The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1896-07-17
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.
Boston has just discovered that it
has streets to the number of $50 With
duplicated names.
Mount Marcy, in New York, 54O2
feet above sea level, is said to be the
highest in the state.
The greatest number Of British
Americans in any one of the cities is
found in Boston-SS, 22a.
The cunker worms are making sad
havoc with the trees in some parts of
Western and Central Massachusetts.
After disappearance of more than
thirty years the first Confederate flag
made in Mississippi has been found in
New York.
1T has been calculated that the actual
amount of salt contained in the ocean
square miles with layer one mile
thick.
In Hawaii and other islands of the
Sandwich group, there is species of
flying ant, which moves through the air
backward as easily as it can forward.
A careful count shows that $4,000
bicycles went down the Coney Island
cycle path at New York last Sunday.
1t is not surprising that there We're sew
eral accidents.
Spain is very rich in all kinds of
metals used in manufactures. especially
IRON copper, tin, quicksilver aud lead,
and in 1898 she exported them to the
amount of $13,0o0,0O0.
"A Putnam tConn9 sportsman was
fooled into firing several shots at a
wooden decoy duck, which miscellaneous
friends moved around in pond by
threads from the shore.
The public in Greenwich park will
often make the whole ground vihrate
to such an extent as to interrupt for
hours observations at the observatory,
which depend upon the motionlessneSs
Of Il tray OF mercury.
A new use has been discovered for
hops. namely. the curing of bacon. 1t
is found that a sprinkling of hops in the
brine when bacon and hams are put in
pickle adds greatly to the flavor of both,
and enables them to he kept an indefinite
period.
The cultivation of mushrooms is
really matter of ancient history" in
France. The people are so fond of
them, they are so nutritious and their
raising is SO profitable that very few
Frenrhmen are so poor that they cam
not have their beloved vegetable.
A cruel custom prevails on the death
Of Il prince of the royal family of Aus
tria. His horse, covered with a black
cloth. follows the funeral. limping pain
fully. The lameness is caused by driv-
ing nail through ono shoe. and is in
tended to ty,ify the animals sorrow.
1t is a whole days task for two
men to fell mahogany tree On &C
count of the spurs which project from
the bcse of the trunk, Il scaffold has to
be erected and the tree cut off above the
spurs, leaving thus Il stump Of the very
best wood from ten to fifteen feet high
-Hissing is out Of order in the House
of Commons. The rule against such an
indecent display of feeling dates back to
1904, when it was decided that whose
ever hisseth or disturbeth any man in
his speech shall answer for it at the bar
as breach of order and contempt of
the House
A novelty in modern scientific re-
search is the means by which wind may
be measured by it's sound The whiS.
thing of the wind as it crosses wire
varies with the velocity. and this can be
computed from the pitch of the note OBJ
served IN case of Il given diameter OF
Wire. and for Il given air temperature.
James Northrup of Anamosa, Ia.
who had suffered with asthma, got III
one night last week, dressed himself in
clean ralment, combed his hair and then
Lay, down again. Calling his wife. he
told her he was going to die and wanted
to be buried just as he was. He went
to sleep and in less than thirty minutes
was corpse.
The only animal known in the worlc
winch, on the approach of dissolution
seeks out the general burial grounds Of
its species and there digs it's own grave
and lies down TO die, is the guanaco, OF
Wild llama. 1t is peculiar in other re-
spects. too. These animals, in fact, have
regular sanitary system, which they
respect like human beings.
Several varieties Of grasses. herbs
and flowers. the roots of sundry plants
the. juice OF the sugar cane, and aloe
and even beets, are used by various
tribes and peoples DIS basis of drinks
n earlier times spruce trees, fir trees
for, their SAP, which was fermented te
make stimulating beverages.
"A company has been organized in
New York city for the manufacture OF
non,,illuminating fuel gas, and has an
application for permission to lay mains
in the streets. The company says it car
supply non-illuminating fuel gas at sc
cents per 1000 feet, with such reduced
rates to factories as will make it cheaper
fuel than coal.
The Apaches of Southern Arizona
make whisky from the sap of small
species of cactus. They cut out thu
heart Of the plants, resembling little
cabbage, and in the cup-shaped recepta
cles left behind the sap accommodates
From this sap they distill the famous
''mescal,' which drives those who drink
it to sheer madness.
The Dominion of Canada came into
existence on July 1, 1867. The province
of Canada was divided into Upper ant
Lower Canada, which divisions are
known now as Ontario and Quebec. re
spectively. It was subsequently aug
mented by the Province Of Manitob:
and the Northwest territories in 1870
by British Columbia in 1871. and Primo,
Edward Island in 1873, and now in
cludes the whole of British North Amer
lea.