Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1883-12-05
TOPICS OF TIE DAY.

TOPICS OF TIE DAY.
Mexico's debt is $l17000,000, Of
which sum Englishmen hold about
SS5,0O0,000. The rest is held in New
York. The republics annual revenue
is about $33,0O0,0O0, mainly from tho
stamp tax and tariff duties.
Speaking of the beneficial effects
upon consumptives attributed to
spruce forests, a writer in q Proyi-
dence paper predicts that the day will
come when pine and spruce pillows
will be as frequent household appurtc-
nances in New England as the quinine
bottle has long been in Western States
More than fifty patents for the max
ing of ammonia have been taken out
within the last two years in England,
America, Belgium, France, Austria,
and Germany. Many of the schemes
have been patented in all the countries
at once. The patents apply to gas
works. oil works, blast furnaces, alkal
works and sewage works. Ammonia
seems to share with electricity the
present attention Of the patentee
world.
Unlike the other Western states,
Colorado is not only a shipper of agri-
cultural products, but is actually COM
PEELED to rely on its neighboring states
for its supply. Weld, Laramie, and
Boulder are about the only agrcultu-
raj counties, but it is hoped that,
with the system of irrigation which
has been inaugurated, farming will be
maue more prONtaDle ana tne state at
least seli-suStaining in this respect.
The immense wealth which Russia
possesses in turf beds is bnt little ap-
preciatcd. It's exploitation is only de-
veloped in few provinces, and by
some of the railway companies turf is
used as u combustble Considering
however, th.t beds of turf exist in
Russia covering 10000 square miles,
which would furnish sufficient materi-
al to provide all Russia with light for
10000 years, this seems indeed to be
hiding their light under Il bushel,
The new sword of State recently
completed for his royal nibs, the King
of Siam, is double-cdged, spear-shaped
and fifteen inches long. Toward the
hilt it is inlaid with gold of varying
tints, wrought in different devices, the
figure of Buddha being prominent on
each side. The handle. which has no
cross-guarl is seven inches in length,
and consists Of cnamelcd work studded
with diamonds, while the sheath is one
entire piece of wrought gold, set with
precious stones.
Cracked earthenware should never
be used for domestic purposes. 1t is 4
safe rule in good housekeeping to
break any fractured stoneware to
pieces and render them quite untitled
for any employment as utensils. In a
paper read before the Academy of Sci
ences, Paris, NJ. E. Peyrusson demon
strated very clearly how the germs of
cholera, typhoid fever and similar dis
eases may be preserved and communi-
Gated by even the slightest crack or iis-
sure, which may be caused by very
tritiing accidents to crockery and
iaiencc.
Sill James Paget. one of tile most
eminent of British surgeons. recently
addressed the workingmen's college
London, on the subject of recrea-
ton. lie says that recreation does
not consist, as many persons
wrongly imagine, in idleness, but
rather in diversion, and in the en-
ployment of different sets of mental
faculties from those which are used in
the ordinary business of life. Sir
James Paget analysed true recreation
as consisting to a greater or less degree
of the elements of uncertainty, won
der and the exercise of unwonted or
unusual skill.
In his recently published book on
EARN Fences" Professor Scott esti-
mates that five dollars is invested in
fences for every acre of incoscd land
in Great Britain and Ireland, and that
the annual maintenance of fences costs
about seventy-iive cents an acre. The
total capital thus invested in the United
Kingdom must be, at this rate, nearly
S25O,00O,OOO, and the annual outlay
about $32, 100000. Professor Scott be-
lievcs that II great deal of fencing
might be dispensed with to the posi-
tive advantage of agriculture, and that
the general introduction of wire in
stead of wood would effect a great adj
ditional saving
A shrewd writer says: Dull times
are saving times. There is never
more money in the community than
when men are keeping it; there
is never less than when men are spend
ing it. The margin of expenditure is