OLLA PODRIDA.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 870, 2 November 1888, Page 6

OLLA PODRIDA.

THE PLANTING OF TREESWalter Scott, in ‘Heart of Midlothian,’ says :—‘Jack, when ye hae nothing else to do, ye may be aye stickin’ in a tree ; it will be growing, Jack, when you’re asleeping.’ The American people are just learning this lesson. The first Arbor day was Sbt apart in Nebraska in 1871. In one day 12,000,000 of trees were planted. The next year it became a legal holiday. Nearly one million acres have already been planted under the new impulse. Nearly seven hundred million trees are growing that but for Arbor day would not have been planted. Benefactors are of many olasses, but it is doubtful if any one more generously affeots the world than the tree-planter. Apple-Seed Smith was a noted Ohio character of early times, who always carried a bag of apple seeds with him, which he planted when he could, and gave to others to be planted. He is grate, fully remembered. Tree-planting should grow to be a national passion,—St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

THE GOOD OF WEALTH. Three notable gifts have recently been made to the citizens of New York by as many public-spirited men, D. 0. Mills, the well-known capitalist, who acquired a large fortune in California and subsequently added to it in the metropolis has built and endowed a school for male nurses. George W. Vanderbilt has given to the public a noble building, handsomely furnished and generously provided with good books for a free, circulating -library; and Edwin Booth has given a fine, spacious house, completely fitted, not only with furniture, but with a valuable dramatic library and picture gal. lery, to the actors of the country, situated in Grameroy Park, adjoining the residence of the late Mr Tilden. Mayor ..Hewitt, speaking at the dedication of the School for Nurses, saifl that ‘ in this conntry it is not difficult to accumulate wealth, but it is not easy to make a wise use of it,’ and Mr Depew, on the same occasion, declared that ‘the man who accumulates and hoards wealth without either circulating it or apportioning some of it for the general good of his fellow-men is a curse to the community.’ -These ideas are not at all new, but it iB well that men of snoh established worth and representative character as Mr Hewitt and Mr Depew should newly formulate them. It is the universal experience of men of generous feeling that the greatest benefit which it is in the power of money to bestow is that which results from the wise giving of it to others, from the helping many or the few. If that man who makes two blades of grass grow where previously only one grew is a better citizen, what shall be said in commendation of him that builds a church, or endows a hospital, a school or library ? No one can measnre the good that may possibly result from the establishment of either of these things, as they have in them the elements of making useful men. It is the moat foolish of all mistakes to decry the value of money; there are few other things so valuable if wisely used. It is the abuse, not the use of it, which depreciates it.—Philadelphia Ledger. THE VALUE OF AN IRISH ESTATE. - At the City of London Auction Mart recently, Messrs Dowsett and Co., acting for the trustees under the will of the late Earl of Cavan, put up for sale the Tanatanavally estate, in the Island of Achil, County Mayo, comprising 2068 acres of freehold land, with residence, &c.' There was a largo company present, including many merchants, stockbrokers, &c. The auctioneer enlarged upon the merits of the property. It possessed, he said, remarkable qualities of sport, and men"flf enterprise and pluck, who did not

mind roughing it, and to whom a sentiment of danger—(laughter)—fancied or actual (great laughter)—was an attraction—(roars of laughter)—would find in the purchase of tha Tanatanatavally estate a desirable venture. At this point, a gentleman in the body of the hall rose and asked if there was no danger to be apprehended from an armed Mayo peasant ready with his gun behind a fence to shoot down the Saxon purchaser of this desirable property. No doubt, he continued, this romantically-situated island would furnish healthful and profitable recreation to a Burnaby, a Livingstone, or a Franklin. The auctioneer took no notice of this interruption, and gravely proceeded with his eulogy. The fortunate purchaser •would, he said, find himself surrounded by a devoted and attached peasantry—(laughter, and a voice, ‘To shoot him at the earliest opportnuity ’) —if he presented the 243 acreß leased to the 47 tenants absolutely to them (laughter)—with free conveyance—(great laughter) —which he could easily do at little legal expense by having the conveyance printed. (Laughter.) At this point, it occurred to a would-be bidder to ask how much rent the tenants owed, to which the auctioneer promptly, "• amid a storm of laughter, replied 'Three years.’ Then the bidding commenced, and the npset price of £6OO was gradually run up at £630, at which figure the 2068 acres, residence, and all, were knocked down to the bidder, the auctioneer remarking that, considering the many attractions the estate possessed—the fishing, the shooting—( ‘ Landlords,’ and laughter)-—and the yachting, it had been practically given away.

