Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-07-07

army at Willets' Point it developed a
strength equal to 80 per cent OF Is per cent
dynamite. Its chief ingredients were pic
ric acid and yellow prussiate of potash,
with parafne. 1t would burn without ex-
plodipg. and would net explode by con-
cussion. 1t required strong illuminate
cap to explode 1t, but then it was like a
little demon.
About year ago the writer witnessed
some expert nents with it in the excava-
ton for the ship canal in the upper part
Of the island, which were apparently very
successful. About twenty pounds were
put into a bank of holes that would ordi-
nary require over fifty pounds of forcite,
and broke the rock just as the woIkmen
wanted it, without scattering pieces all
over the works, and a similar result was
reached the following day, though the holes
were wet and the powder not confined in
cartridges.
One charm of this powder was that ii
was easily made, and required Nc large
works for Its production. At a cost Of
about $3.50 all the apparatus necessary to
produce what would be required in big
excavation, like that of a snip canal, could
be erected right alongside of the work,
and the powder made day by day, just as
! IL IL "au4Gt1 SO, -JOO, On UOdIU OI d HAL
of-war magazine would be unnecessary,
as, with only table, having a water
| jacket, heated by steam from She boiler,
and four basins, side by side on the table,
| the powder could be made as il was need
ed, none of the trouble, time and danger
attending the manufacture of black pow
der or other high explosives b ing present.
The best smOkeless powder so far pro-
/ - O1 +ha+ IL H. Ia
| Maxim, brother of the inventor of the
Maxim gun. This seems to be absolutely
smoBeless; lis products of combustion are
not deleterious or unpleasant; it is perfect
| ~ safe to manufacture; it is perfectly
stable under ali conditions of temperature
or exposure; it is not Injured by water; it
will neither foul the gun nor corrode the
cartridge case; it is sure to ignite, and is
attended with very little recoil. This
would seem to be the ideal powder, and it
probably is, when the proper gun and
cartri lge are found with which to use it.
The difficulty with most of the best
smokeless powders is not in the powder,
| but in the gun, for the conditions are so
different as to require an entire change of
arm. In the first place, the necessary in
itial velocity will not be developed unless
there Is sufficient pressure of projectile
and a perfect gas check is used. Then the
velocity is so high in the gun that a lead
en- bullet will not take the rlfine, but will
rip off the lead, and the bullet will leave
the gun IN a shapeless mass; therefore, a
new bullet has to be devised.
Col. Burlington, of the ordnance corps,
United States army, while working IN
conjunction with Mr.. Maxim, at the
Springfield Armory, Mass, invented a
steel covered projectile filled with lead,
which he blackened by inter process t.
prevent from rustino. There are grooves
which prevents the lead filing from burst
ing through the steel casing and leaving
| the latter In the barrel as sometimes oc-
ours with the Austrian and French pro-
J Jectiles when using the smokeiess powder
| This bullet has been improved upon by
Captain Paliiser, of the British army,
and his proiecUile has produced better
results than any other that has been tested
| There is really no such thing as a noise
less powder, though nearly all smokeless
powders make a noise that, beiag at a
much higher pitch and of less volume than
when black powder is used, cannot be
heard at so great distance.
With The noise and smoke of the battle
field eliminated from an engagement, and
nothing left but the deadly weapons of
precision at great distance in the bands of
expert marksmen, and the still more dead
ly machine guns pouring a ceaseless tor
rent of missils from which there is no
possibility of escape by concealment, war
is quite another affair from what it was in
good Old days. There will be few sur
vivors of future hatte6elds, and conse-
quently shorter pension roll, so that the
lnvestion of wonderful engines of destruc-
ton does not make war more terrible; it
Simply makes it impossible.
Making Hay.
The best hay is made from young grass;
and clover equally advanced to maturity
of growth, much of the most nutritious
parts, the sugar and starch chiefly, are
chanQ ed into hard and indigestible woody
fibre, change which is precisely the re-
verse Of any change that the chemist with
all his skill can accomplish. He can
change the woody fore into starch and
sugar, but he is unable to do what all plants
are performing In their early stage of
growth viz, changing sugar into starch,
and, if permitted by the delay of the farm
er, Transforming the starch into callulose,
or woody fibre.
And the digestive organs of an animal
cannot reverse this change again, and so
make the erewhile starch and sugar from
the cellulose, unless this is taken in its
first stage and cured quickly into tender
and digestible hay. Thus the well-inform-
ed farmer, understanding these points,
Lastens to make his hay and get it into
the barn as ear y as may be possible. The
bulk may not be so great, or the weight so
heavy, but the quality makes up for this,
and the quantity is got after time in the
second cutting. So that it is an economy
in every way.
Hay SO cut requires skillful curing, for
long exposures to the sun and air cause
the very same change that would have oc-
CURED had the grass been left to grow and
become nearly ripe. 1t is we'll known by |
those who cultivate herbs for their essen |
t1al oils and for medicinal purposes that |
these must be cured in the shade and pro- |
tected from the sunlight and heat. The !
sun exerts most powerful chemical agen- |
CIV, and IS the cause of the change referred |
to In the rirening OF all plants and the
production of wood fibre from the sugar
and starch so that the mode of curing hay
is as important as the time of cutting it.
1t is easy to spoil the best hay by over
curing it. 1t is well known by experts III
attracting oils and essences from plants /
that exposure to the heat Of the sun or any
other heat has the effect of dissipating the
volatile matter which consists of the oils,
and OF changing, as has been said. the
soluble matters into insoluble, and conse-
quently indigestible substance. Every
farmer knows that he cannot get the milk