The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-20
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Tobacco Is grown In foFty-tWo states
and territories, but nearly half the crop
/ comes from Kentucky, Virginia, Ohio,
| North Carolina, Tennessee Pennsylvania
| and Connecticut.
The blue crab is a natural born fighter;
| the probability is that he would a little
| rather fight than not. says the New York
/ Sun. The spider crab Is not so much OF
/ fighter as that, still, the spider will put
| spider crabs in one OF the tanks at the
/ New York aquarium: the biggest OF them
I four inches in length of body and measu-
/ ring eight or ten inches IN spread of legs.
| Two Of these spiders Of about equal size
| met in the tank the other day, and stood
I up on their hind legs and faced each other
/ ike two boys meeting IN the street. Then
/ they threw their upper legs around each
other and grappled. and began plugging
away at each other with their pincer
/ claws. A moment later one pushed the
| other over on his back and fell on him; he
| hit him once after he was down. Then they
/ went their ways.
| One Of the greatest wonders Of ancient
/ Egypt was the famous artificial body of
/ water called Lake MOeris. According to
| HerOdotus, the measure of its circumfer-
ence was 800 furiongs, which Is equal to
/ the entire length of Egypt along the sea-
coast The excavation, which was made
/ In the time OF King MOeris (the Memnon OF
/ the Greeks and Romans). was of varying
depths, and its center was occupied by two
/ pyramids, the apexes of which were 800
| Ieet higher than the surface of the water.
| The water for this gigantic artificial reser-
/ VOir was obtained from the Nile through a
! canal which six months of the year had an
/ inflow and the other six an outflow, CORE
| spending to high and low water in the
] river. The canal gradually filled with sand
1 and the lake has long since evapOrated,
| but its bottom Is still one of the most fer
| tile tracts in Egypt.
| -Yachtsmen, approaching the value of
/ big spreading sail in going before the
! wind, felt the need of a material that will
| permit the sail to increase quickly in area
! and in propulsive power in proportion to
/ the force of the wind, says Information.
| Experiments recently made with rubber
/ sails, under the direction of the HERE
| SHOTS, the boat builders of Bristol, proved
that the sails expanded too much, and
| proved unmanageable. Paper stock was
| then tried with success, IL proving light,
| air-tight, durable and elastic. Sails made
| on this new plan are not woven from
| compressed sheets, these being cemented
| and riveted together in such way as to
form smooth and strong union. The first
| process OF manufacturing consists in pre-
| pairing the pulp in the regular way, TO
| ton of which is added one pound of bichlo-
| ride of potash, twenty-five pounds of glue,
! thlrty-two pounds Of alumni, one and one
| hal1 pounds of soluble glass and forty
| pounds of prime tallow, these ingredients
being thoroughly mixed with the pulp.
| Next the pulp IS made into sheets by reg
| ular paper making machinery, and two
| sheets are pressed together with a gluti-
! nous compound between.
The people of Holland are engaged in
a gigantic work of engineering, by which
| they hope to recover most of the territory
| now occupied by the Zuyder Zee and re-
| convert it into fertile land says Informa-
ton. Five centuries ago the ocean, af-
ter long period of encroachments, broke
finally into this district and turned a
| former forest-cOvered province into the
present inland sea. During the succeed
| ing period much has been done for the
recovery of this lost territory, section
| after section being regained by dykes, I'M
til about $50 square miles of land have
| been recovered. The present scheme is
| more ambitious, It being proposed to re-
I a 10 In n nd fnN ~ 11Nan sol
| sea-wall, extending from North Holland
TO Freisland. This wall is TO be 216 feet
wide at the base and to extend seventeen
| feet above the sea level, with "A lower
track along the inside wide enough for
/ road and a railway. Interior embank-
ments are to be made inclosing four sec
| tons with total area of $50 square
miles. Each of these will then be drained
by pumping. The whole work is to be
years, so as to reduce the annual expense
and to enable the benefits from the por-
ton regained to bear portion of it. AS
the shallower portions are drained they
will be successfully brought under cuti-
walton. 1t is calculated that within ten
years 25OO acres can be made annually
available, and in the end nothing will
remain of the Zuyder Zee but a channel
about fifteen miles wide.
Spontaneous combustion may be defined
as the ignition of inhammable substances
without the application Of fire, or without
obvious cause of increase of temperature,
says the st. Louis Republic. Occurrences
of this sort, formerly considered as be-
ing very mysterious, are now explained
by the well-understood liability of certain
substances to undergo chemical changes
which develops sufficient heat to set them
on fire. One of the great causes of the
spontaneous origin of fires in factories,
| drug stores, etc, is the exposure of fixed
oils When exposed to light and air these
oils are disposed to oxidize. When under
going oziGization they rapidly absorb oxy-
gen and give off carbOnic acid gas and hY-
drogen, which soon fires any inflammable
| substance through which NAV he
dinused. Fires of this character may be IL
Illustrated by reference to cotton waste
and tow, mixed with oil, used in lubricat-
ing machinery, and which. if allowed 10
accumulate in heaps, is as dangerous as a
lighted cigar IN powder mill. The larger
the heap of such rubbish the greater the
danger incurred, on account of the extra
liability to accumulate heat Packages of
silks which have been Charged" (oiled to
increase weight often cause mysterious
| railway, steamship and warehouse fires by
oxidation of the oils with which they
have been saturated. Fires in waste
heaps at coal mines is another form of
spontaneous combustion, the cause in this
case to be looked for in the oxidizatiop of
the iron and sulphur particles found in
the coal.
One of the most profitable occupations
of the United States government is found
in the coinage of scent nickle pieces
an exchange. The cost Of the bronze
disks from which the cents are stamped
is about 20 cents per pound, and a pound of
them produces 81. 46. Nickel ready for
coinage costs 81 cents per pound and a
pound produces a. AZ in scent pieces, The
average profit of seigniorage on the COIN
age of these minor coins for the past few
years has been about $4,000. There is
a profit and considerable one, in the Coin
age of subsidiary silver coin, but owing
to the fact thar the United States owns
several million ounces of bullion which
was purchased at the prevailing high rate
of 1890 the profit in that species of coin
age is not as great as it would be if the
government should go into the open mar
ket to-day and buy silver at its marketable
value for this purpose. There is a big de-
mand at the treasury department for
| bright new coins of all denominations
Almost every request that is received from
banks in various sections of the country
for subsidiary coins ask that bright new
ones be sent. Every month the street car
| companies and banks of the CAPITAL CITY
turn into the treasury large Quantities Of
nickels, dimes and quarters for which