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jHE KANGAROO.
I Himble Fellow, But He Can’t
Bun Down Hill.
gisS&n Has a Wonderful Mus¬
cular Fiber.
Leatber made from the skin of the
Jungaroo is one of the new products
jj, the leather line, it is soft, strong,
fcdthe light grades are particularly
-ell adapted for light summer shoes
^ for shoe tops, while the ^heavier
des will bear more usage than any
P leather finished on the gram
otter skins made into
ide . The light are dull
.'Bt brilliant glazed kid, and in
a shoes; and the
Kish for ladies’ fine
bvy ones are finished for men’s line
U. Much of it is crimped and of
U for tongue boots. Shoe laces
Ld %e qualities are also made of it.
skin of the kangaroo has a won
jrfully muscular fiber, which con
.b tes largely to the strength of the
a
,j ma l, enabling the females to carry
lair young in their pouches until old
lon gh to take care of themselves,
,1 aiding the kangaroo in his long
tips when in motion,
fhe animal is a native of Australia
(J adjacent islands. It is a distinct
Lies, and has no counterpart in
L|er countries. There are a great
Liber of families, some scarcely
irger than a rat, others of almost
juantic size. The giant kangaroo
[feeropus major), the family which
hushes .the most valuable skins, was
hovered by Captain Cook about a
jentury ago, at which time naturalists, it attracted
inch attention among
t The natives of Australia call the old
Lu “booma,” and are slow to at
L them. The “booma” has paws
Llarge If as those of a mastiff, though
different shape, his feet are his
Lpons, Lgerous and when attacked he is a
antagonist. When raised
this full height his hind legs and
hi form a tripod, upon which his
lody rests, carrying his head as high
I that of a woman on horseback.
The kangaroo lives upon -vegetable
ad and roams over the plains of
in large flocks. Its teeth
so constructed that it can feed
roots and live upon barren
where other animals would
and to its destruction of roots
the sterile plains so com
in Australia.
The (ireat Firefly.
M great firefly is an inhabitant of
(Savannahs of most of the warmer
N of America and the West India
Ms. It is Bald to attain a length
flinch fight and a half. In the gloom
these flies are extremely lu¬
pous and the effect is brilliant. The
cliiely produces from four parts,
i > fr om two glandular spots behind
1 eyes and one under each wing.
j P have the power to cut off the
f will, in which case the glandu
PPots become perfectly opaque.
® |hght is of this wonderful insect by
such that if the creature be
.
IQ P a m °f the hand, print or
*
"script is as easily read as by a
Be. - The aboriginal natives cage
e creatures and make use of them
^ erns. Ladies adorn themselves
M 1 this electric light luminary.
related of Don Domingo Conde
‘-olornbia that he would appear on
:'-raing promenade with a large
[ ornamenting the buckle of his
hat, while a band of snfaller
luminous insects surround it. The j
eame Spaniard lighted his palace with
fireflies in silver The display '
cages.
must have been enchanting, for at one |
time the light is ruddy, at another j
the tinge is greenish, then there is a i
change to golden yeliow. It is stated
that when the Spaniards were about to i
land one of their expedition:! against
Mexico a panic was caused by these
luminaries. The host of fluttering
lights on land was supposed to be an j
indication of the enemy arousing their
camp to resist the attack.
When the English were attacking
the West India Islands the fireflies
were taken to be a Spanish army ad¬
vancing with burning matches against
them, and the upshot was a hasty re¬
treat to the ships—All the Year Round.
Sources of Color.
Au interesting enumeration has
been made by somebody, and pub¬
lished in a technical journal, of the
sources of color. From this it ap¬
pears that the cochineal insects fur¬
nish the gorgeous carmine, crimson,
scarlet carmine, and purple lakes; the
cuttlefish gives sepia, that is, the inky
fluid which the fish discharges in
order to render the water opaque
when attacked; the Indian yellow
comes from the camel; ivory chips
produce the ivory black and bone
black; the exquisite Prussian blue
comes from fusing horses hoofs and
other refuse animal matter with im¬
pure potassium carbonate; various
lakes are derived from roots, barks
and gums; blue black comes from the
charcoal of the vine stock; Turkey
red is made from the madder plant,
which grows in Hindoostan ;tke yellow
sap of the Siam tree produces gam¬
boge : raw sienna is the natural earth
from the neighborhood of Sienna,
Italy; raw umber is an earth found
near Umbria ; India ink is made from
burned camphor ; mastic is made from
the gum of the mastic tree, which
grows in the Grecian Archipelago;
bister is the soot of wood ashes; very
little real ultramarine, obtained from
the precious lapis lazuli, is found in
the market; the Chinese white is zinc,
scarlet is iodide of mercury, and ver¬
milion is from the quicksilver ore
cinnabar.—Detroit Free Press.
