The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-07-03
MOTHER NATURE A
GOOD H0USEKEEPER


clockwork. and all the soldiers had to
do was to strip. throw in their soiied
linen-woOlen goods are torn to pieces
by the Seyser-Iight their pipes. and
wait
No sooner had the geyser begun 10
work. than the clothes were tossed
about as if a score of expert washer
women were battling with them.
Finally. they were thrown high INTO
the air. and the soldiers caught them
as they descended The clothes, prtn-
cipally shirts and vests, were as white
as snow and rinsed almost dry.
A traveller who visited the yellow
stone some time ago. threw in his shirt
Immediately after "Old Faithful had
erupted and it disappeared down the
seyssr's gullet into the bowels of the
earth.
Thinking that he had lost his shirt
forever, he buttoned his coat over his
bare chest and went to sleep.
An hour later he was awakened by
something falling upon his face. ana,
starting up. discovered that 1t was his
missing underSarment as clean and as
fresh as when he first put it on "Old
Faithful" the one and only natural
washing machine in the world, had not
belied it's name.
Nature made lace ages before man
drs amt of doing so. IN the West In
dies there is a tree, the inner bark OF
which resembles lace to- an eXtraordl-
nary degree.
The bark consists of layers which can
be pulled out into fine white web OF
a beautiful design over four feet wide
The native women have for years past,
used this wild lace for the making OF
dresses, which they generally wear
only on fete days.
Occasionally this natural lace finds
( it's way in small quantities into tbs
country, where it is considered more
of a novelty than anything else y
weIl-known society lady. however, had
a bail drsss made Of it a year or two
ago.
If you were to visit one or two of the
natives huts in Bombay you would nj
that the floors were covers with what
TO all appearance was hand or machine
made felt
AS d matter of fact. the floor cover
ing is only bark stripped from the sack
tree, which grows in the district. The
bark is a splendid substitute for felt,
and besides being warm is damp-proot-
Strong cloth. suitable for garments.
can be manufactured from the heavy
fibers of the Mexican maguey tree.
while from it's juices is distilled b ~
erage which is drunk by the Wcll-to-do
people o. the country.
The carnahuOa palm. which grows i'm
Braz resists intense and protracted
droughts. and is always green and Viz
orous. From the stalks Of the plant
wines and YinegarS are made, as wen
as a starch resembling sage.
Its fruit is given to cattle for food,
the pulp is used as a substitute for COT
fee, the pith is an excellent cork, Whhe
the wood of the stem is turnc,i INFO
violin bodies
In times of famine the nutritious sub
stances obtained from the carnahuoa
palm are given TO the poor. Brazilian
doctors turn the roots Of this strange
plant into a bloodpurifying mixture.
If you want one or two natural
bomb shells you viii have TO go TO
New Guinea. and pick them of the
trees that grow ther>.
The cannon ball tree. as 1t Is called
in the country. grows to the height OF
sixty feet, and its fruit resembles M
shape and color the shells Britain ana
other grsat powers fire from their DIG
guns.
When the fruit is ripe it bursts With
a loud report, which can be heard
great distance away,
From the contents of the fruit the
natives obtain several kinds OF ACIDS,
sugar and gum. while they make do
nestle utensils from the empty shells.
In the country back of Uganda an
African explorer came across half
dozen elephants drinking at d vast
spring of natural settler water.
There are several of these springs in
the world. and between them they
spout up every day millions of gallons
of settler. soda, Hthia and other min
eral waters.
Not long since Lord ROsebery received
from America a gallon bottle OF natural
ink This fluid was taken from a pc
culiar spring which flows at the base of
Kenesaw mountain, near Marietta, III
the state of Georgia.
Lord Rosebery found that the natural
ink was a little heavier than the man
ufactured article, but II left a peTma-
nent stain which made il a valuable
agent where documents were to be pre-
served.
They don't have to dig underground
for salt i'm western Australia, for tons
of it, if required, can be got from Lake
LEROY in that country.
This lake is one mass of salt in dry
weather. and the people living on the
shores sail boats upon il which are nit
ted with four wheels.
The speed attained by these wheeled
yachts is much greater than the Ordi-
nary types used upon water, and az the
surrounding country IS too rough to
allow of vehicular traffic, the boats save
expense. labor and time.
The kernals of the nut of the candle
tree are used by the islanders of the
South Pacific, including Samoa, for
keeping time.
The kernels are washed and strung on
the rib of a palm leaf and the upper
kernel lighted. The kernels. all being
of the same size and substance, burn
certain number of minutes. As one
burns out il sets fire to the one below.
The natives generally tie bits of bark
along the strings at regular intervals
so as to mark the divisions of time.
An oId-fashiOned plate of china,
! known to collectors as growing crock
cry was sold by auction some time
a go for G250. From the plate itself had
sprung kind Of eruption of beautiful
crystals that took the form of minia-
ture trees and pagodas.
The growing crystals had reached to
a height of nearly an inch and were
still rising higher and higher, bringing
up with them the enamel surface of tho
plate.
There are a number of plates that
grow in the world and they we're made
together many years back of clay. con-
tanning alumina and magnesia, and in
certain cases they have been so acted
upon by the presence of sulphuTic acid
as to produce fbrous crystals.
A teapot that came from the same
factory as the plates became covered
with crystals. very much of the charac-
ter of Epson salts. and was sold for
no less than 1000 guineas
The clay from which these plates
were made was dug from the earth be
fore man discovered that Nature kept
a general store. and that mixed with
the material was alumnia and mag
nesia.
-NFar ,,oe nov boon forced 10 taEa Va