The morning news., 1892-05-23
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

| ITEMS OF INTEREST.
PROBABLY the greatest pedestrian feat of the
century performed in the United Kingdom was
that of Bob Carlisle, who completed in 1889 the
| unprecedented feat of walking 500 miles in
| iOO days The task was performed to test the
| capabilities of moderate drnker as compared
| Wlth the endurance of total abstainer. The
| distance was covered by repeated journeys be-
| tween Heaton, Norris, B!ackpool, Manchester,
Oldham, Rochdale, Bury and Broughton
! WESTON, the abstainer, only completed 100
miles In the same period. In January, 1879
| Weston walked ,97715 miles in 600 consecutive
| hours, marvellous feat OF endurance. For a
| single days walking W. Howes stands first
| having covered 1877 miles 200 yards in "a hours
| at the Agricultural hall. Islington. The great
| est distance walked in one hour was s miles 172
yards by w. Griffin in 1881, and in four hours
was 27A miles by W. Franks in 1882 The
greatest distance ran in one hour was Il miles
| 91O yards by Louis Bennett in 1863.
THE plague Of field mice or voles in the south
| eastern counties Of Scotland is increasing in ex-
tent and is assuming such proportions that the
farmers aIl are holdlng public meetings to devise
| new plans for fighting the enemy. In some
places there is not a trace lof vegetation to be
FOUND IN hundreds of acres, every root and blade
| of grass having been devoured Around
| Hawick, the farmers set all their hands to work
killing the mice without being able to make any
| appreciable impression upon their numbers
me vermln Increases at rate which seems to
de1y all known measures of determination,
NOW, that 1t is too late, the farmers have re.
solved to kill no more owls having learned at
least one salutary lesson from their misfortune.
AT their latest meeting In Edinburgh they de-
manded the appointment oban expert commits
sion TO investigate the whole biect and devise
means of relief Mr.. Chaplin, president of the
brltlSh board OF agriculture, has promised to
give the matter his earnest consideration.
SINCE BE VISITED the last poultry show in
New York, Andrew Meredith, of Cornwall-on-
the-Hudson has been impressed with the idea
mat MS hens have been wasting their time in
Matching out ordinary farm yard eggs He
wanted to improve his breed of fowl; So about
month ago, he purchased a setting of Lang
shangs for 81 from Buffalo dealer, and placed
them under an ''old reliable" Plymouth Rock
hen, He set her in a room over his barn and
allowed nobody to disturb her. After the hen
had sat for nearly month with the dogRed
perseverance, of her kind, without any results
| Mr., Meredith began to entertain dark suspi-
| cions about the probity of the Buffalo man and
yesterday he lifted the hen from her nest to ex-
anime the eggs. He was shocked to find a large
ck gIack snake colled among lot Of broken shells.
| The reptile was half torpid It had eaten all
| the eggs, and the hen had sat upon it. probably
| for at least fortnight, and kept it warm and
comfortable While it digested its food. After
| Mr Meredith had killed it she wanted to sit on
| its dead body.
| THE Turkish government at last has granted
| a concession to an English contractor for the
| immediate construction of railroad from Acre
| across the Jordan, to Damascus The road will
| ave two starting places, Acre and Haifa. and
| VIII run dAOuR Ln0 eastern loot of Mount Car
| mel, thence across the Esdraelon plain by
Nazareth, Main, JeZreel and Beisan to the river
Jordan along the eastern shores of the Sea of
| Salilee 10 the Hauran plateau or Plains of
Basnan, ana thence across the Plain of Damas-
| Gus, skirting the eastern base Of Mount Hermon
| to the southern gate of the city For the time
| oelng this Will form the terminus of the line
| whlch may oe indefinitely extended hereafter
becoming trunk railway connecting the Medi.
terranean and the Per ian gulf and direct
| route 10 lndIa. The present road will
which Will run over plains, leaving ten miles of
| rough work. The guage will be the English
standard OF feet S11 inches. The cost of CON
| struction is estimated at less than g.. eco 600
| The country is fertile and productive being
| specially adapted for the growth Of grain. cot,
ton, WOOL silk, fruits. olives and tropical and
| temperate products of all kinds Valuable mines
| or oltumen, petroleum, and stone also exist in
| various parts of the surrounding country. The
harvest OF this district now exceeds 200 900 tons
or cereals annually of which not less than 115 =
OOO tons are exported ALI this ia carried ON the
| backs OF camels to Damascus and the coast at A
cost which adds 80 to so per cent to the original
engaged upon the final SURVEYS and the work ~
| construction will begin with the least possible
delay. F
In the arid lands OF Central Asia the air ia
reported as often laden with fine dietrus which
drifts like snow around conspicuous objects and
tends to bury them in a dust-drift. Even when
there is no apparent wind, the air is described
| as thick with fine dust and yellow sediment
| covers everything In Khotan, this dust some
| Tunes so obscures the sun that at midday one
cannot see to read fine print without a lamp
Inc tales OF the overwhelming of travellers by
sano storms In the great desert of Sahara are
Familiar TO every school-boy. Not longer ago
Than May, 1889, there was a dust storm in
Dakota, during which the soil, to a depth OF 4
| or inches, was torn up and scattered in ali
| directions. Drifts of sand were formed in
! favorable places. several feet deep. hacked
! precisely as snow-drfts are packed bv a
| DilZzard. In certain regions as in parts of the
Solorado desert, all the fine. loose SAND has
oeen oloWn away, leaving every pebble and
large bowlder standing out in bold relief. The
loose material thus blown along not infreouentIv
| gathers in the form Of drifts or dunes. which
themselves travel slowly across the country
ever changing their outlines like drifts of snow
A few miles north of Winnemucca lake, in
Western Nevada, is a belt of tbese
GGIniilhg sanu mus. described by the
and about 10 miles in length by miles in
breadth. Another range of sand dunes AZ least
~ miles IN length and forming hills 2o0to 800 feet
hlgh occurs on the eastern end of Alkali lake. in
the same state. On the eastern shore of Lake
Michigan are also dunes of sometimes 200 feet
IN hight, and which at Grand Haven and Sleen
ing Bear nave drlfted over the adjacent wood
lands, leaving only the dead tops of trees ex-
posed. One of the most interesting and remark
able or the many re giOns for the observation of
sand dunes lies between Bordeaux and Bayonne
In Gascony. The sea here throws every war
upon the beach along line of 100 nnilsS in
length, some 100000 cubic yards of sand The
prevailing westerly winds continue picking mn
tae surface particles from the westward eide.
whirl them over TO the Inward slope where they
are again deposited, and the entire ridge by this
means alone, moves gradually inward In the
course OF years there has thus been formed a
complex system OF dunes, all approximately
parallel with the coast, and with one anotbegy
and of all attitudes up to $50 feet These are
marching steadily inward at a rate of from 2 tn
6 feet year, whole llageS having aometitnas
aDf h1rRi