The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-10
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

IS that at the silk works near Northamp-
ton, Mass; depth, $500 feet.
France has kept 100000 tons of coal
stored at Toulon since 1898 to be ready
in case war should break out.
The smallest screws in the world are
those used in the production of watches.
Thus, the fourth jewel wheel screw is the
next thing to being visible, and to the
naked eye it looks like dust; with glass
however, it Is seen to be screw, with 260
threads to the inch, and with very fine
glass the threads may be seen quite clearly.
Probably the most remarkable duel on
record took place in France in the year 1908,
says the Pittsburg Dispatch. AS usual it
was all about a lady-a certain Mile. Tire
vet, who was unable to decide between
two lovers. She finally decided to accept
the one who could dispose of the other in
a duel. The lovers agreed to fight in the
air. Two balloons were made exactly
alike, and upon an appointed day each one
scared aloft, accompanied by second, and
armed with blunderbusseS, the arrange
ment being that they were to fire, not upon
each other, but upon the balloons When
they were half a mile high the signal was
given. One of the duelists fired and miss
ed. The other followed suit, with such dis
car were dashed to earth and killed in
stantly.
The manufacture of bicycle tubing is
described as follows by Popular Science
News: Only very high class of steel is
suitable for the purpose, and that hitherto
employed has been chiefly Swedish char
coal steel, containing a certain portion of
a billet two feet long and about six inches
in diameter. A hole is bored through the
center and it is heated, annealed and roll
ed into the form of a tube about IA inches
in diameter. with wall of about 10 gauge.
This is then drawn through die and over
a mandrel by means of a draw-bench until
about 800 feet long, beautifully smooth
and bright both within and without. This
is not drawn al once, but in number of
operations and between each of them the
metal has to be repickled and reanneaied
to prevent the Capitalization to which the
drawing process tends to give rise. The
first drawings of the tube leave it about
three-eighths of an inch thick, but this
gradually decreases until a tube is pro-
duced which is of the thickness of stout
writing piper. This is the class of tube
employed In bicycIes. and that imparts a
strength and rlgidity QUO OF all proportion
to its lightness.
The art of dwarfing trees as commonly
practiced in both China and Japan, says
and very easily understood, being, as it is,
based on one of the commonest principles
of vegetable physiology. Anything which
has tendency to check or retard the flow
of sap in the trees naturally prevents the
formation of new wood. This process of
retarding wood growth is done in many
different ways. BY pruning so as to pre-
vent leaves from forming and giving the
tree health and vigor; by combining the
roots in a small place; by Withholding wa
ter; by bending and twisting the branches
and by a half hundred other processes,
which all proceed from the same principle
In dwarfing trees the Chinese and Japan
ese gardeners are careful to always choose
specimens which are naturally stunted,
particularly if they happen to have
branches opposite or regular, for it must
be understood that a one-sided tree has no
value in the eye of the artistic oriental
tree dwarfer. When a tree has been
chosen, its main stem and roots are twist
ed in a zigzag form, which process is in
| tended to check the flow of sap. The pots
| in which they are planted are narrow and
shallow, so that they hold but a small
| quantity of soil compared with the wants
of the plant, and no more water is given
| them than is necessary to sustain life. Ma
ture generally struggles against this kind
of treatment for awhile, or until her pow
| ers seem to be in a great measure exhaust
! ed. When she finally yields to the powers
| of art ere long the beautiful and curious
| dwarf tree, the wonder of the orient, is
produced.
Defining what is a trade, N. P. Gladis
illustrates by citing that of the machinist
! The person, he says, who has acquired the
| trade of the machinist can perform all
| the operations required to reduce to size
| and shape the pieces used in the conStruc-
| ton of machinery, and is familiar with
oAr roll aal1f or 70 sAtfr
pose of performing these operations. If
| there is any part of the work of construc-
| ting a machine which he cannot perform,
| there is that something lacking to make
| him master of the elementary principles
and practice of his trade, however famil-
! lar he may be with any or many parts of
| it. The machinist should first of all be ac-
quainted and skilled in the hand work of
| the trade. Chipping, filing rifiiing, scrap
| ing, stoning, he should be able to do be-
| cause it is necessary sometimes for them
| to be done where no machine can be used,
| and If they cannot be done by hand they
| they cannot be done at all. He should be
| able to plane, to drill, to mill, to turn and
| to grind. 1t is not necessary that he
| should know anything about hydrodyna-
| mics, aerodynamics or electrodynanics:
| about water wheels, steam engines air
| compressors or electric motors; all that
| he needs to know to make him complete
machinist, is how to reduce iron or steer.
or any other metal to any shape, and to
put the pieces so shaped, into any combi-
nation, which anyone requires. All that
he knows more than this is of inestmable
advantage to him, although it does not
constitute him any more of machinist;
but all that he knows less than this,
grades him lower in the ranks of his
trade. He may be excellent in some one
branch, having learned that branch only.
but any one branch is but a small part
of the trade.
-"Since the passage of the Wilson bill
taking the duty off of opium the smart
chaps up in Canada have largely turned
their attention to phenacetine the SNUG
Cling of which into the United States pavs
very handsome profit" said Mr.. Charles
II. Shaw of New York. according to the
Washington Post. "Phenacetne is a coal
tar product made in but one place in the
world-Elberfeld, Germany, and there is
tariff tax of 25 per cent, on importations
into the United States. The sales of IL
IN this country reach $1000O0O annually.
There is no duty on it in Canada. and
hence 1t can be struggled over the line and
sold to our druggists much cheaper than