The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-03-17
POPULAR SCIENCE.

Large quantities of citric acid hsve
been extracted from the fruit of cram
berry, but it is not probable that it will
be able to compete commercially with tho
lemon, which now furnishes the bulk of
the supply. 49,,
A Boston writer declares that there is
more nutriment in dark than in white
shelled egg. The CLAIR of white shelled
eggis like milk-of-lime water, while that
of dark eggs has substance, is gelatinous
in appearance, and will hold together Il
lifted few inches, and, it is claimed, is
one-third more valuable for any culinary
purpose. -.. T,f,'1.}
N. Hellriegel has ascertained by .
series of experiments that rye and winter
wheat germinate at thirty two degrees Of
heat, barley and oats at thirty-fv In
dian corn at forty eight, turnip at thirty,
two, fax at thirty-fve, the pea and clover
at thirty-fve, bean and lupin at thirty
eight, asparagus at thirty-fve, carrot at
thirty y-eight, and the bean at forty. ~
Accounts show that the salpeter beds
of Nevada are far better situated for
their development than the inter region
of South Americs, which is an arid des-
ert. Water for all purposes is condensed
from the ocean water and carried to the
inter fields, fuel being procured from the
mountains in South Chilli. In Nevada,
the sslpeter deposits are in the vicinity
of rich farming country, with an abun-
dant supply of water and wood
An interesting experiment, showing
the influence of electricity on the growth
of roots, has been made in Germany BY
Professor Hodefeiss. Plates ofqcopper
were thrust upright into the earth and
connected by wires with similarly placed
zinc plates about 100 feet distant, an
electric battery being thus formed, with
the earth between the copper and zinc in
the circuit. Both potatoes and beets
planted between such plates gave an IN
creased yield-beets fifteen per cent, po-s
tatoes twenty five per cent.-as compared
with other parts Of the same field. &
Colonel G. r. Branfil, late of the survey
of India, remarks as a noticeable feature
in the meteorologyof of the southeast Of that
country, the frequent lightning storms,
which occur daily, for. weeks together,
before the setting in of the southwest
monsoon, unaccompsnied by rain or by
any sound of thunder. They are seen
along the coast where the land and sea
breezes alternate, and along the line Of
the Chats, where the surface current is /;
thrown up into the upper and opposite
current Of the atmosphere. In this region
the rare phenomenon of interference
fringes is very frequently to be seen.
Recent experiments confirm the opin-
ion of sanitary authorities that, though
natural soil is an excellent filter for i'm
pure air that may pass through it, it is =
poor filter for infected water. Mr.. .
Raphael Pumpelly, Of the national board
of health, finds that sand interposes abb
solutely no barrier between wells and
Infection with germs from cesspools,
cemeteries, etc., lying even ct great dis
tances in the lower wet stratum of sand
and that it is probable that dry gravel
or possibly dry, course sand, is no OBJ
stacle to the free entrance into houses
above of these organisms, which swarm
in the ground air around leaky drains. Z