Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-05-07

| SO'SA3
and that was not satisfactory day s
shaking either. OF the eight brought in
| this wear he killed seven. The eighth
he captured alive for friend who wants
| it for q pet. This one is seven feet and
a half long.
MIR. Dewitt says that his farm raises
no black snake less than six feet in
length. This springs premature yield
measured trif1e over three rods. De-
| Witt says he will gather a second crop
in May, and will consider it failure if
he does not run out total length of
nine rods. His snake patch yields moth
| ing but black snakes.
Frank Knight, of Purdy's Station,
went out shaking one day last week. He
came back with fourteen falr-slzed black
suakes. On being run out by the tape
| line they were found to measure up
| nearly four rods,-NeaO York Sun.
THE POWER OF BOILERS.
At recent meeting in Manchester of
inspecting engineers and other gentle
men interested i'll the inspection OF en-
gines and boilers, the question OF the
so-called horsepower of boilers was
raised by Mr.. Boswell, and the debate
which followed was well sustained, the
general opinion being that the term
''horse-p power as applied to boiler was
| wholly wrong, and should be abandoned.
1t was suggested that boilers should be
rated by their evaporative capacity; but
to this it was objected that the factors of
this capacity were-quality OF coal and
water, the method of seating adopted,
the area and altitude of the chimney,
| and, not least, the brains or skill of the
fireman. Mr.. Richard Thompson, the
senior inspector of the Manchester
| Steam Users Association, contributed
very greatly to the interest of the debate
by his contribution of facts acquired in
actual experience, as did also the major
ity of thosepresent. It appeared that a
| full-sized Lancashire boiler, seven feet
by twenty eight feet or thirty feet,
might, SO far as horsepower was con-
cerned, develop anything up to $50 or
400 horsepower, according to the con-
ditions, which would of course include
very economical engine. A fact of great
value, not sufficiently known, was
brought up, namely, that when the
evaporative efficiency of Lancashire
boiler was being tested at atmospheric
pressur e, the whole of the steam gener-
ated being discharged through a six
inch pipe with one right-angled bend in
it's length of a few feet only, the pres
sure in the boiler rose to three pounds
per square inch by the gauge, showing
most conclusively that at such low
pressure it requires safety valve to
boiler with at least an outlet area OF
twenty-five square inches. Whatever
may be the pressure in a boiler it will
practically evaporate the same weight of
water, but an orifice will practically dis
charge constant volume at all pressures,
and the volume varying almost inverse
ly with the pressure, a safety valve will
discharge more steam at high than at
low pressure, and therefore a high
pressure boiler does not require so great
an area of safety valve as does one at a
low pressure. -Scientafic american.
INA CHICKENS CROP.
Speaking of chickens picking up and
swallowing diamonds, ''chispas" of gold
and other bright bits of stone and metal
has reminded Judge, of this city,
says the Virginia City iNev. Enterprise,
of an experience with the chicken at
sea.
In June, 1850, he made the trip from
Mazatlan to San Francisco in the French
bark Surprise. One day, when about
half way up the coast, the steward had
out the pinnacle lamp and was engaged
in cleaning and polishing that bit Of
nautical apparatus. He had iton the deck,
and hau taken it all apart, and had the
debris, wreckage, or whatever you
would call it when at sea, scattered all
about. The vessel was rolling slightly,
and as it rolled it caused brass screw
about half an inch in length to travel
down the deck. Some chickens were
lettering about, and the flash of the
screw caught the eye of an old hen. She
dashed at the bit of brass and in mo-
ment it was in her crop.
The Judge saw the transaction and IL
wardly chuckled, as he knew there
would soon be Davy Jones to pay about
that screw. When the steward had pol
ished up the lamp and was putting it tc-
gether again he missed a particular and
important screw. After searching for
the screw for some minutes in vain the
steward spoke of his loss to some of the
sailors. They joined in the search, but
no screw could be found. Soon the at
tention of the captain was attracted to
the group Of searchers, and the steward
was obliged to tell him of the loss.
! The skipper few into rage at once,
and used much profane language in
connection with the frequent references
he felt called upon to make to the stew
ards eyes. The poor steward was on
the point of taking short ride on the
toe of the captains boot, when the Judge
thought it time to appear upon the
scene. He. told the captain if he
wanted the screw it could be found with
little trouble. He had only to order
the men to catch an old black hen that
he pointed out, cut off her head, open
her crop and the screw would be found.
At this the sailors gazed upon the
judge as though they thought him
. some practitioner of the black art, and
and the steward gave him an appealing
look, as much as to beg him not to Join
sides with the persecutor.
The captain had the fowl caught al
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