The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1895-10-30

| years ago, was we'll past his eightieth
year. He was another dead in earnest
Christian. A good many years ago his
woll1men, while hauling earth from one
OF his lots, encroached on one of mine.
and spoke to him about it. He threw
up has hands i'll surprised way and
exclaimed, 1.-The whole earth is made
OF dirt, and shall we quarrel about
Wheelbarrow load of it!" He had a
strong German accent. A short time be-
tore he died | met him on the street and
sad, "Well, Father Schaubel, how do
you find yonrself:' 81 find myself ach-
ty -four years att he replied "And
how do you like it?' Zach. veil. va
must be satisfied That was favorite
maxim with him, to be satisfied-that
u.s. contented. He was gardener. One
year there was, for some reason, a great
scarcity of tomatoes, and he had large
crop. In reply to a question what he
was getting for them, he replied "Two
dollar und fifty cents bushel here in
de field. fh, veil, We must be salts
fed. ''-Chicago Interior.
A TALK ABOUT METALS AND MINERALS
Something About Their Diferences-Rusts
of the Former.
Professor SkidmOre of Philadelphia,
in a course of laboratory lessons to su-
pervising principals and teachers of the
Philadelphia public schools, took up the
subject of metals recently. In the course
of his lecture he made some interesting
remarks in regard to the distinction be-
tween minerals and metals. 1t is not
possible, he observed, to define exactly
what metal is, yet there is little liza
bility of mistake in distinguishing a
metal from nonmetal. The metallic
properties of luster, tong hness, fusibill-
| ty, OpaQueness, cOnduct1vlty and rust
may be possessed separately by nonmet-
ais, but they are not associated as they
are with metals Most metals may be
bent, twisted, drawn and hammered to
an extent far beyond what any mineral
not metal could endure.
Taking up the matter of the rusts Of
different metals, he showed by a series
of interesting experiments that sodium,
potassium, ]ithium and, in lesser de-
gree, calcium, strOntium and barium
rust instantly when exposed to moist
air, their white rusts quickly dissolv-
ing in water and forming alkalies. 9th
er experiments demonstrated the fact
that another group of metals, in which
are zinc, lead, magnesium and antimO-
ny, have white rusts which are not sol
uble in water. These ru8ts form thin
adherent coating, which only half con-
ceals the metal and gives to it a dull,
furnished appearance. 1t was shown
that at higher temperatures than the
ordinary, and especially if the metals
are finely divided, the chemical energy
of rusting is SO great that the metals
burn with a vivid light and emit
dense white smoke. The permanency of
these rusts and their protective charac-
ter are utilized in white paints.
Professor Skidmore then directed at
tention to a third group of metals,
which includes those which have dark
or colored rusts, as with copper, iron
and silver A series Of experiments fol-
lowed to show how these rusts were
formed. and the changes which iron I'M
dergoes in appearance in the tempering
process were carefully noted. Attention
was directed finally to the fourth group
of metals which never rust. These are
gold and platinum, AID it w>s noted
that they are also the metals which are
found as metals in the earth, and not
Tab %1oo oil hn