The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-07-06
CURRENT TOPICS.

CURRENT TOPICS.
The SEASON has arrived when people are
troubled with insects, which annoy the person
and ipjure the crops. So numerous ore some
Of them that many persons declare they "will
bc eaten up alive" and We believe they would
be and the crops destroyed but for the number
of creatures that devour said insects Lucky
it is for humanity that the carniyorous insects
do not increase as rapidly as the granivorous;
otherwise in spite Of mosquito nets flea pow
ders and bug-banes, there is no telling how
many of US would be destroyed by nocturnal
venesection.
Asan instance of the fecundity of the insect
tribe, single pair of corn weevils will produce
from G. 600 TO 5000 descendants season, and
this is low rate of increase as compared with
the increase of some other insects, including
those that infest houses and persons that are
not noted for their cleanliness. Of them we
will not discourse. Thefemale ant lays $1,000
eggs per day, and it has been proven by an
eminent naturalist, that the female aph's, or
plant parasite, becomes, in five brief genera
tions, the mother Of a family of 6,Ooo, ,OOO, 600.
The queen bee deposites 10000 eggsin twenty
days. We cite her, not because We would hnd
fault if her honey majesty layed twice
the number, but as an instance ofreproductive>
industry. fOf the in6nitesimal insects that
produce what is called blight, comparatively
little is known, but their multiplicstory powers
must be enormous. The mosquito, whose
bloodthirsty legions will soon commence thelr !
work, is not quite as prolific as some otherSS
chronological nuisances, but in particularly
warm and humid seasons its provocative capacl-
ties appear to be increased hundred fold'
The common house fly will produce over
million of young during the season, and others
Of our annoyauees in like proportion.
The Norfolk Estuary Company in England
has Just completed another embaukment OF two
| miles in length at North Wooten, adjoining the
| lands of the Prince of Wales and the Hon. Mrs.
MARY GRHv1LLE HOWARD. 1t was begun IN
! February last, and has added about seven hum
| dred acres to that already reclaimed by this
company in the Wash. This now makes total
/ Of about four thousand acres of the thirty-two
/ thousand to be recovered from the sea, for
| which the necessary funds were raised by the
/ authority of m amended act of Parliament in
| ls49. A local paper says: The undertakings
of the company are becoming Of great impor-
tance to this part of the country, for ifthe same
rate Of enclosure be continued yearly, there is
no doubt that the once-talked-of Victoria coun-
ty win become reality. The cost Of encio-
| sure is about ten pounds per acre, and the esti-
mated value Of the lands enclosed was, at
late arbitration between the owners ofthe ad-
joining land and the company, considered to be
worth fifty pounds per acre; when it was also
stated that the land would make bricks; there
was good site, for buildings, good water, gra-
vel to make roads, and houses might be built
on the high land, and corn would grow there.
| This is already fact, for on the land enclosed
the year before last, now belonging TO MIR.
GHo. PIERREposT BzSrfNox, fine crop OF
wheat is in promising condition for the next
harvest. The last enclosure has been carried
out by Mr.. WILLIAM WALKxR, the contractor,
being the second bank he has made for the
company, and extends from the south end of
the last enclosure to Gays Greek, which will
be diverted from its present channel. The
bank has been made continuously, without
leaving openings for the tides to pass through,
as has been hitherto adopted"
THIRrY-rwG YEARS AGO, Sir CHARLES LYsLL
examined some ancieLt sea-marks on the coast
of Sweden, and concluded therefrom that the
land of Sweden was rising gradually at the
rate of three feet in century. The Earl of
Selkirk has recently examined the same marks,
and comes to an opposite conclusion, which he
has just communicated to the Geological So
oiety. The change in the position Of the marks
he regards as apparent only, due to huctua-
tions in the level of the water, and not to any
inward movement of the land. The question
thus opened is important. Perhaps other ge-
oiogists will take it up, and carry it on to
satisfactory solution. Among other geological
/ facts is the demonstration that gold exists in
the gravel Of the river valleys Of Central New
Brunswick, as reported by Mr.: SHEA; and tho
surprising yield from copper mine in New
foundland. When last year few specimens Of
copper ore from that locality were exhibited at
the CONVERSATIONS of the President Of the Royal
Society at Burlington House, no one anticipated
the discovery that has since taken place. AT
depth of seventy feet, while sinking the shaft,
the miners came upon lode of'rich ore four
feet thick; level was then run at eight angles
Ito the direction of the lode, and ut distance
jof eighty feet, another and richer lode was
struck. Ten feet further there was another
twenty feet thick, and ten feet still further an
;other Of four feet. This is most extraordl-
mary instance of the occurrence of copper;
;the yield will be enormous, for the distance to
which the several lodes extend are unknown,
and many years may be spent before they ore
worked out. Specimens are to be seen in the
Great Exhibition at Paris, along with speci-
mems of lead ore also from Newfoundland, de-
scribed as rich as silver.
. In 20 oTHaR COUNTRY in the world is there
yihing like the great proportion of property
destroyed by FIRE that there is in. the United
States. recent italian correspondent, in his
letter from Florence, after remarking that elf
you have property in house in Florence, the
chances are that your children may enjoy it
after you, for fire cannot destroy the house,
and only an earthquake can throw it down"
he says: "There has been but one fire here
lFlorenee) of any consequence within the mem
ory of men now living" He then contrasts