St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1895-07-06
FOREIGN GOSSIP.

IA body of Sahara troops" is to be
raised by France in her arid African
possessions. where the heat is fatal to
mainly of natives of those regions, but
the officers will be Frenchmen.
An Australian native belle was
courtcd by being knocked down with .
club and dragged of to her future hus-
bands home in the brush The early
travellers tell many stories Of the scars
borne by the women, received during
their courtship
The botanic garden of the Jartiin
des Plantes includes about seventy
acres. The plants are all labeled with
red labels, medicinal, green for ali
mentary, yellow for ornamental pur-
poses, blue for art and black for poi
sonous plants.
"A Chinaman, be he king or coolie.
When either parent dies custom or
dains that the son shall resign all
honors and employments to repair to
the ancestral tomb and mourn there
for a long period.
1T is certain that the big shops have
revolutionized all the habits of buying
and selling in France. Up to 1880
everything went by barter, and there
was no fixed price. Traces of this prac-
tice are still found in the small shops
around Paris, where the price first
asked has very little to do with what
will be accepted.
Mr.. Asquith proposes to abolish
the office of the queens remembrancer,
(which has become absOlete." He is
the last revenue officer of the ancient
exchequer left, dating back to 1886 At
least. His duty was to remind the
lord treasurer and the barons of the
exchequer ''of such things rs are to be
done for the kings benefit" For near
ly forty years the Office has been prac-
tically sinecure.
1T is reported that SO tons of cater1
pillars and a large number of cocoons
i'm all s., ZOO. 900 insects-were de-
stroyed in the effort to drive the pest
from the young plantations of trees on
Hong Kong island. They appeared ON
the fine trees with which the govern
ment is trying to reafforest the island,
and lasted for two months. Stations
were established where the caterpil-
lars were received and paid for by
weight, and this method appears to
have proved rs effective rs could be
desired.
AT Prague . man called Proschaska
was arrested some time ago for selling
to Hamburg firm a number of chill
dren whose growth had been checked
by peculiar diet, that they might be
exhibited as liliputians; for every child
three hundred forms were paid. The
inventors of the system and the par
ents of the children as well have been
punished by the courts. Two years
ago = regular mandatory OF distor-
tions and monstrous shapes in young
children for begging purposes was dis
covered and suppressed in Croatia
An extraordinary collection of
books, the library of Mr.. Gendsdius,
late Greek minister to England. is
about to be brought under the hammer
in London. 1t consists of the first and
ra-est editions of the Greek classics in
unusually good:copies, Aldines, Juntas,
Stephanuses. OF Homer there are $50
copies, of Anacreon 40, of Longus 60. Of
Theocritus so, and SO on. Among the
books are Racine's Plutarch, Henri Es-
tienne's Demosthenes, all with manu-
script notes of their poesessors- Be
sides these there are 154 lots of
Byroniana, including the original
manuscript of English Bards and
Scotch Reviewers"