Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-12
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

Missouri cherry trees are Towering for
the second time this season.
The Indians in the neighborhood Of
Fort Benton, Mont, have made money this
year. They have sold !, 200 tons of hay to the
Governments for $1,000
A Vermont farmer picks the apple
seeds from his cider presses and sells them
for use in the manufacture of prussic acid.
He gets about one bushel of seeds from l40
bushels of apples.
The rare phenomenon of red snow oc-
CURED in the past spring at Salt Lake City.
This is caused by the development of a
minute fungus which likes to germlnate in
snow under favorable conditions called Pro-
tococcus ntvalis.
When Currier Downing, of Ripley,
Me-, left home IS years ago he planted an
acorn in the dooryard. When he returned
the other day he found that his acorn had
produced an oak tree nine feet in circumfer.
ence, with branches extending 40 feet.
The germs of yellow fever, it is thought,
may be conveyed from tropical countries by
the pet birds exported in so large numbers.
Recent cases of the disease in Marseilles
could be traced to no other source than a
pair OF parrots from the Australasian
Islands.
The water in the lakes and streams of
Western Connecticut is 80 low that many
mills have stopped running and others have
had to return to steam power. Cider mills.
however, are in active operation. and If the
threatened water famine comes the farmers
Will be the gamers.
"A floating island in sadaga Pond.
which is about mile in length, near Jack
surface and is about two feet in thickness.
1t bears cranberries, and 1t drifts from one
part Of the pond to another, according to
the direction of the wind.
-Twenty-one specimens of fossil shells
have been found in the vicinity of Boston.
Some of these fossils were found in the
Muudy river on the border of Brookline;
the Charles river near the Back Bay. Some
OF the oyster shells are ten inches long.
Between two small lakes near Boras,
Sweden, strip of land has interrupted
traffic, but engineers have overcome the diff
ficulty by constructing a ship railway across
it and building small steamboat that can
run itself across from one lake to the other
The vessel has accommodations for go per-
sons.
The Dalles (Oregon) Chronicle tells of
wagon load of produce recently brought to
that city which consisted of but six heads of
cabbage, the half dozen filling the wagon
bed. These mammoth cabbages were raised
on the dry hills near the Des Chutes river,
and were the wonder and admiration of all
who saw them.
1t is not at all certain that the white
race has prior claim even upon the inven-
tfon of the cigar. In all parts of New
Guinea, the largest island in the world, that
have yet been visited, tobacco is cultivated,
and in some of these districts the humble
pipe contributes nothing to the enjoyment
of the weed, and is not even known.
IL L.
she sets her mind to it is shown by the
achievement of a good-looking widow near
Oshkosh, Wis. Her first husbands name
was Mayd and when she married again it
was observed with some reasonable surprise
that she had become Mrs. Wyffe. Having
been maid and wife she is now widow.
The Russian newspapers are reporting
a singular discovery in Central Asia. They
say that in Russian Turkestan, on the right
bank of the Amou Daria, in some rocky hills
near the Boknaran town of Karki, a number
of large caves have been explored, which
were found to lead to an underground town
built apparently before the Christian era
-Chrysanthemums eighteen inches in
circumference are not uncommon in
Australia, and many varieties grown there
surpass in size and equal in color the finest
exhibited at the flower show. All this is not
remarkable, however, in a land where the
heliotrope grows to be a good-siZed tree and
the fuchsia chambers to the second story
windows.
"A. NJ Burton, of Corinna, Me-, is very
strong man, and his strength serves him
well at times. The other day his horse
balked upon a railroad crossing as a train
was approaching, and everybody expected a
crash. But the strong man got out, seized
the horse by the bride, and pulled the whole
outfit Off she track in time TO avoid q
collision.
"A wealthy and religious merchant in
New York has sent a clergyman down into
the dark corners of Maine to wrestle with
the ungodly. and he has been surely shocked
by discovering that in some places farm
work is regularly carried on seven days in
the week and that there is u very dense
ignorance prevalent as to the fourth COM
mandment
That curious plant commonly called the
mother-in-law obtained its name in a curl
GUS way. An expert of botanical gardens
attached to the Smithsonian Institute, in ex-
to a reporter, mentioned the fact that it had
the power OF paralyzing the tongue. "a
good thing for a mother-in-law,' said tile re-
porter, and Chen and there the name mother
in-law was applied to the plant.
During the past ten years there has
been q decided increase in the fishing inter-
ests Of Washington, notably in the oyster
from $1,000 to 1893 bushels: in the salmon
in which the catch in 1880 was re-
ported to be 500, 900 pounds, and in 1888 was
6,3l9,73 pounds; in the vessel fishery for
food species (including halibut and salt
which has been established in re-
cent years, and the product of which in 1888
amounted to 6s60O0 pounds. The fur-seal
fishery has declined considerably in value,
though to a less extent in number Of skins.
"A curious story comes from Wenghsi-
ang. The town suffers from inundations Of
the Yellow river, and two years ago u move
ment was started by the local magistrate to
build breakwater. The chief difficulty lay
in the want of sufficiently large stones. Sud-
denly, however, to the astonishment of the
a heavy storm of wind and rain
deluged the country, and brought down an
endless quantity OF huge stones exactly
suited to the purpose. The people naturally
regarded the incident as direct manifesto
tion of divine power in aid of a great public
and the Governor of the dis
trict cites fact which conclusively proves
the supernatural origin OF the event. One
of the stones, he says, which was as large as
q house, was inscribed with seal characters,
two of which, meaning "work" and "stone"
he was able to decipher.
RAZAR RIJZZINGS