The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-03-29
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

y
The pepper plant-piper nigrum-
which produces the white and black
pepper of commerce, is a climbing,
Vine-like shrub. found growing wild
in the forests of TraVancore and the
Malabar coast of India. Pepper is en-
tirely tropical in its requirements. The
white pepper is the black pepper dec
orticated by maceration and rubbing.
ALI accounts agree that no royal
family in Europe gets so much sim
pie, democratic fun out of life as the
young King and Queen of Italy and
their two baby daughters. Their ED
est child. Princess Yolanda, would be
regarded as a terror if she were of
humble birth. Being a princess, the
worst ever said of her is that she is
quite vivacious." Yolanda is nearly
two years old and fears no one but
her English governess.
The Prussian government is about
to become a wine grower on a very
large scale. In 1866, when Prussia an
neXed Hesse-Nassau, it came into pos
session of several famous vineyards,
and now it is engaged in converting to
the purposes of viticulture large tracts
of rather barren ground in the valleys
of the Saar the Moselle and the Maize.
The special feature of this public work
is that it is to be done by convict labor.
which will cost the state practically
nothingA The wines thus produced will
be stamped with the royal arms of
Prussia
Herr Pohl. president of the Ger
man society for the protection of cats,
has just published the results of his
investigation in regard to the age which
it is possible for these animals to at
tain. Cats, he says, are like human
beings in one respect. The more peace
full and better regulated their life is,
the longer they are likely to live. AS
a proof he points out that a favorite
cat in the roval castle of Nymphen-
burg has lived to be forty-two years
old, and consequently may fairly claim
to be considered the dean of cats in
GERMANY.
An English writer on Clerical life
in fiction" furnishes this bit of infor-
nation: Bishops do not often figure in
the modern novel When they do ap-
pear, it is for the purpose of supplying
comic relief" Deans escape fairly
lightly; the dean of fiction has no worse
vice than a scholarly stoop' and an
inveterate fondness for gossip. On the
other hand, the archdeacon-in novels
lis rubicund, fussy and self-import-
ant. While a rector may be a hearty
sort of idiot, with a bluff and breezy
manner, if you want a real clerical viii
lain he is invariably a vicar.
The Rochester Union and Adver-
tiser is amused over the important in
formation that the new America cup
defender is to have rudder filled with
air. This departure, says the possessor
of the Herreshof secret, is for buoy
ancy and to save weight" The pneu-
matte rudder certainly ought to serve
those purposes. But the Rochester pa
per contains warning: There is,
however, one serious disadvantage
about this kind of rudder. If yacht
should happen to get puncture in her
rudder, during the race she would be
compelled to drop out, owing to the
difficulty of cementing or plugging it
while sailing. And in a race a yacht
is liable to be on a tack at any mo-
nent."
Jonathan Fairbanks of Dedham,
Mass, was the original ancestor of the
persons of that name in this country,
and from him are descended, it is said,
four thousand families. They held a
reunion last August, which turned out
one of its results is the recent filing of
articles of Incorporation of the Fair
banks family in America, as a society
for historical purposes, to hold prop
erty, preserve records and objects of
family interest and promote the edu-
cation of it's members in subjects re-
lating to their family history. The
society will buy the Dedham home
stead and make that its headquarters,
and will doubtless raise as large a fund
as is necessary TO provide a sufficient
annual income to carry on its work.
The incorporation of the family is a
novelty, and is likely to be initiated
by many similar groups of descendants
of early New Englanders.
The latest labor census of Honolulu
gives the total Chinese population of
the city as 1855, of which SASS are
males over 10 years of age. Out of the
S,49S, skilled labor claims 1885, as
against 1,27S unskilled. The professions
are credited with 49, agriculture
claims 2,220; commerce, 1,442; domestic
servants, 1,255; students, 1894, with
capitalists thrown in for lagniappe.
The census was the outcome of an agi-
tation in Honolulu to induce the Orien-
tails to return to the plantations, where
the question of labor is very acute, and
the total arrived at is believed to be
substantially accurate, although the
figures seem to show a less number of
Chinese within the limits of the city
than had been generally supposed. The
total population of the city as given by
the census of 1900 was less than $4,000.
The present figures show how greatly
the Mongoloid race enters into the
commercial life, but from recent re-
ports from the island it seems highly
questionable whether its members will
be induced to exchange the compare
tive comforts of city life for the hard
ships of the plantations.
An exposition is now ION" in Berlin
devoted to showing what can be done
with the potato as human food, as food
for animals and as material for alco-
hol, starch, deXtrin, etc., says the New
York World. A full account of it is
given in a report by Consul General
Mason. One-eighth of all the arabic
land in Germany is planted to pota-
toes. For every 10000 people we plant
345 acres, Great Britain and Ireland
81 acres, France SO acres, Germany
100 acres. The quantity of potatoes
raised per acre is greater in Germany
than elsewhere. 1t has been increased
3S per cent. in recent years by men
in spectacles who never touch a hoe,
but investigate soil needs. One-half
the potatoes are eaten as human food,
so that Germans must eat far more
potatoes than do other peoples. Prizes
are now offered for the best apparatus
for preparing potatoes for animal food.
Dextrin and potato starch are familiar