The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-01
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


ing over 1OS,O00 sheets and costing 81
100000 a year for twenty years, says the
San Francisco Chronicle. The scale
varies from ten feet 10 oue-eight of an
inch 10 the mile. The details are so
minute that maps having a scale of TWEEN
ey-five inches show every hedge, fence,
wall, building and even every isolated Tree
IL the country. The plans show not only
the exact shape of every building, but
every porch, area doorstep, lampOst,
railway and fireplug."
The megaphone has come into almost
universal use at athletic and aquatic races
and contests because it enables the judges
and other officers to make announcements
that can be heard all over the field. It's
adoption has been somewhat hampered
by the size of the instrument which is
too bulky to be conveniently transported,
but this has been overcome by making
them collapsible like the drinking cup
made for travellers and picnickers. The
folding megaphOne is made in sections,
one fitting In the other, and when not in
use the horn collapses into a package
about the size of a hat box.
The Germans are showing a decided
prediction for paper floors, which is read
lily explained by the many advantages they
possess over wooden flooring. An import
ant advantage consists in the absence of
joints, whereby Accommodations of dust,
vermin and fungi dangerous 10 health are
done away with. The new paper floors
are bad conductors of heat and sound and,
ia spite of their hardness, have a linole-
unlike, soft feel to the foot. The cost
| Is considerably lower than that of floors
made of hard wood. The paper mass re-
| ceives small addition of cement as binder
| and is shipped in bags in powdered form.
The mass is stirred into a stiff paste,
spread out on the floor pressed down by
| means of rollers and painted with oak
| wood, nutwood or mahogany color, after
| drying.
Evidently DESTROYS of eclipsing the
achievements of the producers of green
carnations" and similar floral monstrosi-
| ties, certain Russian botanist has been
| devoting himself TO the cultivation of
| black roses, says the London World. After
! having applied himself TO this uncanny
! object for considerable period with a pa
! thence worthy of a better cause he is re-
! ported to have achieved success, and now
| threatens to come 10 London and exhibit
| the results of his misdirected experiments
| When he arrives he will no doubt be in
| Vited to explain the purposes for which he
| considers that his sable blossoms should
| be utilized. Since he can hardly antici-
pate that they will be employed for table
| decoration or for personal adornment it
can only be supposed that he intends to
recommend them for use at funerals. 1t
as happily improbable, however, that Eng
fish horticulturists viii be anxious to dis
figure their gardens by cultivating them
| even for that purpose. Nor is it at all
likely that any political or other party will
be induced to adopt them as a badge, or
| that Black Rose day will ever take its
place among the floral festivals of the cal
endar
1t was expected, says the Scientific
American, that the war would develop
the usefulness of the carrier pigeon SER
vice in communicating with ships at sea
and the pigeon cotes at naval stations,
put up TO the present time they do Tot
seem to have been made much use of.
or, if so, the results obtained have rot
been satisfactory. Some of the best birds
obtainabie were purchased abroad and dis
trbuted among the principal stations
along the coast. The most important of
| these points is Key West, where there
are large number of birds capable f
keeping patrol vessels off Havana in
prompt ccmmunica ton with the command
er of the fleet; but up to the present time
the fast yachts and torpedo boats appear
to have been used exclusively in trans
hitting messages. It would be interesting
TO have a test made of this method of
communication, as considerable sums gre
spent every year in America and abroad
of carrier pigeons, and the present seems
to be an excellent opportunity for testing
their practical value. Three or four pig
cons on each transport carrying the army
TO Santiago would have kept the military
authorities in Washington fully informed
of their progress.
The berkute, or bearcoote, the golden
eagle, is trained and used by the natives
of Tartary and the Kirghis steppes for
hunting foxes. wolves, boars and deer, says
Forest and Stream. Mr.. Harting quotes
this description from Atkinson: I'VE had
not gone far when several large deer
/ rushed past a jutting point of the rock and
bounded over the plain about 800 yards
from US. In an instant the bearcoote was
unhooded and his shackles removed wnen
he sprang from his perch and scared into
the air. l watched him ascend as he wheel
ed round and was under the impression
that he had not seen the animals; but in
this I was mistaken. He had now risen
to a considerable hight and seemed to poise
himself for a minute. After this he gave
two or three flaps with his wings and
swooped off in a straight line toward his
prey. l could not perceive that his wings
| moved, but ne went at a fearful rate CT
| speed 1 gave my horse his head and a
touch of the whip; in a few minutes re
carried me to the front and / was riding
neck and neck with one of the keepers.
/
beareoote struck his prey. The beareoote
had stuck one talon into his neck, the other
into his back and with his beak was tear
ing into the animals liver"
The accounts of japanese marriages
vary very much, says an exchange 1t ap-
pears in some parts of Japan the wedding
takes place In tent at the top of a hill
before priest and the god of marriage;
the bride and bridegroom leave the city by
| different ways, but procession attends
both, and they meet at the foot of the hill
bearing torches; they then ascend the hill
| by steps constructed for the occasion; at
! the top they enter the tent and sit down,
the brides parents behind her, and band
| OF music behind the bridegroom The bride
then lights her torch at a sacred lamp, and
the priest teaches her a form of words to
say, while the bridegroom lights his torch
from hers. The spectators shout with joy
and Congratulate the happy pair, and the
priest besses AMI dismisses them. At the
| bottom of the hill a large bonfire Is made