The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-28
ITEMS or INTEREST.

are conducting their business on such an
extensive scale as to send genuine 81 bills
with their circulars as samples OF the
counterfeit money they have for sale. The
Cubans appear to know enough not to
be caught by the circulars, but in many
cases they have failed to recognize the
character of the enclosed bills and have
turned them over to the authorities thus
in each case relinquishing a good Ameri-
can dollar
--Forty-five acres of land on the ocean
beach southwest of San Francisco are to
be condemned by legal proceeding for the
erection of heavy batteries for the de-
Tense of the harbor The site commands
the southern approach to the harbor and
is admirably adapted for fertilization pur-
poses. II has a fine fresh lake in the rear,
which is fed by subterranean springs.
Work on the battery will be commenced
as soon as the government secures title
to the land.
Among the many industries to be
quickened by the war with Spain is that
of the publishing of geographical maps.
Thus, after everybody has laid in a sup
ply of maps of our new possessions it is
discovered that the southern coast line
of Porto Rico, as determined by a recent
official survey, is really much shorter
than shown on the maps. The mistakes
to be corrected in the map of the Philip
pines VIII keep the map-makers prosper
Gus for years to come.
"A number of gems are being found in
the lake region and quite number of dia-
monds have been discovered. No fewer
than seventeen well-identified diamonds,
varying in weight from one-half to more
than twenty-one carets, have been dis
covered in the region of the great lakes.
IA
have been found are distributed over an
area nearly 600 miles in length and 200
miles in width, with its longer axis trend
ing almost exactly northwest and south
east. Nearly all the diamonds We're OBJ
tanned from the deposits of glacial drift.
The colors vary from white to white
tinged with green and pure yellow. Sew
eral of the stones are remarkably fine
gems.
1t seems we have at last aseptic duel
ing. According to the Medical News, in
recent Paris duel, whenever the sword or
one of the gentlemen who sought this
foolish manner of settling their differ
ences touched the ground the duel was
instantly interrupted until the blades were
thoroughly sterilized by passing through
the flame of an alcohol lamp. What is
specially feared is that the swords may
become contaminated with the bacillus of
tetanus. A French surgeon has issued
book giving regulations for the proper
conduct of a surgeon when summoned to
a duel The most rigidly surgical sterih-
cation of the duelng swords is recon-
mended, and their careful preservation in
the state of most absolute asepsis until
they are handed to the duelists.
IA railroad of wonderful curves is the
Alamogordo and Sacramento Mountain
Railway built in New Mexico last year,
says the Philadelphia Record. 1t is a
branch of the Ell Paso and Northeast
ern, and extends from the town of AL
amOgordo, which is 300 feet above sea
level, and which is situated where the
vast plain of the Tularosa valley meets
the foot of the Sacramento mountains
at an elevation of 5000 feet, a distance
of 1894 miles. The road is standard
gauge, with maximum grades of SO per
cent. and maximum curves of 40 degrees.
The length of the line on the mountains
is 14.76 miles, and the percentage of tan
gent is 1872 per cent, and the percentage
of curves 6312 per cent Altogether there
are 115 curves on the line, 81 of which
have a curvature of 80 degrees or over
each. According to the Railway Age,
there are in all Is, 401 feet of track, with
curvature of 80 degrees and over.
Go out on any farm and see the farmer
hoeing away at the weeds that threaten 10
choke his crop, says the New York World.
You may hear him say things that
wouldn't sound nice about the weeds The
dandelion isn't the only weed eaten by peo-
pie who know what's good to eat Take
wild chicOry, the plague of the farmer
Il makes one of the finest salads served,
piquant, tender and wholesome. Charlock
or wild mustard, is another bane of the
farmer. He doesn't know that as a Dot
herb il can give a soup a delightful flavor
The dock Weeds-hOW annoying the whole
family arei Yet the bread leaf variety and
the curly leaf are used all over Europe
as table vegetables. There's pokeweeds
cOmmonest of them all In France it is
cultivated. 1t takes its place with sage.
thyme, parsley and bay leaves as fla
Voring for soup Everybody in America
hates a nettle and can't see what use it
is In Scotland, Poland and Germany ten
der young nettle leaves are used as
greens. The Germans boil it with other
vegetables to give them a piquant flavor
Purslane is another weed that can be
treated the same way. Most people think
milkweed poisonous. II is medicinal veg
etable with delightful flavor all of its
own. The young leaves, when they are in
just the right condition, are a cross be-
tween spinach and asparagus, and in a
salad are delicious. Sorrel, fictitious and
chevril are looked on as field pests by nine
ty-nine out of every hundred farmers The
hundredth one picks the choicest leaves
from these weeds and sends them to mar
let, where they find ready sale for sal
ads to be eaten with game and for flavor
ing herbs-for herbs they are and not
weeds.
"A Irritation with a native belle is an
exceedingly idiotc enterprise to an Amer
lean in any of the smaller Mexican
towns" said a New Orleans railroad man
who has spent much time in the sister re-
public, according to the New Orleans
Times-Democrat. Il had that fact ham
mered into me originally at Paso del
Norte, across the Rio Grande. The cir
cumstances were these: l had attended
a Mexican dance in the center of town
and met very pretty senorita who talked
English with a most captivating accent We
danced together a good many times, and
after the BAH was over it developed that
she and her younger sister were without
an escort TO see them home. OF course.
l volunteered. They lived in the suburbs