The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-06-06
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The Russians make a palatable drink
from the sap of the walnut tree.
Texas has the most sheep, 1880, 272;
the grand total in the United States is a, >
49,, 136.
The United States acreage in grain is
greater than the entire area of the Ger
man empire.
Over 300 plays dealing with Napoleon
I have been performed or printed in the
last 100 years.
According to DR.. w. ]. Beai, the native
grasses of North America number about
1,275 species, included in about 14O genera,
while in Europe there are only forty-seven
genera and $40 species.
The bit of chalk in uses in the school
room is a chip from an immense block
that once filled an area the size Of the
continent of Europe and of which frag-
ments remain, each hundreds of square
miles in extent These patches are scat
tered over a region lying between Ireland
and China, Portugal and Sweden. A sheet
of chalk more than 600 feet in thickness,
underlies a portion of England. 1t APP
pears again in France and even in Asia
Chalk cliffs 200 feet thick are seen at An
trim, in Ireland. 1t is supposed that these
isolated patches were once a con tinuous
sheet about 300 miles long and 1000 broad.
Ancient bottles of glass, stone and
metal have been found in many parts of
Europe, Asia and Africa, says an ex-
change. Perfume bottles of glass have
been discovered in great number in the
tombs of the wealthy ladies' of Egypt.
Many bottles, tumblers and other drink
TVaer ole
of Pompeii. The most common bottle of
the ancients, however, was of leather,
the skin of a calf, goat or OK being taken
off the carcass with as few cuts as posi-
bic and made into a receptacle for holding
water or wine. The largest glass bottle
ever blown was made at Leith, in Scot
land, in 1918. Its capacity was two hogs
heads.
Louis Pierre Mouillard a French resi-
dent of Cairo has invented a flying ma :
chine, comprising an aroplane of con-
cave surfaces, attached to permit of the
aviator and arranged to permit movement
of the planes in horizontal direction only
with reference to the body of the avia-
tor the apparatus depending for support
solely upon wind pressure, and not upon
any downward thrust upon the air. either
by Tapping wings of revolving propeller
wheels, says the Philadelphia Record. To
a breastplate, provided with an artificial
sternum, are hinged wings, each on a
vertical axis. so as to be capable of for
ward or backward motion, the wing
frames of aluminium tubing being covered
with silk or other suitable fabric When
the planes are thrust forward the aero
drome rises when they are pulled back
by a spring, upon which, the inventor
says, "the life of the aviator depends, =
and which must be strong enough to hold
hn frrv1 rHr,Tr-
straight line at a speed of twenty-five
miles an hour. The aeroplane can glide
upon the air by a fall from a hight suf-
tcient to procure a speed which shall
cause the air to support the apparatus
or by skillful utilization of the force
of the wind, which must blow at least
ten miles an hour. The weight of the an
paratus should not exceed f1fty-five
pounds, and it is intended to sail with
winds varying between ten and twenty
i've miles per hour.
According to the census of 1890 there
were S12 commercial greenhouses or about
one in fifteen owned and managed by wo-
men, says Hicks Magazine. We have a
personal acquaintance with several wo-
men who are successful retail florists
Other women to our knowledge are max
ing success of raising carnations and
other flowers for the wholesale trade
These people learn that the business of
raising and selling flowers is beset by
much care and labor that does not come
under the head of poetry. And yet nearly
all women florists that we have met We're
led into the business because they first
of all loved flowers. II adds to the de-
light and success of any occupation if one
has a love therefor. There is no question
that, as a rule, women have a greater
fondness than men for flowers; why,
CHI in
ing and handling them for profit. The
rougher work about flowers raising, such
as the care of greenhouse furnaces, the
handling of soil and manure, and the like
can easily be done by men who work for
moderate wages. If women are success
full as florists. they are equally so as rails
ers of vegetables and small fruits, espec-
tally strawberries; they direct the rougher
work. help to prepare the produce for Gus
TONER'S and perhaps take in hand the
selling, thus keeping closely in touch with
the state of the market. Generally speak
ing, we think that the raising of straw
berries near our best markets is farther
from being overdone than that of almost
any other kind Of produce. The consump-
ton is enormous aud fresh fruit brought
quickly from the fields, without a large
distance intervening, always will sell con-
siderably higher than fruit long from the
vines that has been shipped. Much of the
Work or picking ana handing small fruits
is well suited to be done by women.
English electricians, particularly those
connected with the army and navy. are
much interested in the Marconi system OF
telegraphy without wires, says the New
York Times. Some remarkable work has
already been done with this machine, and
improvements now making are expected to
add many miles to the two or three over
which it Is already effective. The new
transmitter consists of an accumulation
battery, an ordinary telegraph key, an in
duction coil sending an eight-inch spark
and wires connecting the three. The in
duction coil is wound. half with thick
wire the two ends of which are connected
with the key and battery. and half with
thin wire, whose ends are soldered to sep
arate metal rods. each with large brass
sphere at its extremity. II the key Is
closed for a short or long time a current
passes from the accumulators for a cor
responding period through the thick wire
of the coil, and induces a current IN the
thin one wound over It. The induced cur
rent rushes TO the brass spheres, and in
the form OF bulsh-tinted sparks leaps the
space that intervenes. In this space is
"A Oh