Southwest Oregon recorder., December 30, 1884, Image 3

TIMELY TOPICS.
The ostrich farming enthusiasts having
tried California "and Florida, have now
concluded to begin all over again in
Mexico. 1 The government has granted
the promoters of the scheme 70,000 acres
of land and $200 apiece for the first 200
birds imported. On these conditions it
looks as though the promoters would
make money, even if the ostriches died
as soon as imported.
"Telepathy" is the new name for the
mysterious warnings which persons oc
casionally claim to receive of the death or
dangerous illness of persons dear to
them, but distant. So numerous and
so well authenticated, apparently, have
been such instances of late that a name
for the mysterious influence seemed
necessary, and the one chosen is a good
one, meaning sympathy from a long dis
tance. The new postoffice building at St.
Louis, just completed and occupied, is
one of the finest in the country. It covers
an entire block, and cost $6,030,000.
The top of the iron dome is 214 feet
above the street, and commands a fine
view of the city, the river and the oppo
site shore. The interior arrangements
are excellent in convenience, and the
Signal Service occupies the upper floor,
the offices being the best equipped in
the country.
In one jail in Egypt Mr. Clifford
Lloyd found no fewer than seventy-five
of the leading men of the district
with their feet covered with blood and
festering sores, weeks after bastinadoing
to which they had been subjected by the
order of the Mudir. Their hands still
bore the deep cuts of the thongs by
which they had been suspended in order
to extort - a confession, and the thumb
screw had been unspairingly applied.
Two of the prisoners had died under the
courbash. and the others were lingering
in agony.
Apropos of a published statement that
the English judges are all clean shaven,
the Philadelphia Record remarks that be
fore the Mar cleanly shaven faces were
almost universal among the men in that
locality, and in the case of judges there
was not one exception. Now a man is
seldom seen without beard or mustache,
nearly alf the judges falling in with the
style. A few years ago, in many parts
of the country, a man with a mustache
was regarded with suspicion, and would
find it difficult to gain admission into
private families.
Information is slowly accumulating
with regard to the great Javan eruption
last year, which proves this phenomenon
to have been unprecedented as a series of
violent explosions. Reports from vari
ous stations show that the sounds of the
explosion were heard in Ceylon, Burmah,
Manila, New Guinea, and on the western
coast of Australia in fact, almost every
where within a radius of two thousand
miles; while across the Indian ocean,
with no land, to intervene, they were
distinctly audible at Rodriguez, nearly
three thousand miles disiant. '
Mons. Pasteur, the Frenchman, whose
discoveries in the generation of disease
have attracted such wide attention and
are confessedly an invaluable public
benefit, shows that he is a patriot and
philanthropist, as well as a patron and
devotee of pathological science. "When
a French capitalist offered him $200,000
for his discovery of the method of pre
venting disease in cattle, Mons. Pasteur
refused the offer, saying that as he was
alreidy in receipt of a government an
nuity which was sufficient for him, he
thought it right to give his discoveries
as a gratuity to the public.
A company has been formed to estab
lands of Floricfa at Belieview, in Marion
county. It is desired to form a model
town which shall combine natural, social
and religious advantages, with freedom
from intemperance and pauperism. The
deeds to land will be given with the
provisos that no intoxicating liquors
shall be sold and that no dwelling shall
be built at an expense of less than $500
A school of twenty-five pupils is now in
operation, a good hotel is being built,
and a church edifice and an academy are
to follow.
All interesting exhibition is to be held
in Nuremberg next year, under the pro
tection of the King of Bavaria. It is
to consist of gold and silversmith's worfc
and iewelrv : works of art in coimer. in
cluding those in enamel; works of art in
bronze and brass, in tin and zinc, and of
the latter especially the imitations of
works in bronze, and galvanoplastic re
productions of works of art. Beside
finished work themselves, the material
used, tools, apparatus and machines em
ployed in their construction are also ad.
mitted. An historical department will
give a survey of the development of these
neias or laoor. notice of entries must
be given by December 20, 1884.
