The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1894-05-17
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.


! has put to valuable service is the net
| tie, weed which is now being Guilt
| waited in some parts of Europe, its fiber
| proving useful for variety of textile
| fabrics. In Dresden thread is pro-
| duced from it so fine that length of
sixty miles weighs only ~ pounds.
The various manufactures of fax,
| hemp, jute and other vegetable fiber
| imported during the month of Feb
| ruary were valued at 81, 4G2, 2SS COM
pared with 50, 22S, sos for the same
month last year. For the eight months
| ended with February the total impor-
| tations amounted to S13, 333, ops, against
| SO, 1903, 979 for the corresponding period
last year.
According to Meehan's Monthly,
| the large majority of plants are scent
| less, and probably not onetenth of the
| hundred thousand lowering plants
| known to botanists are odorous OF
| the fifty known species of the mignon-
cite family, only the one so highly
| priced in our gardens is fragrant, and
| only about dozen of the one hundred
species of violet are scented. In many
large genera the scentless varieties
| are as one hundred to one.
"A report from the Belgian consul
at Nouma states that two-ffths of the
| total area of New Caledonia contains
nickel, and one-tenth of this has been
conceded to mining companies, about
100 square miles being already worked.
| The ore is said to contain to 10 per
i 4 --l.sD
| that 5000 tons nickel ore, 1880 tons
| chrome iron, 700 tons cobalt and 210
| tons auriferous quartz were exported
during the past year.
| When the petals of the great aurel
magnolia are touched, however light
| ly, the result is a brown spot, which
develops in a few hours. This fact is
taken advantage of by a lover, who
pulls magnolia flower, and on one of
its pure white petals writes a motto or
message with hard, sharp-pointod
pencil. Then he sends the flower, the
young lady puts it in a vase of water
and in three or four hours the message
written on the leaf becomes visible
and remains so.
Cattle breeding is a leading indus
try in Honduras, the total value of cat
tie in the republic being estimated at
over ten million dollars. The cattle
are of the long-horned Audalusian
race, the cows only yielding enough
milk to maintain their respective
calves, with very little surplus for
dairy purposes. Stock of improved
breeds can be safely imported only as
calves, which become acclimated to
the southern fever, SO deadly to adult
animals. Prices for dairy products are
very high.
| Among the tropical productions in
| troduced into Ceylon from South Amer
lea is the ErythroXylon coca. 1t is a
| shrub indigenous to the elevated re-
| gions of tropical South America, where
its leaves We're used as nerve stimu-
liant by the aborigines as they are now
by the whites The annual production
of the leaves is estimated at thirty mil
lion pounds, and is likely to increase
since the extensive employment in the
materia medica, either as plain extract
or the alkaloid cocaine. 1t does we'll
in Ceylon so far.
Mr.. Bruce, of the Dundee Antarctic
whaling fleet, describes the whole of
the district south of 60 degrees south
latitude as strewn with icebergs, which
become very numerous south of 81 de-
| grees. The base of the bergs was col
ored pale brown by marine organisms,
| and other brown streaks, were seen be-
yond the water level. No luminous
glow was observed. Clothed in mist
they raise their mighty snow-clad
shoulders to stately height or shine
forth brilliantly in the sun. Although
they are of the purest white, yet they
glow with color. The crevices exhibit
rich cobaltic blue, and everywhere are
splashes of emerald green.
Recent experiments made in Prus-
STA show that the temperature of the
earth increases on an average at the
rate of one degree for about sixty-two
feet in depth, but the rate of increase
of temperature is not the same in all
cases, for example, at Schladebach,
where the depth is 5136.3 feet, the rate
of increase is one degree in 67.21 feet;
at Sounewitz the hole is $685. feet
deep, and the rate of increase one de-
gree in sc. 50 feet; at Leith hole, 1899 s
feet deep, the increase is 63.92. At
Sudenberg, 1921 feet deep, the in
crease is one in $3.50 feet and at Sperm
| .a1, &c hn