Morning journal and courier., 1885-03-07

1t seems to be generally conceded that the
new President has made a good start.
Neal Dow has abandoned the Republican
party with "great reluctance" 1t would
have been good thing for the party if he
had abandoned it long ago.
The cashier of bank in Albion, New
York has tried to commit suicide, and it is
believed that he wanted to die because he
thought no business rhdil could be d Chris
tian. There certainly is considerable fric-
tion between the business principles" of
our day and true Christianity.
The Massachusetts, legislature is consider
ing the question of taxing church property.
One of the arguments brought against such
taxation is that to establish church in any
locality so raises the value of all surrounding
real estate that it brings in much more tax
than the church property would yield, and
therefore church property is entitled to
emption for the finsncial results it accom-
plishes.
The Modesto California; Republican be-
tieves in the olive. 1t says: There is no pro-
ductive tree requiring SO little culture the
and Spain never prune, nor cultivate, nor
manure it, though they derive moderate
crops every two years. But when properly
cultivated and we'll fed it is apt to give enor-
nous crops-very large one year aud a mod
crate one the intervening year. When plant
ed from the rooted cuttings it is likely to
bear fruit four years after. It's productive
capacity increases and Feaehes its maximum
when the tree is about twenty years old.
Beginning with its sixth or seventh year it
will give rstnunerative crops In a virgin
soil like ours, eight or ten gallons of berries
to tree may be expected when six CT eight
years old: AS the market price for salted
olives in barrels is now in San Francisco
about 81 per gallon, and the picking and
packing will not be over thirty cents per
gallon, it follows the cultivation of the olive
is going to attract much more interest in
California than viticulture, because, either
by picking or making oil, it will pay three
or four times as much.
A Paris paper gives a graphic sketch of
the manner in which nearly one-half of
Paris was built upon the hollow ground be-
some of which had ceiling solid enough to
build upon. But in many other cases the
top ground had to be blown down
bsfore the work of building could be begun,
and it was necessary also to fill in bank
up the soil. In other cases the
houses were reared on the top of veritable
piles, like those of Amsterdam. The to
which these tunnels have been put include
not only tho storage of dead mems bones and
nummies and the accommodation of sewers,
but also the storage of wines and the growth
of mushrooms. It is not, perhaps, generally
known that the thing which people were
most afraid of in Paris during the latter
DAYS of the Commune was the fact, whether
real or supposed, that the leaders of that
desperate insurrection had filed the cata
combs with gunpowder and dynamite, and
could at any moment, if provoked to extreme
measures, produce the effect of an earth
quake upon both banks of the Seine.
Brazil is going into the sugar business ex-
tensively. The country is capable of pro-
ducing an immense amount of cane sugar.
Recently system Of central plantations has
been established. These are situated in the
midst of a number of sugar plantations, and
the owner of the central plantation makes a
contract with the neighboring planters to
bring their crop of sugar cane to his mills
each wear for a certain sum. These contracts
are for long periods. To establish one of
| these central plantations costs from $780,
900 to s4OO, 900, and the imperial govern
msnt guarantees the investor certain per
cent. on his capital. In some cases the guaran-
tee ia for 6 per cent and in others per cent.
The object of the government is to increase
the amount and improve the quality of the
sugar the methods of manufacturing sugar
in Brazil having been very crude and imper-
feet before. With the present low price of
sugar the amount that the Brazilian govern
ment will have to pay on account of its guar
antees to the establishers of central planta-
tions will be enormous.
Frank wigglesworth Clarke notes the
growing dependence upon scientific methods
as a marked feature of modern civilization,
and finds in our national administration an
amazing development in certain lines of
scientific industry. Nearly every executive
department either has scientific experts con-