Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-16
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

reported from Cheboygan. Mich, amounts to
10000, COO feet
Mr.. Ryckman, of Broekton, N. Y, has
this year picked from half an acre of ground
nearly 1900 pounds of grapes.
Way Lee, who has opened restaurant
In Jacksonville. Fla, claims to be a relative OF
the present Emperor OF China.
An interesting relic preserved at st.
Helena consists Of two silver hairs that were
once part OF lock cut from NapoIeon's head.
The proudest boy in Amherst, Me-, is q
13year-old youngster who started out the other
morning before breakfast to try new rifle and
soon shot fine buck.
AN alleged serpent, feet long and 8
inches thick is frisking about in the Saginaw
river, Mich, and putting a wire edge on the
nerves Of bibulous loggers.
in the ocean live great multitude and
variety Of worms, each doing its share Of
natures work, and among them are many
species OF extreme beauty.
Young Goldfish are yery plentiful in
Vineyard Sound and Buzzard's Bay. Fisher.
men ascribe. this as result of the labors of the
United States Fish Commission.
Given an equal amount to intelligence
at the start, q dog which mas been well-trained
is worth twice as much as one untaught. 1t ID
as true of dogs as of men. Education counts.
Hiram Ludwig, residing at Boyertown,
Pa, owns a Martin Luther Bible printed in
Germany in 1870. 1t is in an excellent state Of
preservation and he refused $3.50 for 1t recently,
Butcher Sprachlin, of Casper, Wyo.. il
is reported made present few days ago, Of
his wife and household effects TO Blacksmith
Buxton, the Constable-elect 1T was an
amlcable proceeding"
During tie season Just closed the curl.
Gus mountain palaces of the late King of Ba.
varia have been visited by sc, 900 persons and
the amount received from them in admission
fees has exceeded $50, 900.
In the manufacture of gold thread for
embroidery. a cylinder of silver is covered with
gold and afterward drawn out into wire. In
this way six ounces of gold have been made to
yield over 200 miles Of gilt wire.
The British cruiser Calliope, of Samoa
fame. is to be reitted by the Admiralty for an.
other commission. The cost of her reft is esri.
mated at 900. It IS reported that the vessels
bottom Is in sad condition and that while az
sydney she leaked like sieve.
Montana railroad employees should bear
in mind that there Is a law on its statute books
requiring that all cattle killed by the cars shall
De skinned and the hides taken to the nearest
brands OF marks, missing animals.
The fretful porcupine is said to have an
fnordinate fondness for chewing leather, which
is regards as one of the daintiest of esculents,
Jim Gibbons, the blacksmith, of Stockport, N.
u, declares that a porcupine ate more than
half Of his bellows In single night.
-Thoufands Of oysters are shipped to
England from the region near Greenwich,
Conn. They are packed and rammed into bar
| rels so that the shells cannot open. This keeps
the oysters alive and obviates the necessity OF
using ice. The oysters reach England in exs
| eellent condition.
The report Of the Pathological Society
states that ''over 100000 song birds are an.
nually required by the dealers to ornament the
| hats of American women. On Cape Cod A. .OU0
| terms were killed in one season; the swamps
| and marshes of Florida are nearly depopulated
| OF their egrets and herons"
| "A Russian named Balaboukha has re-.
| Gently started a walk which will occupy
about three years. He goes from Kiew to Con-
| stantinople and Jerusalem, then by the coast
| which skirts Syria and Africa, arriving at
Morocco; thence he will travel through Spain,
France and Germany to Kiew.
| There are worms in the ground, which,
| at times, work great destruction. The roots Of
the clematis vine are sometimes infested by a
| minute kind of worm, which forms little gals
| on the roots This noxious creature has rela-
| tive worse than himself-the Tylenchus. which
! causessthe dreaded disease in wheat known aS
smut"
, The old Essex Head Tavern in the
Strand in London. where DR.. johnson used to
resort after the "Mitre' had ceased to artracs
| him, is now IN process of demolition. 1t is one
| OF the many historic houses to fall before re
march of progress. Until recently 1t was K ID
by two ladies named Fielding, who were be4
| Heved to be descendants of the novelist
| "A physician Of Arsk, in the Govern
| ment of Kazan, Russia, has compiled statistics
Which show that the greatest mortality of peas.
| ants children occurs in the spring and summer
months. when the mothers go out to work in
the 1ield and leave their little ones to take care
Of themselves. He has planned the establish
fsnnent of day nurseries (yasly) where such peas
ant women can leave their children when they
| go out 20 work. The authorities of Kazan have
accepted his plan and committed it to the apa
proval and revision of the medical council.
"A Philadelphia gentleman mourns the
loss of a rooster which was familiarly known as
| "Parnell" and he is said to have been an I'M.
Usually likely bird and to have been SO well ac-
| duainted with the schedule running time of
trains on American street that many time he
guided his followers of the tracks lust in time
to save their lives. Among his other good
qualities he is said by his admirers to have
possessed the happy and valuable faculty of
knowing where to find the places where the
cars containing the best grain were side-
tracked.
The immature Tylenehus lives in the
ground until the wheat shoots forth, when it
crawlS up the stalk. enters young kernel Of
grain. and there lays its eggs. which soon hatch
out. The grain becomes malformed, small and
black; its interior is filed with core of white,
powdery substance. the grains of the powder
being each young Tylenchus. Left alone, the
kernel of the wheat falls to the ground and be-
comes moist and rotten; the wall breaks open,
and the multitude of worms are set Free to
crawl about in the earth until another crop Of
wheaE is ready TO be destroyed by them.
"A new fashion has been introduced in
Paris by q great Russian princess, whose
patriotism is as great as her wealth, and prob
ABLY before long the same fashion will End its
way to England and America. 1t is the Rus
sian lace hitherto used only by Russians, and
practically unknown outside the Empire of the
Czars. 1t is made of the finest linen thread
colors. 1t is seldom seen in white, but in the
rich ecru of the unbleached fax mixed with a
pale or a deep blue or a vivid red, the colorS
favored by the Russian people.
During the long cruise of the whaling
bark Triton this year Captain Clifford has been
puzzled by a small but persistent leak that COM
menced while the vessel was near Honolulu in
the spring, and continued until she was docked
at San Francisco last week. 1t was discovered
that near the keel a bilfsh had driven his
bony snout through the copper covering
three-quarter inch pine sheathing. and threa
Inches of white oak. The piece of snout which
was imbedded in the timber was i've inches
long and increased from half inch diameter
at the top to an inch at the point of fracture
Near by was found another snour sunk aboaa
an inch and half in the oak planking.
wIsPs OF WIT.
pohbv-where's vour overpoaf-a;,b