The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1895-08-30
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

England maintains thirty-one war
vessels in the Mediterranean fleet and
5000 men at Gibraltar, at a cost of be-
tween S2,ooo.0oo and S3OOO,OOO.
-MassachuSetts, though small in size,
* large in manufacture, her mill hands
being numbered at 4S5. 1872. and their an
nual output valued at 1888, 1GO. 4O3.
"A gardener near Northallcrton has
grown some straw berries, one of which
weighs two ounces and measures nine
inches r"und, and three inches in
breadth.
-Gray once said that no one woul,
ever write better poem than his "Iilegy.'
lie considered it not only his own mA,>tcr-
piece. but the best poem in the English or
any other language.
Richardson, like many other nuvclsts,
considered his first work IL; his best. Late
in life he said when speaking of one of his
then recent works, II shall never be able
to excel 'ramea.'
The Greek Catholic climates, church
in the United States is larger than might
BE- supposed, having II organizations and
1n,SM members. They own Is churches,
the value of which is $4,000.
The persons OF African descent in
the nitru StateS are classified accord
ing to the degrees of colored blood into
t:%'77, $50 blacks, 956,9S9 mulattoes
James Hlyth has offered f:5OO to the
British Dairy Farmers association III
order that three prizes of t1OO each may
ht offered at their forthcoming show a,
iSllnSton. for drawing and plans of
diaries.
Another Murillo has been discoy
cred. SO it is alleged. The picture with
ont Il name, WAS sold for 90 frames:
with Nurillu added. even as Il conjecture.
r. " is r.,),
francs.
There is Il saying. as old as Mon
talSne, that it is good to have IL new
name, and, withal, "a well-sounding and
smooth name. and which is easy to be
pronounced and farile to he remcm-
hersl."
There has been marked change of
opinion anil practice III the matter of
cutting corn for enSiage. 1t is now gen
orally recognized that it is better to al
low the crop to become reasonably ma
tlrr.
All employees of the Boston & Maine
railroad have been forbidden. by an
order just issued. from using tobacco
IN any form while on duty and when off
duty Of wearing uniform or railroad
badge.
The first corn-producing state is
Iowa. with an acreage of 1.oSo.522 and
BIB. 1M.IS2 bushels: next comes Illinois,
with I,St:'.oCo acres and 2S9.697 .225b
bushels; the third being Kansas, with
I.3l4.IGo acres and 259.574.56S bushels.
The poison weed in the vicinity of
Heart mountain. Mon is more plentiful
than usual this spring. John Chapman
reports having tifty-two head of cattle
hearing his brand that were killed from
eating thy stuff.
-t'rote once compared his History of
Greece" to Gibbons decline and Fall
and took pains to point out the various
eNrrllencicS of each and to show in what
particulars his own work eXcclleu that
of Gibbon.
Signs in the desert which will indi
the nearest springs and wells Of fresh
water are to be erected by Arizona and
California in the desoate regions on eth
tr side of the Colorado river.
-l.nn,lon is not entirely without Il stat
he of Oliver Cromwell. as WAS crroneouS-
ly assumed during the discussion as to
the erection OF i statue to the Lord Pro
t'rtor. In South kensington museum IS
an nri Elnal model in plaster of Il colossal
statue of Cromwell by John Bell.
-;Dn, of the now i,aronets created in
England during the year paid E25, 900
for the honor. This sum went into the
electinneering fund. A sum of 100000
has been put down as the price of the
revival Of dormant peerage, but the
claimant was hardly prepared for this.
An act has recently passed in
France under which every French bar
rister is compelled to take out an annual
license to practice, its object being to re-
move all the ornamental members from
the profession.
A check for f5O,572 9s1d-probably
,,f hn ham lrI L,,
Il single firm to the excise authorities
i'll the city of Belfast-was recently paid
to Mr.. harrington, collector of inland
revenue in Belfast.
Mosaic floors, laid with small pieces
of different colored stones in regular
patterns, We're known to the Egyptians
300 &. G. In Babylon floors of this
kind dated from 100 B. c. They were
common in the Athenian and Roman
houses.
Among the barley producing states
acres, yielding 17,549,3S6 bushels; the
second is Iowa, with 31S.729 acres and
1;'.4w,122 bushels; the third being Wis
consin, with 474,914 acres and 1925
SI2 bushels.
Some farmer in Massachusetts re-
turned to the census cnumerat tor four
bushels of haxseed as the yield of that
state: New Jersey did four bushels bet
ter, raising in all eight bushels while
Arkansas claimed twelve bushels and
twcnty-siN pounds of fiber.
The average wealth throughout the
world. taking the population at LOO
Mm.WW, is about fGJ per head, according
t" recent calculations. Russia in spite
of her great natural resources, appears
+" be the poorest civilized nation on the
face of the globe.
1t IS Il common fact, but not gencr-
ally remembered, that Il cock will not
crow unless he can throw back his head.
II Il cock is shut over night in Il low
coop, where he cannot stretch back his
neck there will be no Growing in the
morning until the bird is released.