Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-23
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.


In Germany the extent of land de.
voted to agriculture amounts to 5s0O5,O0o
acres.
In Great Britain Roman spades dug the
first canal one or more of which are holding
water to-day.
"A girl less than IS years old, in st.
Louis, has been already married, divorced
| ana remarked.
"A Tifin, o., man carries in his pocket
for good luck coffin screw, which he found
| In graveyard.
The man who kabitually wants to Dor.
row money is, according to a scientist, also
aHected with microbe.
| the hrst iron steam vessel was built in
Engiana M. by the Horseley Company. of Tip.
TON, StaHordshire, about the wear 1871.
In some part or other of the wofld horses.
cattle ana sheep are found wild but, it in
asserted, nowhere can be found wild csmels,
1t would take upward of 40 wears fo,
the water in the great lakes to pour over
Niagara at the rate OF 100000 cubic feet a
second. -o'
"A brass band in New London announces
that it has received two new dirges and in
prepared to play at funerals at the lovess
figures.
"A woman in Alexandria, Va, on hsr
way to fashionable party, attired in decol.
lete costume, was arrested for being out bs.
fore dark.
The natives of Norway and Iceland
make business of sharking. Vessels from
~ to 30 tons are used, and they carry a crew
OF about eight men.
In Brazil and Spanish America Young
monkeys roasted is the favorite dish The
cook SCOOPS out a hole in the ground and
makes small bake oven in which the monk.
ey is done to turn. favored with various
herbs and vegetables.
One of the most peculiar features Of
French parliamentary life is the custom OF
drinking while addressing the House. No
sooner does Deputy or Senator ascend the
rostrum than glass filled with his own
favor1te brew is placed before him.
In Norway building operations are suc-
cessfully carried on at temperatures as low
as % Fahrenheit, and the work exa-
cuted under these conditions compares
favorably with summer work. In fact Chris
tlana builders maintain that it is superior.
"A sunfower evaporates IL pints of water
day, and a cabbage about the same ouan.
tity. A wheat plant exhales in 172 DAYS
about 100000 grains OF water. An acre OF
growing wheat. on this calculation, draws
and passes out about ten tons of water per
day.
Curious evidence shows that a cubic
inch of air at sea level contains about 35o.-
000,O 900 molecules If the law of regularly
diminishing density holds good, a cubic inch
of air at the height of 100 miles will contain
about 250000 molecules, and at less than 2e3
only molecule.
The most densely peopled continent is
Europe. The number of people in Europe is
known with a great degree of accuracy.
There are about 360 00O, 900: and the continents
winch accommodates all these people is so
small that there are upon it an average OF 90
people to the square mile.
The present Duke of Athole is CON-
bfnatfon of one duke, a marquis, about nine
earls, and fifteen assorted yiscounts. barons
and other sundries. 1t Is painful to think
that If ANYBODY runs a tramcar over him
there will be 26 peers all lying dead together
In CORY heap in the roadway.
The whole number of days in which
Easter must fall is S. The earliest possible
day on which it can fall is March D. In the
year ISIS it fell on that day. and cannot
again happen on that day until 2255. The
latest possible day on which this festival
can fall Is the 25Eh day of April.
In order to photograph flying insect,
the exposure must last only II 50Oth part OF
a second. This the French photographer,
NJ. Marcy, claims to have accomplished by
the aid of a new instrument invented by
himself. He has also photographed the
blood globules circulating in a vein.
AN old restaurant bill, printed in Rich
mond in January, 1854, gives the following
wartime prices in Confederate money!
Soup, 81 so; chicken So so; roast beef s.; ham
and eggs, S3 raw oysters, So; coffee, SO; bread
and butter, 81 so: q bottle Of champagne, $50;
a drink OF rye whisky, 81; bottle OF ale, sl2,
and a cigar, S2.
"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 a
woman who died more than 40 years ago her
portrait is inIaid covered with a movable
metal shield. The picture is almost as per-
feet as when it was taken.
Although the Mississippi, including the
Missouri, is about T. 800 miles in length, and
the Amazon 029. while the st. Lawrence is
only l, ,45O miles. the latter is held to comprise
the largest body OF fresh water on the earth.
Including its great lakes and its tributaries
covering about 5000 square miles, the ag-
gregate mass of water Is estimated at 5000
cubic miles
Thousands of acres of the best lands in
Scotland have been laid waste by mice and
are at present totally destroyed for sheep
pasture. The true bog grass especially, on
which the sheep mainly depend in April and
May, has been eaten down to the roots: but
some of the DentS are almost as much in
jured as the bogs, and even the young
heather has not escaped altogether.
Silver thaw is most curious meteor
illogical phenomenon that has lately been
studied with much care at the Ben Nevis
Observatory. By silver thaw is meant rain
falling when the air is below freezing point
and congealing as it falls. The phenomenon
points to an inversion of temperature at the
time, the temperature on the hill top being
considerably lower than at higher attitudes
There is a variety of cabbage known as
"brocolf" that has been reclaimed from the
sea- 1t is distinctively a maritime plant,
and to secure for it sustenance as nearly as
possible like its natural food star fishes are
gathered on the beaches for manure. The
crop is put into casks which have con ntained
Burgundy or Bordeaux, and brooch finally
comes to the table in the form OF pickles or
chow-chow.
in order to ascertain whether bullets
fired from the new German small arms could
penetrate a wall of snow, some experiments
were lately made at Schrimm, In Germany,
with very successful results. A wall of
snow, five feet high and six feet broad was
erected behind which targets were placed.
These were fired at, and though the distance
was $50 Yards, O comparatively large num-
ber of shots passed through the snow wall
and hit the targets.