The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1908-10-24
-, Science
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In some countries, notably in the
Russian provinces north OF the eau
casus. the sunf1Ower serves other pur-
poses besides Ornamenting gardens with
its huge golden bosses. The seeds are
used to make oil. which is employed
both in the manufacture of soap and
in cooking. The stems and leaves are
burned and the ashes used to make
potash. Last year the sunf1ower fac
tories Of the Caucasus produced $1,000
tons of potash.
There are something over 5000 varie-
ties of orchids recognized and described
by the authorities in the botanical gar
dens of Rio de Janiero. A very large
portion Of this list of plants is COM
posed Of varieties which have little or
no value from any standpoint. Some
varieties are very common, while
great many of them are rare enough to
command from SIS to $50 in Brazil.
Other varieties are very rare and the
value of specimens is mostly fixed by
what collectors will pay for them, vary
ing greatly from time to time. Probably
three-fOurths of the Orchid-expOrting
business, in value. is in less than doz-
en- varieties of the plant
Major Holder is an Englishman who
has been wondering why the Barbados,
alone of the Antilles, are free from ma
laria. He thinks it must be because
{ho Do. h,I nlo Of fIn Ant
are free from gnats. But why no
gnats? Because of the wild and benefi-
cent profusiOn of fish called millions"
The millions eat the gnats while they're
still larvae. Acting on Major Holders
theory, the Jamaicans, the people of
Colon and the cOlOnists of British Gui
ana imported millions and the gnats
vanished. In Africa, where rage the
most deadly swamp fevers, millions are
employed with immense success. The
same means has been adopted by the
italian government to rid the Roman
Campagna Of its insect foes.
Those who love experimentation may
try the following method Of making a
cheap barometer, practiced in France.
Take grams of pulverized camphor,
grams of pulverized nitrate of potas
Stun, 2 grams Of pulveriZed nitrate Of
ammonia, and dissolve in 90 grams Of
alcohol. Put the whole in long, slen-
der bottle closed at the top with
piece of bladder containing pin-hole
to admit the air. When rain is coming,
the solid particles will tend gradually
to mount, little star crystals forming in
the liquid, which otherwise remains
clear; if high winds are approaching,
the liquid will become thick, as if fer
menting, while film Of solid particles
forms on the surface; during fair
weather the liquid will remain clear
and the solid particles will rest at the
bottom.
Since the colliery explosions at
Courrieres, in France, and the more
recent disasters in the United States
and elsewhere, public demand has
been awakened in Europe for some kind
of organized rescue work in connection
with mines. In Austria and France
provision Of rescue apparatus in mines
is made compulsory. In Germany it
is optional, but has been voluntarily
adopted. In Russia where over fifty
men are employed in one mine it is pro-
vided that every colliery must have a
rescue corps trained to work in ire
spirable cases." that ''the number of
men in each corps must be equivalent
to 4 per cent of those engaged in the
number of completely equipped sets Of
breathing apparatus at each colliery
must not be less than three"