Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-08-24
AS YOU LIKE IT.
Some Stray Leaves from . ReportAr's
 Note Book.

The highest price ever maid for nu ear of corn was $l5O. The ear | weighed nineteen ounces, and each
 kernel was worth I3 cents, which Ii
 at the rate of $S.850 a bushel. The
 champion ear was raised by D. l.,
 Pascal of Iowa and was sold at auc- tion at Ames, the bids beginning al $10. This Is direct outcome of the
 corn breeding work of Prof P. c,
 Holden. Corn yields have been near.
 ly doubled in the last four years by planting seed which has been care.
 fully selected according to Prof Hol-
 den's principles. It Is estimated that
 the value of the corn crop of Amer
 ica could be increased by $50, 0,O00.- 900 annually simply by selection. If every ear of corn had one grain more than now the farmers of this country
 would be richer by 31,000, ,000,000 It is debatable question whether it is wise practice to drink cupful of hot water immediately upon ris- ing every morning. The hot water fiends fancy that they cannot get
 along without their morning drink, but there are physicians who claim that this practice is facilitating to
 the stomach and that it cannot fail to do injury. The habitual use of cold water is an excellent habit to
 form. It is natural to drink cold
 water. Cold water is tonic to the
 stomach, as 1t is to the skin. It
 gives tonicity to the mucous walls of
 the stomach. The practice of taking
 five or six glasses of cold water a
 day is a good one. It will help to
 clear the complexion, brighten the
 eyes, and is said to be almost cer-
 tain remedy for pufiiness under the
 eyes.
 Contrary to general belief, the old
 Liberty bell is not the property of
 the nation or of the city of Phila-
 delphia, but of four sisters. who are
 heirs of John Wilbank, the man who
 made the new bell shortly after the old one was cracked, and who took the old bell as part payment. Ac- cording to the Home Magazine, three of the sisters, Mrs James B. McClos-
 ky, Mrs c. D. Emerson and Mrs S.
 B. Coward, live in Philadelphia. The fourth, Mrs s. W. B. Diehl, lives in
 Washington, D. c. By order of the assembly of the province of Pennsyl- vania, the Liberty bell was cast in England in.1751. Soon after arriv- ing in this country the bell broke, but was recast from the same metal in the same form and with the orig inal inscription, Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land" The owner ship passed from provincial authori- ties to the state, but in 1918 1t was purchased by the city of Philadel. phia. together with the old State house and grounds. During the eel ebration over the arrival of Lafay- cite in 1924. the bell was rung so vigorously 1t became cracked, and a few months later was ordered re- placed by new bell cast by John Wilbank. The latter bell is hang ing in the steeple of Germantown hall.
 Statistics issued at the close of the year 1906 show that there were in use in the United States alone more than 100000 telephones, while an aggregate of little more than 6,- 100000 miles of wire was used for telephone service. The telephone in- dustry gives employment to 90,000 persons in the United States, an in- crease of III per cent in six years, while during the same period the number of stations has increased 2S9 per cent and the wire mileage 349 per cent. There is little doubt that much of this increase is due to the general adoption of the so-called rate system in place of the fiat annual charge formerly in vogue. By making the charges proportional to the number of calls the use of the has been widely extended, both because of the greater willing ness of people to become subscribers under such conditions and because the system gives an incentive to the local telephone companies to give good service and encourage the use of the telephone. Another cause for the increase In the number of tele- phones in use is doubtless the ex- number of large business | in various cities, since the | telephone Is an absolute necessity in | the modern tall building. making lt possible to transact. business as we'll | from the twentieth story as from the | ground floor. The installation of the | telephone in every suite ID the mod | srn hotel and large apartment house accounts for a portion of the in- crease.
 There is always trouble for owners ,f skittish horses. When the rail- load. trains supplanted the stage coach, farmers and others had the ieuce to pay hanging onto their solts. but in time they got used to he strange looking objects and while |