A RAILWAY CATECHISM:. How many miles of railway in the United States 3 One hundred and fifty thousand six hundred miles, about half the mileage of the world.

How much have they cost ? Nine billion dollars.

How many people are employed by them ? More than one million. Who built the first locomotive in the United States ? Peter Cooper. How long does a steel rail last with average wear ? About eighteen years. What is the cost of a palace sleeping-car ? About fifteen thousand dollars, or seventeen thousand dollars if * vestibuled.’ What is the cost- of a high-class eightwheel passenger locomotive ? About eight thousand five hundred dollars. What is the longest American railway tunnel? Hoosac Tunnel, on the Fitchburg Railway, four and three-quarter miles. What is the highest railroad in the United States ? Denver and Rio Grande, Marshall Pass, 10,852 feet. What is the highest railroad bridge in the United States ? Kinzua Viaduct, on the Erie Road, 305 feet high. What is the longest railway bridge span in the United States ! Cantilever span in Poughkeepsie Bridge, 548 feet. What is the longest mileage operated by a single system ? Atchison, Topeka and Santa F 6 system, about eight thousand mileß. What line of railway extends farthest east and west ? Canadian Pacific Railway, running from Quebec to the Pacific Ocean.

What road carries the largest number of passengers ? Manhattan Elevated Railroad, New York, 525,000 a day, or 191,625,000 yearly. What is the fastest time made by a train? Ninety-two miles in ninety-three minutes, one mile being made in forty-six seconds, on the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. What is the fastest time made between Jersey City and San Francisco? Three days, seven hours, thirty-nine minutes apd sixteen seconds. Special theatrical train, 1886.

What are the chances of fatal accident in railway travel? One killed in 10,000,000. Statistics show more are killed by falling out of windows than iu railway accident.—N.Y. Mail and Express. SCIENTIFIC AND USEFULWhiting, dry or wet, will give to glass a fine polish. Two houses are being erected at Parkersburg, Penn., which will have paper walls, paper partitions and paper roofs. Dr Reiser propounds the idea that seasickness can be regulated by a system of breathing. One must sit still and breathe regularly and freely according to a fixed schedule.

The ‘telephone disease’ has been discovered by Professor Wilborstadt of Berlin. The use of the instrument produces disorder in the vibratory chambers of the ear, generally in the left ear. A company has. been formed in London with a capital of 2,500,000d015., for the manufactureof aluminium, sodium and potas. sinm. It has acquired, all the best patents for the purpose. It is just as necessary to keep salt from absorbing bad odours as cream. A sack of best salt standing where theref* is a smell of fish or any objectionable odour, will absorb the flavour. A writer in the American Machinist recommends relieving leather bolts from strain,when they are .not in use, and asserts that a belt thus used will be in good condition when one constantly strained shall be worn out.

The fact that 8,125 patents were issued by the United States patent office during twenty-two weeks of this year is proof sufficient of the wonderful versatility of the inventive talent of that country. In productions it cannot be equalled abroad. Bat how many of these 8,125 inventions will prove of practical use to the world ? In Carlisle, England, tall factory chimneys are being utilised as sewer-ventilators with good results, twenty-nine now being used. The velocity of the rising air has been measured by Surveyor Mekie and it is found to be 1,202 feet a minute in ordinary weather. The owners of the factory make no objection to this use of their chimneys, and the practice seems to meet with general approval. PROFESSOR. GRAY’S INVENTION.

