The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1894-05-19
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY.

Among the products which science
has put to valuable service is the net.
tie, weed which is now being culti. |
waited in some parts OF Europe, its fiber
proving useful for variety of textile
fabrics. In Dresden thread is pro-
duced from II so fine that a length OF
sixty miles weighs only 2lS pounds.
The various manufactures of fax,
hemp jute and other vegetable fiber
imported during the month of Feb
ruary were valued at 81, 462, 2SS, COM
pared with s2,22s,5 sos for the same
month last year. For the eight months
ended with February the total impor-
tations amounted to s13, 333, 026, against
s19, 103,0T for the corresponding period
last year.
According to Meehan's Monthly,
the large majority of plants are scent
less, and probably not one-tenth of the
hundred thousand towering 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
cent. nickel. The annual returns show
that 5000 tons nickel ore, 1900 tons
chrome iron, ZOO tons cobalt and 2l0
tons auriferous quartz We're 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 few hours. This fact is
taken advantage of by Il lover, who
pulls magnolia flower, and on one OF
its pure white petals writes a motto or
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 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 g-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
it's leaves were 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 ,nedica, either as plain extract
or the alllaloid cocaine. 1t does well
in Ceylon SO far.
MIR. Bruce. of the Dundee Antarctic
whaling fleet, describes the whole o.
| UuC ulSuTlCU SOtttu I'll w uSSIScS
latitude as strewn with icebergs, which
become very numerous south of 62 de
grees. The base of the bergs was col
ored pale brown by marine organisms
and other brown strealls. were seen be
yond the water level. No luminou.
glow was observed. Clothed in mis-
they raise their mighty snow-clat
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 ar.
splashcs of emerald green.
Recent experiments made in Prus
sia show that the temperature of the
earth increases on an average at tlit
rate of one degree for about siXty-tws
feet in depth, but the rate of increase
of temperature is not the same in al
cases, for example, at Schladebach
where the depth is 5736.3 feet, the rat'
of increase is one degree in 67.21 feet
at Sounewitz the hole is 364G.5 fee
deep, and the rate of increase one de
} gree in G6.S2 feet; at Leith hole, 1880.
feet deep, the increase is G3.92. A
Sudenberg, 1921 feet deep, the in
crease is one in 5S.9S feet, and at Sperm
berg, which is 4116.6 feet deep, til,
, ratio of increase is one degree for 5S.3
feet increase of depth.