The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-05-03

roots. Both OF these are imported IN con-
siderable quantities from abroad. They are
ground and used as substitutes for coffee.
Cologne must pay duty; but the time may
yet arrive when this country will produce
such scented spirits in sufficient quantities to
satisfy the commercial demand. There are
great districts in the United States which
are admirably adapted for producing the re-
quisite flowers. The latter are OF the SIM
pliest varieties, common roses and other
everyday blossoms possessing more intense
odors than the cultivated kinds. Elevated
land is best. An attempt to raise orange
blossoms in Florida proved a failure chiefly
because the land was too low. A tariff has
been placed on imported orchids, but great
orchid farms under glass are being started
in New Jersey and other States, which be-
fore long will make these wonderful blooms
cheap.
1t Is the same way with mushrooms. These
agarics are now imported In great quantities
from France, where they are raised art1fi.
cially in caves. But before very long all
be produced in this country. They are being
propagated to a considerable extent already
In New Jersey and on Long Island, as we'll
as elsewhere. The American farmer is OBJ
tanning a knowledge of the fact that there is
q crop of the future, which will always conn.,
mand good prices, having the addditionai
advantage that it can be grown in winter.
v ID OL bLO NV
gum of an extinct cone-bearing tree. 1t IS
dug up in parts Of the great plains Of North
Germany, where the tree once hour1shed
The gum is found along the shores OF the
Baltic. 1t is got from mines, picked from
cliffs, and q good deal of it is gathered in the
shape OF nodules cast up by the waves. In
the Middle Ages it was more valuable than
gold and was used by Princes and church
dignitaries for forks. At present it is worth
from SO to $50 q pound, according to quality.
Bristles will not be required to pay any
duty. The best of them come from hussla,
where hogs of a peculiar breed are regularly
plucked TO furnish material for the more
costly kinds of brushes. Asbestos is on the
free list. 1t is a kind of horn blended rock,
having a fbrous texture, so that 1t can be
woven. 1t is utilized for a great variety or
purposes, among others for freproof gloves
and firemen's clothing.
CAN'T COMPETE WITH JERSEY PUBLIcA
Leeches are on the free list. They are very
important animals. No surgical instrument
can perform the operation Of bleeding So
delicately as they. There are plenty OF
leeches in this country, but they are mostly
much bigger and too ferocious to be useful
for medical purposes. Small boys who wade
in ponds occasionally suffer severely from
their attacks. There v~be no tariff on
madden. This is quite an interesting sub
stance. 1t has been found that it will color
the bones of human beings and other ami
mails chat partake Of it with their food. A
French chemist not long g made some ex-
periments by feeding madden at intervals to
growing pigeons and rabbits. The bones OF
the creatul es thus fed, when sawed through,
showed in sections alternate rings of pink
and white.
Lace is put down as free of duty. This is a
~resinous incrustation formed by q kin OF IN
sect on the bark of certain trees in India and
Siam. The female deposits 1t to protect her
young, which eventually make their way
through the crust and begin life for them
selves, feeding on the sap of the tree. They
never move from the branch on which they
are Matched, and eventually it dies, SO that
the bugs would all perish and there would be
no more of them, but for the fact that birds
and other insects carry them away to fresh
places, where they start new colonies. Lac
is mostly gathered in the jungles of India,
whence it is exported by thousands OF tons.
It Is used for making the so-called lacquer
ware. In parts of the Western United States
various plants have been found to be infested
with lac insects, and it is imagined that the
latter might, be utilized il propagated arti-
icially, as is lone in India.
Among other things on the free list are
dried blood, eggs Of fish and birds, hoofs in
the raw and kelp; also broken glass and
natural teeth. Artificial teeth must pay to
come in. There is no duty on punk. 1t is
imported for use in making matches that
win stay lighted in a gale OF wind n for
other similar purposes.
It is an odd provision of the law that when
a vessel has been sun in any harbor or
river of the United States for two years and
has been abandoned by the owner, the per-
son who raises it may bring in free OF duty
all the merchandise of any description that
is found OIL board.