McCook weekly tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 188?-1886, 1885-05-28
Current Notes.

During the recent ice jam in Chesa-
peake Bay millions of ducks were
crowded into small open spaces of wa
ter. This afforded sportsmen and pot
hunters fine opportunities for killing
them, and great numbers were slaugh-
tered. One man is reported to have
killed thirty-two at single shot.
The Royal Irish Rifles, nearly nine
hundred strong, the only regiment at
Halifax, has been ordered to make
ready for active duty, and expects to
be sent to the Soudan.
Paper is used as substitute for wood
in the manufacturing of flooring. A
skating rink in Indianapolis is furnished
with paper floor which is as smooth
as sheet of Ice, there being no seams
that can be seen or felt, and in addition
there is an adhesive quality which pre-
vents any slipping of rollers.
The royal commissioners appointed
to inquire into the effects of Chinese i'm
migration into British Columbia found
that last year the Chinese paid 25 per
cent of the whole import dnties, and
two-thirds of the excise duties In
Victoria they paid the municipal treas
ury about 49, 500 in 1888.
A barometer is simply bent tube
filled with murcury, like U with one
long leg and one short one. The short
end is open to the air, the long end is
closed and is vacuum, that is, has no
air. The weight of the air upon the
quicksilver in the short arm causes it
to rise in the long arm to height suffi-
Gent to balance the weight of the air.
Dry air is heavy, and the mercury
rises; wet air is light, so the mercury
falls. This makes the barometer q
weather-glass.
Fishermen who supply the markets
in central and southern Illinois are said
to use nets with meshes SO small that
the young fish are taken with the old.
On the stands in st. Louis fish not
much larger than pumpkin seeds and
selling for 10 cents dozen are display
ed. A number of the fishing clubs de-
mand repressive Legislation against
these pot fishermen.
In the United States there are 1900
dentists who use ton of gold and five
tons of other metals and make 4,00O,-
900 artificial teeth annually. Only one
American in eighty is found to have
perfect teeth, and one third Of the pop
ulation make more or less use of the
artificial product.
Quails are now so abundant in Califor-
MIA that they throng the roadways,
while rewards are offered by farmers in
southern counties for killing this bird,
which destroys much grain, the Aleme-
da and Contra Costo farmers say the
quail is useful to them. 1t attacks their
grain only as last resort and chiefly
subsists upon insects.
An entry in Washington's diary, dated
February, 176S, shows the great num-
Der of visitors he entertained at that
time. "Would any person believe" he
says, "that with 101 COWS actually re-
ported at late enumeration of my cat
tie should still be obliged to buy but
ter?"
The lumber World makes the astound-
ing assertion that the loss to this coun-
try through forest fires is now not less
than $500, 900, O0Oa year, simply through
the destruction of available timber,
without counting additional loss from
the humiliation of the young growth
and the seeds scattered on the surface,
and the scorching of the ground, which
often renders it sterile for a generation.