Varieties.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 357, 12 March 1903, Page 2

Varieties.

A BLACK COUNTRY COBBLES. SfMpS COBBLER with a neat little shop in the Black Country is fully sh£2b£ alive to the advantages of advertising. The gods jave made. him poetical, and he carries on his occupation of cobbling in full view of his customers. He calls his shop the * Star Emporium,' and printed on a large piece of cardboard is the following effusion:— There is a Star that's knows to Fame, * And boots and shoes are soled at same, Where men are 'hoaled,' and none may feel The dread of beißg «down at heel' j Where ladies bring their worn out 'kids' And save in footwear several quids ; Where clever hands make skilful jobs, And gentlemen are pleased with ' snobs.' We sew to reap, we work to heel,' And make your ' understandings' real! THE AMERICAN OCTOPUS. The great American Steel Combine, being opposed in its desire to retire some jG40.000.000 of its preferred stock and issuo instead bonds to the amount of .£50.000,000. has b?en obliged to publish a full statement of its affairs. From this it appears that during the first year of its existency, which was completed on April 1,1902 the net profits of"the combine were £17,205,070. Its total assets reached? the staggering figure of £280,058,200, apart from goodwill and the value of the parentsit owns or controls. The profits for May of this year were £2,624,000 j for June they were estimated at £2,450,000. Meßßrs. J. Pierpont Morgan and Company's Commission for undertaking the proposed conversion is £2,000,000. The iron and Bessemer ore properties belonging to the combine are valued at £l4O, 000,000. It also owns 54.269 acres of coking coal, 33.820 acres of steam coal, 400 producing mills, 1,467 miles of railway, 23,185 freight and other cars, 428 locomotives, and 112 Bhips. Such u procession of figures is enough to take one's breath away. NATURAL LIGHTNING CONDUCTORS. Although, as most people know, it is not safe to stand under trees during a storm, it is interesting to learn which trees are the most to be avoided. An ancient Swiss proverb advises people to avoid the oak, and to fly from the fir, and to seek the beech tree, which is safe. A short tim j

ago a special inquiry was made in Canton, Lucerne, to find out if there was/ any truth in the Baying. Statistics shewed that out of eighty trees struck by, lightning in a forest district, fifty-six were oaks, twenty.four fira and. larches, but though there were seventeen beeches not a single one suffered. It would be interesting to know what peculiar quality gives the beech this immunity. LI HUNG CHANG AS A GHINEBE

GOD. The Governor of Shan-Tung (says the 'North China Herald'), in obedience, doubtless, to the Imperial commands, is now erecting a temple in China to the memory and for the worship of Li Hung Chang. Were the Imperial commands strictly obeyed, and worship everywhere paid to each of the worthiaa whom the puissant maker of the gods appoints to divine honours, the Chinaman would be aa religious (or superstitious) as the ancient Athenians. Fortunately for his temporal interests, however, the average man pays but little attention to these 'new gods lately sprung up,' and restricts his devotions to a few, who for ages have had the reputation, at least, of making themselves useful. Even with regard to soma of these, especially the God of War, it seems? as if it were fully time to act on the advice of Menciua, to remove the incompetents and appoint others in their place. One of the amusing things about this 'jobs pidgin' is the pertinacity with which the Chinaman contends for the function of divinity appointments aa a prerogative of the Dragon Throne. LADIES DAY. At Norbastedt, Bear Meldorf, in Schleswig, a most unique triennial festival takes place, and then ' mere man' takes what many advance (and usually angular) females consider to' be his natural place in society. The *Dagbladet,' of Copenhagen, gives the following account of this singular observance: —Some time in the thirteenth century brigands raided the village, and killed most of the men, when the good wives rallied to their husbands, beat off the maurauders, and hanged the chief With their own hands. Every three years during the intervening six centuries there has been a commemorative festival on St. | John's Day, the women receiving homage j and obedience from the men. They hang a symbolic slipper from the ceiling to in- | dicate their sway. On June 25th man resumes his dominion. ■ '

PINEAPPLES BY THE MILLION. Although the trade in pineapples in the United Kingdom has considerably increased within the last ten years, the business is still very much smaller than that done in the United States. The fruit comes from several localities, but Cuba is the principal producer. The crop in that island this year is estimated at nearly 200,000 barrels, or a total of about 14 000 000 pines. Florida is expected to famish about half that number, and the Bahamas about 3,000,000, making a total of nearly 25,000,000 pinea I for the United States' markets. The present season is said to be only a fair one for pineapples in Cuba. One vessel recently transported 24,000 barrels and crates, which seems to be the season's record, and others have brought as high as 20,000, the highest total being considerably over 1,000,000 pines. Unpacking thb Pinbs. ;

The barrels and crates containing the pineapples are unloaded from the vessel direct to the dockand are hand-trncked to available places and piled np. A cargo of 20,000 packages taken out of one steamer made a bulk on the dock ' nearly as high as a house,' and covered a broad area. The scene at the dock when a pineapple cargo is being handled is* a busy and interesting one. Tier on tier of barrels, pierced with auger-holes to insure ventilation of the contents, rises pyramidally beside fully as high an aggregation of flat, open crates. In the latter each pine is wrapped, in Florida-orange fashion, in sto-it paper of various colours, The fruit is graded according io size, the quality being about uniform throughout, although somo specimens are riper and therefore more luscious, if not more joicy, than others, The crates contain fortytwo, thirty-six, or twenty-four pines each j the barrels from sixty to a hundred or more, the average being about seventy. The dockmen, white and black, attack the big piles skilfully, and load the trucks, which arrive and depart steadily and swiftly, until the huge cargo, in a few hours, melts away from the dock and is scattered to many destinations. Sometimes the wrenching away of a barrel from the foot of a pile starts a movement all up the front and a small avalanche of barrels rushes down. Occasionally a crate breaks open more or less accidentally, and then, if the fruit happens to be a littlo damaged, a feast is in order, which is specially enjoyed by the coloured workers.

Pineapple Plants. The pineapple plants of Cuba are only two or three feet high. They are grown in rows a short distance apart, and aseach plant heart) only one pine "in a season vast tracts have to be utilised in the production of a good-sized crop. The plant is a bearer for only three seasons, so that the plantations have to be frequently renewed. Tbe plants are propagated by means ot slips and shoots. As the hot sun is injurious to the young plants, banana i tress are set throughout the field to provide the necessary shade. The fruit has to be handled cautiously by those who cut it from the plant. TO ELECTROCUTE FLIES

An inventor has just patented an apparatus for killing flies by olectricity. It looks somewhat like a gridiron, placed vertically, with a horizontal shelf hanging beneath. The gridiron is composed, of wires which are connected with an electric battery, and the wires are so close together that a fit alighting can hardly fail to stand upon at least two of them at once. The wires being alternatively negative and positive the insect, by the mere act of alighting, upon the machine, completes a circuit and is instantly killed. At intervals the horizontal shelf may be removed and the dead flies brushed off.