The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-09-28
INDUSTRIAL, STATISTICAL
AND TECHNICAL.

IRON castings shrink one-tenth of |
an inch to the foot in cooling in the
mold.
THE California Chinese have gone
into a new line of business, that of dry
ing and canning fruit.
For softening files, cover them with
oil and hold them over the fire until |
the fire blaZes; as sooH as the fire runs
all over the file, plunge it into the
water. Or, put them into moder-
ately hot oven, for half an hour, if
large files; but if small files the first
plan is the best.
THE joints of lead plates may be
made follows: The edges are
brought together, hammered down in
to a G annel Guy out of wood, and Sc
curedSWith a few tacks. The hollow
is then scraped clean with a scraper,
rubbed over with tallow, and stream
of hot lead is poured into it, the sur
face being afterward smoothed over
with a red hot plumbers iron.-Mich-
iyan ZIMMERMAN.
THE largest shell-heap on this con-
tinent is at Damariscotta, Me. No
oyster has lived in the river near there
within the memory of man, yet an
area of land containing 100 square
rods is covered with 100, 200, 900 shells,
which are supposed to have been
thrown down by human eaters. Stone,
bone and copper instruments are found
among them, but their position shows
that no great geologic change has oc-
CURED since the heaps were formed.
A CASE of severe burning of the
hand, the surface being almost cooked,
was treated by covering the hand
with white lead ground in oil, which
had the effect of relieving the eXcrrl-
tiating pain in five minutes time. The
applications were changed as soon as
they became dry. On the fourth day
the surface commenced to slough: a
poultice of linseed meal and pulyerized
charcoal was applied warm three
time daily then for three or four
days. a linen rag, creased, was next
used, and the hand healed rapidly with
out leaving a scar.
y SCoTCu physician who has been
investigating the relative mortality of
town and rural life, says that were all
the town children of Scotland reared
in the country, at least 5000 lives
would be annually saved to the popu-
lation; second, could the mortality of
the towns be brought down to that of
the rural districts, upward of 10, 900
lives would be thus saved to the pOpu-
latiOn, and every individual living in
the large towns would, on an average,
live ten and half years longer than
he has any chance of doing at present.
THE publication of iron and steel is
now proposed to be effected by new
and ingenious process, which consists,
briefly, in the use of certain materials
or compounds for the removal and
elimination of sulphur, phosphorus,
antimony, arsenic and copper, from
iron and steel, whether in the crude
or advanced stage of manufacture.
The benefits claimed to be secured
from this invention are, among others,
the production of greater amount of
pure iron or steel from Il given guam
tity of raw material: the making of q
superior class of such metals out of
cupolas or blast furnaces, and shorten
ing the present circuitous mode of
also alleged that tool steel may be
made from the BesSemer material by
this means. The precise nature of the
substances employed to effect these re-
/, suits is not stated.
NATURE does not always put things
in the best places for their purposes,
whatever she may do for purposes Of
her own. Hence, plants, when they
find themselves in other circumStanc es
or other countries than that in which
: Nature placed them, often thrive to a
remarkable degree. The An0charis
Canadeasis, a comparatively harmless
Water-Weed of our own country, got
to England a few years ago, and in
creased so amazingly as to make the
navigation of the streams very diff
| / o,,It NJnp f,r,J hip,cn1f n1p,,ct
pable of fighting it. Now they find
that by introducing the common water
cress CNast,rtium ofcinale) they can
get relief from the foe. Even water
plant must have light; and the water
cress, by shading the surface with its
broad leaves. shuts off the light from
the Anacharis, which has all its leaves
belOW.-N. Y. independent.