The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1876-05-25

INSIDE OIL the GROUNDS, Whlcn CnhrBe treDIs
or quadruple prices for ordinary meals and
drinks, will fail disastrousy, as they most
Justly deserve to fail. | have seen bills
rendered for ordinary dinners amounting
to from three TO four dollars, which a. any
of the best restaurants In Philadelphia
would not have cost more than a dollar, and
if any one is so stone-blind as not to see by
this time that fifteen cents tor glass of
soda-water and fifty cents for sandwich
will mako visitors absolutely withhold
their patronage, they will learn it finally to
their sorrow. The boarding. houses and
extemporized hotels promise to be not the
least of rhese sufferers, and l am glad of it.
There are many hundreds of them all de-
manding So TO S3 per day for the most or
dinary Accommodations, such as can,be OBJ
tanned in any other city. Chiccgc; New
York or even Washington, for from 81 TO
SO per week, and they insist upon putting
two in q room as that. l saw q statement
in one correspondents letter that good
board could be had here for s. per week.
and know several persons who have been
industriously hunting the author of that
fiction for the past week. But these things
will all be forgotten one hundred years
hence.
To me the United States building is one
Of the most interesting within the inclos.
ure. The war and navy department dis
play, with all tn" munitions and engines
of war arrayed in view, is quito intimidat'
ing. But the neatest and most perfect and
curious Of all is the little engine and en-
velope machine turning out "Ccntcnnial
Envelope" all complete and stamped at each
evolution. The agricultural display is
made mainly in large glass show cases,
and comprises in all five divisions, namely,
chemical, Genealogical, botanical, miscro-
scopic.and the general museum. Hanging
on the wall near which the show-c cases
stand are four large maps Of the UnItei
| States, all being divided into spaces Of
different sizes and colors, upon which are
numbers corresponding with u reference
| schedule in one corner. These maps show
respectively the comparative value Of farm
land in this country, The respective rates
Of wages paid for farm labor, the proper.
ton of woodland to farm area, and the dis
trihution Of the production Of textile fibres.
| BY means OF charts the average production
per acre Of the countrys staples is shown
for each State. Specimens Of soils are ar
ranged in tho order Of their geological for
nation, comprising marls, calcarcoug earhs
green sand aad phosphate marls. Then
come phosphate rocks, animal and yegeta
bic fertilizers ard combination Of the
three in manufactured state. The next
feature, the utilization Of vegetable pro-
duets, is illustrated by means Of specimens
state, and proceeding through the various
stogcs of manufacture to the finished article
It Imprises the the manufacture Of -four,
meal and starch from cereals; of sugar
from cane. boot-root, rnnnle and corghum,
and exhibits models Of tho machinery used
in the manufacture of these. The fer
mentation i, shown O. starchy substances
from which beer, ale and porter arc made,
and ol5o he distillation Of wL;slIey. il
model still and | !Gns OF notable American
distilleries are exhibited. Then are seen
tue fermentation and aistlliton Of sugar,
molasses and traits, resulting in q cont
plete Sc! Of samples Of American wines,
these, in turn, being distilled and converted
into brandy. The display OF the wood
growth of the country is inexhaustive At
the foot of the cases stand many hundred
sections of logs, overhead in the case being
specimens Of the foliage OF their respective
trees. Next to Horticultural Hull aud
greatest delight which the Centennial can
give him. From the sub-tropical growth
Of the Gulf and Southwestern States uo TO
the hardy coniferSc Of Maine and the North
west there is net tree Of importance
Which is not here represented. The patience
Of the curious is 3orely taxed in counting
the rings Of old stagers that had reached
the hey'day Of their growth two hundred
| years DelOre COLUMBUS ufSt saw UuaHaRaul
and of come that had doubtless sheltered
weary aSorigines while Louis of France
was battling for the cross Of Palestine.
Most of these interes,itg specimens were
obtained from the Sierra Nevada Noun
tains in California. The principal of those
which accurate statistics can be given are
as follows: One cf a sugar pine, lis feet
high and y feet in circumference at the
base, and $50 years cid, tae section having
been made at a diameter of feet inches
one Of u soft white pine, 1870 feet high, 2j
feet in circumference at the base, AMI $40
| years DID, the section having been made at
a diameter of 6 feet inches, anl one of 4
red silver fir, 1872 feet high, so feet in di-
ametcr at the base, tapering for one hundred
| feet bef1re the first branch was reaci ed,
and 392 years old, All these grew ou the
Sierra kovadg. There is also one Of a
twisted pine from the Rocky Mountains,
l23 feet high, % feet in d dameter at the
base and 207 years old. A curious exhibit
for most folk in the Middle State3 is
that Of the many varieties of native oak and
the remarkable want of resemblance among
them in regard to foliage, the tan bark oak
Of California, fer instance, having velvety,
| willow-sh0pel leaves, while those Of the
black lack oak of the Southern Atlantic