The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1876-11-23
MINOR TOPICS.

A NOTABLE suicide in Paris of late
was that of young Servian noble, said
to be distantly related to Prince Milan,
who shot himself through the heart in
the boudoir of fashionable actress. He
was but eighteen years of age, and had
gone to Paris to complete his education.
MRS. IRENE HOUSE, who murdered
her husband, the divorce lawyer, and
was cleared by jury of her coutrymen,
is now arranging the details of an ex-
tended lecturing tour which her brother
in-law, Garrett, is to manage for her.
She has absolutely refused an offer of
marriage from her other brother-in-law,
Bradley House.
The Australian Eucalyptus Globulus
promises to be profitable timber in the
south of Ireland. At Muckross, Killar-
ney, there are specimens thirty to forty
feet high, which have never been in
jured by frost, and in Wicklow a pro-
prietor finds it succeed go we'll that he
contemplates extensive plantations of it.
If it can only be induced to take to bog
soil it will be invaluable to the country.
BETWEEN seventeen and twenty thou
sand alligator skins are tanned yearly,
which are consumed by boot and shoe
manufacturers in every portion of the
United States, as well as exported to
London and Hamburg. The alligators
formerly came almost entirely from
Louisiana, and New Orleans was the
great swamp center of business. The
Florida swamps and morasses are now
the harvest fields, and Jacksonville, in
that State, the great depot. The alliga-
tors often attain length of eighteen to
twenty feet, and frequently live to a
very old age. The hides are stripped
of, and the belly and sides, the only
portions fit for use, are packed in bar
rels, in strong brine, and shipped to the
Northern tanner, who keeps them under
treatment for from six to eight months,
when they are ready to be cut up. So
far the leather has been mainly used in
the manufacture Of boots and shoes, but
handsome slippers are also made of it.
THERE has been household tradition
in regard to the propriety of sailing a
birds tail before catching it, but Mother
Goose mas never limited that it would be
well to throw sand in the eyes of bear.
Mr.. Smith-Mr. Jesse Smith, of Ellis
County, Texas, to be more accurate-has
adopted this novel device with striking
success. He and his wife were walking
home one evening two weeks ago on the
railroad track, and were talking about
tea-party at which they had been present
Suddenly large black bear crossed
the track. Smith-Jesse, the aforesaid
though unarmed, was not inclined to
desert his wife. A happy thought-sand.
The soil was sandy, and gathering up
handful he rushed toward bruin and
threw it into his face. The bear recoiled.
Smith repeated the experiment, and COM
PEELED the enemy to retreat. Whereupon
the ingenious and conqueriDg hero took
his wife's arm and hurried down the rail
road track in the direction of the little |
Smiths.
The Scientific american says that there
are no available statistics to show the
exact rate of speed with which they are
using up the wood supply; it is easy to
see that it is being done with great
rapidity. Taking the legitimate use of
lumber, industries based on its manufac-
ture constitute the second point of mag.
nitude in America, and are only exceeded |
by the iron interests. About 10000 |
persons are stated to be employed in pro-
ducing sawed lumber alone; S143,5 ,500,-
600 are invested therein and ], 1896, ,0OO,-
600 lath, 2,265, 100000 shingles, and
1875, 100000 feet of lumber are yearly
manufactured. On the secondary in
terests based on the use of lumber as a
raw material-carpentry, cabinet max
ing, ship building, etc.-millions of peo-
pie are employed. According to Prof.
Brewers assertion, wood forms the fuel
of two-thirds of the population, and the
partial fuel of nine-tenths of the remain
ing third. Add this to the former esti-
mate and some idea will be obtained of
the enormous drain upon the American
forests that is constantly in progress.
The substance known in the trade as
vegetable wax is grown or manufactured
in the Southern part of Japan, and from
there is largely exported to England.
Its only difference from beeswax is the
smell when burning, the vegetable emit
ting a strong, tallowy odor that is very
disagreeable. The wax is obtained from
the berry of the wax-tree, which ripens
about October. The fruit is first thrown
into large vessel, where the husk is
separated from the kernel by maui.
This done the nut, being very hard, un.
dergoes the steaming process, which
softens it and causes the oily part to flow
more readily. 1t is then submitted to
heavy pressure, for squeezing out the oil
from the pulp. Tanks placed near by COL
lect the fluid and allow it to harden into
blush green mass In this state it is
unfit for export, but it is adapted for the
manufacture of candles and few coarse
uses. 1t then passes through the refn-
ing process in the following manner:
After being boiled with an alkali until
perfectly fluid state is reached, it is
run out into large vessel containing
water; the pure wax floats and is taken
Oft to be bleached by exposure to thesun
for couple of weeks, the effect of which
is to reduce IT to dirty white crumbling
substance, having strong smell of tai
low. Both these lattor processes are re-
peated with the exception of using an
alkali) to render the wax still more re-
fined, the result being an almost crys.