Birmingham age-herald., 1895-09-23
7=sTzsI 7 [w . FACTS TERSElY TOLD.

e 90 S,
 The expenditure of England for drinks is estimated at $500, ,000, 900 a year The consumption is undoubtedly enormous, but not so enormous as this, for good deal of the liquor which appears in offi- a acial statistics is afterwards exported. N It is said that 300, 900 cubic feet of water plunge 150 feet downward over the Mi Eagara escarpment every second, thus fwasting 10000 900 horse power of energy to the second. If Niagara was really
 harnessed' so as to utilize this energy it would be sufficient to turn more ma chinery than there is in the world.
 The system of canals contemplated by Russia will have total length of 1000 miles and will unite the Baltic and Black seas.
 An Englishman in Japan complains of the perpetual feast of green tea and snails, with nothing but rice and raw fish for a change" No doubt the Jap anese would find rare beef and beer equally as monotonous
 According to writer in one of the magazines Sir Walter Scott's great granddaughter, Mrs. Maxwell Scott is so much like him as to give a striking illustration of the power of heredity. It is said she has the same wide brow" and the familiar dropping blue eyes"
 MT. Edward Atkinson says that In the heart of this country, in the mountains of Virginia. Kentucky, Tennessee and the Carolinas, there Is population of over 2,000.00 people who to this day are chiefly clad in homespun fabrics in making which, at the market price of labor in the factory towns, an industrious person working a hand loom might earn as high as s a year. So that by economic ing in making their own clothing the mountaineers are in the highest degree wasteful.
 It is thought that the judge of the United States court at Fort Smith, Ark, who has sentenced 151 murderers, has the highest record ever made in the United States. at least in this generation. It is made possible by, the fact that he has Jurisdiction over the Indian Territo- ry, in which fugitives from justice from all the surrounding states take refuge. He has, of course nothing to do with crimes committed In Arkansas itself.
 writer in the Popular Science Month ly. who has been studying the habits of blue birds finds that they make war on and get the better of the English sparrows. The sparrows, however, join other small birds in common cause against them, and 1t is not uncommon to see jay in screaming flight with a score or more of small birds pursuing him.
 A writer in the Engineering Magazine thinks that inventors can be produced by educating boys in accurate and methodical observation, by cultivating their memories through association, by teaching them to see clearly and by in structing them in logical reasoning from actual observations. The last embraces all the rest.
 A writer in the Electrical Engineer ar gues that two good copper wires be- tween New York and Chicago, fed with small matter, would carry assoc mes sages of fifty words each per day. He thinks that special delivery mail could be sent by telegraph with a remark able margin of profit"
 What is now described as "a new race of polyantha roses" has been known to rose fanciers for several years. It is a cross between the polyantha and hy- brid perpetual, with perhaps an accentu- aton of the tea blood of the hybrid. It bioooms constantly, is hardy with little or no protection, and Is perhaps the best of all roses for borders. The Clotilde Soupert is a good example of it. The sci ence of hybrdization is carried to a high CT degree of perfection in roses than in anything else, but still the best new roses are nearly always accidental hybrds ere ated by bees and butterflies. When men assist nature she shows them how to improve on their best efforts.
 In consequence of the discovery of lar gon," "helium' and other like substances 1t Is believed that still greater discoveries are about to be made. Some expect that the apparent diversity of metals is re- suit merely of different combinations of a very few simple substances or possibly of only one. It is on this line that re- searches are likely to be conducted for some time to come.