Charts of the geographical distribu
tion of the lightning strokes for 188$
and 1883. nrenared from our fire rfirnWU
says the Insurance Chronicle, show that
they are chiefly confined to that part of
the country situated north of the Ohio
river and east of the Missouri river. In
both years eighty-five per cent, of all the
stroses occurrea witnin tnis area,
the Southean States lio-htninc seema
be comparatively rare, and seldom occurs
- e il O . i . ri -r
ouisme oi uiree oiaies xexas, Lou
isiana and Georgia. There seems in 1
two principal centers of electrical dis-
turDance, irom me nre underwriters
standnoint. and these are in the N
England and Northwestern States. Sixty -
hve per cent, of the strokes happen in
the summer; the remaining thirty-five
per cent, are divided between spring and
autumn in about equal proportions.
The street cars of the City of Mexico
are managed on a novel system. A letter
in the San Francisco Bullttin says:
"The entire system of street cars through
out the republic of Mexico is owned by
one man, and he seems to run them to
suit his own fancy rather than the con
venience of the traveling public. In
stead of one car at a time leaving the
terminus and allowing an interval be
tween the next one, three or four of the
same route start off at once, and there
will be no more for half an hour. This
allows . time for the track to be utilized
between the switches, and it is uied for
moving furniture, hauling dirt, trans
porting merchandise and conveying the
dead to the cemeteries. The latter is
certainly a great convenience, and does
away entirely with the necessity for
hearses and their accompanying hacks.
The funeral car is appropriately fitted up
to receive the comn, and the mournen
follow in passenger cars draped in black,
The growth of modern Ideas in Japan
has been significantly indicated of late
in the erection by a Japanese land
owner of an imposing monument to CD.
Richardson, an Englishman, who died
in 1863 during the fierce struggle against
the outside nations. Mr. Richardson
was hacked to death by the guards
of a Japanese nobleman, and his
companions were cruelly maltreated. The
affair was one of the causes of the bom
bardment of Kagosheema by a British
squadron, in which 1,500 Japanese were
killed and wounded and $5,000,000 worth
of property was destroyed. Then indi
rectly also the murder led to the suppres
sion of feudalism in Japan through the
agitation which followed, and the mon
ument now set up is apparently a recog
nition of that reform as much as of the
man whom it honors. It is placed on a
mound on the spot where he fell, and is
inscribed with verses recording his vir
tues, and praying "that the thoughts of
the blessings he brought us may gladden
his heart in the land of the shades."
Chicago Tribune.
Correspondence with Queen Victoria
by letter is one of the prima minister's
regular and almost daily duties. When
there has been an important division or
debate in parliament, and members are
hastening hqme tired, to bed, the
Eremier alone can take no rest until he
as written to the queen his official re
port of the proceedings. These letters
are couched in the third person: "Mr.
Gladstone presents his duty to Your Ma
jesty," etc., and Her Majesty replies,
usually dictated to a secretary, also run
in the third person. Though never dis
cursive, they are not mere formal ac
knowledgements, but often enter suc
cinctly into the question at issue. The
queen devotes several hours every morn
ing to the study of state business, and
her time is no longer wasted now as it
was during the first twenty-five years of
her reign by having to sign all commis
sions for the army and navy. In 1862
an act relieved her of this tedious task.
She was in that year still engaged in sign
ing the commissions of the year 1858.
Rheem, who has charge of the reptile
6pecimen3 in the Smithsonian institute,
contradicts much of the popular belief as
to snakes. Some of the most dreaded
have no existence. The hoop snake.
which takes the end of its tail in its
mouth and rolls over and over like a
hoop, killing everything it touches with
its venom, and the blow snake, the
breath of which is deadly, are fictions.
