Sharp County record., 1890-11-13
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.


There is more shipping now in tae
port at Charleston than at any time for
tho last five years
Eighteen and one-half tons Of celery
were shipped from Kalamazoo in one
day recently.
1t is said there are only two red
slate auarries in the United States, one
in Vermont and the other in Virginia.
Tho Chinese Cotton Cloth Company
of Shanghai is at last about to COM
mence operations although much ham,
pored by financial difficulties,
-Nearsightedness is oyerrunning the
French people as much as the Germans,
Among the senior boys in the different
French colleges more than forty-six per
cent are nearsighted.
The largest fruit farm in West Vir-
ginia is the Becker farm, near Harper's
Ferry. 1t contains 5000 apricot trees,
81, 900 peach trees 5000 plum trees,
5000 miscellaneous fruit trees and 35,
coo grape vines
Recent experiments on the physfo-
logical effects of the electric current
lead to the belief that continuous cur
rent causes death by direct action on
the substance of the heart, and death
by an intermittent current is due to the
alteration of the nerves and the inhibi-
tory mechanism of the heart
"A German chemist has discovered
that when bottle partly filled witka
solution of ozone in water is shaken, "a
soft phosphorescent glow spreads over
the surface of the liquid and quickly
disappears. A second shaking gives a
fainter light, but the appearance can
not be obtained again until after an
interval of some days.
"A French agricultural experiment
station reports that out Of SIS plants the
goat eats 440 and refuses 1876; the sheep
out of SIS plants eat 3S7 and refuse 141;
the COW out of 494 plants eats 276 and re-
fuses 21S; the horse out of 474 plants
eats 1862 and refuses 212 while the pig
out of 243 plants eats ~ and refuses Ill.
The production Of silk throughout
the world last year is estimated at IL
FOG tons, as against II, 54S tons in 1888,
11,SSS tons in 1887, 10, ,594 tons in 1886,
and 9,OO2 tons in 1885. The average of
the four years from 1885 to 1888 was
1O,74S tons. The 1889 crop was rather
above it, although scarcely any silk was
produced in Syria and other parts of the
Levant.-N. Y. Evening Post
Apparently the tables are turning.
California prunes have become so popu-
lar in this country that it is said the
French are beginning to put up their
prunes in the California style, so that
they will pass for California prunes.
Some of these days, perhaps, dishonest
dealers will try to sell French wines
by putting on them California labels.
Westward the star of Empire takes its
way"
The value of the worlds production
of coffee, at 100000 cwt., would be
about $267, 900, 900 in the wholesale
market. The worlds consumption OF
coffee is placed at $4,000 tons, tho
United States and Canada alone using
265, 900 tons. Two-thirds of the coffee
we drink comes from Brazil, which pro-
duces considerably more than one-halt
of the worlds supply.-Kansas City
Commercial.
Attention has been called in varioas
quarters (the United States, England,
Belgium, France and Germany to the
remarkable cold weather prevailing of
late years, since 1885, in Central and
Western Europe; the yearly average be-
ing constantly under the normal. 1t
now appears from an Algerian record,
that these years have been warmer than
usual in Algeria. 1t has also shown
that there has been no change in the
frequency Of north and south winds,
while in Europe the northeast winds
have been increasing in frequency
"A recent dispatch from Chattanooga
contains the unequivocal announcement
of the casting of twenty-five tons Of
superior soft, low-carbon steel, OBJ
tanned from Southern iron by the basic
process. The dispatch describes this as
"the most important eventin the indus
trial development of tho South" and if
the account is true it is an important
event, surely New England relations
with the coal and iron fields of tho
South are such that tho news Of this
successful experiment will be received
with good deal Of interest in this re-
gion, Boston journal.
Impertnence Punished.
There is supposed to be no protection
against tho sude, open stare with which
n Well-dressed lady Is so often regarded