Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-05-10
ODD ITEMS OF INTEREST.

ODD ITEMS OF INTEREST.
The present high prices of food"
said an elderly man. reminds me Of the
agitation over the introduction of har-
vestng machinery. People thought it
would throw Il great many farm labor
ers out of work and ruin the industry
generally. So bitter was the feeling
that several factories for the making
of these implements were burned down
by incendaries Now machinery is en-
ployed on the farm to an extent never
dreamed of then. yet agricultural labor
is scarce, even at high wages, and the
products bring better prices than eyer
before New York Tribune.
After resting i'm lonely grave on the
mountain side for 1875 years the mortal
| remains Of General Edward Braddock,
who lost mis- life in the Inflated eXpedi-
| ton against the French at FIT Duquesne
| at last are to be paid fitting honOrs. A
| tract of ground surrounding his grave
along the national pike beyond Union
town has been purchased by patriotic
| cit,Zcrs of Fayette county, and this
summer Will be dedicated by James
| Bryce, the British ambassador The
ground embraces about twenty-1hree
|
government as a national parK.--Phila
| delphia Record.
| The cultivated potato is native of
| the Chilean and Peruvian Andes but eX-
| tends in original type as far north as
| Colorado. where a wild form is occa-
| sional Wild varieties of the potato ex-
| list in many parts all over the world,
but nowhere was it cultivated before
| the discovery Of the western continent
save in North and South America. 1t
| was taken to Europe, probably from
| Peru to Spaic, early in The sixteenth
| century. 1t seems Sir Francis Drake in
PRODUCED it into England in 1856, though
| sly Walter Raleigh is said to have done
| this the year before. 1t was first re-
| garded as curiosity and so remained
| until the latter part of the eighteenth
| century, though the Royal Society of
| London in 1868 recommended it as a
! possibl safeguard against famine
among the Irish peasantry.
There are said to be 100000 foreign
walters employed in London.
Lettuce as q food plant has rec
| ord of being eaten by Persian kings
mora than two thousand years ago.
| The Marblehead. one of the oldest
| cruisers in the navy, has been COM
| missiOned in the service of the Cali
| fornia state naval militia at Mare is
| land.
a recently invented rescue stretcher
| for mines has oxygen tanks at one
end. opening into a bag in which 4
mans head and shoulders may be
/ placed.
| Stephen Marchand, an American of
vast wealth. made up his mind to pos
sess the most extensively fitted bed
| chamber in the two halnisrheres, and
| with that purpose in view he spent not
| less than $3.50, 900 on a bedstead alone.
| il was constructed of massive ebony,
| with elaborate carvings of sclid ivory
and inlaid with gold tilgree. At the
| head of the bedstead was n huge
trophy cut from one piece of solid
ivory. A special journey was taken
to Africa to obtain Il massive tusk for
| the purpose
| From it's original home as native,
wild growth in western Asia and add
| Jacent Europe the cultivated pea has
been taken by man to all civilized
countries. 1t has been cultivated for
thousands of years for dried peas have
been found in Egyptian tombs.
During the fiscal year 1909 Ohio led
ali the states in the number of pen.
sioners and receipts, respectively &c.
500 and $l6.3763l345. Pennsylvania
was close second with 92,066 pension
ers and receipts of $685. 74.43: New
York was not a close third. with 49,
1894 pensioners and receipts of $l3942.-
1861.
| Seattle, apparently, is afraid to trust
| Uncle Sam to do justly by it in the
coming census. The commercial or
CARNATIONS of the city appear to doubt
that the regular paid enumerators will
| find and record every last inhabitant
and have organized volunteer band
of two hundred men to follow in the
footsteps of the officials and check
up their work, incidentally getting on
the lists any stragglers who may be
| overlooked.
| Beets were first found growing wild
/ in sandy soils near the sea in Europe
and western Asia. The wild beet Still
| found there is regarded by authority
as the original type. This wild beet
is slender rooted and has taste so
different from the beet we know to-
day, that one must consider the first
man who tasted thought it possible to
| develop. had gifts of hope and i'm
| agination far beyond ordinary. The
| beet has been cultivated since 100000
| b. c.
Cabbage, in it's many varieties, has
| been developed from a single wild
growth called Brasica Oleracea, which
| in it's wild state is very remote in APP
pearance from our cabbage. kale,
caulif1ower and collards come from
the same origin. The principal cult
waited varieties of all these are known
to have existed as far back as the
sixteenth century. Cabbage, however,
is an infant compared to lettuce,
though why a man would take to let