Dade County news. (Trenton, Ga.) 1888-1889, June 15, 1888, Image 8

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GEORGIA'S REPORT 'OF CROPS, MADE BY THE AGRI CULTURAL DEPARTMENT. IOMETHING ABOUT COBN, OATS, SPANISH PEANUTS, FRUIT, ETC —A REMEDY FOR HOG CHOLERA —TIMELY SUGGESTIONS. Col. J. M. Henderson, the Corumis isionerof Agriculture for Georgia, has just made his June Report as follows: GENERAL REMARKS. The reports from correspondents are unusually full in number and in details lof crop conditions, and a careful reading | of “Notes from Correspondents” from 'nearly every county in the state, will jgive a very clear idea of the general condition of farm operations and crops. THE WEATHER. The drouth which set in after the heavy rains of March and the early part of April, was brought to a close by co pious rains which fell, varying in the dif ferent sections of the state, from the 12th to the 22d of May. The seasons contin ued good until June 1, many correspon dents complaining of too much rain, which interfered with the proper culti vation of crops. The temperature throughout the greater part of May, was rather too low for healthy development of the cotton plant, and this circuit, stance, together with the too abundan rains, has had a somewhat retarding <• feet on the crop. The seasons and ten perature on the first day of June wen all that could be desired in every sectioi of the state. The reports of conditio and prospects of the crops from Noil and Middle Georgia have rather gloomy tinge. In the lower three s> tions—Southwest, East and Middi Georgia—the prospects are genera! 1 very good, and in many cases even f! i tering. On the whole, the condition < crops has advanced since last report, an. the indications are favorable for goo yields, provided, the weather conditioi - continue good in the future. CORN. Stands of corn are good, except in ( low lands, where the bud worm and cm worm have been very destructive. Tin stalk is rather small for the season, but the color is good and the plants an healthy and vigorous and the fields in good state of cultivation. OATS AND WHEAT. The generous rains of the latter half o' May resulted iu a wonderful improve ment of the oat crop. In some eountie the yield is reported as the best sim 1882. The crop is better in Southw< -i Georgia than elsewhere, the yield of tb state at large will be 87, compared wit an average crop. Wheat lias been ser ousiy injured by rust, the extent of ii. jury from this source being 20 per cent The evil appears to be most serious it jNorth Georgia and Middle Georgia. COTTON. The condition of this crop on the first of the month was 61, compared with an average, which is 7 points lower than the reported condition, June 1, 1887. The stand is fairly good in every section, averaging 03, compared with a “perfect” stand. In this respect there is very lit tle difference iu the several sections. The stand being so nearly perfect, the case of the comparatively low condi tion is found in the fact that a large part of the crop failed to germinate at the proper time ou account of dry weather. Hence, although stands are now good, the plants are small and the crop is backward some ten days on an (average. Comparatively few complaints (Of lice or other insects have been received, jin view of the favorable weather since June 1, (now June 8,) the condition of .the cotton crop is not discouraging at this time. FRUIT. No change since May Ist, is reported in (the percentage of yield of peaches, pears, and grapes; but apples have declined (from 98 per cent, of a full crop, to 59. The repeated failures of the peach crop are having a discouraging effect on growers of this fruit. Is it not true that ithe proportion of good peach years has {grown much less in the last thiry years? If true, what is the cause? Climatic, Conditions- have undergone no change ■than is discoverable by the observation iof instruments. Can it be attributed to the more general planting of grafted and pudded trees than formerly? spANisrr peanuts. Tbis variety of peanuts is becoming -very popular with farmers. They mature so quickly that two crops may be pro duced on the same land, if desired, in one season, and some farmers are pleased with the plan of planting them in stub ble fields in June. It is one <-f the ( most promising acquisitions for years past. {EFFECT OF CROP REPORT PUBLICATIONS. A correspondent from Campbell county says: “I find that a great many think it works an injury to the farmer to place (before the speculator the condition cf the jcrop. Is it not a fact that such publica tion benefits the speculator more than the farmer?” In reply, it may be admitted that if information of the condition of .crops were given the speculators alone, they would have greatly the advantage jof the farmer. But such is not the case; nor, is it the purpose of those reports to give information to the speculator, or ’dealer in farm products. The primary •object is to inform the farmers them jselves. The dealers and speculators have their own machinery for gaining in formation