in stories and legends concerning it. In “Hiawatha” Longfellow repeats one of the legends of this “new gift of the Great Spirit.” One of the great results of the World’s Fair will undoubtedly he to make this golden grain more familiar to the world and prove its value as one of the be9t of foods. Cambkidok Umvkiisity in England is about to institute an examination in agricultural science. The subjects of examination will be botany, chemistry, physiology and hygiene, entomology, geology, mechanics and engineering, bookkeeping and agriculture. The London Daily News, in commenting upon this decision, remarks: “This is one more sign that our system of socalled practical teaching has completely broken down in all the arts. Our rivals in industry, the Germans, train for everything, and with marked success. The French are not very far behind them. Their school of commerce is probablv one of the best in the world; their school of forestry is admittedly the best. For a long rime, if not actually at the present moment, our civil service students who were working for appointments in Indian forestry had to complete their education in France. It would be difficult to name any single branch of a great industry which can uow be cultivated with success without a knowledge of its principles. Through tho want of such a knowledge British farming is where it is to-day.” It is interesting to observe the progress of American education upon the Pacific coast. There are schools and seminaries in California which boast of pupils gathered from half the world. *V list of the graduates of one of these institutions, published in a San Francisco paper, contains names not only from that state and adjacent territories, but also from Mexico, Guatemala. Salvador, Chili, Tuhiti, Honolulu, Japan and Australia. The influence which such a collection of students must exert among their own people on their return to their homes must be wholly American in sentiment, democratic in politics and liberal in religion. The teachings thus received must enlighten and revolutionize the dead old world of tbe Pacific.

The inconvenience created in Italy by the scarcity of silver coins, will be alleviated by a measure just taken by Signor Grimaldi, the Finance Minister. He has decided upon the coining of nickel “pieces” or coins of 20 centimes, or 4 cents, similar to those in use in Belgium and Switzerland. Meanwhile the clause relative to the internationalization or exchange of small divisionary coins between the countries belonging to the Latin Monetary League has been abrogated. Thanks to this, the exportation of such coin will become impossible; and it is expected that the scarcity of silver money, which has caused lately great, loss to Italian commerce, will promptly cease. A physician has written an article to show that dyspepsia is due to a disorder of the head, and not to the stomach. He says: “The numbers of so-called dyspepsia that are cured by the disappearance of business, domestic or social annoyance are nearly unlimited. Au overdue note in the possession of a beetle-nosed and beetle-eyed creditor is more productive of dyspepsia than a meal of second-hand carpet tacks. In fact, it may be a safe thing to assume that in dyspepsia we had better look, in the garret, closet or cellar of the dyspeptic’s house or among his business or social relations, rather than to his stomach, for the solution of the difficulty.’’ The election of Miss Ella M. Grubb to be Superintendent of Schools for Adams County, 111., has aroused great interest there, for next to Cook county, the head city of which is Chicago, Adams' is the most populous county in the State, and this is the first' time in its history that a woman has been elected to office. Miss Grubb is only twenty-eight years old. As au instance of her pluck and high character it may be said that she lias already paid back from her earnings as a teacher the money she wa3 compelled to borrow to secure a college education. Carp fry were liberally distributed to the waters of the lower Delaware and its branches several years ago, and .the results of the distribution are now seen from time to time. A 17-pouDd German carp was killed the other day when workmen were blowing out the piles of an old bridge across the Appoquinimink, a tidewater tributary of the Delaware emptying into the river twenty miles below Wilmington. A Hungarian lad hauled up with the aid of other boys at hand a 42-pound carp from the waters of Armstrong’s creek, a small stream emptying into the Delaware near New Castle. Arrangements are being made for holding an exposition at Lyons, France, next year. The fair is to be opened on April 26, 1894. The principal building is to be polygonal in shape, with a loftycentral dome which will rise to a height upon the interior of 180 feet. It rises in a graceful curve, the structure being strengthened by means of airy lateral supports. The building will be 760 feet in diameter, and will cover a space of nearly 500,000 square feet. The total weight of the entire structure will be only about 2,480 tons. According to the Government statis

tics, Canada imported from the British Isles no less than 886,000 immigrants during the ten years ending in 1891, but the recent Canadian census shows that only 36,159 are left in that country. The United States census gives much information as to what has become of them. Li-lli nu-Chamo has intimated, according to a Daily News Shanghai correspondent, that a new treaty between. China and the United States will be necessary in view of the present condition of the Chinese immigration question, and that the new Minister will probably be charged with the task of arranging one. Mme. Tei. Seno, a Japanese lawyer, is said to be the only feminine member of the bar in the land of the Mikado. She was educated in this country. She takes a great interest in the welfare of her sex, and has founded a training school for women.