Tlie Cradle.
The cradle is man’s first and great
est school-house. There his educa
tion begins. The mother’s smile and
caress give him his first evidences of
human love and gentleness and sym
pathy. Her words are -like a revela
tion from another sphere. Everything
about that cradle is educative; and,
what is more, this primal education is
radical and determinative. It gives
shape to the mind; the impressions
there made are deep and abiding;
they are not easily rubbed out by all
the later rough usage of the world.
In the nature of the case the mother
is the first teacher, whose lessons al¬
most inevitably abide through fair
weather and foul, How important,
then, that these early teachings be
correct! “The most important part
of education,” says Plato, “is right
training in the nursery, The soul of
tbe child in his play should be trained
to that sort of excellence in which,
when he grows to manhood, he will
have to be perfected.” He should be
elevated by an inclined plane rather
than vertically; the former is usually
easy, - while the latter is always diffi
cu It, sometimes impossible. The era
die song is often the inspiration of
the whole life.
Keeps Tab on His Ranch.
The Los Angeles (Cal.) Times says:
The owner of a San Diego ranch lives
in the East. He has a novel way of
keeping track of the condition of his
property without visiting it. Peri
odically he has an elaborate series of
photographs taken, which show the
fruit trees and buildings, These pic
tures show exactly the amount of work
done, and the growth of the trees from
time to time.
Clever Horsemanship.
An interesting illustration of the
Indian’s clever horsemanship was
given by a young buck at Wilbur,
Wash., a few days ago. Carrying in
his hand an ordinary cup filled to the
brim of water, he rode on a cayuse at
full gallop the length of the main
street and return without spilling so
much as a drop of the water.—New
York Sun.
CRAB RANCHES.
An Important Industry on Chesa¬
peake Bay Shores.
The Meat Now Packed in Cans
For Winter Use.
Crab ranches are among the insti
tutions along Chesapeake Bay, es
pecially on the eastern shore of Mary
land. They raise soft-shell crabs,
and do not cultivate hard-shell crabs
to any extent, In connection with
the ranches there are canneries, which
pack crab meat into cans for use dur¬
ing the winter. The ranches have
done much toward bringing the price
of soft-shell crabs down, although
often the price depends upon the
weather. Before the advent of crab
ranches the price of soft crabs ranged
from $1 to $1.50 a dozen, while now
often they can be bought for thirty
cents a dozen.
The ranches constitute an important
industry. In the neighborhood of
Crisfield, Md. , alone, more than 1,200
men are employed in the crab busi¬
ness, and from May to October their
catch will average 5,000,000 soft-shell
crabs. The value of the industry to
the fishermen is more than $100,000
annually. Deal Island is a rival of
Crisfield and ships about 50,000 soft
crabs weekly to Baltimore, which is
tbe distributing point. Very few of
the soft crab fishermen hunt for hard
crabs, for there is very little profit in
them. Baltimore is the distributing
point, but New York is the best cus¬
tomer.
Very little capital is needed to start
a crab ranch. The main trouble is
watching the crabs. The ranches are
situated along the water and a place
is made in the bank to form an artifi¬
cial bay. This bay is about three feet
deep and is shut off from the main
water by heavy wire netting. When
a man starts a ranch, which is early
in the spring, he catches a lot of
hard-shell crabs. These arc fed reg¬
ularly on meat, clams, oysters, etc.,
and great care is tak’en of them while
they are shedding their hard coats.
Each section of the bay has to be
visited every two hours, day and night
to take the soft crabs from among the
hard ones, and this is the most diffi¬
cult part of cultivating crabs. To get
the crabs, men wearing high boots
wade in among many thousand crabs,
sorting them over until all the soft
ones are picket out. If this work was
not done regularly every two hours
the hard crabs would eat the soft
ones. Sometimes the men will get
only half a dozen crabs, and two
hours later may go back and pick out
a hundred or two. Every day new
hard-shell crabs are caught and placed
in the ranch to wait their turn to be- •
come soft. At tbe end of the season
all the crab3 arc taken out of the
ranch, and, after being boiled, are
picked and sold to the canuers.