of crop prospects, entirely in 'dependectent of official publications. It is to their interest to keep well postet •in regard to those prospects and if such (information were in their exclusive con trol they would use it to their own ad vantage, and withhold the facts from farmers except when it suited their in terests to communicate them. If no of fieal crop publications were made, it is (plain that farmers would be at a disad vantage. Speculators and dealers (would be posted, while the farmers would ibe in the dark. Such publications are ■in the interest of tiuth and fair dealing. Where the prospect yield of the wheat icrop or the cotton crop is as well known jto the producer is it is to the cotton or grain exchanges, prices will be necessa rily adjusted according to the law of ’supply and demand; and no advantage can be taken of ignorance—where all are equally informed. If official reports of; crop prospects should be abandoned.) then the producers would be compelled to rely for information on the speculators, and the latter will be presumed to use their knowledge for their own advan tage. INSPECTION OF FERTILIZERS. The same correspondent remarks that “There is also a great deal of dissatis faction about the way guano is placed upon the market. Please explain.” Our correspondent does not say in what respect the sale of guano is unsatisfac tory, or whether the complaint is against the manner in which the inspection law is executed, or the details of the law it self. An attempt to “explain” without a more definite knowledge of the ground of complaint, would not be likely to give satisfaction. The commissioner is aware shat the law is defective in some impor tant respects, but he can do no more than execute it as faithfully as possible with the means at his command. This he claims to have done, especially during the season just passed. Nearly two hundred thousand tons were personally inspected and samples taken by the six inspectors, and the tags applied to the bags under their personal direction, and generally in their immediate presence. The work amounted to nearly twenty eight hundred distinct inspections. Every car load of fertilizers entering tlie state for sale has been entered by an in spector in person, either at Augusta, Sa vannah or Toccoa, or at its final destina tion. Extraordinary diligence and care have been employed to prevent a single car load or bag of fertilizer from reach ing the hands of a farmer before being personally inspected by an inspector. The greatly increas d number of fer tilizer factories within the limits of the state, and the shipments entering the state at points where it was impractica ble to station an inspector, have required the whole time—almost day and night— of two of the six inspectors, during the season. The chemist has been • over whelmed with several thousands of sam ples. The commissioner is confident that the law as it is has been faithfully exe cuted. The commissioner has been in formed that some instances have occurred (towards the close of the season and where farmers were very urgent for the immediate delivery of their fertilizers) where agents have delivered fertilizers to farmers without giving the inspector time to reach the point of delivery. Several such cases, by direction of the commissioner, have been reported to the prosecuting officers of the circuits where the offenses occurred, to the end that the penalty of the law may be imposed. Farmers who receive uninspected or un tagged fertilizers have certainly no right; to complain. Every farmer—every good citizen—should feel in mity bound to discourage all such violations of law and to report the same to the commissioner,' or one of the inspectors. It has been the sincere desire and earnest purpose of the commissioner to protect the farmer and prevent imposition. The farmers themselves should co-operate with the commissioner and his inspectors in en forcing the law. He invites suggestions from them in regard to changes in the law or in the details of execution. BUCKWHEAT. In reply to an inquiry from J. W. Stroud, of Crawford county, the#Mlow ing information is given: Bu*; wheat (from buck-beech, and wheat), so-called from the resemblance in shape of the grain to that of the beechnut, and the uses to which it is applied, belqpgs to the Order Polygonacesc, and isCotani eally known as Fagopyrum escidentum. The grain is black or gray, three-angled, and about the size of common wheat. It will grow on even poor soils, and has long been used as a soil improver, but it gives better results on good land. Sandy soils are best, but it will grow on a great variety of soils. Potash is the dominant fertilizing element required, and hence, wood ashes are a valuable fertilizer for buckwheat, but any of the ordinary fertil izers, including stable manure, will do. Buckwheat is highly valued as a honey plant, although the honey from its flow ers is dark colored. When sown for (bees or for improving the soil, it should (be sown iu April; if for grain, August is the proper time to sow it in Georgia. It