Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1901-11-09
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Shrubs growing In poor soil seldom
produce bright, hlgh-colored flowers.
Iron filings and scales collected about
blacksmith's anvil have a tendency
to intensity the color of many plants,
II dug into the soil about their roots.
The Towering of potatoes has been
found by Mr.. NJ. Mlchalet to withdraw
much starch from the tubers, and ex-
periments in France have convinced
him that the product of the plants may
be improved by removing all blossoms.
There has been marked decrease In
the population of French India of late.
III five settlements with a total of 273,-
1S5 inhabitants, there has been de-
crease of more than eleven thousand
In the last ten years, though they have
been free from famine and plague.
Beginning with the present year,
Spain has adopted Greenwich time in
the place of Madrid time, which was
previously used as the Spanish stand
ard. Madrid being west of Greenwich
the change involved the setting of
clocks IA minutes and 46 seconds
ahead.
The labor cost of scientific research
Is not easy to realize. A British ento-
mologist has just shown a series of
about thirty pictures illustrating every
stage IN the mctamorphosis of drag
on-fiy from the nymph to the perfect in
sect, and relates that he took over one
thousand photographs before getting
his complete set. Constant watching
was necessary, as after the first indica-
ton of change the dragon-fy might
three days, the emergence being so rap
i'd that three pictures were taken in six
seconds.
H. f. Witherby, a recent traveller on
the White Nile, describes the sacred
bird of ancient Egypt, the Ibis, which,
he says, very few travellers in that
country ever see, because 1t only visits
Egypt during the period of inundation;
but the dragomans, knowing the desire
Of all foreigners to see the famous bird,
Il
buff-backed heron, which is really to-
tally unlike the ibis. The head, neck
and legs of the latter, all bare of feath-
ers, are Jet black, in sharp contrast
with the pure white plumage of the
body. THE wings are edged with black
like mourning envelope, and from
each shoulder droop green-black feath-
cry plumes. When flying toward one
the bird seems to be streaked with
blood, for the wing bones are bare of
feathers on the under side, and the skin
which covers them is of a rich vermil-
ion color"
The unusual optical phenomenon of
a rainbow produced by the sun shining
not on raiudropS. but on particles of
sand suspended in the air by wind, was
witnessed over part of the Great Salt
Lake recently by Prof James e. Tai
mage of the University of Utah. The
Colors were very brilliant, and there
was a secondary bow visible. The main
bow was fully double the width of an
ordinary rainbow. Only a segment of
it was seen. The sand was oolitic.
consisting of calcareous spherules of
fairly uniform size, ranging between
the limits of No. 8 and No. 10 shot,
which are polished and exhibit pearly
luster. Prof. Talmage points out that
the production of the bow must be due
to reflection from the outer surfaces of
the spherules, and cannot be explained
on the principle of refraction and total
reflection, generally applied to the ex-
PLANTATION of the rainbow.