The Democrat. (Scotland Neck, Halifax Co., N.C.) 1884-1896, 1885-04-23

, The United States is said now to o
the third largest silk manufacturln
, country in the world, and this dlsplte a
that has been said and written to dlscoul
age the raising of silk in this country
, The value of our annual silk product
now placed at $35, 900. 900. About 6o,
600 bounds of cocoons were raised 1
, 1883.
The number of envelopes manufacture
. YEARLY in Great Britain is estimated
roo, 900, 900. while in the United state
they amount to 2,5Oc, 100000. If hant
, labor were employed to do the WORK nov
done by machines simply In making en-
velopes, taking no account OF the PRINT
ing done by some of them, the service
would be required of 275, OOO workpeople
Herat. on the Afghan frontier, has TO
years past been the gate through wnlci
Manchester cottons and calicoes, Shef
field cutlery and Birmingham hardware
nave poured into Central Asa to Grove
out Russian goods, $50: 900, 900 worth o.
such wares passing yearly through boK'
hara alone. Herar is the city which
Russia desires to hold and which Eng
land is determined shall not be held by
the Russians.
The doctors and police of Constantl-
nople, writes correspondent, have com
bined to drive out the magiclans. The
maoicians arc mostly black men from
Morocco, and their studios are in nearly
every street. They perform more cures
than the doctors and catch more thieves
than the police, hence the professional
opposition to the wise men of Morocco
The sultan's government has directed the
officials to prosecute the maglclans as
frauds and rogues.
Cataract in the eye really means an
opaque or clouded condition OF the lens.
With us the operation for the removal OF
cataract is considered very delicate
one. and is intrusted generally to special
lists. A correspondent of Chambers Jour-
nal saws that in India he has seen ma
tive operate in the street with his pen
knife in a few moments-recclve his ice
of one rupee, and pass on among the
crowd shouting for more patients, and
yet the operation under their hands Is
generally successful.
The oddities of genius are personified
in Ernest Perabeau n we'll known Bos-
ton pianist. He has theory that a
pianists ability to produce certain
powerful tone is proportionate to the
strength of his biceps; in short, that
method, in this respect, is merely mat
ter of muscle. He has been known to
request permission of utter strangers,
whose playing he had perhaps heard, or
heard Of to feel their muscle, his adj
miration increasing or diminishing &C.
cording to the state of development in
which he found the biceps.
A plan to connect Paris and London
with pneumatic tubes has been reported
! favorably by the French engineers and
! submitted to the government 1t is pro-
posed that two pneumatic tubes be laid,
| following the line of the Northern rail-
road from Paris to Calais, thence across
the channel to Dover, following the line
of the Southern railroad to London. Let
tiers could thus be transmitted between
the two capitals in one hour. Wagon
cites, like those now used to transport
! kilograms from Paris are used, weighing
ten kilogrammes, and capable of carry
! ing five kilogrammes of mail matter.
Twenty pneumatic trains are to be started
every hour The cost is estimated to be
$1,000, 900.
A wcll-known scientific man, it is said,
has given an order to a Liverpool dealer
in such wares for 100 specimens of the
electric eel, for the purpose of studying
its remarkable power of imparting a
shock to any one who is induced to han
die its person. The London Standard
thinks that when the depths of the sea
and of the tropical lakes and rivers have
been more fully explored, it will proba-
bly, be found that the number of fishes
furnished with batteries of the torpedo
and gymnotus type is much greater than
is now supposed, for it falls in with no
biographical law or theory of evolution
that power so important should be re-
served for few favored members of I'M
related families.
In the central agricultural districts of
Russia the whole number of Inhabited
houses is nearly 10000 900, and of these
only about rs, 600 are built of stone. In
the manufacturing provinces there are
$500 stone houses in total of 400,
900 dwellings. These figures give an
idea of the extent to which wood is used
for house building in Bussia, and the de-
mand is pretty constant, for fire is SO
frequent that, according to trust
worthy estimates, wooden Russia is
wholly burned down about once in every
seven years. A great deal of timber is
also used in the construction of boats to
ply the Russian waters, as one quarter
of the entire number of vessels thus en-
p'oyed are destroyed annually.
The New York Tribune AYERS thai
'the custom of appointing an arbor day
devoted to the planting of trees now
prevails in eight States, and it is proba
BILE that other States will follow the good
example set by these. Indeed, some
such provision for propagating trees
should be adopted in every State, al
though it is most necessary in the so
called treeless regions. New York it
self, once SO rich in magnificent forests
as we have have frequently shown, i.
now being rapidly reduced to coudi
ton of nudity. Nor is the destruction
of trees confined to the region of The
Adirondacks, although it is most notice
able there. It has been going on in 10
calities where it has directly affected thu
interests of the farmers"
Chang Tsao Yu, the Chinese minister
to the United States, is about sixty wear!