The Savannah morning news., 1904-02-18
ITEMS OF INTEREST II

The PruSsian government has de-
cided to found an agricultural school
at Delitzsch, in the province of Sax
ony, near the Saxon frontier. Delitzsch
has a population of 10.500. 1t is on the
line of the railroad extending from
Leipsic to Madgeburg. which belongs
to the Prussian government, in the
heart of a most prosperous section of
the country. where agriculture IS the
chief occupation of the people.
The. more we study birds the more
they seem to battle our science, says
Nature Notes. Buzzards have been
seen to ascend 1000 feet in a minute
or so in a dead calm, without visible
motion of their outstretched wings.
A Virginian plover starts one evening
from Labrador and arrives next morn
ing in Brazil, doing the Journey on an
empty stomach, without stopping on
the way. Young birds go by themselves
thousands of miles on a journey they
have never been before.
The London Board of Education,
in cooperation with the council of the
Society of Arts, intends during the
present year to hold, in the Victoria
and Albert Museum, South Kensington,
an exhibition of engravings produced
by mechanical means, such as pho
togravures and other Photographic
processes, as a sequel to the exhibit
ton of engraving and etching held
during last summer. AS great ad-
vancements have been made in print
ing in color since the exhibition of
Modern Illustration in 1901, specimens
of color printing will be included.
The Kursk-Zaroff Railroad of Rus
STA, advertises special car for the
newly wed, designed and furnished with
the very latest Injuries. A famous
engineer and architect were called in
to plan it. The decorations are in the
best Partisan style. and polite female
attendants look after the comfort of
the happy couple. None but couples
on honeymoon are allowed to use this
magnificent car. which. by a stroke
of ingenuity. is built TO accommodate
alike the very wealthy and those with
a modest purse. The partitions are
removable and the car can be used as
a series of small compartments or as a
couple of roOmy salons.
The unrestricted slaughter of
piumed birds in Florida to supply the
demands of the millinery trade near
ly resulted in the determination of
many native species, but thanks to re-
Gently enacted protective laws, pro-
hibiting the killing of all but game
birds, this critical condition has now
passed small colony of brown pei
leans established a breeding colony on
small island in the Indian river, on
the east coast, near the town of Sebas-
tan, and in order to preserve the col
ony, now numbering several thousand
birds, from further inroads of the
slaughter, the island has been declared
a United States government reserva-
ton for the protection of native birds
and placed in charge of the Depart
ment of Agriculture.
The popular fallacy that the rich
coloring of the leaves in autumn is
due to the frost has been pretty gen
orally corrected, and nearly everybody
now knows that it is merely the nat
utal I;pening of the foliage, like the
red Of the apple land the peach. But
why American naples and oaks, when
transrlanted in Europe do not take
on the same degree of color that they
nave here is not so we'll understood
An Fnglishman who has been study
ing tins subject attributes the diff sr-
ence to the soft and mild climatic
conditions that prevail here during the
autumn. England. he says, rarely
IldS oil 1IIuldH summer, ana the leaves
there do not, therefore, retain suff1-
cient vitality for. the colored pigment
to develop as it does here.
w. Fridericia, chief of the Tech
meal Department, Danish State Rail-
ways, has been granted patents on an
improved method of securing spikes in
sleepers by means of hardwood bushes
inserted into the sleepers and into
which the spikes are driven. Holes
are bored in the sleeper having the
same diameter throughout their depth
The hardwood bush is turned to a di-
ameter a little larger than the hole
and with slight swell at the top. This
is driven home in the sleeper and the
spike afterward driven into the bush
lengthwise of the grain instead of
across the grain as it would be if
driven directly into the sleeper. A
process somewhat similar to this is in
use in France and Bavaria, but in
these cases the bushes are threaded
and screwed into place. The improve
ment invented by Mr.. Fridericia, how
ever, is said to represent a much
greater efficiency than when the bushes
are threaded. A spike driven into one
of these bushings is almost immoral
BILE. This process is applicable to new
ties as we'll as old ones which have
been removed because of rot around
the spike.
According to recent issue of Mines
and Minerals, the owner of mining land
rarely operates the mine at Joplin.
Miss, but leases it on the royalty
plan. usually for a term of ten years.
in tracts of ten acres or more. This
lessee equips and operates the mine
and practically owns the land as long
as he cares to work it, and always has
at the expiration of the leases term the
privilege of renewing it. The lessee
in turn very often sublets portions of
the tract. especially If it is large, and
usually in acre lots. The lessee pays
as rent for the royalty 10 per cent.
of the gross sales of the ore, and the
sub-lessee pays 20 per cent, half of
which goes to the first lessee. These
returns are paid weekly to the lessons
This system of leasing and sub-leasing
gives the miners with a small amount
of capital a chance to work their own
mines. The system, on the other hand.
has resulted in making many of the
original owners of the land independ-
emily rich. The first lessee also comes
in for a handsome income of 10 per
cent. of the output earnings of the sub
lessees. 1t is said that the system
works very successfully. anda that all
parties concerned are generally salts
fed.
The largest goId-producing mine in
the world. according to the London
Economist. is the Homestake. in South
Dakota. Although it is the largest, it
lie, relatively, one of the poorest. on