commences to bloom as soon as six inches high, and continues without intermis sion until killed by frost. When the grain is the object ,the crop should be mown when the greatest number of seed are ripe at one time. Cut it while the dew is on, with a grass blade or mower, and when dry thresh with flails, ■ or run through a spike thresher, and thorough ly dry the grain. Sow broad cast, if ithe land is pretty clean, at the rate of half bushel of seed per acre and cover with a harrow. Or, the seed may be sown in three feet drills, two quarts being suffi cient for an acre. Forty bushels per acre is not an uncommon yield. The grain is excellent ftr fowls of ail kinds and for hogs. It would doubtless be a good plan to sow stubble lands in buck wheat in June as a soil improver. Two crops may be turned in on the same land the same season, the second requiring no i seeding. HOG CHOLEKA. S. P. Odom asks for a remedy for hog icholera. There are several forms of the disease, popularly called hog cholera, land it may be safely said that no remedy (or cure has yet been discovered. Indi vidual animals have been known to re cover from an attrek, orat least, survive, and such recovery is attributed to reme dies employed, or the treatment given. But it is doubtful if in any case the dis ease has yielded to treatment. Careful and long-continued scientific in vestigations have been made, and the general result is, that it is practical ly useless to attempt to cure an animal that has been infected with the disease. The most economical and expedient course to pursue is to kill every hog in which the disease has manifested itself and will not yield to treatment; burn or (bury deeply the carcasses, and rely on preventing the spread of the plague by the use of disinfectants. If a specially val uable animal, should become affected, ]pt may be well to attempt its cure, but the sick should be at once widely sepa rated from the well. The following pre iscnption has been used with success: 2 .pounds flowers of sulphur, 2 pounds sul phate of iron (cooperas), 2 pounds mad tier, £ pound black antimony, j pound litrate of potash (sulphur), 2 ounces ai> tenic. Mix the above in 12 gallons of ifruel for 100 hogs, or give one pint loses to each daily. Give to both sick md well, where the latter have been ex posed. Not only should the sick be sep irated from the well animals, but each iach should be moved to new and clean quarters or pastures. Burn up the old beds, sprinkle walls and floors of sheds or styes with a solution of one pint of pure sarbolic acid to ten gallons of soft water. All discharges should be deeply buried, ir treated with a solution of one ounce of chloride of zinc to two gallons of wa fer. The person who attends the sick, should not have anything to do with the well hogs. All food and water should be clean and pure. If these directions ire faithfully followed the disease may be stayed in its progress and stamped out. Every farmer should see and in spect his hogs, as wed as all other ani ma's, every day, and act promptly on the very first appearance of disease. HOPE HAS FLED A bulletin at 9.30 on Tuesday morn ing says the difficulty in swallowing, which has troubled the Emperor Fred erick of Germany, recently, has in creased, and the taking of nourishment is becoming difficult. The Emperor feels weaker, and it is considered by the Emperor’s physicians that the disease has possible reached the oesophagus. The greatest anxiety prevails through some changes of the exact nature of which the doctors are uncertain. The carti lege of the cpigottis has become permea ble, allowing particles of food and liquids to enter the air tubes, the results being attacks of coughing and choking. The "doctors admit that the Emperor is in an almost hopeless condition. When the Emporor had partially overcome the difficulty in swallowing, he has such a distaste for food, that he refuses it. His patience is admirable. It is reported if Le does not improve, a regency will be appointed. SENSATIONAL ELOPEMENT. Great excitement prevails in Laurens, S. C., caused by the recent elopement of Rev. Joe Jone», brother of Sam Jones, (and Miss Bassie Farrow, of Cross An ichor, S. C. Mr. Jones met the lady last Summer, while conducting a series jof religious meetings at Laurens. The •mother of the young lady was very ’much opposed to the match, but on the 'other hand it was favored by her father. On one occasion, it is said, that Mr. Jones went to see his affianced, and was met by her mother who “shut the dooi', in his face,” and refused to admit him. It seems Mr. Jones became tired of such |obstacle3, and with the aid of friends,’ (secured the girl and ran away and mar ried her. The happy couple were ex jpected to leave ou the night train, but j unfortunately, the bride had left home in ;such haste that she neglected to carry her baggage, and therefore they were de tained The mother declines to give it up, and threatens to shoot the “first man who puts his foot inside of the door.” ;Mr. Jone 3 is about thirty years of age, land has for