The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1902-06-25

Governments do many queer things
Generally, when we think Of it, we nat
urally think of the governments OF
countries far away. Yet, as matter
of fact, our own United States govern
ment has done some of the oldest OF
them all. For instance. the authorities
at Washington have been engaged for
years in sending out bottles to be
thrown overheard in various parts of
the sea. The government has sent cir
culars everywhere telling in many lam
guages about these bottles and asking
fishermen and sailors to pick them up
and send them to Washington with a
memorandum telling the place and
date of recovery.
These bottles have been returned
from almost all parts of the world.
Yellow Chinese junk sailors have pick
ed them up and sent them back to
America. Black men from the South
Africa coast have found some. One
was picked up among the icebergs Of
the south polar regions. Many drifted
to the shores of Australia. AS the
board put memorandum inside telling
just when and where they were dropp-
ed into the sea the men in Washington
can tell by comparing this remoran-
dunn with the one that shows when
and where the bottle was picked up,
! just how .far it has drifted and how
long it required to travel the distance.
Then scientist marks it all on a map,
, and after several hundred paths are
thus marked the government can cal
, culate how the ocean currents run.
This of course, helps ships very much.
They can use the currents when favor.
able and avoid them when they are
otherwise. More important still, they
learn about treacherous currents that
might set then on the rocks.
Another queer thing that was done
by the government recently was TO
send out an expedition to Syria to hunt
a tiny insect and bring it back alive.
This curious quest cost thousands of
dollars, but no taxpayers have grum-
bled, because the insect has enabled
the United States to establish a new
American industry, that OF fig raising.
Before we knew about the insect
Americans had planted orchards full
of fig trees in California The trees
grew beautifully, but to the surprise
and disappointment of the planters
they bore no fruit They were all bar
rem fig trees, such as the Bible men
tions. When the planters thought
that all their money had been hope
lessly wasted the government sent
men to the Bible country to try to find
out what was the matter.
For a long time they could not dis
cover the cause of the trouble, tor fig
culture is great source of money to
the Syrians, and they did not feel bit
like telling strangers anything about
it. But at last the Americans found an
old man, and he gave them an answer
which will make you think of the tales
in the arabian Nights Entertain
ments," FOR the old man said that the
Americans would never be able to
raise figs until they caught certain
tiny insect.
This sounds almost like fairy tale,
does it not? But it has a simple ex-
PLANTATION, as the explorers soon dis
covered. The insect is so formed by
nature that it carries the pollen from
tree to tree and thus fertilizes the buds
SO that they will become fruit. And
when these insects had been caught
and carried to America and released
in California .ig orchards the old mans
saying came true. The fig trees bore
beautiful fruis that year and have done