As serpents move about they are con
stantly feeling ahead with the tongue,
and the forward thrust, and peculiar
forked appearance of the organ has
given rise to the false idea that with it
the stinging is done. It is generally
thought that there are a great number of
poisonous snakes. In North America
there are but three species the rattle
snake, the copperhead or moccasin, and
the coral. There are about thirty va
rieties of these species altogether. The
copperhead i3 probably the most danger
ous, as it is vicious, and never gives
warning of any kind before striking. The
rattlesnake, though more poisonous than
either of the others, will rattle at the ap
proach of anything, and try to get away
unless brought to bay. The coral is
much smaller, and is a native of the
Southern States. The bite is not neces
sarily fatal if the proper remedies are
used in time, as, on account of its size,
the quantity of poisou is small. When
a reptile strikes he throws his whole body
forward, and the fangs penetrate the ob
ject againt which they come. He does
not jump ; the hinder part of the body
remains in position, and none of our
snakes are in the habit of reaching more
than half its length.
A Model Man-of-War.
The new Brazilian vessel, the Riach
uelo, is pronounced by the London
Times to be the most perfect fighting
ship afloat, possessing in speed, coal ca
pacity and arrangement and range of
fire of her guns special advantages not
obtained in combination in any other
ship. Briefly described, she is a twin
screw turret ship of 6,000 tons and 6,000
horse power, built of steel, 305 feet long,
fifty-two feet wide and thirty feet deep.
She can make fifteen knots an hour and
run at that speed 4,500 miles without re
coaling. She is protected by armor
eleven inches and ten inches respective
ly, and her armament consists of four
nine-inch twenty-ton breech-loading rifle
guns in two revolving turrets and six
six-inch breech-loaders, beside fifteen
Nordenfelt machine guns. She also car
ries Whitehead torpedoes.
Six thousand steamboats pass an
nually through the canal at Louisville.
The American's Endurance of Cold.
Lieut. Greely js of the opinion that his
men, if well provisioned, could not have
continued to live at Fort Conger more
than five years. The constitution of the
average American is not capable of pro
longed continuous adjustment to more
thau zero cold, and such "acclimatization
couid only come about after a series of
generations where the law of survival of
the fittest should operate, and in corre
spondence with a radical change in organ
ization, in which nutritive and muscular
development should predominate over
cerebral development; in other words,
nature has shown us in the mentally
dwarfed but physically hardy Esquimaux
the type of organization best fitted for
living in those septentrional latitudes.
It is, however, no less a matter of fact
that the inhabitants of meridianal climes
admirably adapt themselves temporarily
to the most extreme cold. In the retreat
from Moscow, in 1812, the Italian regi
ments stood the cold better than the Ger
mans, and notably better than the Rus
sians, who were accustomed to the
climate. The Turks presented the same
relative immunity at the siege of Sebas
topol. Longet, from whom these facts
are taken, remarks that the aptitude to
resist inclement temperature is acquired
and lost in turn : that people nurtured in
temperate or cold climates, who go to
the torrid zone to live, are much less sen
sitive to the cold for a time after their
return to their native country, though
this lessened susceptibility disappears
after a year or two. Medical Record.
Tattooing Among Alaska Indians.
A man who has passed much time
trapping and hunting in Alaska says:
Although the Yukon Indians have aban
doned many of their old customs, under
the teaching of occasional missionaries,
all of them still keep to the queer habit
of tattooing. The way they do tiiis is
different from any I ever saw or heard
of. Instead of pricking the stuff in
with sharpened bones or needles, they
make a paste out of charcoal and grease,
soak a thread in it, punch a needle
through the flesh so that it comes out
at a different hole from the one where
it entered, and then draw thb thread
through under the skin. The opera
tion is painful, for the flesh swells up
and looks very much inflamed. Men
tattoo only their hands and wrists, with
pictures of the nobler animals, or fish,
but the women tattoo their faces also.
These latter begin the process when they
are quite young, making birds, turtles,
or some "other insignificant things on
their hands and wrists, while they draw
lines of different kinds on their chins
and the lower part of the cheeks. As a
rule this tattooing is done entirely in
blue, but now and then there is an In
dian who has dotted red spots through
the blue.
The Worship of Gold.
The worship of gold can be shown to
have descended to us from sun worship,
which, in some form or other, has been
almost universal, In plain words, men
took to collecting gold and making gold
trinkets, charms, and amulets, because
gold was of the same color, and possibly
of the same divine material, as the sun.