Professor Elisha Gray, of Highland Park,, 111., has obtained letters patent, dated July 31, 1888, for a combination of instruments; called the teletaugraph, consisting of a transmitter and a receiver, and designed for transmitting messages by wire between distant points by the sender in his own handwriting, thus doing away with skilled operators. The invention is based on the discovery of a new principle in controlling the electrical current, whereby a pulsatory current is produced, all previous attempts to transmit handwriting having been based on the use of a variable current.

CHANGE OF HABIT IN ANIMALS. A correspondent of the Field writes : ‘ Amongst other changes of habit known to naturalists are those of a bird and a bat, existing oddly, on opposite aides of the same ‘ Boca ’ at Trinidad. The story is not a new one ; but personal experience is oiten interesting. though it may reveal nothing absolutely new. On one side of this ‘Boca ’ is a cave, which the sea sweeps freely, only to be entered by getting a crafty negro to * ride the swell’ with you in his dug-out canoe. Once within you have to wait until your eyes become accustomed to the half-light, after the glare outside, and then you will ,gradually become aware, a 3 your eye follows along the rock-ledges,. that there are birds sitting upon them so- marvellously resembling the colour of the stone (even to the white spots imitating the quartz crystal em. bedded in it), that it takes some time for a tolerably keen eye to make them out. These imitative quartz crystals on the bircl are well shown in the plate of the guaoharo in Duncan’s edition of ‘Cassell’s Natural History,’ though the general plumage is represented as darker than that of the specimens I obtained. The cave haunting birds were Humboldt’s guacharo (pronounced in those parts * watchelo ’), that strange bird which, has been fitted in the most perfect manner, by long ages of practioe, for catching bi-noo. turnal moths. Being so fitted, what does he do ? Gosb to the mainland at night and gorges himself with palm-fruits ! A change of habit which apparently would tend more

