Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-01
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

In Alaska flour is S15 per hundred
pounds.
Russia has % ironclads and monitors
building.
-Moutana's total assessed valuation is
SI43, Az, 743.
The waters of Lake Erie are to be
piped into Cincinnati, taking in other cities
en- route.
Several enormous man-eating sharks
have been killed in the LOngport IN. J0
harbor, one being 10 feet long
"A museum manager offers S2,OOO Tor tine
capture of the sO-foot sea serpent recently
reported off the Belgian banks.
The European demand for American
made carts and light vehicles has greatly in
creased. 1t has also been found cheaper to
send them across without painting, leaving
that to be done abroad.
Western farmers are urging the trial of
a modification of the rain producing system
to see if mists cannot be formed at times,
which will reduce the radiation of heat
from the earth and thus save the crops from
frost.
The Arizonia Territorial Legislature at
its last session passed an act exempting all
land used in the cultivation of sugar beets.
as well as the plant and machinery employed
in the manufacture of domestic sugar, from
ttIAaLllOu lOE Geu yodlS
Smoke is finding its champions in Eng
land, Notwithstanding the efforts made to
prevent it's diffusion in the atmosphere. 1t
is claimed that the carbon in the smoke Is
powerful deOdOrizer and, as such, is Il bless
ing rather than nuisance.
Mrs. Vannaman, of Bridgeton, n. j.,
while wedding her garden last year noticed
a tall weed of peculiar appearance which
she let grow. 1t has now grown into tree
over 90 feet high and foot in circumference;
it has an enormous leaf Hundreds of people
have seen it, but no one knows what kind OF
tree it is.
g. "A remarkable example of the enduring
qualities of the daguerreOtype is to be found
in the old graveyard at Waterford, Conn In
the headstone that marks the grave of Il
woman who died more than 40 years lgO,her
portrait is inlaid, covered with movable
metal shield. The picture Is almost as per-
feet as when it was taken.
The biggest fish fryon record in this
country came off at Standing Rock, ON the
Illinois river Ind. T., recently. Six wagon
loads of fish were caught. About $500 Che
rokees took part in the grand fish festival,
and over 200 bushels of pounded buckeye
was used by them to poison the water and
enable them to catch the fish.
One of the oldest and most interesting
houses in Maine is the mansion known as the
J. r. Libby residence in ySacO. which was
built in 1881 for Judge Thatcher, of the dis
trict of Massachusetts Bay. Within the
walls OF this old house Lafayette, President
Monroe and other noted men have been en-
tertained, and it is still comfortable resi-
dence.
Two examples of the big tree of Cali
fornia are growing in Central Park, New
York. They stand on the grassy bluff, just
west of the Bethesda fountain, near the Ter
race and Mall. Neither is more than eight
inches in circumference, and, although they
have been standing in that spot for % years,
they are not more than that many feet in
height.
A Bound Brook On. j. man. who
sneeZed so violently as to fracture Il rib, has
been notified by the Preferred Mutual Acct
dent Association of New York that payment
on his policy is refused on the ground that
the fracture was not caused by external or
accidental means. He viii sue the company
for the amount of the indemnity, which
amounts to $3.50.
AN ingenious application of electricity
for ventilation has been brought out Nm
France. An electric fan furnishes the cti
rent of air, which can be cooled by means
ice or other cooling agent. If hot air is re
uuired electricity is sent through series o.
meShes of wire whose high resistance causes
it to become hot, and the air passing through
these is given the heat required.
Canada gives to its geological survey
only 500, 900 a year, while the various geolog-
icaI surveys in our own country absorb
nearly 81, 600 00J annually. Yet Canada makes
a fine showing with this modest sum. The
annual geological records are in part records
of original discovery and research, and with
their fine maps and photogravures are rs in
teresting as many books of travel. Canada
contains the largest unknown Areas of the
American Continent.
According to Government regulation
no freight trains are to be dispatched on
Sundays and holidays in Belgium after Octo-
Der 20 next. The regulation went into par
tial operation last June, but it was only to
be operated at the discretion of the railroad
authorities. The idea was to make the in
noyation gradual, but after october 20 a.
rigid adherence to it will be exacted- Rail-
road employees are the objects of the Gov
ernment's soIicitude in this matter.
"A train of 225 loaded four-wheel coal
cars passed over the Lehigh Valley Railroad
few days ago. 1t was the longest and
heaviest train ever carried over any road in
this country, and that means the world
Naturally, this train suggests a comparison
with the trains of Conestoga teams which SO
years ago toiled between Eastern PennsyI-
vania and Pittsburg. The teamster of that
period never, in his widest conceptions, i'm
agined such an event as the one related
above.
III Is Sdll tIdb OIle VI buc cIccJTIC llBIlL-
ing companies has adopted an ingenious
scheme for carrying its wires through the
conduit. A small terrier has
been so trained that when a light cord is at
tached to him he runs through the tube to
the next outlet, and is, in fact, the most ex-
pert "wire runner in the country. After
each performance he is treated to some
favorfte morsel, and thus he has come to
look on his work as a most enjoyable pas
time.
The rapidity with which new metal is
applied to purposes hitherto undreamed Of
is peculiarly characteristic of our times.
Among the latest evidences of it's progress is
the use of aluminium in the construction of
for stringed musical tnstru-
ments. 1t has been found to possess latent
quality, so it is asserted, which makes it
highly valuable for this purpose, the me
tallic" tones produced by the use of other
metals being cOnspicuously absent, and it
possesses an elasticity capable of sy1npa-
theJic vibaatiOn uniformly through wide
range of tone pitch, which renders it in this
respect superior to wood. a piano-making
concefn in New York is now making piano
with an aluminium sounding board, in order
to test the. practical worth of the discovery.