The sacredness of gold seems indicated
by Pindar, who, invoking Theia, the
mythical mother of the sun god, exclaims,
"Through thee it is that mortals esteem
mighty gold above all things else 1" Orig
inating thus in the most absurd super
stition, the supposed likeness of the yel
low metal to the color of the sun god's
face, the value of gold has prevailed over
the world for so many ages that it has
become a hereditary, passion; and be
cause of the value thus set on it, and for
no other reason, gold has long been the
highest metallic medium of exchange.
Contemporary Review.
Eatinff Fruit.
One of the best evidences that the
American people of this generation live
better than their fathers did is found in
the steady and rapid growth of the trade
in tropical fruits. It is not many years
since the great majority of people scarce
ly knew what a banana was, and con
sidered oranges and lemons as luxuries
to be afforded only in sickness or on
great occasions. Now, not only these
but other tropical fruits are bought and
! eaten almost as generally and freely as
I apples, and the consumption of melons,
peaches, pears, plums and berries is on
I the same universal and extensive scale.
I This is a change which tends not only to
gratify the taste but to promote health.
which is the foundation of human hap
piness and is of advantage to everybody.
There is little danger that any commu
nity will spend too much money for ripe
and sound, fruit. Manchester (2T. U.)
Mercury.
"Thirty Days Hath September."
The following familiar lines, which
aid nearly every man, woman and child
in remembering the number of days in
each month, occur, with but slight
change, in an old play, called " The Re
turne from Parnassus," printed in Lon
don in 1606:
Thirty days hath September,
April, June and November;
All the rest have thirty-one,
Save February, which alone
Hath twenty-eight, and one day more
We add to it each year in four.
The Barber's Soliloquy.
A St. Louis barber has perpetrated the
following:
I see before me the gladiator lie;
He leans upon the chair and shuts his eye,
His brow is lathered and his noble cheek
Has not been bai bared for at least a week.
Ah I I could fetch him now one little stroke
Across his wind-pipe and the wretch would
croak;
And will I? Not I will not take his breath.
Tis sweeter far to talk the man to death.
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
Soil Analysis.
There are plenty of methods for an
alyzing soil to be found in the chemis
tries, but none of them sufficiently simple
and convenient for the average farmer,
even if he had the necessary appliances.
In fact, there is no cheap and easy way
of analyzing the soil. To have it done
costs from five to twenty-fivo dollars for
each operation, and requires a skilled
chemist to do it. Unfortunately, tooj
soil analysis, when performed, is practi
cally useless, for it snows not what there
is of plant food available, but what there
is altogether, and this is only in the iden
tical particle analyzed. And if the food
be not . available it might as well be
elsewhere.
The real and practical method of
telling what a soil needs is to give dif
ferent sorts of fertilizers to different
strips. On one strip put bone dust or
superphosphate, at the rate of 400 pounds
to the acre. If an unusually vigorous
growth results, the land wanted phos
phoric acid. On another strip put wood
ashes, at the rate of twenty bushels of
unleached ashes to the acre. If good re
sults followed, the land wanted potash.
On another spot put nitrate of soda, 300
pounds to the acre, or a good dressing of
barnyard manure. If the result is satis
factory, the land wanted nitrogen.
These three nitrogen, phosphoric
acid, potash are all the chemical in
gredients of the soil that the farmer need
care about, and in this simple and profit
able way he may obtain wHat is, in ef
fect, the best analysis of his soil that
can be procured. Of course the needs
of the different plants for different
quantities of nitrogen, phosphoric acid
and potash should be taken into ac
count. The experiment should be carried
on in three divisions after this manner:
With a plant requiring potash, such as
the potato, a strip of land under all
three kinds of fertilizers ; with a phos
phatic plant, such as wheat, three strips ;
and with a nitrogen plant, such as clover
and peas, three strips. This being done,
you have secured an accurate knowledge
of the need of the held experimented
upon. Tcxa State Farmer.
