Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1916 — SCRAPS [ARTICLE]

SCRAPS

Sweden's national income for 19] 5 was in excess of that of 1914. Indulgence; in luxuries costs each family in this country S2OO a year. Two-thirds water and one-third solids is the composition of the human body. Baku, Russia, imports $40,000 w r orth of wire monthly from the United States. Coney Island is to make a $1 ,- 000,000 trolley terminal, work on which will soon be commenced. An electric process is being tried in Russia for the manufacture of gold leaf, heretofore made only by hr>nd.

It is believed that forests sometimes take fire by the heat generated from the rubbing of the branches together. In the Samoan islands is a breed of cattle the bulls of which seldom weigh more than 200 pounds and the cows 150 pounds. Sixty million iron half-pfennigs are now being coined in Germany to replace copper coins, which are being withdrawn from circulation. The mission fathers brought the olive and the date from the Mediterranean regions and gave California one of its most important crops. According to official Italian figures the 1915 crop of cereals grown in the northern hemisphere exceeded the average crop of the last five years by more than 73,000,000,000 pounds.

India rubber trees which are tapped every other day continue to yield sap for more than 20 years, and the oldest and most frequently tapped trees produce the richest sap. One electrical company at Scheneetady, N. Y., has 18,000. employes on the roll at the present time—more than ever before in the history of the company—and it is likely more hands will be needed. Tenant’s Harbor, Me., has reason to be proud of William Holbrook, age 82. When the call for men to shovel out the roads after a recent big storm was given he was one of the first to grab his shovel, and none of the younger men could keep up with him. According to a report from the Rome cprrespondent of a prominent news service, Vatican circles announce that the pope is preparing to bless wireless telegraphy officially, thus restoring the ancient custom of the church to bless inventions which confer great benefits on humanity.