The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1901-12-03

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A Brcslau firm of mica manufacture
crs is bringing out new insulating
material which il expects will super
Sede micanite to a large extent for in
sulating purposes, especially for the
construction of commutators and the
manufacture of field magnet spools. 1t
is cheaper than micauito and being
made solely of mica and asbestos, has
the additional advantage that 1t can
stand much higher temperatures with
out softening.
1t is said that farming is conducted
I'm Germany on more scientific prin-
ciples than anywhere else in the
world The farmers there use less
machinery than those of some other
countries do. but they pay more atten-
ton to chemistry, particularly as it re-
lates TO the fertilization of the soil. In
spite OF the advantages this gives
them. however. they can supply only
sevcn-eighths of the home demand for
breadstuffs. \ part of the one-eighth
deficiency is made good by an annual
importation OF about 5OOO0,OOO bush
els of wheat alone.
The production of oxygen and by
drogen on an industrial scale by the
decomposition of water with electro
lytic apparatus in Germany has led
TO the suggestion that hydrogen thus
produced may find wide field of en-
ployment as Il lighting agent. 1t is
now used for initiating military bal
looms. For lighting purposes it is
compressed in steel cylinders. With
q proper burner it is said to be a cheap
cr illuminant than acetylenc. the rela-
tive cost for equal Illuminating power
being as twenty-five for hydrogen TO
fifty-nine for acetylcnc.
That cotton can bc successfully and
profitably raised in the Southwest has
just been determined by tests made in
Arizona. DR.. y. J. Chandler, the own
er of large area of land in the east
crn part of the Salt River valley, has
just completed exhaustive trials with
Egyptian cotton, and has found such
satisfactory results that he has re
ported to the Department of Agricul-
ture. His initial crop has just reached
maturity. In many respects the val
legs of Southern Arizona and of Mexi-
co are similar TO the valley of the
Nile. There is little difference in soil
and climate, ana irrigation is neces-
sary.
Extensive coal deposits have been
found in Southern Norway but it is
of poor quality. On the Island of
AndO, one of the Nesteraalen group.
in latitude siXty-nine degrees, a bed
of coal was recently discovered in
which are evidences that the earth
must have suffered violent commissions
about the period when the vein was
formed. 1t extends under the sea
long distance, with strata of sand
stone, clay and slate lying upon it.
Biologists say that the island must
therefore ut one time have been larg-
er than now and thickly clothed with
vegetation. For a long period after
1t must have been submerged again
and then upheayed anew.
a traveller in Venezuela. where the
cocoa tree is now largely cultivated.
speaks of the great care with which
the young plants have TO be protected
from the sun, which if very strong is
fatal TO them. TO secure this protec-
ton the planters shield them by ban
ana trees and plantain trees, the broad
leaves of which give them the needed
shade. And even when they are fully
grown they need protection, which is
given by trees known as "immortels."
or, as the planters call them, the
mother of the cocoa" Thus the whole
cocoa plantation has n sort of canopy.
The fruit of the cocoa is pod. re-
sembiing cucumber, which grows on
the trunk or the large branches and
looks rs if it were stuck there by arti-
fetal means. The seeds, which are the
beans of commerce, are like biz
lima beans, embedded in pulp