The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1868-10-15
sDREvITIEs.

.sBREvIT1Es.
LYONS, Michigan, has 100 acres OF
pcnpermint under cultivation, and has
made this year 1000 pounds OF pure
~, and ia still at it. Tho oil is worth
50 a pound.
James Gale, an English inventor OF
some poto, has always been blind, but
has ,emarl ablo attainments in other d.
rections. He has been known to shoot
pigeons at match, his aim being guild
Cd by his wonderful delicate hearing
alone.
The japanese manufacture aud use
paper to as great an extent as perhaps
any other nation. There arc very few
Of their industrial operations. that do
not involve the use Of this material
Fans, lanterns, umbrellas, pocket hand
kerchiefs, cloaks and windows are made
ont of it. The paper strings and hats
lately introduced into this country
have been in use for centuries in Japan.
At tho late Scientific Convention 10
this city, Prof. Elias LOOMS argued
that the moon does affect the weather,
lust before its full, influencing it toward
cloud,ncss rather than clcarness, and
following the same law as tho sun.
DR.. franklin introduced broom corn
into this country, previous to which
brooms were made Of evergreen boughs.
The Orientals are adopts in tho art
Of dressing, aud understand the har-
mony Of color. An English writer re-
marks that no two Orientals will walk
down street side by side unless the
colon Of their costumes harmonic or
blend together. He also states that he
has frequently seen NJ oorish designer
at work with box of butterflies wings
for bis school Of design.
Successful experiments, it is report.
ed, have recently been made at Konis-
borg, Prussia, with a new irearm hav-
ing 81 barrels. From 222 to 333 shots
can be fred per minute, and the balls
carry 1900 PAGES. Seven per cent. Of
the shots strucx the target at 500 PAGES.
The perpetual motion chimera is
not given up yet. A DR.. Updegraff,
Of Reading, Pa. thinks he has solved
tho problem in combination leverage
by which, while ball on one side is
falling and moving the machinery, it
raises one on the other side to take its
turn. He claims to have been offered
100000 for his Invention. We ad-
wise him to sell.
We see it stated that the tics of the
Chicago & Quincy railroad are all kyau-
lied BY immersion, for thirty hours, in
carbolic acid, at 2450. They are, when
so prepared, as black as charcoal, and
believed to be practically indestructiblc.
The editor of The Scientific Ameri-
can has been visiting a paper collar fac
tory which turns cut 100000 collars
a year. So perfect has the machinery
been made that collars are made at a
profit when sold at cent and half
apiece. As tho susceptible editor puts
it, the whole operation of manufacture
ing paper collars is series of ingenious
aud effective machinery attended by
pretty girls.
The grasshoppers were so thick on
the Missouri Valley Railroad track, be-
tween St. Joseph and Savannah, one
day last month, as to delay the morn
ing train two hours. The conductor
was compelled to stop several times,
and have dirt thrown on the rails, SO
greasy were they from the remains OF
the crushed insects.
A Frenchman has invented a new
system Of shoeins horses. He lets an
iron band into rectangular groove
scooped from the outer circle of the
horses foot. This band is fastened
with seven rectangular nails, driven in
to oval holes. The sole of the foot and
the frog are thus allowed to touch the
ground, the horse never slips, and new
er getsdiseases Of the feet.
An exchange is responsible for the
statement that few days since por-
ton Of the track OF the Bellefontaine
and Indianapolis railroad, about $50
feet long, sank over sixteen tset, and
the ground around sank with it. Fish
from IL to 19 inches long appear where
the water has risen out of the crack.
1t is supposed that a sabterranean lake
exists beneath the track.