The value of the soft crab to the
epicure depends entirely upon the
shortness of the time which it has
been out of the hard-shell. The new
shells begin to grow at once, and
every hour thereafter detracts from
the soft crab’s value. When the crab
j s preparing to moult and its shell is
loosening it is known as a comer, a
. ] on g comer, or a short comer. When
n 8 shell has begun to crack it is
ca n e d a shedder stage it is a highly
pr i zec l by fishermen as bait. When
it has reached the shedder stage, if it
is not in a ranch, it seeks a shallow
inletor shore where there is plenty
> of graag> craw ] s out of its shell, and
rema j n3 i n fear and trembling. One
of its brethren in the enjoyment of a
^ard shell happening along would
p rom ptly devour it. This is what the
cra b ranches prevent.—New York
gun.
How He Made an Impression.
They sat at his favorite table in an
uptown rertauraut. Both were dressed
in tbe height of fashion.
The attention of the other guests m
the dining room had been attracted to
the couple by the evident anxiety of
the young man to make a favorable
impression on his fair compauiou. He
gave orders to the waiter with an air
D f self-styled superiority, and his tone
Q f TO ice was warrauted to reach the
ears G f all present,
As the courses progressed the time
{or serving desert came. The young
woman was heard to confess a weak¬
ness for huckleberry pie.
“Ah!” exclaimed the youth “so
funny,you know. I, too, am passion
ately fond of huckleberry pic. f
have it almost every day that I am
here. ”
“Isay, waiter,” he called at the
same time snapping his lingers above
the table. “Bring me two portions of
huckleberry pie.”
The waiter executed the order with
due haste, and as he sat the plates
upon the table the final act of the lit¬
tle drama that was being enjoyed by
the persons at other nearby tables be¬
gan. The young woman frowned,
then blushed, and leaning over com¬
plained to the young man in a stage
whisper that the powdered sugar had
been omitted.
“How stupid, ” he cried as he beck¬
oned the Waiter again, “Brooks,” he
said to that functionary, “what is it
that I always order with huckleberry
pie, and which you invariably for¬
get ? ”
“I know, sir,” replied tbe waiter
after a moment’s hesitation.
“Go at once then,” continued the
youth, “and bring it to Miss--.”
By this time several new arrivals
who had come in just in time to hear
the last part of the conversation
joined the rest of the audience in
watching the couple. Everybody
waited impatiently for the waiter’s re¬
turn.
In a few seconds ho came back hur¬
riedly, and walking to the young
woman's side laid beside her plate—a
knife!
The young man’s face was a study
in chromatics of high tints as he saw
the expression of suppressed laughter
about him. He hastily paid the bill
and left with his fair companion, who
showed by her countenance that he
had evidently made a lasting impres¬
sion.—New York Sun.
The (Heat Natural “Blow Hole.”
One of the great natural curiosities
of the world is tbe great “blow hole”
on the Australian coast near Ixlama,
New South Wales. It is situated in
the middle of a rocky headland run¬
ning out into the sea, forming a truly
wonderous sight, With each suc
cessive breaker the ocean spray is sent
shooting up into the air, sometimes as
high as from 300 to 4000 feet,descend¬
ing in a drenching shower,and accom
jjanied by a rumbling noise as of dis¬
tant thunder, which can be heard for
many miles around, This “blow
hole” is a singular and phenomenon,
and consists of a perpendicular hole,
nearly circular, with a diameter of
about ten yards across, and has the
appearance of being the crater of an
extinct volcano, This is connected
with the ocean by a cave about a hun¬
dred yards in length, the seaward
opening of which is in all respects
similar to St. Fingal’s cave, on the
west coast of Scotland, tbe same per¬
pendicular basaltic columns forming
tbe side walls of each. Into this cave
towering waves rush during stormy
weather, and, as the cave extends
some distance farther into the rock
than the “blow hole,”ou the entrance
of compressed air, which, when the
tension becomes too great, blows the
water with stupendous force up the
perpendicular opening.—New Orleans
Picayune.
An Ancient Sea Chest.
