The Colfax chronicle., 1891-10-31
SCIENCE ANosfNbusTRY.

-
From observations made in S6it
zerland it appears that mortality from
organic disea ses of the heart decrease
as the altitude of habitation rises, and
that it is greater in towns than in the
country. &c 1{ eftE,
The tea trade of Japan is constant
~ increasing, while that of China il
diminishing The Increase is at the rate
Of more than ), 500, 900 pounds yearly.
Most of the Japanese ten Is CONSUMED
in the United States and Canada.
"A railway is to be built across En-.
gland that will enable passenger to
make a direct trip from Mersey to the
shores of the North sea. It will be
about $50 miles in length, and the ex.
pense of purchase and construction will
be at the rate Of about $500, 900 per
mile.
"A Connecticut meteorologist informs
mankind that next winter is to be an
extremely long and cold one. The nut
crop, he says, is unusually large this
year. And he adds: Mature never
takes the trouble to prepare big cror
OF nuts unless they are going to be
needed"
The banana, which is of Malayan
origin, is developed tropical lily from
which by ages of cultivation the seeds
have been eliminated and the fruit for
which it was cultivated greatly ex-
panded. The ground that would grow
ninety-nine pounds of potatoes or thirty
three pounds of wheat, would also grow
1000 pounds of bananas.
The United States is exporting more
steel rails every year. During the ten
months ending April 80, 1890, the total
exports were s.055 tons at valuation
of S276, SIT, or an average of Ss4. So per
ton. During the ten months ending
April 80, 1891, there were exported Is,
1863 tons at valuation of S517.51S an
average price of ss41s per ton. Pitts
burgh Dispatch
One concern at Waterville, Ne,
made last year enough cloth to make &
tent that would cover $40 acres and hold
all the people of Maine, New Hamp-
shire, Vermont and Massachusetts, COM
fortably seated, with a ring of l6S acres,
in the center In that ring the $4,000
horses of Maine could be exhibited at
one time without crowding.
The government has been for nine
years digging up and putting together
the vast collection of fossils that will
occupy fully one-half of the National
in, Washington. In the collec-
tion are the gigantic skeletons of pre-
historic reptiles one hundred feet in
ength, flying dragons with twenty
i've foot spread of wings and other
well worth seeing.
The horseshoe crab chews its food !
With its legs. which is a very curious |
hing even for crab to do, while the
'yster feeds with his beard The oys,
ers would starve to death il they had |
o wait as long as little boys and girls
10 for their boards to grow, but fortu-
lately they have to do nothing of the
ort, although. to tell the truth, the
yster's beard is hardly more percepti-
lie than that of the smoothest-faced
title boy or glrl in the world.
"A method of fastening steel tires to
ar wheels for railway service has been
ecently announced, which will be
ooked at with good deal of interest,
Or it said to give entire satisfaction.
he system lies in placing small
etched steel plate between the tire
nd wheel, and bending each alter
ating projection into corresponding
rooves in the tire, and the remaining
rojections are bent over the edge of the
heel, making solidly fastened tire.
There are three well-defined classes +
stars, judged by the quality of light
ley yield. In the first class are the
ear white and blush white stars like
lrius and Vega. These are supposed to
the hottest stars and the most lumin-
rs in proportion to the extent of their
lrface. Then there are the golden
sllow or pale orange stars, of which
rcturus and Capella are fine examples.
hese have begun to cool. Finally, we
I've the deep orange and red stars, like
ldebarah and AntaresL These have
lvanced still further in the cooling /
ocess. IL