Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1890-08-01
SCIENTIFIC GLEANINGS

Steam heating of railway carriages,
used extensively in this country, was in
troduced into Prussia the past winter.
1t is claimed that when mines are light
ed by incandescents lamps accidents
from explosive gases will become very
rare.
NJ Pedrous, a French physician. who
claims to be able to see the color of sounds,
says that voices are red, blue, black, tan
and slate color.
In the formation of a single locomotive
steam engine there are nearly 5000 pieces
to be put together, and these require to
be as accurately adjusted as the works of Il
watch.
1t was proposed in great paper before
the institute of Naval Architects to sub
stitute for the comparatively narrow and
deep self righting hfeboatsa more shall
low, beamy, non-self righting boat.
1t is said that a common cowcatcher
attachment to locomotives is about the
only article of universal use that has ever
been patented, its infentor being D. B.
Davies of Columbus. who found his model
in the plow Red lights on the rear of
trains, it is further said, were adopted at
the suggestion of the late Mrs. Swisshelm,
after "a railway accident (which she had
a narrow escape.
An English photographer claims to have
obtained photograph in which the natur-
al colors were produced when the exposure
was made, by accident, just at the moment
when there came a binding fash of light
ming. He says that friend of his once got
| a colored plate under similar circumstan-
ces, and believes that electricity has to do
with photographing colors.
The butterfly pumps nectar into itself
| through tube, and bees and flies suck up
their food with their long tongue or pro
| cOscis. The spider mouth is quite a
complicated affair 1t has fangs for hold
ing its prey, masticatory organs for bruis-
ing its solid food, and sucking apparatus
for taking up the fluid. Quite as com,
plicated is the mouth of the mosquito,
which consists of the lances, the saws and
! the pumping tubes.
A Finland paper mentions curious stone
| In the northern part of the country that
| serves the people instead of barometer
This stone, which they call ''Ilmakiur, y
turns black or blackish gray, whea foul
weather is approaching; fine weather ha:
the effect of turning it almost white The
| IIiln lCSGiu blt StbIt Will
reverence, but the scientists say its changes
in color are due to salts contained in its
composition.
The diameter of trees varies not only
| from summer to winter but from day tC
| day. They are larger from noon until twi-
| light next morning, than from twilight tC
noon, and are smaller In winter than in
| summer. Water and sap of trees expand
not only In proportion as they rise above
but also as they go below the freezing point
Low temperature as well as high promotes
evaporation and the trees evaporate from
| their branches in winter, and so the colder
| the weather the more they shrink.
Early Occupancy of All TilIabIe Land.
Forum.
In view of the rapid reduction in the
rate of increase, and the constantly dimin
ishing quantity of unoccupied arabic lanG
| to draw from, an addition of 1880, OOC
acres of cultivated land seems to be quite
as much as can be expected in this decade
| During the remainder of this century, the
annual increase in the consumption will
necessitate average yearly additions of II.
| 900, 900 acres to farm acreage, of which
more than one-third must be land actually
| producing staple crops. With but 100.-
| 900, 900 arabic acres to draw from, of which
considerable part is already included in
farms, there would appear to be little diff
| iculty in determining the maximum time
| that will elapse before the exhaustion OF
the material from which new farms can be
| carved in numbers sufficient to meet the
requirements of the increasing population
and after which consumption must, as in
Europe, be met from the products of a
given and incorporating area supplemented
by an importation of food.
Hoard's Dairyman states as hard fact
that more fat exists in milk made from
cows fed on ems ilage than in milk of
cows fed on dry food. Ensi lage contains
more fatty matter than the green corn or
the corn dried in the usual way, and 1t is
confesSedly richer in fat than simple dry
corn fodder. Then it is hard fact. too.
that the more tat in tile food the more
there is in the butter This hard fact,
admitted now 10y many scientific persons
who formerly disputed it, is dawning on
the consciousness of the dairymen who
pinned their faith on the mistakes of these
persons, but who have not been so ready to
acknowledge or forget the misleading
Practice makes perfect" not only in
mechanical manipulation but in intelli-
gent deduction from premises learned by
observation. And when dairyman finds
that the richer the cows food is in fat the
more butter the cows will yield he has APP
preached that stage of comprehension
when he will make it point of practice
to select the best foods for the fat contain
ed for the feeding of his cows.