The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1892-05-07
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

Some valleys which are below the
sea level are found to be favorable to
rheumatism and lung diseases, as well
as high elevations These low valleys
are peculiarly favorable to asthmatic
dificultieA on account of the density Of
the air.
by digesting coal-dust with caustic
soda at q boil and neutralizing this
liquor with hydrochloric acid, p. +.
Reisch obtains new tanning agent
which he names pyrofuscine. He con-
siders that the new process is more
complicated than the usual tanning pro-
cesses. but that 1t il SO per cent
cheaper than the bark process, and
from 20 to 80 per cent cheaper than the
alum process.
During the year 1891 there were
surveyed at the port of Bangor Is, 945.-
96s feet of dry pine, 7,16s. sos feet Of
green pine, 11s, 2o5.74l feet of spruce,
and %, 664, s44 feet of hemfock. juniper,
cedar, etc, a total of 1914. ss5; s56 feet.
This is IA, 000. 900 less than in 1890, and
5000. 900 less than in 1889. The great
est falling of was iu spruce and pine.
and the decline was chiefly due to the
decentralization of the New York mar
ket
Professors Waldron and McArdle, of
the North Dakota Agricultural college,
are collecting grasses for a state ex-
hibit at the worlds fair. Among the
specimens secured along the shores OF
Devils Lake was species of slough
grass which had attained the unpre-
cedented length of twenty-five feet
The samples were so long that they
wound them up in coils They also
found what seems to DO a new variety
of wheat growing wild on the prairies
this season, very much higher than the
cultivated kind.
When scientists went TO look for
salmon on the Pacific coast they
found none, but found something
far finer. In Europe salmon and
trout differ only in the upper rows
of teeth, the salmon shedding his as he
grows older, while the trout always re-
tains them. On the Pacific coast, how
ever, there is always one certain and
easily noticed mark of difference be-
tween the two In the trout the last
lower fin has generally not over nine
rays, sometimes ten, but in the salmon
the rays range from thirteen to sixteen.
In fact. the salmon in every way is
built upon more generous plan.
DR. Mitscherlick has invented stuff
made from the fbcrs of wood. Thin
boards, with the knots taken out are.
treated with solution of sulphuric
acid in hollow boiler. Not only the
hard manter. which is the cause of the
brittleness of wood fibers, is eliminated
by this treatment, but the fiber itself is
chemically transformed. 1t is bleached,
and becomes silky as we'll as strong and
elastic. 1t is then treated in the same
manner as any other goods. that is,
combed, spun and finally woven into
stuffs of exceeding fineness and differ
emit varieties
"A bulletin from the census Office
gives preliminary figures on the first
investigation ever made by the govern
ment into the nursery industry. From
the tabulations in the bulletin it ap-
pears that there are in the United
States 4510 nurseries, valued at SAL
s7s. $685. SO and occupying 172, so6 acres Of
land. with an invested capital of s5s,-
4s5.669.5l, and giving employment to
1867 men, 2.279 women and IA. 200 ami
mails. using in the propagation and Gull
tivatiou of trees and plants $500, 606 "a
worth Of implements.
Complete returns of the production
OF pig iron in the United States have
been received by the American Iron and
Steel association. and they are pub
lished in detail in the Bulletin of the
association for January 20 and 81. The
total production was S,279, $40 gross
tons of 2,24o pounds, against s.e0s, 7os
gross tons in 1890, decrease Of 922, ss3
gross tons or over 10 per cent This de-
crease occurred during the first half of
the year; in the second half the product
was greater than for either half in 1890.
Our production in 1891 was about 1.ooo,-
900 gross tons larger than that of Great
Britain for the same year.-Philadel-
phia LEDGER.