The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-07-03
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

miles, comprising an area of 265,7S0
square miles. 1t has 243 counties. 49,
100000 acres of improved farming land
and farm property of the value of
S962oO0,O00. The number of its farms
is 352,10o
Many articles that are eaten have no
value as true foods. because they do
not build up the body or supply force
These are known as food accessories.
Among the chief food accessories are
tea, cocoa, beef tea and broth of va
rious kinds. together with spirits and
spices.
japanese oiled papers, made from
the barks of trees or shrubs. are as
tonishingly cheap and durable. AS a
cover for his load of tea when a rain
storm overtakes him the japanese
farmer spreads over 1t a tough, pliable
cover of oiled paper, which is almost
as impervious as tarpaulin and as light
as gossamer.
Perhaps the most remarkable
bridges in the world are the kettle
bridges, of which Cossack soldiers are
expert builders. The materials of which
they are constructed are the soldiers
lances and cooking kettles. Seven or
eight lances are passed under the han
dies of a number of kettles and fas-
tened together by means of ropes to
form raft. a sufficient number of
these RATS, each of which will bear
a weight of half a ton, are fastened to-
gether.
The restoration of the famous
Stadium of Athens, begun in 1895, with
funds given by Greek merchant, has
progressed until they are now placing
the last of the $1,000 marble seats
which the great ampitheatre contains.
The seats, ratings, etc, are all of the
creamy white Pentelikon marble. 1t is
the intention of the committee having
the restoration in charge to build a
marble propylaea, or entrance, resem-
bling the ancient one. Some urge the
finishing of the outer walls of the
Stadium by surmounting them with a
marble colonnade. When the propylaea
will be commenced is not known.
The American consul general at
Frankfort reports that the government
of Algiers contemplates giving subsi-
dies to Algerian farmers for the pur-
chase of ploughs of modern construc-
ton. The governor general of that
French African province has publicly
called the attention of the natives to
the advantages to be derived from
using modern ploughs instead of the
antiquated implements now in vogue
there. While in Egypt, which is more
advanced than Algiers, owing to great
losses of cattle by the rinderpest, the
large plantations and farmers are
about to introduce steam ploughs and
automobile machines for the cultiva-
ton of grain and cotton.
The Canadian government, says the
Westminster Gazette, has had built in
Glasgow travelling stand" such as is
commonly used at exhibitions, for the
purpose of touring the country, adver-
Using the advantages of life in the Do
minion. The wagon is now in Edin-
burgh. From there it is to travel
through a large part of Scotland. The
exterior of the wagon is painted
bright vern1tlion, with appropriate mot
toes, and when it comes to a stand
still the sides and ends throw up, con-
verting it into a stand, on which are
shown specimens of the products of the
colony. By means of the stand it is
hoped to reach remote and otherwise
inaccessible parts of the country.
THE City of Tramways." This is
the name given in South America to
Buenos Ayres. the capital of the Ar
gentine Republic, where the latest ca
BILE dispatches reported that a whole
days festival had been devoted to the
erection of statue of Garibaidi. who
had fought valiantly in the war for
independence of the La Plata regions.
Buenos Ayres. which has a population
of nearly 100000 inhabitants, POS
sesses a network of city tramUGys, of
275 miles. fifty of which are operated
by electricity. There are now conces-
sions granted for 1876 miles of new lines.
The South American papers assert with
great pride. and more or less correct
ness, that "Buenos Ayres is the city
where the transportation of enormous
numbers of people is accomplished
with the greatest facility, rapidly and
at the cheapest rates in the world
A novel scheme to induce birds to
stay with us all winter, instead of 60
ing South, is suggested by a we'll
known ornithologist. He thinks that
if there were a general building of
bird houses, suitably arranged, they
would be used as places of shelter. He
would protect the north and west sides
of the house from the storms of win
ter by making them wind-proof and
rain-proof and on the south and east
sides he would have openings and wide
verandas. where the birds might sun
themselves on fair days. The entire
house should be strewed with seeds to
induce the birds to explore 1t, and this
would soon make them adopt 1t as their
home. The man who builds such a
house would have both a sentimental
and a practical reward-he would have
the companionship of the birds all win
ter and the service they would render
by eating the seeds of noxious plants.
As everybody knows, the ash left
on burning tobacco is considerable.
and, as a matter of fact, the mineral
matter of the tobacco leaf frequently
amounts to as much as a fifth part of
its weight, says the Lancet. Thus, a
ton of tobacco leaf would yield four
hundredweight of ash, which represents
valuable mineral constituents with
drawn from the soil, which have to
be replaced by abundant manuring. 1t
has been calculated that ton of to-
bacco withdraws over a hundredweight
of mineral constituents per acre Of
land. In 1901 the home consumption of
tobacco in the United Kingdom was at
the rate of about 10000 tons, which
represents, at what is now a probably
low computation, approximately 5000
tons of ash annually committed to the
winds or dissipated in some other way.
On the face of il there would seem to
be a fortune in store for that indi-
vidual who could devise a successful
means for the collection Of tobacco ash,
and it is a great pity that so much
valuable material should forever be lost
to the SOIL without any attempt at