Jasper County Democrat, Volume 20, Number 62, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 November 1917 — SCRAPS [ARTICLE]

SCRAPS

The “pea tree,” botanically known as Caraganus arborescens, is described as a shrub worthy of place in any garden, yet its foliage is good for browsing. Mrs. George Macomber of Underhill, Vermont, has a geranium fourteen years old, which is five feet six inches tall and has eighteen large scarlet blossoms and ten buds. More than 150 toy factories are now operating in the United States, turning out great quantities of such toys as were formerly made in various parts of- Europe. German exports to the United States, as registered at American consulates in Germany, were $8,349 - 902 in 1916, against $39,967,183 in 1915. Exports to the Philippines were $21,428 against $140,871. There were no exports to Hawaii or Porto Rico. The most expensive wood in theworld is said to be the boxwood, imported from Turkey for the use of engravers. The cost ranges from four cents a square inch up to ten cents a square inch for the best grades. An ordinary wagonload of boxwood would cost many thousands of dollars. Nearly every class or design of vessel sinks in a particular way.

For instance, the old type of singlebottom steamers, with few or no bulkheads —that is, in the modern sense of the term—almost invariably founders on more or less of an even keel and not with the bow or stern up in the air. Company F, 6th, of Defiance, got a wild raccoon before leaving the home armory. The animal was kept in a cage at first. Now he is as meek, gentle and playful as a puppy. He visits all over camp with friends he has spotted. He is as curious as a tom cat. He investigates everything. Music|ans at first had lots of fun laying their large brass horns on the ground. Greaser, as he is called, would investigate the entire horn and end up by climbing into the bell of the horn as far as his body could go. There is a dense woods near the camp, but human kindness appears to be more of an inducement to the animal than his usual haunts.