The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1885-04-18
MISCELLANEOUS.


New South Wales produced 81, ~,
$40 pounds of sugar last year.
Professor Balm says that ssthe pos.
session of a spot of land is the most
powerful of all known motives to in.
dustry''
The chief engineer of the Crotou
Aqueduct reports that 20, ! O0, 600 gallons
of water are wasted in New York every
day.--N y Sun.
"A grand old man said at the bar Of
the Supreme Court the other day that
the life of gentleman included mot
only good manners, but good morals,
courtesy, kindness and honor and high
minded principles. IN o. Picayune.
The editor of Russian daily thus
explained its semi-occasional appear
ance: The paper is often in want OF
information, often in want of writer's
and in want of money, and sometimes
when it has all these it is in want OF
readers
The mean duration of life in France,
which was Twenty-Five at the close OF
the eighteenth century. and thirty-nine
from 1S17-1831, increased to forty from
1S40-1559, thanks to the progress OF
sanitary science.
The State of Arkansas derives 1925,
cooper annum from its penitentiary by
leasing the labor of eighty convicts to
cigar manufacturers and handing over
2S0 others to farmers, the consideration
being 1915 per month and all expenses.
IN. Y. Post.
Mr.. Gladstone has made but four
changes in his Cabinet since he first
formed it, the Duke of Argyll, w. E.
Forster, John Bright and Mr.. Dodson
retiring, to be superseded by Lord Car
lingford, Sir Charles Dixie, Earl Derby
and Mr. Trevelyan, respectively.
"A Key West paper says a colored
man went to the fish market recently,
bought conch, and upon cracking the
shell was surprised to find hidden
treasure in the shape of a handsome
pearl the size of an ordinary bean,
which he subsequently sold for ninety
dollars.
The old idea that slow-grown tim
Der was stronger than that grown
quickly is disproved by recent tests in
England, so far, at least, as oak is con-
cerned. Second-growth hickory is
usually more valued for the handles of
axes, hammers, etc., and the annual
rings show it to be of swifter growth
than the first stock.
-Duelling in Germany shows no de-
crease. Notwithstanding the outcry
against the custom, and moreover is
now practiced on the most trivial plea
Two officers fought recently in Cologne
simply because one of the combatants,
when leaving cafe, had taken ND
wrong cap by mistake. Twenty-seven
shots were exchanged, and one of the
duellists was killed.
The excess of births over deaths in
France in 1888 was 96, 843, against 81
OF in 1882, and 108, 229 in 1881. The
number of departments that lose pom
ulation from this decline of the excess
OF births over deaths is greater every
year, and now amounts to about thirty
per cent 1t is singular that the Vine
growing districts are the principal de-
faulters in this respect
The Territory of Dakota paws more
revenue to the Postoffice Department
than any one of thirty-two States of the
Union, and has population as large as
Nebraska or Connecticut, and nearly
twice as large as Vermont and Florida.
1t boasts $500 miles of railway. 1000
school-houses and 275 newspapers, or
more periodicals than any New England
State except Massachusetts. - fargo
argus.
Elijah O. Allen is very absent
minded man, who lives in Dallas. A
friend went to Houston the other day.
and when he got back Elijah asked him:
How is old Major Barnes coming outp
Has he changed much of latep
Changed! Why, l should smile. He
has been dead more than three wears"
That's fact. / was one of the pail
bearers at his funeral. was thinking
OF old Major Shocks, who died about the
same time. Has he changed much of
latep "-1eras SJtings.
The first patent granted to an in
ventor in the United States is mentioned
in speech of ex-senator Wadleiph. of
New Hampshire, in the Forty-fifth Con-
gress. The Senator said: IAN intelli-
gent gentleman of my own State has re-
terred to me an act of the General
Court OF Massachusetts Bay, passed in
1916 granting to one of his ancestors.
Joseph jerks, the exclusive right of
making and selling his improved scythe
for the space of fourteen years. That,
| think, was the first patent granted to
an inventor in America. The improve
ment referred to changed the short,
thick, straight English scythe into the