The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1893-01-21
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.


| "A calculation of the average volume
of the gulf stream that passes Cape
Florida in one hour gives the enormous
sum of $1,000, 0)9,0o) tons. Were this
amount cvaporatcd the remaining salt
would require more than one hundred
times the number of sea-goiny vessels
now afloat in the world to carry it.
| The fruit ranch of Gen. John Bid
well, at Chico, Cal, contains $500
acres, and from it 100000 pounds of
dried fruit were prepared last year.
The 10000 peach trees bore 2,3)),0)o
pounds of fruit, and single cherry
| tree produced 1900 pounds of cherries
The popular idea that water is
purified By freezing has been again dis
proved by recent careful experiments,
(, which show that the average amount
of impurity retained by the ice is 10
per cent. of organic matter, and 2i.2 Per
! cent. of inorganic matter. AS organic
matter is the more Objectionable of the
two, the case is worse than was former
ly supposedly. y. Independent.
Prof Crew finds from experience
with the Lick telescopes that the
smaller tubes are superior for the OBJ
! servation of solar p-ominences The
large instrument fails to give the proper
definition; and this, he says is probably
due to the current of hot air risi g from
the intensely heated canyons surround
/ ing the observatory, SO that the eff
cheney of the different sized telescopes
is just the reverse of what it is at night.
The gals OF gall fly produced on
an oak attract, states DIR. Rathay, by
their viscid secretion, number of small
| ants, which he believes to be advan-
tageous to the tree, in killing quantities
| of caterpillars and other insects which
are its natural enemies. lie illustrates
the value of this protection by the
statement that the inhabitants of
single ants nest may destroy in single
day upward of 100, 600 insects.
Photography is now being made to
record the movements of the growing
parts of plants. Especially curious are
the results with certain climbers, such
as the hop conyolvuls. isomoea, etc.
The young stems move in succession
of irregular circular or elliptical curves,
which vary every moment, even in di-
rection, and are due to irregular growth
in different parts of the stem. During
the sleep of plants movements do not
cease, but consist of alternate upward
and downward vibrations.
in experiments on the influence of
food and surroundings on the color of
animals. Mr.. E. b. .Poulton reared cat
erpillars of the pepper moth under diff
ferent conditions. Those confined
among green leaves and twigs became
green, those having black or brown
twigs mingled with their food were
brown or black, and others were turned
light-colored by white paper. With
artificial co.ors, red and blue tended to
produce dark coloration, though, very
strangely, painted twigs had not the
same effect as those with the same nat
ural tints.
"A stitch is a sharp, spasmodic pain
in the muscles of the side like the pierre
ing of needle and is very apt to be
produced if exercise is taken immediate
ly after a hearty meal. This arises be-
cause the nervous energy necessary for
the proper working of the muscles in
exercise is engaged in another direction,
namely, in assisting the digestion of the
food Anything that interferes which
the proper supply of nervous energy re-
CURED for exercise; whether it be de-
bility or the process of digestion, or ex-
haustion arising fror,.: over-exertion, is
apt to cause this spasmodic pain.
The stagnation in the shipbuilding
trade on the Clyde is apparently most
serious. The North British Daily Mail
estimates that there are at present be-
tween Glasgow and Greenock over Is,
900 men out of work, every one of them
willing to accept any occupation that
might offer, although skilled workmen
at their trades This statement, how
ever, only partly shows the. depression.
Out of las building berths on the Clyde
only forty-nine are now in use. The in
dustry employs, in good times, from so,
900 to 60. 900 men, and it follows that
there are 80, 900 or 40, 600 men not work.
ing on the Clyde who would be en-
ployed there if all the yards were in full
operation. About one-thlrd of this
number, it is thought, have migrated to
other shipbuilding centres in Great
Britain, but the Mail thinks $1,000 is
less than the number of men actually
idle on the Clyde at the present time.
1