The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-03
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

-E<uNtWGioS tOI uOUle NilLc } tllttd tSiiS
to become extinct in the Austrian Alps
owing to the peasants digging and selling
Il to tourists. The Emperor has come to
The rescue and laws have been passed in
Syria and Carniola forbidding the remov-
al, sale, or export of the plant.
The largest cargo ever carried on the
lakes was taken last week by the schooner
Roebling of the new iron ore feet from the
docks at Duluth. Il consisted Of 1866 me-
tons of ore. The vessel was towed by the
steamer Stevenson of the same fleet,
which also toWed the schooner Nasmyth,
the combined cargo of the three vessels
being 1851 net tons the largest tonnage
ever drawn by one engine on the lakes.
"A modern application of Samson's
parable, "Out of the strong came forth
sweetness is provided by the district
council of Sutton. in the county of Surry,
says the New York Times. That estima-
bic body carries on most singular indus
Try. IL grows peppermint on its sewage
farm, and manufactures PEPPERMINT oil.
About four and a half acres of the farm
are given UP to the cultivation Of pepper
mint plants, and grow luxuriant crops.
The yield of oil is nearly $50 per acre,
ana the price last realized was $5.12 per
pound. The quality known in the trade
as Mitcham oil is considered excellent.
The first discoverer of aluminium had
the reward of genius. Pliny tells US that
in the reign of Tiberius al B. c. to 81 A
ID a worker In metals presented d beau
tiful metal cup resembling silver. but
lighter, TO the Emp eror who questioned
him, and learned that he had extracted
the new metal from clay. The secret, he
said, was known but to Himself and the
gods. The sage Tiberius rejecting that if
rhig could he padA from earth II
would lower the price of silver and gould,
decapitated the arJificer in order that mis-
secret might remain with the gods, and so
deprived the world of a most useful metal
for eighteen centuries.
An English firm has developed an cleo
trio process for the production of ceramic
wares which is stated to produce a very
superior product. Photography is employ
ed TO produce the designs and the electric
furnace for burning. After the photo
graph has been applied to the material
the photograph is put under a specially
prepared glaze and burned in. A great
deal of the beauty and succe IS of the sys-
TEN depends upon the use of the electric
furnace, due to the regulation of its high
temperatures. A representative Of a Lon
don electrical paper, who examined several
specimens of this ware, pronounced them
excellent, and gave his opinion chat the
process can be applied to all kinds of ware
with commercial success, as It is not
costly.
Gypsum Is usually regarded as a fer
tilizer which, however. contributes little
directly to the support Of plants, but re-
cent experiments by AIessrs. CockereH and
Garcia at the New Mexico Agricultural
Experiment Station, Mesiia Park, N. M,
have proved that nearly pure gypsum will
nOurish plants as wen as ordinary soil,
OF better Wheat and peas were grown
by them in a natural deposit of white
send on the east side of San Audreas
Mountains, New Mexico, with great sue
cess. The composition of the sand is gyp-
sum, 81; carbonate of lime, 2 Sc; carbonate
of magnesia, .06; sulphate of magnesia, u;
per cent, and traces of other minerals.
It is not apparent how the wheat came by
its nitrogen IN such soil, though the peas
might get it through the tubeTcles of the
roots.
1t is reported that use has been
found for liquefed air. the possibilities of
which have been matters of discussion
among scientific men for some time. Ac-
cording 10 the Mining Reporter, a discov-
cry was made recently by which it is HOW
practicable to use liquefied air in under
ground work, such as mining, driving tun-
nels, and sinking shafts. 1t is said that
under proper conditions the liberation of
air from the liquid can be effective in gen.
Grating power with which to run drills
under ground, pumps, hoists, etc, While
cool air can also be supplied in the deep
est mines. The liquir air can also be
used In freezing soft ground, making tun-
mel cutting less hazardous and tedious If
there is any reliability in this reported
discovery, and its success can be practi
cally demonstrated, it will make a new
departure in the lines of work named, and
once again make the genius of science the
soul of industrial progress.
The largest dynamo in the world is
now being constructed by the Walker
Company of Cleveland, o., for the Boston
Elevated Railway. This generator will
have an output of 1900 kEo-wats at $50
volts, or about 1900 horse power. It's
speed will be between 70 and 80 revolu-
tons per minute, its total weight 25O,000
pounds, and the diameter of the circular
cast steel field frame q feet inches.
The weight of this ring without field mag
nets will be twenty-five tons. There will
be twenty-four inwardly projecting lami-
mated cores and pole having a combined
weight of fifteen tons. The armature hub
is thirteen feet in diameter, and is in two
parts, each of which weighs ten tons. The
shaft is thirty-seVen inches in diameter
The armature Examinations add fifteen tons,
and the armature will have In all 594
slots. The commutator will be 105 inches
in diameter and will have 1,1SS bars. To
facilitate regulation and remove a portion
of the strain from the shaft, the fly
wheel will be bolted irectly to extensions
on the armature hub. If this machine
were to run at the speed of the Niagara
generators, 300 revolutions per minute. it
would have an output of 16, 600 horse pow
er.
The watermelon or in botanical terms,
citrullus vulgaris, is not native of Amer
lea, but comes to us from Asia, says the
Boston Transcript. II is known as a pros
trate plant, and the creeping stems strike
out in all directions, from the center, and
make quite a large patch, covering the
ground with their deeply-Iobed leaves
which are again divided. The leaves are
of a pale green or blush color. The pale
yellow flowers have short calyXes, which
DCll-ShaDed and UTide-Snreadinp corOI-