The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1891-04-18
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

The Evan Hall plantation in Louis
lana has already turned out 100000
pounds OF sugar, with more than half
the crop of cane yet to grind
"A new insecticide has been recon.
mended by Prof. J. b. Smith, viz, pot
ash in the form of muriate and kainit
In the proportion of one ounce to one
pint of water muriate of potash de-
stroys plant lice, mealy bugs, bark lice
and Thousand legs"
Not only is it now conceded that
new species can originate by hybridi-
zation, but new genera also. Sophro-
cdftyd is a new genus recently estab-
lished, which was actually raised by
cross between Sophronttes and Cat
kyd-two well known and very distinct
genera of orchidaceous plants.
Cincinnati, besides making 100000
sets of harness, turns out 10000 saddles
annually. The saddles are of rude
manufacture, however, and do not COM
pare with the English article The
finest American saddle made does not
sell for more than $50, while the En-
glish make are up as high as $3.50 apiece,
and they are worth it, says a manufac-
turer.
"A well-known manufacturer claims
that the only proper way of making
ready-mixed paint in which there is
considerable portion of white lead and
zinc white present, to keep indefinitely,
is to emulsify the oil. This prevents
the chemical action which the painter
knows as ''fatting''-that is, prevents
the formation of that particular kind of
lead soap which will not dry.
Professor Kirchoff, of Halle, in an
article speaks of the anxiety with
which scientific men looked for the
meeting of the international conference
on degree measurement, for observa-
tions seemed to show that decrease in
latitude was in process, implying an al
iteration in the direction of the earth's
axis. The fustuation observed is prob
ably due to minute oscillation caused
by some changes in the internal mass of
the planet.-English Mechanic.
1t is not often that lost art is re-
covered, but it is said that the chemists
have triumphed in the matter of the an
cient ''Alexandrian blue" This blue,
the ideal of painters and decorators, was
a peculiar and remarkably durable
color. The chemists are said to have
achieved successful analysis of the
coloring on the Pompeiian frescoes, and
to have reproduced the paint, identical
with the ancient coloring in every par
ticular.
1T appears from the studies of Mr..
X. p. Bigelow on the habits of the Por-
tuguese man-of-war, that this interest
ing jell-fish feeds largely on small fish,
which, swimming against its tentacles
are caught and benumbed. The fish
struggling to free themselves from con-
tact with the poisonous tentacles, cause
the latter to contract, and thus the prey
is drawn up to the feeding bells If the
fish does not struggle, the tentacles fail
to contract The feeding-bells spread
themselves over the fish and digest it.
The Seattle Telegraph puts forth
some useful information about that
smart young city and its progressive
State. Seattle's jobbing trade last year
was about S35, 000, 900, a gain of SIS, 000,-
900 over the previous year. Her bank
: clearances aggregated almost $4,000
900. She started five new banks, built
1887 new buildings, costing over 50, 0O0,-
900, and dealt in real estate to the value
of S23, OOO, 900. The lumber output of
the State was large; the grain yield
$4,000, 900 bushels. The State exported
$4,000, 900 more of products than she inn
ported; mined coal in sixteen counties,
and built All miles of road.
The remarkably rapid growth OF
some plants almost equals that OF
Jonah's gourd of the olden time. Ithas
recently been noted that in one twenty
four hours of an April day-the East
India summer--a bamboo made thirteen
inches of growth. This is well for the
tropics, but here in temperate regions
are often growths no less remarkab BILE,
At recent meeting of the Academy OF
Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, a
shoot of Japan plant, Pueraria Thun-
bergianum, was exhibited sixty-ive feet
in length, the whole of which had beer
produced near that city between May
LIST and September LIST. Six inches a
day being the average-nodoubt, greater
at times, is as good as the East Indiar
case considering difference of climate