sometime past been preach -1 ing at Laureffs, 8. C. LOTTERY STOPPED. The Confederate Veteran Distribu tion Co. has been conducting daily lot tery drawings in Richmond, Va., under ■a charter granted by the Circuit Court of Richmond. On Saturday the office was! ’closed up and the parties managing it (arrested for carJC ng on a lottery in vio lation of the JUistitution of the state. The charter authorizes distributions, the proceeds from which, after deducting (dividends on the shares, and a fair com pensation to those conducting the pro ject, are to be distributed among the (Confederate Soldiers’ Home to indigent; |ex-Confederates and their widows. A .'somewhat similar scheme known as the Southern Association, which was char tered before the present state constitution was adopted, was started there shortly after the close of the War. Under its (distribution hundreds of thousands of dollars were distributed to ex-Confeder atis. A BOYS WORK. A great million-dollar fire in Buffalo on February 1, which destroyed the dry goods house of Barnes, Hengerer & Co., and seriously damaged other property, is explained. The firm reopened in a new locality, and among its employes is a cash boy named Andrew Howard, aged fourteen. Howard was arrested for a petty theft, and the detectives making the arrest suspected him of a knowledge of the fire. So they questioned him. How ard says he set fire to some paper in •the basement in a fit of anger because be was not excused from work to go to a funeral. Howard also admitted making two attempts to fire the present store of Barnes, Hengerer & Co. A FATHER’S FURY. Word has just been received of a terri ble tragedy which occurred in Hazle Green township, seventeen miles from Monticello, in lowa. An old man named Rothbacker, who was working in a stone quarry, undertook to whip his boy, a lad of twelve, but was prevented by a fellow-workman. In the evening the old man again tried to whip the boy, when he attempted to run. The father gave chase, and having captured him, knocked him down and cut his head off with an axe. An attempt will be made to lynch the father when captured. SUNDAY VIOLATORS. More than 150 wai rants were served in Cincinnati, Ohio, upon saloon keepers for selling liquors ou Sunday. So far the issuing of warrants and the giving of bonds are the only forms of punishment inflicted for the violations of the law, but the temperance men are going in for more vigorous measures. HE IS THROUGH. Thomas F. Siseman, probably the /largest retail liquor dealer in Holly Springs, Miss., closed his doors and placarded them: “Closed for good.” This is the resu’t of a successful revival which is conducted by Rev. George Inge at the Methodist church. AROUND TIIE GLOBE. :tems gleaned from tele- PHONE AND TELEGRAPH. INTERESTING DOTS ABOUT THE NORTH, EAST AND WEST —THE EUROPEAN SITU ATION DOINGS OF KINGS AND QUEENS. The strawberry crop around New Al bany, Indiana, is enormous. Locusts have appeared at Dubuque, lowa, in vast numbers in the last two days. The Alarm, an anarchist paper of the most pronounced type, has been started in New York City. Mrs. Sheridan, mother of Gen. Phil Sheridan, died at Somerset, Ohio, on Tuesday; aged eighty-seven years. The French government has consented to allow the Brouge factory to supply Russia with cannon and projectiles. Rev. James Freeman Clarke, a well known Unitarian divine, died on Satur day at his residence in Jamaica Plains, Mass., aged 78. The stables of the Montreal Street Railway, at Hochelaga, Canada, were burned on Saturday, and 134 horses were burned to death. The town of Norway, Mich., was al most destroyed by fire on Sunday. Thir ty buildings were wiped away, including the main business section. J. J. Mcßride, postmaster at Livings ton, Mon., left suddenly Sunday morn ing. It now transpires that he is a de faulter to the U. S. government. During a game of base ball at Sand wich, Mass., on Saturday, John Mc- Lanev, a short-stop, dropped dead of heart disease. He leaves a widow and one child. The seventeen year locusts appeared at Wheaton, 111., about two weeks ago, and have so rapidly increased in number that now they literally cover all kinds of ■bushes and trees. The citizens of Aberdeen, Dak., forci bly resisted the efforts of an electric mo jtor company to lay rails in the streets, (because the consent of property owners had not been obtained. The Board cf Aldermen of Boston, ’Mass., on Monday, by a vote of 7 to 4, refused to confirm the Mayor’s nomina tion of Edwin G. Walker, a well-known colored lawyer, as principal assessor. Locusts arc advancing in a compact ,mass twelve miles long by six in breadth in Algiers. A panic prevails in the prov ince of Constantine. The valley of Quelma has been devastated by locusts. Swarms of grasshoppers have appeared ,in Ottertail county, Minn., and several {large townships are alive with them. They are of the Rocky Mountain variety which did great damage some years ago. Robertson, a negro soldier at Fort :Shaw, Saturday night, had a row with a man near the fort over a sporting woman, and killed an innocent bystander. Fifty masked citizens from Sun River took the murderer out Monday night ;and lynched him. ... The Chamber of Deputies, of Italy, on Saturday, after an excited debate, al most unanimously rejected the Bishops’ petition to eliminate from the Penal Code bill the articles imposing penalties for abuses committed- by the clergy in the exercise of their functions. The Cham ber of Deputies agreed to abolish capital punishment. The strike of the brewery employes in Chicago. 