Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-07-10
CIENTIFIC CLEANINGS.

Electricity moves 588, 900 miles per sec
ond; light moves 1872, 900 miles per second !;
rife shot moves l 400 feet per second.
Experts claim that if steel ships are
kept promptly painted with good paint,
and the plates promptly ''picked, they
would last as long as iron, otherwise they
would deteriorate more rapidly than iron
ships.
Baron Liebig the great german chemist,
says that 'as much -four as can lie only on
the point of table knife contains as much
nutritive constituents as eight pints of
the best and most nutritious beer that is
made.
Different classes of substances have been
found to effect the organs of taste in the
following order; bitter, acids, saline sub
stances sweet and alkalies. The taste
nerves are nearly 1000 times as sensitive
to qulnlne as to sugar
Artesian wells are being put down in
great numbers in the district of Riverside,
California, and owing to them, this district
which was previously uninhabited on
account of scarcity of drinking water, has
now a population of 1000.
Sugar cane according TO Mr. d. Morris,
is nowhere found wild and it has been
supposed to have lost its power Of produc
ing seed. In specimens received at Kew
Gardens, however, seeds have been
found. This discovery is important, as it
is anticipated that cross fertilization and
selection of feeding may greatly improved
The rubber pavement invented by Russo
Hannouer, consists of eighty-fve per cent.
Of ground stone and fifteen per cent. of d
rubber mass, and when applied to the
street on top of a layer of concrete looks
as asphalt, and although not as smooth,
1T produces no dust and is nOisess.
A huge block of coal has been sent from
the f5ercorn coal mines, England. its
weight being five and one-half tons. and
measuring seven and one-haif feet in length
five and one-half feet in width and three
and one-half feet In thickness. The block
made at the bottom Of the mine a trip of
$3.50 feet before reaching the shaft to which
it was TO reach the surface.
The electric headlight, which has been
tested on railway engines during the past
three months is declared perfect success.
1t throws the light from half to three
quarters of mile ahead-far enough to
stop train running sixty miles an hour
In time to prevent an accident. Another
advantage the light is that it is thrown
directly insfront of the locomotive and does
not illuminate the side of the track to any
extent.
The height of an olive tree is usually 20
feet but it is sometimes as high as SO feet,
and 1T reaches an almost fabulous age.
One recently destroyed at Beaulieu had
recorded age of five centuries, and it was
36 feet in circumference The olive tree
is exceedingly prolific under cultivation;
the fruit yields about 20 per cent of its
weight, exclusive of kernel, in oil. Italy
is SAID to produce 100000 and France
7,O00,O00 gallons of oil annually The tree
does not vegetate readily beyond 1000 feet
altitude or 45o latitude
The busy season of farm work should by
no means be turned into a period of
slavery and oppression. No one should
make his work his master By skillful
management and forethought the work
should be kept in subsection and at least
time spared for recreation and rest, not
forgetting such reading and study as will
improve the mind; gather information
which would tend to Tighten the manual
labor by connecting it with intelligent
thought, observation, and contemplation
and make the work more effective. For a
farmer to say am So busy that | cannot
Hnu tllile 10 rest or READ, or ask Tor lmper-
atlye information upon doubtful points,
Is much like the mistake which would be
made by sailor who should be intent on
painting or ornamenting his ship, scrap
ing down and vanishing the masts and
spars, and leave his charts and barometers
neglected and find no time to study his
chronometer and get his right bearings.
Gan work and no play makes Jack dull
boy, so we learned in youth, and the
same principle should guide US in our ma
ture life.