Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-10-27

that In California winter Is an arbitrary
term, used to designate certain months oi
the year.
Eleven of the customs collectors of the
United States failed to take In enough
money Oh importations during the lsst
fiscal year to pay their salaries. These
ports of entry and sums received were aE
follows: Csstine, Me-, s145. 5.56; Bridgeton,
N. J., $s7.66; Alexandra, Va, $73. 40
Albemarle, N. c., $71.26; Nantucket,
Mass, $50; Frenchmsn's Bay, Ne, s54. so
st. Mary's, Ga, $47.43; Pimlico, n. c.,
$12.01; st. Marks, Fla, $7.20; Michigan
City, Ind, So 40, and Kennebunk, Me-, Is
cents.
Paper can be manufactured nowadays
out of almost anything that can be pound,
ed into pulp. Over fifty kinds of bark are
said to be used, and banana skins, bean
stalks, pea vines, cocosnut fiber, clover
and timothy hay, straw, sea and fresh
water weeds and many kinds of grass are
all applicable. 1t has also been made from
hair, fur and wool, from asbestos. which
furnishes an article iRdestructible by fire
from hop plants, from husks of any and
every kind of grain. Leaves make a good
strong paper, while the husks and stems OF
Indian corn have also been tried, apd al.
most every kind of moss can be made into
paper. There are patents for making paper
from sswdust and shsvings, from thistles
and thistledown, from tobacco stalks and
tsnbsrk. 1t is said that there are over two
thousand patents in this country covering
the manufacture of paper.
1t has puzzled many that two pieces of
wood sawn from the same section of tree
should possess very varied characteristics
when used in different positions. For ex-
ample, gate post will be found to decay
much faster If the butt end of the tree is
uppermost than would be the care IL the
top were placed in this position. The
reason is that the moisture of the atmos-
phere will permeste the pores of the wood
much more rapidly the way the trees grew
than it would bs in the opposite direction,
Nicroscopical examination proves that the
pores invite the ascent of moisture, while
they repel its descent. Take the familiar
case of wooden bucket. Many may have
be entirely saturated, while others are sp-
psrently quite dry. This arises from the
same cause; the dry slaves are In the came
position In which the tree grew, while tie
saturated ones ars reversed.
The State of Washington is proud of
what 1t can grow, with little assistance
from Nature. The Seattle Times mentions
the following among the agricultural won
ders of the State; An apple weighing .
pounds and oupcss; one strawberry
10 inches In circumference; bunch Of
grapes weighing pounds; an onion weigh
ing pounds and l ounce; A potato weigh
ing 8 pounds and ounces; radish weigh
ing 81 pounds; best weighing 80 pounds;
pumpkin weighing 9S pounds; a water
melon weighing "a pounds; a cabbage
weighing SO pounds; a squash weighing
120 pounds; timothy Z feet s inches
high; clover feet high; alfalfa, yield of
10 tons per acre; cornstslks ID feet high;
hill of potatoes that yielded 43 pounds;
sixty seven pounds of potatoes from .
pounds planted; hops from a yield of
9,592 pounds per acre; wheat from yield
of 6S bushels per acre; oats from a yield
of 1875 bushels per acre; blackberry bush
showing growth of 81 feet this year; s
branch from q prune tree 33 inches long
with 46 pounds of fruit on it.