Iloiv to ITIake a Stack.
Farmers who are acquainted with the
habits of the Englis h in respect of stacking
hay and grain are often surprised that we
fail so often here in this work, notwith
standing our supposed drier weather,
There is a mistake about this. We fail
in making weather-proof stacks because
we ought to build them even better than
English farmers do, (which, however, is
very rarely done, indeed,) for the reason
that while we have more dry weather
here, yet when it rains it pours, and in
England it drizzles. Our rainfall is
nearly double that of England,
and we have it large and heavy, but not
frequent, installments, and this is one
reason why we have trouble with our
stacks and get them sodden inside from
top to bottom. The English are very
particular in stacking, and thatch the top
with great care, binding on the straw
with bands or ropes and pins. They al
so build their stacks on reasonable prin
ciples, so that if water should enter it
will quickly find its way to the sides and
escape by the eaves.
In building a stack the centre should
be kept much higher than the sides, and
each forkful put on after the bottom has
been laid should overlap the previous
one, as one shingle, does another on a
roof. It is quite as easy to do this as it
is for a man to stand in the centre, in a
hollow, and pile the hay or fodder all
around him on the sides, keeping the
centre a few feet lower than the rest of
the stack. In stacking corn fodder,
which is better kept in this way than in
barns, it is necessary to begin in the cen
tre of the etack, and it is a good plan for
a novice to set a long pole in the ground
and build the stack around it. At first
the bundles are set upright around this
pole or in the centre, and others are leaned
against these, gradually lowering the
slope of the bundles until the outer row
is nearly level. When two or three lay
ers have been stacked the bundles are
first laid on the outside, and are made to
project a few inches over the side so as
to spread the stack. This protects the
sides from the drip of the eaves. One
bundle overlaps the other, the but of one
coming a little below the band of the
lower one. The former inclination is pre
served until the stack is eight or ten feet
from the ground, when the stack should
be at least a foot and a half wider on each
side than the base of it. It is then drawn
in gradually, the centre being still kept
increasing in height above the sides un
til the last few bundles are set nearly
upright around the pole and are bound
firmly to it. If the stack top is well
beaten down it will then shed any rain,
however heavy, that may fall upon it.
New York Times.
Feedings Hay.
Concerning the indefinite quantity of
the hay ration in the most reputed feed
ing experiments referred to in a recent
issue of the Gazette, it may be observed
that feeding hay is a matter that requires
considerable judgment. Animals, like
men, when the opportunity for exercis
ing preferences is presented, are apt to
consider that the best only is good
enough for them; and if more hay is
given than they require will pick out the
tenderest and sweetest portions and
leave the remainder, which not only
wastes valuable feed, but encourages the
habit of daintiness in the animals which
is conducive to anything but thrift.
Animals that pick over their food, smell
ing and poking every blade and stem in
apparent hesitatien as to whether to eat
or not, do not compare in thriftiness
with the good, square eaters, whose ap
petites give them a good relish for a rea
sonable quantity of any proper food.
The general practice is to "feed enough
wmcn is correct enougn wnen just
enough is given, and very incorrect when'
great quantities are given to be trampled
under foot or otherwise wasted. But,'
with hay in bulk, it is not easy to gauge
the quantity given, and even if this were'
possible, . it would vary materially
with the quality of the product,1
although where good grain .ra
tions are given, variations in the quality
of hay are not so 'important. We re
member once weighing some hay that
had been passed through1 a cutting ma
chine, and that a great big pile of it'
uncut, measured only a few bushel bask
etfuls after the machine had done with
it, weighing seven and a half pounds,
to the basket, or just half the weight of
coarse wheat bran weighed at the same
time. It is not possible .in the practical -operation
of the farm, to be strictly ac
curate in such matters, but whatever de
partures there may be should be,' so far
as possible, controlled by calculation,
and not left altogether to accident. The
farmer cannot have a chemical analysis
made of his hay to ascertain its exact
intrinsic value, and he cannot weigh out
to each bullock so many pounds and so
many ounces;, but he can, considering the
quantity of grain he is feeding, and the
average quality of the hay, make up his
mind about how many pounds he should
feed. If he does this, and finds part of
it wasted, he can decrease the quantity,
and if the quantity should be insufficient,
his own practical observation will soon
disclose that fact to him. Having made
up his mind about how many pounds to
feed, he will have to guess ana. weigh a
few times until he can approximate some
what the desired quantity, and will have
a basis or starting point . f jom which to
increase or decrease the ration. . Beside
he is pursuing a method, and there is
nothing that contributes so much toward
sharpening one's powers of observation
and ripening his experience as the habit
of doing everything according to some
fixed method or plan. Breeders' Gazette J'
Recipes.
