The Portland daily press., 1897-11-22
PERSONAL AND PECULIAR

covered the origin of forest fires by wit
Messing one in its very inception. Here
is his story: The tree had been partly
uprooted by a severe windstorm and
leaned over against the trees nearest to
it, some of which happened to be dead.
Fierce gusts drew down from the neigh
boring mountains and caused the branch
es of the inclined tree to rub with con-
siderable force against those upon which
it rested. After the friction thus devel-
oped had been kept up for many hours,
AYERS this courageous engineer, the dead
wood upon which 1t was exerted first be-
gan to glow, then burst into flame, and
fire that swept through miles and miles
OF valuable timber was the result.
The ginger plant grows wild in some
parts of Mexico, and its cultivation on
the elevated plateaus is to be encouraged.
An estimate of the value of the crop may
be CLEANED from the fact that one acres
yield brings in about $500 in gold. A
fleh soil is necessary, such as black vege-
table loans, and it should be we'll
Grained, ploughed deep and welded with
care, the cultivation being somewhat
similar to that of the potato.
Swinemunde on the Baltic has strict
Sunday laws. Shipmasters who enter the
port are fined heavily by the town au-
thorities if they have their ships washed
or painted on Sunday or Church holt
days. AS foreigners are not acquainted
with the German Church calendar they
are frequently caught. a
ID. j. Almar Johannessen, the Norwe-
gian army officer who was with DR.. Nan
sen in the latter's recent Arctic expedi-
ton, referring to the plans for the doc
tors next trip North, says arrangements
have already been made for a sojourn
hut on Franz Joseph Land. The Fran,
Nansen's ship, will be accompanied by a
large vessel called the Shareholder. There
Will be many more dogs, more scientific
men, and one of the ships will advance
through the ice until ice bound. From
there sledge expeditions will start North.
The other ship will go along the ice
border, making scientific researches in
the Ice, in the water and at the bottom of
the sea.
Hugo Wolf, the Viennese composer, has
developed such eccentricities that his
friends have bee 3liged to put him in an
asylum. A society formed in Vienna to
spread his works made it it's first rule
that none of the members should have
anything to do with Wolf personally.
Miss Esther Dickinson of HinsdaIe. N.
H.. has family Bible that belonged to
her great-great-gr grandfather, William
Carr, one of the early settlers of Swanzey,
N. n. The Bible was buried in the
ground when the pioneers left Swanzey
in 1747 because of the Indian raids.
Mr.. Carr came back with the next set
lers in 1853 and dug up his Bible, which
had been put in a stone jar to protect it
from dampness. The owners name is
still to be seen on the inside of its cover,
but many of the leaves are gone. The
book is dated 100.
Mrs. Charles M. Bowen of Chicago,
widow of "Amen' Bowen, the noted
Methodist minister, was SO years old
Wednesday. She was born at Richfeld,
N. Y, on farm which had been in the
Riohfeld, NY, on a farm which had
been in the family over 200 years She
has been member of the Methodist
Church for seventy seven years. She has 5
grandsons who are ministers-Revs. Ray
Cookingham Of Chicago, James e. En-
sign of Syracuse, George Hutchings of
Troy, De Forest Chamberlain of New York
and DR.. Frank Van Allen of Madura,
South India.
Count Tolstoi, about whose health dis |
quieting reports reached this country not
long since. has completely recovered |
Next spring he intends to undertake q |
journey of about two years duration, in
the course of which he will visit the great
cities of the Old and New worIds-appar-
emily, therefore, planning to visit this
1t is also said that he has fin
ished two short novels drawn from the
life of the Russian aristocracy and from
that of the peasantry.
At the annual meeting of the Montreal
Bicycle Club a remarkable cycling acct
dent occurred in the first heat Of the two
mile tandem race, when, during squirt
in the last lap at the far curve on the
south side of the grounds. where the track
curves I'D against the fence surrounding
the grounds. the tandem ridden by L. S.
r obertson and J. Drury became I'M
m anageable. The machine actually
jumped the fence, which is over three feet
high, and the pedals of the one ridden by
Provencher and Evans becoming en-
tangled with it, their machine followed
it. The four men and the two machines
disappeared over the fence as if the earth
had swallowed them up. Beyond few
bruises to the men and broken chain on
one of the machines no damage was
done.
A paving material consisting of steel
and concrete in combination is being laid
in some of the principal streets in San
Franc isco. Expanded metal is the form
in which the steel is used. The earth of
the street is graded into shape and Gov
cred with bed of sand On this sand is
laid the sheet of expanded steel. Over
the steel is then laid layerof concrete.
The concrete is stamped into the 1neshes
of the metal, forming "a perfect bond
give way. Upon it can be laid asphalt,
bituminous rock, basalt blocks, wood
blocks, brick or any kind of surface pave
ment desired. The permanently of the
entire pavement depends upon the char
acter of the top work.