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


be eaten up alive" and we believe they would
be and the crops destroyed but for the number
Of creatures that devour snid insects. Lucky
il is for humanity that the carnivorous insects
DO not increase rs rapidly MS the grnnivorous;
in spite of musquito nets, tlcn pow
dcrs ard bug-bnncs, there is no telling how
many Of us would be destroyed by nocturnal
vcncscetion.
AS an instance OF tho fccundiiy Of the insect
tribe, single pair Of corn wccyis will produce
from G,O80 to 5000 descendants q season, and |
this is u low rnto of increase as compared with
tho increase of some other insects, including |
those that infesl houses and persons that are |
not noted for their cleanliness. OF them we
will not discourse. The female ant lays 10000
eggs per day, and il has been proven by an
eminent naturalist. that the female dPhis, or
plnnt parasite, becomes, in five brief genera
tions, tho mother of family Of G,Oo0, ,000, 900.
The queen bee dcpositcs 100000 eggs in twenty
days We cito her, not because We would find
fault If hcr honoy.sweet majesty layed twice
tic number, bui rs IN instance Of reproductive
industry. or tho ininitesimal insects that
produce what is chilled blight, comparatively
little is known, but their multiplicatory powers
must be enormous. The mosquito, whose
bloodlhirsty legions will soon commence their
work, is moi quite MS prolific ms some other
chronological nnisanccs, but in particularly
wnrm and humid seasons its provocative cnpaci-
ties appear TO be increased hundred fold
The common house fly will produce over n
million of young during The season, and others
Of our annoyances in like proportion.
TIE Norfolk Estuary Company in England
has just completed another cmbankment of two
milos in length Mt North Wooicn, adjoining the
lands of the Prince Of Wales and tho Hon. Mrs.
Many GREvILLE Howard. IL was begun in
February last, and has added about seven hun
drcd acres to That nlready reclaimed by this
company in tho Wash. This now makes q total
of about four thousand acres Of tho thirty-two
thousand to be recovered from the sea, for
which the necessary funds were raised by tho
authority of mn amended net Of Parliament in
1910. local paper snys: " The undertakings
of the company hrc becoming OF great impor-
lance to this part Of tho country, for ifthc same
| rate of enclosure bo continued yearly, there is
| no doubt that the oncc!talkcd-of Victoria coun-
! iy will become reality. The cost of cnclo-
| sure is about ten pounds per acre, md tho csti-
mated vnluc of the lands enclosed was, Mt q
late arbitration between the owners Of the nd
joining land md The company, considered to he
worth fifty pounds per ncre; when il was also
| stated TINT the land would make bricks; there
| was good site for buildings, good water, gra-
vel 10 make ronds, and houses might be built
| on the high land, and corn would grow there.
This is already q fact, for on the land enclosed
tho year before last, now belonging TO Mr..
GEO. PIERnEroSr BESTIScK, fine crop of
wheat is in n promising condition for tho next
| harvest. The last enclosure has been carried
out by Mr.. WILLIAM WALKER, tho contractor,
| being the second bnnk he hos made for the
| company, and extends from The south end of
the last enclosure to Guys Creek, which will
be diverted from its present channel. Tho
| bank has been made continuously, without
leaving openings for the tides TO pass through,
as has been hitherto adopted"
TnRrr-rwo YEARS AGO, Sir CHARLES LYELL
examined some ancient SEQ marks on the coast
of Sweden, and concluded thercfrom that tho
'.-A - s.-".'n~ was rising gradually at tho
seiSiR MsAfeef6tly' examined The same marks,
and comes to an opposite conclusion, which lie
has just communicated to tho Geological So
ciety. The change in the position of the marks
he regards as apparent only, duo to fuclua-
tions in the level of tho water, and not 10 any
| upward movement of tho land. The question
thus opened is important. Perhaps other &C.
| ologists will take it up, and carry it on to D
satisfactory solution. Among other geological
facts is tho demonstration that gold exists in
the gravel Of the river valleys of Central New
Brunswick, ns reported by Mr.. SHEA; and the
surprising yield from o copper mno in New
foundlnnd. When Inst year few specimens of
copper ore from that locality were exhibited Mt
the conversations of the President of the Royal
Society OF Burlington House, no one anticipated
tho discovery TINT has since taken place. At n
depth of seventy feel, while sinking the ahn{t,
the miners came upon lode of rich ore four
feet thick; o level was then run at eight angles
to The direction of the lode, and at distance
of eighty feet, another and richer lotlc was
struck. Ten feet further there was another
twenty feet thick, and ten feet still further m
other of four feet. This is most o1traordi-
nary instance of the occurrence of coppcr:
the yield will be enormous, for the distance to
which the several lodcs extend are unknown.
and many years may bo spent before they are
worked out. Specimens are 10 be seen in tho
dreat Exhibition at Paris, along with speoi-
mems Of lead ore also from Newfoundland, de-
scribed as rich as silyor.
IN no OTHER COUNTRY in the world is there
anything like the great proportion of property
destroyed by FIRE that there is in the United
statos recent Italian correspondent, in his
letter from Florence, after remnrking that nif
you have properly in house in Florence, tho
chances aro that your children may enjoy IL
after you, for fire cannot destroy the house,
and only an earthquake can throw il down."
he says: "There las been but one fire hero
(Florence) Of my consequence within the mem
ory OF men now living" Ho then contrasts
thiS with our fire returns in this country, re.
marking: TT makes one shudder to think or
the pusteboord and 5uokrnm constructions In
tho United States. The enormous losses by fro
every year in Amorica, arc among the saddest
things we have to present to tho contemplation
OF European. In Italian buildings there /,