The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1899-08-18
ANTIQUE OAK THAT is OLD.
beautiful Results with Pieces Buried IN
der Chicago 1000 Years Ago.

White oak logs that have been bur
led under the site OF Chicago for 1,0Ou
years have just been put to use. Pfol'
Ossian Guthrie. the Chicago geologlst
who has studied the local strata and
helped to unearth the remnants OF
some of these prehistoric trees, mas
just come into possession or TWO tolle'
brushes made from this ancient OAK
that have surprised the manufactur-
er of imitation antique woods by
the wonderful color and polish OF
which the genuine antique oak is cap
able. No precious woods that nave
ever been imported into Chicago are
so marvelously beautiful as these
specimens with which Prof Guthrie
has just been presented.
Most of these prehistoric logs have
been resurrected from the 7,o00-year-
/ old graves to be divided up among the
museums and universities of the coun-
( try. Walnut, willow, beech aud most
I of the modern native woods aave been
dug up under these glacial deposits
and alluvium of seventy centuries, but
the white oak, the same tree evidently
| that fourishes in the parks to-day, has
been preserved best of all.
have bent and laid low tue trees at
first The iron fibre is bent and twist
ed in nearly all of them in one partic-
ular spot in the trunk, ana IL Is evil
dent that this was the cause that hrst
buried the giant forests under the
sands and alluvium. Some OF these
trunks have been followed by Prof.
Guthrie in the excavations for streets
and houses for many feet. Que trunk
in Sheffield Avenue, was unearthed for
seventy feet
Evidently this forest was the first
growth after the glacial period. 1t lies
close to the glacial clay, under the al
luvial drift, at a general depth of four
teen feet. The cyclone apparently LAID
the forest low, and the sand and drltt
were blown up from the lake and COW
cred it. The water formed an alright
capsule about the trunk, aud kept 1t
from decaying.
OF late years, however, the surface
sewers have drained the water away
from the trunks. and the bark and out
er layers of wood have gone to decay.
The iron fibre of the inner wood IS
still intact in most OF them, however.
The wood from which Prof. Guthrie'S
souvenirs are made was dug up near
the corner of Calumet avenue and
Thirty-ninth street, where many of the
trunks are being chopped away in
sewer eXcavating.
No imitation antique wood has ever
attained the singular beauty of this
old oak. 1t is dark. almost greenish
black. the result of hundreds of years
discoloration by the surrounding wa
ter. The polish which 1t has attained
is unlike anything ever seen by wood
importers. The fibre Of the wood was
found almost as tough as fine wire in
working it up.
specKied Cigar Wrappers.
Some of the tobacco imported from
Sumatra for making the wrappers Of
cigars has a curiously speckled appear
ance. In the minds of certain buyers
this marking is evidence that the cigar
has Sumatra wrapper. Such is not
always the case, for the artful manu-
facturer has learned how to spot
American tobacco artifically, and he
occasionally does so in so clever a man.
ner that the uninitiated customer never
/ suspects the trick.
Sumatra is a Dutch possession, and
the spotting Of the tobacco raised in
that island has been made the subject
Of investigation by Professor Boyer
4 inck, of the Amsterdam Academy of
! Sciences. This learned man presented
! to the Academy few weeks ago a pa
| per in which he set forth the results of
his inquiry. He described living.
fluid contagion," which he declares is
the cause of the disease. This disor-
der, also known as the mosaic disease
of tobacco leaves, may be inoculated
into healthy plants by injecting into
the stem, near bud, sap pressed from
infected plants. The active virus
passes completely through the pores of
very dense porcelain, and can even
penetrate into agar by diffusion; there
fore it cannot be 'contagium fixum"
in the usual sense, but it must be fluid.
Out of the tobacco plant it cannot be
made to multiply; but in the dividing
tissues of the leaf. rudiments and the
merlstemS OF the buds 1t multiplies
freely and over a great extent. A
very small drop Of the porcelain filtrate
can render all the leaves of the infect
ed plant entirely covered with spots,
and the sap of these leaves would be
sufficient for the contagion of an I'm.
limited number Of healthy plants.
Killed the Black Sheep.
Forty sheep belonging to William
Arndt gathered under a maple tree in
Van Vert county, O., and among them
were IS black ones. A binding flash of
lightning seemed to penetrate the earth
in the midst of the flock and killed all
the black sheep. leaving the white ones
unhurt. Each dead sheep had round
hole in the back Of its neck, as if from
pistol ball, and around It the wool