Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-06-14

Aristook county, Me-, produced last
year 1000 tons of starch, made from
100000 bushels of potatoes.
Less than 3 per cent. of the country's
immense corn crop is exported. and
four fifths of it is consumed where it
grows.
Winning the Derby seems to give a
brevet Of longevity to horses, for ont
of the twenty-three last winners Of that
race only five have died, and one Of
those not from natural causes. But
while all but five Of the horses which
have won the Derby since 1863 are
alive, only ten Of their owners, or eleven,
counting the two owners of the horses
which ran dead heat last year, are
still in the flesh.
A Delaware correspondent writes Of
an old resident in the shape Of grape
vine bearing native fruit, on the farm
Of the late Marshall S. Chandler, in
Christiana Hundred, New Castle county.
1t measures five feet ten inches around
the butt. and, growing in a cluster Of
four or five trees, its branches Chamber
through and over them all. Forty
baskets Of grapes have been gathered
from it in single season.
1t is said that there are upwards of
10000 poultry-keepers in the United
Kingdom, and their annual exhibitions
are very numerous. So great is the de-
sire Of obtaining prizes at these, and so
great the advantage in the sale Of
their fowls after getting them,
that unprincipled poultry-men re-
sort to many receptions to secure
prizes. They stain the legs with dcsira-
bic colors, paint parts of the body
feathers in different spots to make a
more perfect show Of plumage, pull
some from tufts on the head and sickles
from the tail, glueing in others Of a
more fashionable kind to take their
place /; cutting combs and wattles, espe-
cially of gamecocks, in order to give
| the head fine snake-like appearance.
The amount of taxes paid on dis
titled liquors is a fair indication of the
amount of distilled liquors drunk. That
revenue for 1884 was:s76, 905, 1885, or
nearly $4,000, 900 in excess of the pre-
vious year. The figures for each five
years since the present rate of tax
was made, in 1868, have been ::
1865, sls,73l,422 /; 1870, $40
2S1,8l8; 1875, s52,0Sl, 9Ql, and
1880, s6l,1s5, 509-showing con-
clusively that the 55,000,000 OF
people in 1884 did not, as has been fire.
quently stated, drink less distilled
liquors than did the 81 900, 900 in 1860,
lager making the change. The figures
on fermented liquors show steady in
crease of never less than 100000 q
year from sl,63s,9S4 in 1868 to &c.
! 900, 6l5 in 1854.
The Are de Triomphe, which coa-
tributed W the apotheosis Of the great
poet, has already served as a centre in
other national demonstrations. The
first stone was laid in 1906, and when
the Empress Marie Louise made her
triumphant entry into Paris in 1910
the structure had scarcely risen above
ground, but an imitation of it was inn
proyised with timber and canvas. aud the
procession passed beneath it. The arch
also served for the entry Of the Duke
d'Angouleme in 1924 for that Of the
Princess Helena on her marriage TO the
Duke OF Orleans in 1887; for the fd-
neral Of Napoleon l., on the return OF
the body from ST. Helena in 1910 ; and
for the interment Of the Duke OF Orleans
in lS42. In lS4S the Republican Gov
eminent made distribution of flags to
the army and the National Guard at
the foot OF the arch. Victor, Hugo
himself predicted that the Arc de
l'Etoile would share with Notre Dams
and the column in the Place Venisms
| the privilege Of eternity.