The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1893-07-08
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

The establishment of labor ex-
change by the labor organizations OF
Kansas CITY is an attempt to carry into |
practical effect the cooperative idea OF |
Edward Bellamy.
Corn husks boiled in caustic soda
are being utilized for the manufac-
ture of paper. The cooking process re-
suits in the formation of spongy, glu-
tinous paste, which is subjected to
heavy pressure so as to eliminate the
gluten, the fiber remaining being made
into paper in the ordinary way.-Sci-
entific American.
Recent catalogues show that ento-
mologists have found 1853 species OF
spiders in the upper Cayuga lake basin,
$40 in the District of Columbia and $40
in New England. DIR. George Marx has
compiled a list of 292 species which
have been found in the polar regions
of the globe.
OF the Is, 940 tons of pig iron which
was exported from the United States
| in the last fiscal year, IA, 796 tons went
| to Canada. In that market the fur
naces of the United States were SO
successful in competing with those of
England that English iron was almost
entirely driven from the Canadian mar
ket.-Baltimore Journal of Commerce.
"A physician who has devoted spe-
cial study to the grip says that it is
| easier to determine by the after effects
whether patient is suffering from
the endemic or the common, non-con-
| tagious form of influenza, than it is by
| the primitive symptoms. Influenza OF
the ordinary sort leaves no after effect
of any consequence, but grip leaves the
patient with a profound nervous de-
preston that is as bad as the disease.
The water spider, which spends most
of its time under water, carries bub-
BILE of air for breathing on the under
side of its body; and, when this air is
exhausted, it comes to the surface for
more. 1t is enabled to carry the air
bubble because the under side of its
body is covered with tiny hairs set SO
close together that the surface film of
the water does not pass them, although
the air does, and thus the air is impris-
oned among the hairs.
The area devoted to potatoes in
New Zealand shows a substantial in
crease, amounting to 60 per cent, in
nine years, while the product has adj
vanced from 4, GOO, 900 bushels in 1883 to
6, 900, 900 bushels in 1891, with an export
trade now amounting to nearly 1,500,-
900 bushels. In Tasmania the area
planted to potatoes is also steadily in
creasing and now covers more than
20, 600 acres, which yielded 2,731, 900
bushels in 1891, of which 1850, 900 BUSH
els were exported to other colonies.
Since Darwln's Investigations on So
called "carnivorous plants" great
deal has been written on the habits
and powers of these remarkable organ
isms, but the question how flies, ETC.,
were dissolved and digested seems to
have remained unsolved. 1t is now
maintained that digestion in the case
of carnivorous plants is due to the
activity of certain heterogeneous,
which are always present in the sap of
the mature plant, and that their secre-
tons are favorable to the development
of such minute rganisms.-Knowledg
The icorice plant is chiefly grown
on the banks of the Tigris and Euphra-
ties, in localities where for three
months during the prevalence of hot
winds, the temperature reaches 104
degrees, and for three months often
registers 30 degrees below at night.
The remaining six months are moder-
ate and healthy. This plant is small
shrub, about three feet high with light
foliage, growing where its roots can
reach the water, and needing no culti-
| he, 60 l,~~~ 80
full of water, and takes nearly year
to dry. The rotten pieces are used for
firewood, while the good wood is
shipped to London and America, where
it is used largely in the manufacture
of tobacco.
1t is believed, according to p. L.
Simmonds, f. L. S., that there are FIVE
times as many insects as there are
species of all other living things put
together. The oak alone supports $50
species of insects, and 200 kinds make
their home in the pine. Forty years
ago Humboldt estimated that the num-
Der of species preserved in collections
was between 10000 and 10000, but
scientific men now say that there must
be more than 100000, without taking
into account the parasite creatures. OF
the 81, 600 species in Europe, however,
not more than $500 are noxious or de-
structive. There are more than 100, 900
lAnds of beetles.
For more than century the breed
J ing of canaries has been a thriving in
} dustry in parts of Germany. In 1850
the German dealers began to ship the
birds to New York, and then to South
. America and Australia. The profits
! are small, but the industry is god
! send to the poor, who make the small
! wooden cages. 1t is estimated that
! about 250,0OO canary birds are raised
every year in Germany. The most inn
: portant market is the United States,
| which takes about 100. 600 birds per