The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-04-01
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


ern part of France, finishing in Paris
Kansas is to have a cucumber farm on
"a large scale. The promoters of the pro-
ject are negotiating for a tract of IlO
acres near Lawrence, on the line of the
proposed electric railroad The cucumber
crop natures just as the school term ends,
when pickers may be easily secured
Electric fatirons are used exclusively
in many large laundries. Their advan-
tages are apparent. The heat can always
be controlled so as to keep the iron at
the right temperature, thus obviating t1e
danger of spelling a finished dress by
smut from an iron heated by gas.
Wonderful gold beetles are found in
Central America. The head and wing
cases have a brilliant luster like that of
FURNISHED gold and to sight and touch
they have the semblance of that metal.
1t is strange fact that another species
of beetle in the same region has the APP
pearance of being of solid silver, freshly
have a market value; they are worth from
S25 to $50 each.
1t is interesting to note in connection
with the discoveries of gold along the coast
of Alaska that the Okhotsk Kamtchatka
county has been carefully surveyed, as
Wen as other parts of Eastern Siberia, dur
ing the last three or four years. This
work has been undertaken by a special
commission investigating the chances Of
developing he mining industries in that
section. AT Kwantung port Arthur
searches were made for gold with salts
factory results, and all along the coast
there was encountered profusion of gold
bearing sand which yielded good results,
~
methods It is stated that there is also
likelihood of gold-bearing quartz being
found in this country.
"A study of the Southern Iongleaf pine
has been begun by the division of forestry
of the federal agricultural department. A
brief examination last Fall proved many
prevailing ideas regarding this tree to be
mistaken. The rate of growth was
shown to be comparatively rapid and re-
slstance to fire far greater than is com
monty believed. These discoveries sug
gested a fuller investigation for the ben
eft of lumbermen. The chief object will
be to determine the length OF time
which must elapse after logging before
another cut can be made. Such knowl-
edge will enable owners TO decide whether
it Will pay to protect logged-off lands
from fire and keep UP the taxes for the
sake of subsequent crops.
Many devices are employed in a ships
compass to counterfeit the effect of the
iron in the hull on the magnetic needle,
and the latest attempt to avoid such diff
fculties is the EVoy compass recently in
vented in England. This form of COM
pass is similar to the liquid compass, but
has the additional advantage of having
the card locked in position as soon as a
reading is obtained. The compass is
H. r&., lea =.
it away as far as possible from the eff
fects of the iron hull, a minute or two
given to it to settle, while the vessel is
kept steady on its course, and when the
compass is ready to be hauled down the
card is locked in position. The apparatus
is hauled down and the reading taken
on the bridge, 1t is said that the st.
Louis and St. Paul are both supplied with
this compass.
Minister Conger writes from Pekin
that upon a petition of the Society for
the Protection of Game in China, sent
through the consular body in Shanghai,
the diplomatic corps last September unan-
imously requested the Tsung-li-Yamen, as
a temporary measure, to prohibit the ex-
portation of pheasant skins, says the
Washington Star. This was done be-
cause great demand had recently sprung
up in European markets for their plum
age, which increased the price here in
ordinately; and that the birds were con-
sequently being so ruthlessly slaughtered
that, if it were not in some way stop
ped, the pheasants would very soon have
been entirely exterminated. The Tsung-
l-Yamen granted the request, and the
necessary orders to the customs officials
have been issued. This is understood to
be only a temporary expedient, which may
serve until there can be prescribed and
enforced some rules and regulations in
regard to close and hunting seasons,
which will otherwise avert the extermina-
ton of these beautiful birds, which are
very valuable to the Chinese and the for
eigners living in China, but of no great
Importance elsewhere.
A telephone cable was laid last month
from the Nobska light at Woods Holl,
across Vineyard sound to the West Chop
light at Vineyard Haven under weather
conditions that were anything but com
Portable. Owing to the peculiar condi-
ton of the bottom of the sound a special
ly prepared cable had to be used. 1t
consisted of three pairs of copper conduc-
tors, each heavily insulated with okonite,
and the core protected with jute and arm
ored with twenty-five No 6 galvanized
iron wires. over which was a double wrap
ping of jute saturated with Clark's com
pound, the whole resulting in a cable one
and three-quarters inches in diameter,
which weighed thirty-ive tons for the
%, 900 feet necessary to cross the straits.
The cable steamer was the Western
Union, which is really a tug of modest
dimensions, and as the big cable was coil
ed on her bow she was far from being a
weatherly boat. The thermometer was
down to zero when the party arrived at
Woods Hol and a wait of three days
was necessary before a start could be
made and even then the sea was very
heavy. The wind was so strong that ii
was thought advisable to begin at the
West Chop end first, so the tug steamed
across the sound and began paying out
the cable During the trip over. the spray
froze on deck. spars and cable. and 1t
was three hours before 1t was laid and
tested.
A rival of cotton seed oil, as a sub
stitute for olive oil, is promised in corn
oil This is one of the by-products of
corn. says the New York Post On every
kernel of this grain there is a little hec<
of yellow known by the experts as the
germ" Before corn may be shipped
for export this germ must be removed,
else rancidity Is almost certain to set in,
and the cargo is in danger Of being de-
stroyod. The process for the removal of
this germ is known as degerming, and its
prosecution results in the production of