Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-11-05

A cotton company of Philadelpnla
has acquired a tract Of land in the
Transvaal. 1t is said that experiments
have shown that cotton can be grown
much cheaper in South Africa than
in this country.
A trade paper says, in answer to q
correspondent, that the felt cloth Of
which hats are made is composed
chiefly Of the hair of rabbits, hares or
goats, mixed with wool. These sub
stances are thoroughly mixed together,
and are then pressed and beaten until
they adhere and form a compact. but
flexible, material.
The trade between Jerusalem and
Kerak has greatly increased, and the
number of tourists also. SO the monks
have organized a company, and the
first motor-boat is soon to move over
the waters of the Dead Sea, which
have not been used for transit for
centuries. The boat has the suggestive
name of Prodromos. 1.-THE Fore
runner"
An experiment that may result in
permanent lowering of the price of
meat is now making in northern
Florida. The waste lands that extend
around the gulf to the Teche country
Of Louisiana are being utilized for
cattle-raising. Summer droughts and
winter blizzards make the western
country an expensive and often doubt
full field for this industry. The present
high price of meat is due in part, to
the drought of a year ago, in which
whole herds perished. On the Gulf
lands there would be no such hazard
Gus conditions.
A schooner has just returned to San
Francisco after a six months voyage
to the coast of South America, bring
ing news Of the discovery of a gold
mine that will rival the famous Tread
well mine Of Alaska. 1t is on an island
off the coast, but the dlscoverers will
not tell its exact situation, because
they have not yet secured a conces-
sion to work it. The ore in the mine,
Of which the schooner brought nearly
ton In specimens, is of fair grade,
and IL is said that there is an immense
quantity Of it. The mine is so easily
reached from the coast that it will be
simply a proposition of quarrying it
out
The appearance of q new star in the
constellation Perseus, and it's rapid ex-
pansion into a nebula, which has been
going on for some time past, have
revived among astronomers the theory
that some nebulae may be formed by
explosion. About 1870, Professor
Bickerton, of Canterbury College, New
Zealand, showed that, if two stars
should Craze one another, the abraded
parts, If relatively small, would have
so high temperature that they would
at once become nebulous, and that the
nebula so formed would, under certain
conditions, continue to expand until
dissIpated in space. The present ex-
panding nebula has been growing at
the extraordinary rate of several thou.
sand miles second, and is in many
ways, one Of the greatest celestial
wonders Of the time.
The only place in the world where
that form Of carbon known as the
black diamond, or bort, is found in
marketable quantities is in Bahia, in
South America. The substance is used
for points for stone drills and saws,
and is powdered and used to polish
diamonds and other precious stones.
There is wide and growing demand
for it. The black diamond is found
with the ordinary diamonds in the
Bahia fields, and brings about ten
dollars a carat. The largest carbon
ever found weighed $3.50; it was
bought from the miner for $4,000;
was afterwards purchased for 5000;
and was sent to Paris, where 1t was
broken up and sold to the trade. The
average size is about six carats. The
annual output is decreasing as the de-
mand grows larger, and the price is
mounting. 1t is probably only ques-
tion Of time when black diamond
combination will be formed to work
the small area with modern machinery.
The present methods are very primI-
tive.