The Savannah morning news., 1900-08-06
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

VenicleS ana each covers route of tif-
teen miles twice a day.
Recent heavy rains over the Adiron-
dack have thoroughly saturated the SOIL
besides filling lakes and streams to a
greater degree than for years back. As
consequence there is little likelihood
that such fires as ravaged the region last
August will be witnessed there this sea-
son.
Every German cavalry regiment is now
supplied with two boats made of water
proof canvas, which, when not in use,
can be folded up. Each boat will carry
from six to eight men, and two boa -
bound together form a raft capable of
bearing from twenty-five to twenty-seven
hundred weight.
"A generation ago sugar constituted
nearly one-fourth of the grocery trade of
the country, but to-day, owing to the won
derful increase in the trade of canned
goods and grocers' speciaties, the staple
occupies greatly inferior rank, its sales
being perhaps no more than one-twen-
tieth of the total sales of groceries.
First among transatlantic liners to
look out for the amusement of children
passengers is the new racer Deutschland
set apart as playroom Here the
youngsters may romp. play and make all
sorts of noise without disturbing other
passengers. Toys of many kinds are also
provided
"A paper in a Missouri town tells of a
girl who played the piano at a social
gathering recently, and gave some selec-
tions from Beethoven. When she got
through there was strange silence, and
she turned around to find every one in a
faint 1t was the first music they had
heard that was not rag-time in seventeen
months.
Among the British civil list pensions
awarded during the last financial year
are 600 year 70 Mr. Alfred Austin. "as
Poet Laureate 200 TO Mr. John SIMS
Reeves, in consideration of his eminence
as a singer, and of his Straitened circum-
stances" and f125 to MI Herman Charles
Merivale, lin consideration of his literary
work and of his stratened crcum-
stances"
"A citizen of Lexington, Mo, ]. T
Greene by name, claims some degree of
fame by reason of the fact that on a pos
tai card 3x5ls inches in extent he has
written 1865 words, consisting of this
mixture: Declaration of independence
1907 constitution of the United States
with preamble and amendments, $500: the
articles of confederation of the original
states, $3.50; the Lords prayer, 81; the
One Hundred and Nineteenth Psalm, 2,435;
l45 lines of Longfellow's "Evangeline,"
1914.
The Rev. w. F. Sheridan, of Pontiac
Mich, tells this story: "A large and
| heavy woman, accompanied by a compar-
atively small and meek looking man, had
come in and asked to be married. Every
thing was regular, and the ceremony was
performed. After il was all over the
bride explained her position You see
Mr.. Sheridan, she said, farm hands are
mighty hard to get in this part of The
country, and they are even harder to
keep. You get a good hired man and get
him well broke in to work around the
farm, and the first thing you know he
quits the job and goes off to town or
somewhere else. Last spring had first
class hand, about as good as 1 ever ex-
pect to get, but just when the season
got right busy he up and quit me. / just
made up my mind that I wasn't going to
be left in the same fix this summer, so
here we are The bridegroom in the case
simply stood and smiled meekly. He had
nothing at all TO say"
ried on in Russia recently on plant life
as referred to electricity. They were on
three different lines, one being a repeti-
ton of the well known one showing that
electrified seeds terminate more rapidly
and give better crops than those that
have not been so treated. The next ex-
| pertinent was burying in the soil one
copper and one zinc plate between which
| electricity was allowed to pass. 1t was
| found that potatoes and roots grown in
the space electrified gave crops three
times heavier than those not so treated.
In his third test, NJ. Spyeshneff, the IN
vestigator, started out on original lines.
He placed on his experimental plat about
ten yards apart, wooden posts surmount-
ed with metallic aigrettes connected by
wires, so as to cultivate his plants under
network of wires. One of the most
striking of the barley crop was acceler-
ated byu twelve days. The cost of the
process would prevent its use in a prac-
teal way by farmers, but it is believed
that it might be adopted with advantage
in hot houses.
Experimental work has been going on
for some time at Milwaukee, Wis, on
submarine boat of the Raddatz type, and
those conducting il seem to be pleased
with the results. The boat is about six
ty-five feet long and four feet diameter in
the middle, tapering to a point at the
ends. and is of the typical cigar shape
At the top of the boat are two coming
towers twenty inches in diameter. When
cruising on the surface the boat is driven
by an oil engine of about ten horsepower,
which is capable of giving the vessel a
speed of from six to seven miles an hour
When submerged the boat is driven by
an electric motor fed from sixty-two cells
of storage battery, and giving power to
produce speed of four TO four and a
half miles an hour. The boat can sink in
from thirty to forty seconds. and reaches
depth of forty feet below the surface
The ascent is made just as quickly Ia
is claimed that three men could remain
below the surface eight hours, and two
men at least twelve hours without any
Inconvenience; this in the small expert
mental boat The boat carries its own
supply of compressed air.
-"One of the leaders of the revolt of the
Indians in Southern Yucatan is an out
and-out American hobo said a we'll
known Central American business man
who arrived in the last steamer from Be-
lie, says the New York Telegraph. The
name OF the fellow is George Harris, and
no doubt there is very interesting story
behind the role he has assumed at pres
emit Harris went to Belize as a roust-
about on a banana steamer over three
years ago. l saw him soon after he struck