The Savannah morning news., 1902-03-03
ITEMS OF INTEREsT.

the sacred cOllGRe 10 ule SlnCc Leu all
began his reign. 1t now consists OF
thirty-nine Italians and twenty-six of
other nations, with five vacancies.
Samuel Mcdonald. who lives near
Raleigh. n. c.. last Saturday sold a
portion of the Oldest and best known
farm in that state, the Quaker Mea-
dow Farm. 1t was bought by the Nc
Dowell family from the Earl of Gran
Vile long before the Revolution, and
then contained two thousand acres.
The address of DR.. George Croly.
the author of "Tarry Thou Till L
Come who died i'm 1860. is often re-
quested from his publishers. They have
adopted this stereOtyped answer: I'VE
have no doubt as to the present abode
of DR.. Croly. as he was a good man;
but the United States postal authori-
ties have no facilities for sending let
tiers thither."
"A dispatch from Port Jervis, n.
Y, says: While James and William
Osterhout, of Sherman. Sullivan coun-
~, were saving a hollow beech log
into sections yesterday they discov-
cred the skeleton of a large bear in
one section. In the skull of the bear
they found large number of bees
and several pounds of honey. 1t is sup
posed that years ago the bear crawled
into the tree in search of honey and,
being unable to escape. starved to
death. Then the bees made a hive. of
the skull.
The Rev. ]. A. Kring was a witness
in a trial at Fort Scott, Kan, the
other day. and before he was sworn
he asked the justice if he might be
permitted to open his testimony with
prayer. The justice responded that il
the jury had no objection he would
have none. Thereupon the preacher
walked over to the jury, kneeled down
before them and offered up a suppl
cation. He prayed that the Lord
would keep them from all evil and
guide them to right understanding,
and he prayed that each witness would
be made to realize that if he swore
falsely he would be visited by the
wrath of God. When the trial came
to "a conclusion, the church and the
preacher lost. Apparently it was an
other of those mysterious dispensa-
tions through which the wicked some
times triumph.
For some years past the Russian
minister of ways and communications,
Prince Khilkoff has been working on
the question of another gigantic rail-
way scheme. The new project contem-
plates the building of a road connect
ing ST. Petersburg and Odessa, and
'coinciding, as nearly as practicable,
with the 30th parallel of longitude E.
This course would furnish an almost
straight road and would not only eff
feet considerable saving in the Jour-
ney between the Northern and South
n rAif al .f -
open up many vast and wealthy grain
and mineral areas at present either
served inetficiently by the existing
railways, or not served at all. The pro-
Ject is said to have received the as
sent of the authorities, and that the
new line will be known as the
st. Petersburg Kieff- Odessa Southern
Trunk Line. At present there are
about 41,400 miles of railway open in
the empire and about 5000 miles UNI
der construction, as against 1874 321 for
the United States.
On one of the leading railway sys-
TENS in France there has lately been
provided for use on all locomotives
novel and peculiar form of speed indi-
Gator. 1t is especially valuable in
cases where, on account of repairs. de-
fectlVe structure or lack of attendance
the speed OF the engine is to be kept
within certain limit. 1t not only
shows the speed, but when this rises
above the required point, it acts auto
maticafiy to throw on the air-brakes.
one OF the locomotive axles drives a
small centrifugal pump, which sends
water from the tender into a small
cylinder. The piston of this CYLINDER
is raised by the water against the com
preston of spring, and moves up or
down, according to the speed of the
pump or of the locomotive. The pis-
ton is connected with a. registering
apparatus which thus traces a speed
curve. When the speed rises above
the limit, the piston acts upon a de-
vice which is connected with the air
brake pipes, and a certain quantity
of air is allowed to escape; thus throw
ing on the brakes.
There are in the Philippines many
trees that produce gutta mixed with
resinous or other substances, but the
main source of gutta that is available
for commercial purposes is afforded
only by the trees belonging to these
two genTa-Dichopsis and Payona: the
FORMER produces the best guttapercha
known to science or industry. Owing
to the wasteful manner in which the
crop is gathered by the natives-thev
cut down the trees and wing" them
the supply is rapidly being exhausted
and a famine in guttapercha may be
quite as imminent as the one in rub
Der now so generally predicted in the
trade. The demand for gutta steadily
increases, like that of rubber while
the supply as steadily decreases. The
gutta trade is principally in the hands
of the Chinese of Singapore. who adul-
terate in every conceivable way. There
is now demand 500 times greater than
the supply. A guttapercha or rubber
tree standing is worth an average of
$Z0 per tree each season for forty
years. and several hundred trees NAV
be cultivated to the acre at relatively
less cost with greater returns than
from any growing product of the earth
1t is estimated that 300, 000. 900 pounds
OF guttapercha have been exported
from Singapore during the last fiftv
years, involving the destruction of AT
least 100000 900 trees and the waste nv
imperfect collection of more than 2
100000 pounds.
4 letter from Naples to the Chi
cage Record Herald says: The volcano
Nesuvius rises on the mainland about
ntteen miles from the city of Nanles
and about five miles from the coast n
Is ehclrcled by railway at the base
ana up 10 the height of 900 feet is
covered with cities. villages, farm
houses and vineyards. At least 20 OoO
people 1--we in the midst of continual
danger, to which them seem entirely.
HldlIterent. 1t seems strange thar q