Mrs. Charles Stevens, of guilford,
Maine, has in her possession a sea
chest which was once the property of
her great-great-grandfather, Richard
Fassett, who £ft the age of 14 years
was cabin boy on the flag-ship of the
English fleet which under command
of Gen. Wolfe, and assisted by a large
land force,-.captured Quebec, Septem¬
ber, 1759. This makes it certain that
the chest is 136 years old, and no one
knows how much older.
Money Canned With Fruit.
Airs. W. B.# German of Elkhart,
Ind., died recently leaving a large es
tate. A search was made for money
believed to have been secreted about
the house by Airs. Garman, who was
noted for her eccentricite-'. The re
suit has been the finding of gold and
silver coin to the value of several
thousand dollars canned up in fruit,
It is believed that more buried treas
ure will be found.—New York World.
The State of Maine is worth $235,
978,716.
SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS.
It is said that steel containing 12 par
cen t c f manganese cannot be mag
netized.
Dropping a steel magnet, or vibtat
ing it in other ways, diminishes its
magnetism.
Decayed teeth can now be stopped
aluminum. A process has recently
been discovered.
Electric power is used for operating
exhibits in the now machinery hail on
the State Fair Grounds at Sprinfleld,
Ill.
For scientific purposes it is pro¬
posed to fly ten giant kites to the
height of two miles during every pos¬
sible phase of weather.
Trunk wires to connect London by
telephone with Edinburgh, Glasgow
and Dublin, have just been put up by
the English postoffice department.
The Western Union Telegraph Com¬
pany makes about $1,500,000 annnnly
furnishing “exact time” from its
naval observatory office in Washing¬
ton.
A telephone was recently installed
between Berlin and Potsdam by trot¬
ting cavalry. The distance is about
twenty miles and occupied four
hours.
Au experiment in reheating steel by
elecricity under the Bessemer process
was recently made at the Homestead,
Penn., Steel Works, The result was
most satisfactory.
Some scientists have been raensur
ing Bismarck’s bead and calculating
its contents. They find it very big
and lignre that bis braiu weighs 1867
grammes about one-third more than
the average.
Out of a thousand flowers 284 are
white, 226 are yellow, 220 are red,
141 are blue, 75 are violet, 36 are
green, 12 are orange, 4 are brown and
2 are black. White flowers become
proportionately more numerous as
one advances towards the north.
A steam dredger, claimed to be the
largest ever built in America, has just
been finished at Alameda, California.
It is one hundred and ton feet long,
fifty feet broad and ten feet deep.
The dredge bucket weighs five tons,
and will lift twelve tons of mud at
each scoop.
Aluminum wire is increasing in use
and if it continues to cheapen may be
the,wire of the future. Its electrical
conductivity is three times that of
iron and more than half as great as
copper, while tbe tensile strength is
one-third that of steel, and its resist¬
ance to corrosion phenomenal.
Professor Keeler, of the Allegheny
Observatory, has just published a
paper ou the rings of Saturn, in which
he demonstrates from spectrum analy¬
sis that the rings are neither solid
nor liquid, but are composed of a
host of small satellites, revolving
around the planet in circular orbits.
The same theory was mathematically
demonstrated by Clerke Maxwell in
1859.
Wool Production.
The principal wool exporting coun¬
tries are the Australian colonies, Ar¬
gentine Republic, Uruguay ami tbe
British possessions in Asia and Africa.
The Argentine Republic exports an¬
nually about 266,000,000,000 pounds,
and New South Wales about 200,000,
000 pounds. Tbe total product of the
United States is about 300,000,000
pounds, on the average, annually. In
1890 our production was 285,000.000
pounds, and we imported 126,000,000
pounds. In 1891 we produced 307
000,000 pounds. We produce about
70 per cent, of the wool we consume.
Thirty per cent is imported, and it
comes chiefly from Australia and
South America.
A Paradise for Prisoners.
A Portland lawyer, who has been
down to Cathlainet, Oregon, tells of
the courteous treatment the few jn-is
onei’s in the County Jail at the river
town receive at the hands of the au
thoriti* s. When the time came for
the restaurant or hotel men to make
their bids on furnishing food to jail
prisoners they refused to bid at all.
As they did not bid no one got the
contract, and when they have a pris
oner now they take him over to the
hotel and he gets his meals like any
respectable guest. — San Francisco
Chronicle.