Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-07-17
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

Il
| Germany publishes more periodicals.
than all the rest of Europe.
| "A girl at Morenzi, Mich, picked 100
quarts of strawberries in one day last week
| "A London lass bears the singular name
of Mineral Waters, and it isn't nickname
| either.
"A peach tree limb II inches long from
OIL it.
| -Savernake forest, one of the most IA
nous estates in England, has been sold for
| 81, 4,00O0O0.
| "A theatrical company on a barge, to
which is attached a floating stage, gives
| shows" at various points along the Hudson
/ river.
"A horse met a circus procession in
| Petoskey, Mich, last week, and when pass
| ing the elephants reared on its hind feet
trembled violently and fell dead.
When four itinerant Italian harp and
organ players were arrested in Chicago, two
large knives, one stiletto and three revolv-
ers were found on their persons.
The report of the New Jersey State
Board of Agriculture shows that it pays
best to raise cucumbers, as they return $3.50
per acre. Sweet potatoes comes next at slZA
"A horse belonging to John Burtless, of
Upton, Mich, was found to be covered with
honey bees the other day and fire had to
be built to remove them. The horse may
die.
-Sonoma, CAL, has no fear for her water
supply. A subterranean river runs under
the town, and three artesian wells;sclose to-
gether yield daily output of 3,000,000 gall
Ions.
"A Reno county (Kan.) farmer has
"a
from Is to 20 bushels of seed to the acre, and
for which he expects to get from 81 30 to g
bushel.
"A swarm of bees got loose in a 1Iichi-
gan smoking car, near Saginaw, the other
day, and the profanity of the occupants OF
the car is said to have killed vegetation in
that vicinity.
"A deer which frequents the outskirts Of
Easton, Me-, is so tame that he will allow
people to walk up to him and pat him. The
animal was probably some ones pet in his
youthful days.
Thomas Hackett, of Reed Station, Ind,
amused himself by tossing up a silver dollar
and catching it in his mouth, until the coin
lodged in his throat. A surgical operation
was necessary to remove 1t.
From observations made in Switzerland
it appears that mortality from organic dis
ease of the heart decreases as the altitude of
haD1tat1On rises, and that it Is greater In
towns than in the country.
"A man applied for naturalization at
Merced, Cal, the other day who, after 30
years residence in this country, could not
answer a word of English or a single ques-
ton put by the Court regarding our laws.
One hundred and seventy head of cattle
are ordered to be killed in Yorkshire, Eng
land, where pleuro-pneumonia is raging 1t
will take ten days to slaughter the animals,
and the loss to the owners will exceed SI7,-
900.
"A Maine farmer recently sent 10-cent
stamp to a man who advertises to send for
that amount the way to run farm without
being troubled with potato bugs. The answer
received was as follows: "Plant fruit trees
instead of potatoes"
The manager of the Geological Garden
at Frankfort and two of his assistants were
arrested for manslaughter in refusing to
kill the polar bear which was eating the wo-
man who lately climbed into his cage in
order to commit suicide.
"A new steel cuirass, impenetrable to
the bullets of rifle and covering the breast
only, will be introduced in the Austrian
army and perhaps throughout the armies of
the triple alliance. 1t can be folded up and
packed in an ordinary knapsack.
An advertisement in the Christian, an
! English paper, excites comment: "Wonder-
full Symbolical Plant.-Calvnry Clover, leaves
| three in one, with blood-like spot, seed ves-
| sells surrounded with mimic crown of thorns.
Grows freely in pot or open ground Healthy
plants, two for Is, free"
Various people were frightened by
strange noises in an old grave by an Arlkan-
sas roadside, and robust ghost story was
on for a long run, when several young men
made an Investigation and found that an
old coon and a lot of young ones had made
their home in the bushes about the mound
One of the earliest and most annoyin
| of insects Is that midn light marauder, tn
bedbug. An English naturalist has dis
| covered proofs that this domestic pest was
| quite common in the armies of the world at
least 120 years before the Christian era, and
that he was ever n sea rover, as the fleets Of
that day had their timbers stocked with this
breed of nocturnal prowlers.
"A Paris Alderman, or member of the
Municipal Council, quarreled with col
league, upon whom he eventually bestowed
a box on the ear. When seconds were sent
to him his representatives declared that q
duel was out of the question, inasmuch as
their principal was blind of an eye. The
other Alderman agreed that this would be
an insurmountable disadvantage. and there
fore did not insist on reparation by arms.
"A sequola tree has been found in Kings
river canyon, in the Nevada Mountain
range, whose original diameter exceeded 40
feet. 1t is even now 80 feet in diameter, but
fire has reduced it's original dimensions
This exceeds the largest of the same variety
of gigantic trees hitherto discovered in Cali
fornia The largest of the California trees
now known 10 travellers was 80 feet in
diameter.
"A singular discovery is reported to
have been made in Edwards county, Tex
1t is known as the Devils Sink Hole" Re-
Gently it was partially explored One man
was let down by a rope l50 feet. Here he
found ledge and passage way leading
from it seven feet high, wide enough for
three men abreast, and running at q steep
incline downward. He followed it 800 feet
and came to an immense lake of water, ice
cold. He had no means of determining its
extent but q stone hurled with all his force
splashed in the water fully 20 yards away.
The bank of the lake was covered with
nieces of rock, looking as though they had
been blasted. some were brought Co the
surface and assay ed about 80 ounces of silver
to the ton All that region is rich In silver
indications, and it is supposed the Inysteri-
ous cavern is an abandoned Spanish mine,
and has other exits and entrances.