Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1881-10-28
I'm GENERAL.

Two thousand persons died of diphthe-
ria in Nova Scotia last year.
AT his death Washington was the richest
president we ever had. He left an estate
worth $780, 900.
1t is stated on good authority that cana
ry bird at Sheerness, England, is able to utter
sentences SO as to be readily understood.
Sometimes the bird interpolates phrases in a
song.
The Pennsylvania Railroad is soon to
make a trial of a new Fontaine locomotive,
which has been constructed with the purpose
of making 80 miles an hour with its fast train
between New York and Philadelphia.
So great has been the destruction of ce-
dar trees in the famous Lebanon forests that
they have dwindled into mere thicket, num-
bering only 400 trees. Rustem Pasha, the
governor general, has taken steps to arrest
the disgraceful vandalism from which they
suffer at the hands of travellers.
People should avoid, as far as possible,
being run over by railroad cars. An empty
platform car weighs is, 600 pounds; an empty
box car, 10000 pounds, passenger car, &c.
600 pounds, and sometimes more; and an av-
erage locomotive SO 900 pounds. A single
pair of car wheels weigh 800 pounds.
The red and yellow bananas are not diff
ferent species. All bananas are naturally yell
low, but are made red by grating. The eff
feet of the graft runs out in seven years. when
we have sometimes bananas that are red, spot
ted and streaked with yellow. There are 40
or 80 varieties of this fruit.
1t appears that large sums of money, in
the aggregate, are lost under the postal mon
ey order system. Since the organization of
the system in this country, over 81, 750 900
has accumulated at the Post Office depart
ment for want of claimants. This is chiefly
due, no doubt, to the ignorance of people in
regard to the practical working of the system.
"A brick-making machine is on exhibi-
tion at the Chicago exposition by which Co.,
900 brick are made every day. II tempers
the clay which it uses by water, forms ii into
bar, sands the surface, cuts it into proper
length, and by an endless belt delivers the
brick stiff and dry at any convenient distance
from the machine.
Mr.. Mulhall, a leading English statistician,
estimates that the United States is accumu-
lating wealth at the rate of at least 81, 5OO,-
900 a day, or, in round numbers, at 81, ,OOO,-
00O,0 600 a year. and that all the indications
point to a continuance of this condition. We
are now enjoying general business prosper
ity unparalleled in history, while the material
wealth of the country has been added to an
extent almost beyond calculation.
MOIk III lnb COubOnuhlcu NnRlulh
of the "Comstook lode" is now being prose-
cuted 5000 feet, or little more than half a
mile, below the surface. The miners have
reached the "infernal regions" where it is SO
hot that tons Of ice are daily introduced to
reduce the temperature. 1t is estimated
that it requires 80 pounds per day to sustain
each man, and that even under these condi-
tiOns forces must necessarily often relieve
each other.
Opium consumption in this country is in
creasing at an alarming rate. 1t is estimated
that 1000 Americans at least are victims of
the baleful habit Of opium smoking, while
over 1000 Chinese in the country pursue
the same vicious practice. The use of opium
in other forms, however, far exceeds this.
The importation of opium in 1880 was 76, 1876
pounds, an increase of 1900 pounds in one
year. Besides, a large quantity of the drug
is smuggled into the country, and of this Of
course no estimate can be formed.
Notwithstanding the disturbed condition
of Ireland, that country will have the first
electric railway constructed in Great Britain.
II is to connect the Giants Causeway with
the neighboring town of Portrush, which is
the headquarters of tourists visiting the fa-
nous headland of which the Giants Cause
way forms part. The success of the exper-
iments made at Berlin and Paris determined
of Ulster were enterprising enough 10 see
their opportunity The stream of visitors is
80 constant that the road will not lack traffic
the year round. 1t is estimated that the
working expense of an electric tramway will
not exceed one penny per mile, as compared
with about eleven pence per mile with horse
power, and seven pence by steam power.
The system of underground telegraph
wires has been adopted in Philadelphia, and
company is busy digging trenches and lay.
ing tubes. A trench is dug in the middle of
the street, feet 8 inches in depth. The bot
tom and sides of the trench are lined with
concrete. The tubes, two inches in diameter,
are then put in place, Ave in row, and four
rows, one above the other. A composition
of pitch and Stag is then poured in, until the
pipes are covered, after which the top is oe-
mented with concrete. The ditch Is then
filed in and the earth rammed down. II is
calculated that the twenty tubes will accom-
modate from 1000 to 1900 wires. A man-hole
is placed in each square, and the wires will
be forced through after the tubes are all laid.