111., was on Saturday declared off. All the strikers applied for work at the breweries where they had been form erly employed, and many .were taken back. The brewery owners promised not to demand their withdrawal from the union, and allowed them their wages for ten hours’ work per day. • j During the hearing before him on .Monday at Albany, N. Y., on the bill providing for repairs to the Assembly chamber ceiling, Gov. Hill took occasion to say that the whole capitol was a blun der and that he was willing to put it in the hands of either Capitol Commissioner Perry or Superintendent of Buildings Andrews, and allow either to complete it. The destruction caused by Saturday’s ; storm at Ottawa, Canada, is terrible and {widespread. Enormous damage was ■done to crops, shoots just peeping forth being literally blown out of the ground. Young apple orchards in nearly every lo cality in the district were destroyed. The loss cannot fall short of $300,000. Be sides three persons killed, a large number Were seriously injured. A brick school house in Osgood township was blown (down and twenty children were buried in the ruins. A terrible holacaust occurred in Low ell, Mass., on Sunday night. Shortly before midnight a tire broke out in the two-story tenement block at the corner of Rock and Willie streets, and spread {rapidly, practically gutting the building (before the fire department could make much headway against the angry flames. The building was occupied by two fami lies, nine persons iu all. bix of these effected their escape. Three were burned ,to death. Their names are Eugenia Val jlerand, aged 18 years, Peter Yallerand !age 8 years, Delia Vallerand, 5 years, j A dispatch from Ft. Yates, I)ak., says, several persons were killed in the great tempest., on Sunday, by lightning and flying debris. Those so far identified are Shell King, the celebrated Indian chief, and his son. A fanner living two miles south was found dead in his field. The building has 1 een completely wrecked, and it is supposed the man had been carried to the point where found bv the wind. Mattus Dambrowski, a girl of thirteen, living at the settlement, •six miles south, has uot been seen since the storm struck that point, and if is be lieved she was blown in the river aid drowned. The loss among the Indians jis severe, as hundreds of them had ev erything they had swept away by the ‘winds. ; GREAT OIL WELL. C. C. Harris drilled into an oil well an the Synder farm, in Henry township, Ohio, which filled an 800 barrel tank in three hours, at which rate the well will produce 6,400 barrels per day, making it the hugest oil well yet discovered in any field. , THE GERMAN ARMY. ITS GREAT STRENGTH AND PER FECT DISCIPLINE. The Pay and Armament of Ger man Soldiers Their Daily Duties—The Other Gieat Armies ot Europe. Berlin, and Germany itself for .vat matter, writes a correspondent of the New York Sun, reminds the stranger of a huge military barracks. There are soldiers everywhere, aud ev.ery man in the country, from the son of a monarch to the lowliest beggar, must serve in the army. From this there is no appeal. A million marks will not purchase immu nity from the service. It has made a stalwart, methodical, fine-looking and well-bred lot of men of the Germans. The army is the most common of all subjects of discussion here. There are several branches which fall under the nominal command of the lesser German Kings in time of peace, but the Emperor of Germany is absolute monarch when war breaks out. He is a good deal of a monarch at other times, too, one finds out after a short residence in Germany. I met an officer of the Saxon branch of the army last night whom I had known when he was in New York some years ago. “Em in the army for good and all, now.” lie said, with a shrug of his broad shoulders, “and recent events reconcile me to it.” “Aou think the general stirring up of the Government here will turn" out a benefit to military men?” “T think that the accession to power of a horn soldier and warrior like our Crown Prince will send the finest army in the world to the’front. Prince Will iam is ambitious and capable. With such a sovereign the chances of distinc tion in the army will be limitless. “It is well you look for distinction in stead of money in the army.” “Oh, there is no money in the service here. Our soldier receives—l will give the equivalent sum in United States money—about $1.16 for every ten days’ service, from which he has to pay the mess fifty-seven cents for ten days’ eat ing. A man can’t acquire a fortune with breathless