Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-22
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

I CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.
-steelville, Mo-, has an ear of corn
| which contains ], l3l grains.
"A Birmingham, England, man collected
$4,000 pennies during his lifetime.
Over 13,OOO,OO pounds of salmon were
| packed in Oregon the last season.
I'm some parts of Scotland nails were
used at one time to pay for ale and food.
Fifty thousand Christmas trees will be
sent from Maine to New York this season.
in California hogs that weigh 300 to S6t
| pounds are becoming common nowadays.
! One of the curiosities of the menu of
brand new american" restaurant in Eng
land is "Half spread eagle, e 3D."
| The Piutes of Mason Valley, in Neva
da, are having a big hunt near the Switch,
and are slaughtering from 200 to 300 rabbftss
day.
| "A wild goose recently flew against big
| electric light post in Alameda, CAL, with
such force as not only to break the glass. bu'
to bend the brass rods that supported it.
During the hurricane in Los Angeles
COUNT, CAL, recently, large oak was bro
ken off short, carried some distance by the
wind and dropped in the midst of an orange
| grove
! "A dentist in -Chapelle has been
sentenced to nine months Imprisonment fol
| pulling out all q woman's teeth while she
was under anasthesia. She wanted only one
| pulled.
| "A gentleman who recently visited
| Russia had with him O tonic sol ia text book,
which was seized by the Custom House Off
GERS, evidently under the impression that il
was Nihilism in cipher and in spite of the
| owners EXPLANATIONS it cOQfiSCateQ.
| Consul Heath saws that many of the
| houses in Catania are built of the lava
| which poured forth from Mount Etna in
| great streams on the neighbo-ing clay beds
| This mixture of clay and lava is now mixed
and used to great advantage in building.
AT Monterey, Mexico, a couple of
Americans keeping saloon put up picture
| of George Washington as a sign. Where
upon General Reyes, Governor of Nuevo
Leon, has ordered the likeness removed
saying Washington was too good and toe
| great to have his picture used as q beer
| sign.
The islands of Lake Nicaragua are rich
in idols and pottery, especially the south
west side of the slopes of that most pictur-
esque of volcanoes, Omotepe. This island
was evidently the cemetery for all the re
| gion around, who worshiped the flaming
cone as the god OF fire.
The Oxford University press has just
| issued the most diminutive Bible in exist
| ence. 1t is finely printed on Oxford Indian
paper, and its minute dimensions are only
three and three-fourths inches in length,
two and one-eighth inches wide and seven
eighths of an inch in thickness.
An unique coin is being exhibited at
Augusta, Ca Its composition is of two OF
three different metals and was made at the
United States Mint and given to a Congress
| man from Kentucky in 1856 On one side il
has the regulation 50cent stamp, while the
other is adorned with a sunburst-
The total product of coal last year was
| 141, ?es9 4l3 tons. OF this quantity 45GOO,4S.
tons were anthracite-all from Pennsylva
mia, except 1000 tons from New England anc
53,51 tons from Colorado and New Mexico
The bituminous product yearly is about g5,
625,0 900, or more than twice that of anthra
cite.
-James Brown, who lives near Bealing
ton, in Braxton county, w. Va >, has probably
the largest beard in this country. He is sly
feet in height. and has neither shaved nor
trimmed his beard or mustache for 80 years
The ends of his mustache extend beyono
his fingers ends when his arms are out
stretched,
"A peculiar kind of beetle, of which
there are over 5000 species, is the sacred
beetle" the scarab8us of the Egyptians
having the horns split up into tiny plates
The greater number are found in tropica
countries but several varieties, of which ont
is the "tumblebug" of country lanes, abount
in this country.
The mortuary caused by wild animal!
in India in 1890 is considerably less than il
the previous year, being a total of 2, IA The
deaths in Bengal were l. 32i, the censra
provinces 366 the northwest provinces 22S
Assam 20l, Madras 1876 and the Punjah ONLY
81 Tigers and leopards accounted for 20
lives and wolves 81.
have about SIPS 600 to spend in entertain
ments during the year, apart from the re
sources of great fortune. or this sun
close to $75. 600 comes from fluid set aparl
for the purpose by his father many years age
in anticipation of his sons honor, and s5O,OW
was voted by the corporation.
Father Chautard, formerly missionary
in Dahomey, says the following is the truth
about the lake of human blood mentioned
by many travellers, and said to be large
enough to float canoe: '1n front of the
Kings palace there are really two holes
measuring a cubic Iimeter (35 3i6 cuff each
They fill these with blood and float upon il
a little boat made of silver"
A comparatively new system of con-
struction, the invention of NJ. Monier is be
ing applied to the building of houses
bridges, fortiflcations, reservoirs. sewers
etc. 1t consists of a netwook of iron rods
covered with cement concrete. and the most
remarkable feature in connection with it Is
the great strength of the constructed ma.
terial relatively to its weight
A rather remarkable story is told about
an apple tree that grows in St. Georges
Cemetery in Middletown, Del. 1t is said to
yield fine round apples in great abundance
But no one can eat them. as they have
graveyard taste" Even the hogs, when
the apples offered to them, refuse tC
touch them. When put by the fire to roast
the apples it is said, simmer to oil and emit
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