The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1910-05-26

Bahia Blanca, Argentina, is now the
largest wheat shipping port in South
America. 1t has population of forty
thousand and is growing rapidly.
The Farthing Gazette, probably the
cheapest daily newspaper in existence,
has been started in Moscow, and has
already a considerable circulation.
There was to be an attack by night.
The darkness was impenetrable. A
sergeant addressed his section as fol-
lows: Nov, pay attention, No. 2 Sec
ton. We are going to do a night at
tack; there'll be no talking or smok-
ing; if there are any orders to be
passed down will just tip you the
wink"
Knut Angstrom, professor of physics
at the University of Upsala, who died
last month, was distinguished as an
investigator of solar radiation, and de-
yised the instrument adopted by in
ternatiOnal agreement as the standard
for measuring this element, viz, the
Angstrom electric compensation pyri-
heliometer.
Peter the Great, Russias famous
car, when he was staying in England
had a particular liking for the com
partnership of HALEY, after whom the
comet is named. After carousing with
him at Deptford one evening, Peter
! wheeled the astronomer in barrow
through yew hedge and did such dam
hge that he had to pay handsomely to
John Evelyn, the owner.
Edward FITZGERALD, the translator of
the Persian poet, Omar Khayyam, was
q more or less genial opponent of mat
rimony as a state. One day he said to
his friend. Miss Ellen Churchyard, of
Woodbridge: DO you know, Nell,
what marriage is?" Miss Churchyard
thought not Then I'll tell you,"
said he. Marriage is standing at ones
desk, nicely settled to work, when a
great big bonnet pushes in at the door
and asks you to go for a walk with
it,"
1t is proposed to establish wireless
telegraph station at the meteorologi-
cal observatory on Mt. Mirador, in the
Philippines, to give warning of ty-
phoons to vessels in the China sea and
points along the China coast. A SIM
liar station will probably be estab-
lished later at Santo Domingo de
Basco, on the island of Batan, for COM
municating information of the pres
ence of typhoons in that vicinity to
the headquarters of the Philippine
weather bureau at Manila.
Tin holds chief place in Slams
metal resources and is found through
out the Siamese portion of the Malay
peninsula. The average annual pro-
duction is about 5,175 tons, valued at
$4,110,000. English mining companies
and the Chinese are the chief workers
for tin Gold stands second to tin in
the country's mineral resources, but
thus far it's working has not proved
profitable. Copper and lead mines have
also proved a failure. Transportation
cost is enormous, but railways are be-
ing extended north and south.
tie of Abu Klea, in the Nubian desert,
was penetrated by the dervishes one
of them attempted to spear gunner
who was in the act of ramming home
a charge. The Briton Drained the
Sudanese, but the hammer head split
on the mans hard skull Next day the
gunner was sent for Mistaking the
reason, and knowing from experience
that soldiers are charged for govern
ment property which they break, he
led off please, sir, I'm very sorry
I broke the hammer, but I never
thought the fellows head could be so
hard. I'll pay for the hammer SO as
to hear no more of the case"
1t is a somewhat curious fact, if it
is fact, that the last of the terres-
trial continents to be explored is the
largest mass of raised land in the
world. The concentration of attention
upon the South pole since Commander
Peary landed the other end of our axis
makes it highly probable that the
antarctic antipodes will soon be dang
ling from some explorers belt Incl
dentally, the south polar continent
will be opened, if not to the settler, at
least to the maplnaker. We already
know something of it's fringe at a few
points, and Lieutenant Shackleton
pushed into it south of Mounts Erebus
and Terror for several hundred miles,
but the greater portion of it's surface
is still terra Observation-Disclosures
Men of science are generally agreed
that birds are natures great check on
the excess of insects, and that they
maintain the balance between plant
and insect life. Ten thousand cater
pillars, it has been estimated, could
destroy every blade of grass on an
acre of cultivated land. The insect
population of single cherry tree in
tested with aphides has been estimated
by prominent entomoiogist at no less
than twelve million. The bird popula-
ton of cultivated country districts has
been estimated at from seven hundred
to one thousand square mile. This
is small, compared with the number
of insects, yet, as each bird consumes
hundreds Of insects every day, the lat
ter are prevented from becoming the
scourge they would be but for their