rapidity at this rate unless he practices a good ileal of economy. The Government gives every man s, pound and a quarter of bread" a day, but the soldier must buy all nece-sary articles for cleaning his uniform. Everything in the way of linen, boots and clothing is sup plied by the nation.” “Have the arms been changed?” “The latest and most valuable inven tions are secured at any cost. Our pri vates now carry the ’B4 repeating rifle. The cannons are made by Krupp, of Es sen. The men are worked hard, but they seem to thrive on it. The average private has four hours’ work in the morn ing and about three hours in the after noon. In the evening he is taught to read and write, and is also instructed in matters pertaining to the army. The men clean the barracks and do ail the work about the building. Between sixty and eighty of them sleep in every dormitory now, but in the 1 newest bar racks only fifteen or twenty men will sleep in a room. A corporal commands and watches over them. They can only practice shooting when ordered to by the commanding officer. Every soldier carries about thirty cartridges.” “The discipline is very severe,” I said.. “Very,” said the Major. “It must he; for there are many insidious and re bellious spirits at work in Germfiny now, and the iron hand is the only one that commands respect. A soldier re ceives two days' imprisonment if he fails to salute an officer when he sees him. It has a tendency to cure absent-minded ness. Soldiers must be at home in bar racks at 10 o’clock p. vr., unless written consent to stay out later, signed by an officer; and finally, an officer cannot marry a girl who has a fortune of her own of loss than SIO,OOO. There are lots of restrictions in the life, but the officers and men love it nevertheless.” The number of soldiers who will be at the back of the coming Emperor of Germany is enough to keep Europe's eyes open. The future monarch is the idol of the army. He comes from the marriage of a Guelph aud a Hohenzol lern, just as Frederick the Great did, and he hates the English and the French. It will be a shrewd prophet who can tell what he will do when he finds him self at the nation’s head. The available force in Germany iu case of war may he roughly estimated as follows. Every German must serve; no substitution is allowed: Officers 35,000 Men in active service 1,500,000 The Bismarck addition 700,000 One-year volunteers and Landsturm division 1,150,000 Trained and active soldiers 3,385,000 Estimated number to be drawn from those not in active service. .2,900,000 Total available force of all classes 6,285.000 Iu addition the army has at its dis posal 312,731 horses and 2500 guns. Before I leave figures it may be of in terest to show the forces that this army may have to meet—or may make its al lies, according to the temper of sover eigns and the skill of diplomatists. The recent addition of 700,000 men to the German army lifts it to the head of the list, but there are mighty forces in Eu rope, and the next war will be a scene of awful slaughter, if the military experts are to be believed. The following fig ures give the trained and active war strength of four nations: Strength of Army. Population. Peace. War. I Infantry..*l4s,soo 2,200,000 Germany 41.000,000 -; Horse 81,000 312.131 (Guns 1,364 2,600 ( Infantry..29o,ooo 1,070,(.00 Austria 33,000,000H0r5e .... 52,0(0 205,000 (Guns 1,000 ',300 ( Infantry..7so,000 1,900,000 Russia 103,000,000-: Horse 130.000 465,0: 0 (Guns 1,300 2,500 (Infantry..slo,ooo 1,800,000 France 38,000,000 < Horse 125,000 325,000 (Guns 1,600 2,600 In an aggregate population of 100,- 000,000 in Russia, according to Dr. Bubnoff, there are only about 5000 medical men, while no working sanitary system can be said to exist in the empire. « In some districts the death-rate ranges from 60 to 80 per 1000, and in spite of a high birth-rate the population of the country is increasing only at the rate of 1 per cent. Carrageen, or Irish Moss. “Years ago the markets of the world were supplied with this farinaceous and gelatinous seaweed entirely from the coast of Ireland, hence it's name,” said a New A’ork druggist to a Sun reporter. “About twenty veais ago, however, the discovery was made that as good carra geen grew on the rocks along the Massa chusetts coast as ever ciung to those washed by the Irish surf; and now there are colonies of men at various points along that coast who make it their sole business to collect the moss and prepare it for market. The trade in Irish moss was formerly entirely confined to the grocers, and how it came to be one of the regular articles on sale in drug stores lam unable to say. It probably came about through the discovery of valuable medicinal qualities in the composition of the weed—iodine being one—and from the fact that it was found to be an ex cellent substitute for arrowroot, sago, and other farinaceous substances, in valuable in the sick room. Formerly carrageen was only utilized as a gelati nous article of food, and it did service only in the popular jellies and blanc mange of the