The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1900-07-14
FACTS IN A FEW LINES.


In the United States the annual con-
sumption of borax is about 1900 tons
year.
Boston has found that the Pingree
plan of growing potatoes in vacant lots
is failure.
All the kangaroos, wombats and
flightless birds come from Australia or
New Zealand.
Germany is putting tax on import
ed beer to help cover the cost of the
new warships.
Most of the cities on the Atlantic sea
board are more humid in June than is
Manila In April.
Hot nights are rare In Manila, and
Icy midnight 1t is always possible to
sleep comfortably.
1t Is stated that sharks have now
penetrated into the Mediterranean
through the Suez canal from the Red
sea.
A movement has been started In
France to erect a monument at Water
loo in honor of the French soldiers who
fell there.
Australia is the greatest in the way
of Jewels with her opals, today Guido
ing even Hungary and Mexico In those
lovely stones.
France has 3S.5O0,OOO inhabitants, Of
whom about 14,5OO,OOO live by mining,
manufactures, transportation and gen
eral commerce.
Liverpool, after thorough trial, has
shut down It's own electric lighting
plant and is buying its light from a pri-
yate company.
Emigration in Hungary has assumed
unusual dimensions lately. In one
month (March) 1851 passes were is
sued to emigrants.
DR.. Wilde, the new Argentina minis
ter at Washington, says that more DIAL
ly papers are published in Buenos
Ayres than I'm New York city.
Acetylene gas seems destined to play
an important role in the Illuminating
world In Spain. Large numbers Of
generators are already in use.
An electric road will in a short time
be in operation between New York and
Boston and another from the eastern
to the western boundary Of Ohio.
The British government expects a
drought In India about twice IN every
nine years and a great famine like the
present one about twice In century.
There has never been a 16 to l ratio
under the coinage laws of this country.
The ratios have been Act of 1892. 10
to l; 1884. 1902 to /; 1887, 1888 to l.
The government Of Greece IS now
more liberal with mining concessions,
and as a result mines are being worked
in the provinces Of Attica, Thessaly,
Milo and Beotia.
Some Russian scientists ascertained
that electrified seeds terminated more
rapidly and gave better and quicker
results than seeds which had not been
submitted TO preliminary electrified
ton.
Recently the Russian agricultural de-
partment has discovered In Kirghiz
steppe on the eastern shore Of the Cas-
plan sea immense naphtha springs Of a
quality which Is said to be equal TO the
best American naphtha.
The highest war expenditure Of mod
ern times was undoubtedly that Of the
American civil war, when the enor-
nous sum Of S3,7OO,OOOOOO was ex-
pended. The Franco-German war cost
France 81, 5SO,OOOOOO.
Out Of 100000 pieces Of registered
mail handled annually in the United
States the loss has been one-thou-
sandth Of per cent and in the trans
mission Of ordinary letters the loss Is
but seven-thousandths Of 1 per cent.
Following the lead of Liverpool,
Sheffield, Bradford, Glasgow, Manches-
ter and other cities of Great Britain, it
is promised that an electric street rail-
way service will soon supersede the
present horse tramways In Noting
ham.
This country last year exported more
meat products, leaving out sheep and
mutton, than all the rest Of the world
combined. The amount was nearly
5000, 100000, and the great crops Of In
dian corn are the foundation Of the
trade.
The kaiser has shown his increased
interest In the building of the Kaiser
Wilhelm church at Ems by another
donation of $1,000 marks ($3,570). This
will make a total Of $4,000 marks (S11,-
900 granted from the imperial treas
ury for this purpose.
Trades unions hitherto have been but
little known in Paris. 1t now is an
nounced that the 5000 assistants en-
ployed in the three great shops, the Bon
Marche, Louvre and Samaritaine, are
meditating the organization Of an as
ISOLATION Of this kind.
There are over 800 acres of Philadel-
phia land under cultivation south of
Porter street In the district known as
the Neck, and there is now living in
Germantown a man who has amassed
a fortune of 100000 In raising early
vegetables In that locality.
Buffalo" Jones of Garden City,
Kan, has closed a contract with the
Smithsonian institution to spend the
summer In the Rocky mountains cap
turing animals for the Washington zoo.
lie has been instructed to bring In a
mountain sheep, Of which there is none
IN captivity.
Professor Mahaffy in q letter to the
London Atheneum points out that
among the yet unpublished curiosities
of the Petrie papyri is a list o. names
connected with the manufacture Of
beer. These names are oddly unlike
either Greek or Egyptian names and
are suspected to be authorizations.