Molasses Cookies. One cup molas
ses, one cup brown sugar, one cup sour
milk, one cup butter, two teaspoons soda,
one scant teaspoon ginger, flour to roll.
Beets. Wash; cut off the tops; boil
more than an hour; scrape; cut into
round slices, and put into a root-dish;
pour over them a tablespoonful of but-;
ter, heated, with as much vinegar, and
season with pepper and salt.
Sheep's Brains. Lay them in salted
water to draw off the blood. Boil them
and add a little chopped parseley; a few
spoonfuls of melted butter, pepper and
salt; mix well and serve directly on a
slice of hot buttered toast. A pretty
little dish is made by boiling the tongue
of the sheep gently in a little good
brown gravy and then serving it in the
centre of the brains, prepared as above,
round it ; no toast would then be re
quired. The makes a good entree for
ordinary dinner; it must be served very
hot.
Roly-PoIiY Jam Puddings. Take
equal quantities of fine flour and suet, re
move all skin from the suet, slice it
very thin and then chop it quite fine;
mix together and moisten with cold
water ; add a very little salt, knead it
well and roll it out quite thin (about one
sixth of an inch); spread the paste
equally over with any kind . of jam to
within half an inch of the edge, moisten
the edges with water, roll up the pud
ding, pinch the edges .together; put it
into a cloth, which must be tied l both
ends; put the pudding into boiling
water and boil about two hours,
A Sad Disappointment.
At Sacramento the other day a man was
on his last legs with pneumonia. His
life was insured for several thousand
dollars, and ut appeared to him a little
tough that he was to get no fun out of
all this money. Determined to do the
best he could under the circumstances,
he made a will that he thought would
cover a portion of the ground. His will
provided that at his funeral every hack
in town should be employed, and all his
friends and acquaintances invited to at
tend and take a ride afterward. All who
attended were also invited to participate
in a grand banquet in the evening at the
hotel, at which a brass band, which
should lead the funeral procession, was
to enliven the occasion with music.
After making his will he was so tickled
with the idea of the whole affair, as ho
could see it in his mind's eye, and with
the thought of "what a large slice of the
insurance he was thus having the fun of
spending, that he at once began to mend,
and in spite of himself got well. Now
he is as far as ever from the insurance
money, and mourns the loss of the grand
banquet, the brass band, and the other
big things that were to make his funeral
a notable event. Territorial Enterprise.
Tallow Candle Fish.
In the waters of British North Amer
ica, as we are informed, there is a fish,
an odd fish, as surprising in its ways as
the sea-serpent, and infinitely more use
ful. It is a species of smelt, and may
be poetically described as an aquatic
glow-worm. We are told that it may be
literally used in the same way as a can
dle, by simply setting a light to the tail,
when it will burn with a flame as steady
as that of the "dips which our grand
fathers used to have to put up with be
fore gas was invented. It is a 6mall sil
very fish, averaging about fourteen inches
long, is exceedingly fat, and affords an
excellent and valuable oil, and is so in-,
flammable that the dried carcass will
serve as a torch. Among the natives tho
fish is known as the oolahan, and by
them, as by others who have tasted it, is
considered one of the most delicious
products of the sea, being far more deli
cate in flavor than the herring. The fish
are caught in wicker baskets, and aro
smoked as much as their oily nature will
allow. The Sea World.