table. Analysis finally re vealed that this toothsome, sea-flavored weed, tossed by the waves and seasoned by their salt, contained starch of the most excellent quality. This farnia is not only unexcelled for nutritive purposes, but a starch that surpasses all othei-3 for fine laundrying is extracted from the weed. “The trade in Irish moss from the Massachusetts coast is controlled by one or two Boston firms. The gatherers of the moss are mostly Irishmen. They start out in dories long before daylight, and a boat will frequently travel twenty mile? in the course of a day before it is filled with the succulent weed. The moss clings to the rocks tenaciously, and to detach it and drag it in the boats long handled, dredge-shaped, sharp-toothed iron rakes are used. When the moss gatherers return with their day’s collec tion it is sorted over, forthere are as many grades of the weed as there are of leaf tobacco. The whitest of the moss is selected for the starchmakers. When a load is sorted, the different kinds are spread on the beach, out of reach of the tide, to dry and bleach in the sun and wind. “This requires fiomten days to two weeks. The moss is then ready for the market, and is packed in barrels. The moss gatherers of the South Massachu setts coast are probably the only persons who live by the sea or its products who welcome ocean storms. The reason for that is that a storm brings money to their pockets, and saves them days of labor. After every storm at sea the coast will be thickly strewn for miles with Irish moss, which the violence of storm-torn waves has forced from its hold on the rocks, and which is swept the shore by the incoming surf.” Dynamite. Dynamite consi-ts of some porous ab soroent mineral saturated with nitro glycerine. Several substances have been tried as aborbents of the glycerine, but the most satisfactory is the kieseiguhr, an infusorial earth, composed of the silicious shells of extremely small veget able organisms, and it is of this that Nobel’s dynamite is made. It absorbs about three times its weight of the gly cerine, and resembles putty in appear ance. Thus, a given quantity will con tain 75 per cent, of the real exp’osive/and its blasting power compared with pure nitro-glyeerine is, of course, represented by the same ratio. In order to explode it, it is necessary to obtain the tempera ture of 360 degrees Fahrenheit. It freezes in the same way as glycerine, and when in this state must be carefully handled. Nitro-glyeerine has an ex pansive force ten times that of an equal weight of powder. It is highly danger ous to place dynamite on or near tire stoves, steam pipes or any highly heated metal. Dynamite must never be put into warm water to thaw it, as the water would free the nitro-glyeerine, when it is most dangerous. It ought always to be put into a water-tight vessel, and then have the vessel put into warm water. It should never be exposed to the di ect rays of a tropical sun. When loading it, a wooden lod or squeezer should be used to push home the cartridge, never a metal one, and the charge should gently and firmly be pushed down, and not rammed or pounded. Dynamite can be burnt with safety, and simply fizzes up harmlessly. It ex ercises its force in the direction of most resistance. —lndian Engineer. Misanthropic Wills. The Vienna papers publish the will of a half-pay Austrian officer, which has created considerable amusement. He leaves his fortune to his nephew, who has a situation in the postoftice, on con dition that he shall never, on any oc casion, indulge in his favorite occupa tion of reading newspapers. The old gentleman institutes three persons his trustees, whose duty it shall be to watch his luckless heir, and. in case of a single infringement of the will, dis poses of his property to other members of bis family. The said property con sists of two houses, money in the funds and a landed estate. Another curious will story comes tc hand from the sister capital—Berlin. A poor citizen of the big town on the Spree was recently left some 100,0(U! marks. Thinking none of his friends worthy of it, he at last determined to leave it to a bitter enemy, who had a large family and no money cxcep: his daily earnings. He made his vill to that effect; he made it a con ‘ion, however, that the heir should ...ways wear thin white linen clothes and no ex tra underclothing. Should that con dition be violated even once the money goes to the hospitals.— Stephen's Eeeie.o Marriage of Two Midgets. A notable wedding occurred at Liver more, Ky., some weeks ago. Mr. G. A. Algood, of Owensboro, Ky., who is only four feet in height, was married to Miss Minnie Dewitt, of Livia, Kv., who is several inches shorter in stature. Mr. Algood is one of the substantial men ol the county, and has been Assessor of Davies County for twelve years past. Miss Dewitt is twenty-three years of age and is a beauty in miniature. Hei many accomplishments have rendered her a rare favorite in society, in which she has filled a conspicuous place. A grand reception has been given Mr. and Mrs. Algood,