St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1895-10-19
or GENERAL INTEREST.

-Ex-Postmaster-Ge John Wan
amaker has under consideration the
foundation of an institution for the
reformation of inebr;ates and friend
ly inn for the poor, which will be so
conducted that no deserving person
shall apply for shelter in vain.
The female spider is always larger
than the male, and, If accounts be
true, is of rather peppery disposition.
When the husband becomes obstinate
and will not obey orders, the loving
wife eats him up, to get rid OF him,
and seeks more obedient spouse.
AT school examination in a Wis
consin town the boys were asked to
define certain words and to give q sen.
tence illustrating the meaning. Here
are . few illustrations: Frantic
means wild-I picked some frantic
flowers; athletic, strong-the vinegar
was too athletic to use; tandem, one
behind another-the boys sit tandem
at school.
The horseles. age is almost upon
us The fact is heralded by the end
less improvements in the modern
methods of locomotion, the cable, the
trolley car. gas motors, the bicycle.
Whether our useful equine friend will
object to such a state of affairs remains
to be seen. but certainly some of the
species such as we daily see. bony.
lame. knee-sprung. dragging the lum-
bering stage, the heavy street car, or
the clumsy truck, will think the mill
lenium dawn is surely here. Societies
for the prevention of cruelty to ami
mails will also have to seek other fields
for their energies.
We have it on the authority of the
Brooklyn Eagle that smoke never
does issue from q volcano. Nor does
fire. The red light seen above the
crater is not flame. 1t is the glow of
molten lava reflected on the under side
of the clouds of dust. And the clouds
of dust are never mixed with smoke.
There are bursts of steam sometimes,
but rccks do not burn as wood does,
and give off the finely y-divided carbon
dust that we know as smoke. The
pictures of eruptions in the geo
graphies of our youth are wrong, and
so are reports from Prescott, Ariz, that
smoke is issuing from one of the peaks
of the Harque Hala range, thus indi-
eating that an active volcano is de.
veloping."
A new kind Of caterpillar appeared
in Bismarck, n. D., and the region
thercabouts recently, and proceeded to
denude the shade trees of foliage.
Some one noticed that the worm spun
a cocoon of unusually strong texture.
and a citizen sent a cocoon to friend
in the east who owns silk-weavinS
mill. The silk weaver reported to the
Bismarck man that the thread in the
cocoon was almost as strong as silk,
and of similar texture, and that it he
had handful of cocOons he would
weave a handkerchief from them.
Specimens of the worm and cocoons
have been sent to Washington for the
report of the government experts, and
the North Dakotans are thinking that
perhaps what they took to be . pest Is
q valuable gift from nature.
The big whaleback steamship City
Of Everett, the largest vessel of the
type ever built, which was recently
launched from a state of Washington
ship yard, has been put on the route
between San Francisco and Panama rs
an experiment to determine the value
OF the whaleback type Of steamship In
the ocean carrying trade, from the
standpoint of economy and speed. As
we'll as seaworthiness. If this boat
proves a success another whaleback ol
equal or greater size will be built, and
a regular line established over this
route. The company backing the cx.
pertinent believes that better time and
quicker dispatch can be had by the
whaleback than by the ordinary type
of steamship. The first experiments
with the whaleback as an ocean-going
| vessel were not successful, but they
were made some years ago, and it is
believed that the defects then discov
cred have all been rcmedied.