The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-05-27
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

sportsman" of Piotou, is believed in
France to have made a record" by COW
ering AGO kilometres (267 miles, in As hours
with two-horse trotting, machine and the
same pair Of horses. The feat was the
result of a wager, and the baron left Mort
one Sunday at p m, and arrived al his
destination On the second day after at
1921 p. m.-that is 20 say, In As hours, q
minutes.
"A black marble OF similar character to
that exported from Beigium-the latter
product being simply prepared sIate-may
be produced in the following manner: The
slate suitable for such purpose is first wei
and smoothly polished with sandstone, so
thai no visible impression is made on it
with a chisel-this being the rough-after
which it is polished finely with artificial
pumice stone, and finally finished with ex-
tremely light natural pumioe stone, the
surface now presenting a velvet-like, soft
appearance. After being allowed TO dry,
and the surface being thoroughly heated
the finely polished, surface is impregnated
with mixture, heated of oil and fine
lampblack. This is allowed to remain
Tor twelve hours; and according to Wheth-
er the slate used is more or less gray.
the process is repeated until the gray APP
pearanCe is lost. Polishing thoroughly
with emory on a linen rag follows, and
the finishing polish is with tin ashes TO
which is added some lampblack. A finish
being thus made, was dissolved in turpen-
tine~ with some lampblack, is spread
on the polished plate warmed again, which
after awhile is rubbed off vigorously with
a clean linen rag. Treated thus the slate
has deep black appearance like black
marble, the polish being just as durable
as the latter.
The development of the sugar beet in
dustry in the United States is being seri-
ousiy promoted by the United States de-
partment of agriculture and within the
last year seeds We're sent to over 10000
farmers in different parts of the country,
and 1000 of the samples produced from the
seed have been analyzed by the govern
ment experts. The best results came from
this state and Michigan, though the re-
suits in eight other states were generally
favorable. The New York beets weighed
about thirty ounces each, and contained
about 10 per cent. of sugar on the average.
The average WELD of Al PIP acres for The
year was almost nine and one-half tons
per acre; and the returns of the depart
ment for 1887 show production for the
United States of 90,491 SO pounds of beet
sugar in that year. This is equivalent TO
232 pounds of sugar per ton of 1000 pounds,
or 11.6 per cent of the weight of the beets.
Secretary Wilson states that az least So
600 acres VIII be planted with beets in 1898.
and the expected yield is 100000 tons of
beets, or 00C90 pounds of sugar, or
nearly 4 per cent. of the total import of
sugar, now amounting to about 1900, coo
tons per annum. During the calendar year
of 1897 more than 1878 900 pounds of
beet sugar were imported into the United
States, and there is evidently room for the
development of this industry, with profit
to the country.
w T. II. Darlington recalls some in
teresting facts in connection with the
evolution of wire ropeways, which are
now taking such prominent place in pas
senger and freight transit districts that
would without them be unnavigable or
impossible. A ropeway was in use at
Dantzic, Germany, in the year 1896; but it
was made of hemp, and, therefore, can
not come under the category of wire rope
ways. HodgsOn, who was the pioneer in
wire rOpeway installation, began his ma
tured work in 1865 He got his first idea
of the Importance of the method from the
sight of Hirn's transmission of power by
ropes, at the Paris exhibition, in 1867, and
saw al once that it was quite feasible to
Sing loads from a rope and transport
them. Another inventor, T. Smith, also
had in mind the germ of the radical prin-
cpal employed in ropeways which he put
into practice in a crude way long before
the Hodgson patents were taken out. He
used to tie bags containing his workmen' S
( which was employed to haul barges
| through a large tunnel on an English can
nal. The first line constructed under the
original patent, near Leicester England
! for the carriage of granite, made it plain
that there were many problems to be
solved before the wire ropeway could be
looked upon as a practicable means of
freight carriage These difficulties were
one by one overcome and the wire rope
way of to-day, as instanced in the Klon-
dixie line Is a method of the greatest value
for Transporting goods and men over
rough countries.
"A very curious lawsuit has just taken
place at Berlin. A couple of years ago
one of the members of the ancient and
illustriOus family of the Counts Finck
Won FinCkeustein married a woman of
such deplOrabe antecedents that his fam
lily refused to have anything more to
do with him, and only consented to give
him certain allowances on the condition
that he Immediately resigned his COM
mission as officer in the army and
changed his name. Accordingly ne went
through the legal process needed to adopt
the plebeian name of Stein. a few
months ago he unexpectedly inherited a
large fortune which rendered him, Their
fore, independent of the allowance from
his family. He thereupOn resumed bis
former name and title of Count Finck
It l.
his family protesting against his action,
declared that while he had received the
legal right TO style himself "Sten" there
was nothing in a legal way to prevent
his bearing his old name, especially as
he was financially independent of his
relatives. His cousin thereupon appealed
10 the courts, and these have just issued
a decree against the defendant, declaring
that when the law provided a certain
procedure for the change of a patronymic
it never contemplated that the applicant
should have the right to make use of
both names at his caprice, and that in
assuming a new name by legal methods
man necessarily gives up all rights 10
his former name. This is the first occa-
sion on which a question of this kind
has arisen and IL seems TO be of suffi-
cient interest 10 be placed on record.
The Pitch Lake of Trinidad.-Some ro-
mances and exaggerations. of which the
Pitch Lake at Trinidad has been the sub
ject, are corrected by Mr. Albert Cronise
of Rochester ~ Y. It's area, hight, and
distance from the sea have been overesti-
mated, and a volcanic action has been
ascribed to it which does not really exist.