The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-03-31
TIMELY TOPICS.

The appearance of American tallow,
not only in St. Petersburg, but even in
Moscow, has lately caused an unpleas-
ant surprise in Russian Industrial cir
cles. The particular industry affected
is an important one in Russia. The
, leading stearine factories OF Moscow are
now using the American product, which,
in regard to quality and packing. is said
to be preferred to the Russian tallow.
The failures in England reached q
maximum in 1869, when le,5l8 were re-
ported, and that thereafter, for six
wears, the number ranged from eight to
nine thousand only. Since then the num-
ber has steadily increased from lO,846
in 1876 to 1872 in 1879. There was a
marked decline in the number of fail
ures during the last quarter of 1879, and
the believers in cycle theories of trade
depression are confident that there now
will be d rapid decline in the number,
followed by six years OF sound trade.
A Liverpool merchant last year took
his son, who was recovering from scar
let fever, that is to say, was in the most
infectious stage of the disorder, to stay
at hotel in Wales. The young mans
condition transpired, and there was =
general exodus from the house. The
landlord thus had his house empty at a
busy time, and, besides, was obliged to
90 to q considerable expense in disin-
fecting it. He brought an action to re-
cover the loss he had sustained, and it
has been settled out of court by the pay
ment of large sum. nearly $4,000, in
elusive of costs. .
The news received from the interior of
the Russian empire is heartrending.
Famine and diphtheria are decimating
the population. The provinces of Sara
tof and Kief, which annually export
enormous quantities of grain, scarcely
had any crop last year. The calamity
is aggravated by the want of fodder for
the cattle, the peasants being forced to
sell them at any price. In the Cauca.
sus the famine Is still greater. Here
people are committing suicide, selling
their children, and taking other extreme
measures to .stave off starvation. The
government and private charity are do
ing their utmost to alleviate the suffer-
ing.
The Boston Traveller is of the opinion
that .''what the farmers of Massachu-
setts with the other New England
States, with the Middle and Southern
Atlantic States need more than anything
else now, is experiment stations such
as the State of Connecticut has and has
had for several years. For this purpose
our neighboring State appropriated, in
1877. $4,000 to be expended annually
under the managemento ofa board of con-
troll, that shall appoint a director who
shall have the general oversight Of ex-
periments and Investigations for the
promotion and advancement of agricul-
tural knowledge among the farmers OF
the State. Massachusetts, needs such
an organization to promote its agricul-
ture.
The Montevideo harbor improvement
company, in dredging the harbor of
Montevideo. lately raised two ingots.
They were at first believed to be Of iron,
but one of the sailors in cleaning of
the shells which covered them dis
covered that they were two bars OF
silver, each seventy pounds in weight.
On one of them traces Of an inscription
were found; the date g l772" was still
legible. There is no doubt that these
ingots formed part of the treasure which
the Spanish galleon Aurora took from
Chill in l772. and which, according to
Lozan, was lost in that port, opposite
the powder magazine, during the storm
of tile nineteenth of August in that year.
AS it is probable that in this spot there
are other treasures which have been
hidden during century, the dredging
company have arranged with divers to
make further researches.