Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-06-07
Curious. Useful and Scientific.

@'0iioiAinolOdl pIOulSy VINO can
solve immense problems instantly and
easily by no known rule. He is 80
years old, and cannot read or write
much.
India RUBBER TREEs.-Encourage
oy the great success of the Chinchona
plantation IN India the British Govern
ment mas now ordered the systematic
cultlvatlon of India-rubber trees of the
Brazilian variety.
HEAVY WEIGHTS John Powers and
his sister, who weigh ], 252 pounds. have
emigrated from Reading to Steuben-
vile, Ohio. John is II, feet, A inches
tall, and weighs COL pounds. His sister
is %, 6 feet, 2 inches tall, and weighs
651 pounds.
FRECKLEs.- Strain horseradish into a.
cup of cold sour milk; let it stand
IL hours, strains, and apply two or three
tlmef day. Or mix lemon juice, one
ounce; pulverized borax, one-quarter
dram; sugar, one-half- dram; keep a
few days in a glass bottle; then apply
occasionally.
BED BUGs.-Get bottle of the oil of
cedar, and with brush paint the cords
at the eylet-holes and all the crevices
in the bedstead, and after one or two
applications housekeepers will be de-
lighted to find that all the bugs have
disappeared, and there is nothing dam
gerous or unpleasant in the remedy.
WHAT IS WINE?-Chemical ANALYSIS
of the contents of a cask of claret, to re-
cover the value of which wine dealer
of San Francisco had sued a customer,
showed the wine to contain s per cent
Of alcohol and traces of oenanthic ether,
that the coloring matter was myrtle
berry juice, and that the acid taste was
produced by sulphuric acid.
AN IRON FAcr.-The remarkable
scientific fact is announced that an
iron ball at white heat refuses to receive
a charge of electricity, when cooled
down to red heat it will receive a mega
receive positive charge; and when
farther cooled down it will accept both
kinds.
MILK FOR THE SICK-Fresh milk is O.
valuable food for the sick, but the least
sourness In it makes it, of all articles,
perhaps the most injurious. Diarrhea
is common result of fresh milk al
lowed to become at all sour; nurses,
therefore, ought to exercise the utmost
care in this. Yet, if you consider that
the only drop of real nourishment in
your tea is the drop of milk, the great
importance of not depriving invalids of
this drop of milk is evident.
CLOSING CRACKS IN CAST IRON STOVES.
Good wood ashes are to be sifted
through a fine sieve, to which is to be
added the same quantity of clay finely
pulverized, together with a little salt.
This mixture is to be moistened with
water enough to make paste, and the
crack of the stove filled with it. The
cement does not peel off or break away,
assumes an extreme degree of hard
ness after being heated. The stove
must be cool when the application is
made. The same substance may be
used III setting the plates Of stove,
or fitting stove-pioes, serving to render
all the joints perfectly tight.
SPICE CAKE.-Take a teacup of but
ter, two pounds of brown sugar, and
three eggs, beat all well together; then
add half cup sour milk, with a tea
spoonful of soda in; then two teaspoon
fuls of each, ground cloves, cinnamon,
allspice, and one nutmeg; then two and
cups chopped raisins. Bake in a slow
oven, and you will have an excellent
cake, and one that will last through hot
weather. And here allow me to tell
you, if raisins are put in cake the last
thing and stirred only just enough to
mix your raisins will not fall to the bot
tom of the cake. Use the above recipe
-omitting the milL-;lissolve soda in
little hot water, and you will have very
nice cookies.
The MINERAL. WEALTH OF AMERICA.
Mr.. T. S. Hunt, Of Boston has COM
piled some statistics concerning the
mineral wealth Of the country which
are really interesting. He divides the
country by north and south line at
the eastern base of the Rocky Noun
tains, upon the Atlantic side Of which
coal, iron, copper, lead, salt and petro-
leum, and upon the Pacific side the
more precious minerals. The grand
total of coal for 1873 he finds to be
about 100000 tons. In 1872, iron
reached its highest figure Of produc-
ton, the total being 2,8S000O tons In
1874, the Lake Superior mines alone
turned out 1897 tons Of copper. The
product of petroleum rose from $780,
600 barrels in 1859 to 1O,867 $50 barrels
in 1874. West Of the Rocky Mountains
the official figures show that California,
Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Color
ado, Oregon, Washington, and New
Mexico, yielded Of the precious metals,
72,428, POS in 1874, and in 1875 $780,
S79,037.
The NATURAL AGE OF FRUIT TREES
1t seems to be a common belief that
there is no limit to the natural age of
apple trees. But this is certainly a
mistake. We know that the peach tree
usually fails to be profitable at twelve
to fifteen years of age, and the cherry
and peach tree usually fails only twenty
to thirty years; the pear, in favorable
circumstances, forty to fifty years-in
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