to the diminution than increase of his race ; for his offspring wax fat, and are boiled down in consequence a result which would hardly have followed had he stuck to his moths. Od the opposite side of the strait or Boca, another cavern (also to be approached, only by boat), which is the roosting-place of a colony of large bats, with wings and teeth perfectly fitted for insectivorous feeding. What do they do ? Give up inseot-hnnting and go a-fishing. They came out in the gloaming, and fluttered and splashed on the top of the water, and somehow or another caught tiny fish. I floated about many a hot evening to see how it was done; but, though I was close to them—close enough to be nauseated by their detestable scent —I could never quite make up my mind-on the subject. On the whole, I was inclined to accept the native idea that they sooop them off the surface with the inter-femoral membrane. However it was done, they certainly did oatoh fish and eat them ; for I found fish-soales and bones in their stomachs, and had microscopical slides prepared to prove it.’ POISONS AND ANTIDOTES. The following brief summary of the most rational and simple antidotes to the commoner forms of poison in daily use by artists and artisans has been compiled for the American Analyst by Dr Francis Wyatt, and it will be seen that he has suggested the most appropriate to be applied in any emergency, pending the arrival or in the total absenoe of a skilled medioal practitioner : Poisons. Antidotes. 1. Acid—Carbolic, suT- "White of egg well phuric, nitric, muriatic, beaten up with water. A nitro-muriatic, creosote, teaspoonful of mustard iodine, phosphorus. flour in a cup of hot water. Very thick lime water—(in case of sulphuric, nitric, muriatic or nitro-muriatic acids). 2. Chromic acid, cliro- Abundance of white of mates, all preparations or egg in water. A teacompounds of chromium, spoonful of mustard antimony, copper, mer- flour in water. Copious cury, or zinc. draughts of an infusion of salt herbs. 3. Ammonia, soda, Strong vinogar and potash, alkaline, silicates. water. Large doses of and sulphates. oil. Large doses of milk. i. Prussic acid and its Continuous and heavy salts, all cyanides and. douches of ice - cold sulpho-cyanides, oil of water over the head and bitter almonds, and nitrOT spinal column. Mustard benzine. plasters on the stomach and soles of the feet. Prevent sleep.' 5. Ether, petroleum. Plenty of mustard benzine, fruit essence, flour in large quantity of concentrated or absolute hot water. Cold water alcohol. douches. Fresh air. Prevent sleep absolutely. 6. Compounds of baryta A teaspoonful of musand lead. tard flour in warm water. , Strong solutions of Epsom salts and Glauber’s salts in cold water. 7. Compounds of ar- A teaspoonful of masgenic. tard flour in warm water. A teaspoonful of dialysed iron mixed with the same quantity of calcined mag-' ms La every five minutes for one hour. Then plenty of oil, or milk, or some mucilaginous tea—say liuseed. S- Oxalic acid and its Very thick paste of sa lt s . lime and water by large spoonfuls at the time. After several of these, • large draughts of lime water. Finally, 4 ounces of castor oil. 9. Nitrate of silver. Large doses of ordinary kitchen salt dissolved in. water, after which one teaspoonful of mustard flour in warm water. 10. Nitrous fumes of Frequent and small vapours, arising in vitriol doses of strong acetic or chemical works. acid —the stronger the better. THE DIET OF DIFFERENT PEOPLES. The vagaries of the appetite are far beyond the explanatory science of physiology. What ■we call tolerance in medicine is in itself a mystery- We cannot tell why this thing agrees with this individual and at the same time utterly destroys his brother. The trite old saying that one man's meat is another man’s poison must be accepted empirically. Still less can we account for tbe variations.of taste. Why one man's gustatory nerve should respond agreeably to salt, while another repels it with violence, we cannot understand. Doubtless, education has most to do with it, and yet the manner in which education operates continues a mystery. The preference of the .Chinese for food that seems to pur appetites absolutely disgusting is well-known. In Canton, rats sell for fifty cents a dozen, and dogs’ hind quarters command a higher price than lamb or mutton. Fancy, eating birds’ neats worth 30dols. a pound ? This is what a mandarin revels in. The French baVe beguiled us into eating frogs’legs, which were once tabooed in this country, and we have even coma to esteem diseased goose'liver in the form of pkt 6 de foie gras. The writer hae met Brazilians who rave over boa constrictor stakes, and count monkeys and parrots a very good meal. In the West Indies, baked Bnake is a common dish, as the reptiles abound, and it is a good way of getting rid of them. But when it comes to frying palm worms in fat, one would think the stomach would rebel. It is not so, however, though by a strange inconsistency, Btewed rabbit is looked upon with disgust.On ; the Pacific coast the Digger Indians eat dried locusts, and in the Argentine Republic skunk flesh is a dainty. Our own favourite bivalve, the oyster, is very disgusting to a Turk, while the Devil fish, eaten in Corsica, is equally so to us. we cannot, understand, either, how the inhabitants of the West Indies and the Pacino coast can eat lizards’ eggs with a relish ; still less, how the eggs of the turtle and alligator can become a favdurite article of diet. The Brazilians eat ants, probably to get rid of them, for they literally infest the country, and are of on enormous size. It is easy to pick up a handful of ants almost anywhere, though the wary do not go about it in this way, as the pestiferous insect bites in a moat vicious manner. A curry of ants eggs is a great delicacy in Siam, and the Cingalese eat the bees whoße honey they have stolen. The Chinese, who seem to have stomachs like the ostrich eat the chrysalis of the silk worn

after unwinding the. cocoon.- _ Spiders are: used in New Caledonia as a kind of dessert, while caterpillars are also relished by the African Bushmen. Philadelphia Medical Register. A PACIFIC OCEAN CABLE. Probabilities, says the New York Electrical Review, point to a new cable line across tbe Pacific. Mr Matthew H. Gray, a wellknown engineer, has recently spent some time in Chicago with bis friend, Dr. G. R. Gbiselin, and is quite enthusiastic on the subjeot. Mr Gray is the representative of the Silvertown Submarine Cable Company of London, and it now seems certain that the cable ‘will be laid. It will run from Vancouver to some Australian port, and coat from three to four million pounds sterling—--15,000,000 to 20,000,000 dols. The Canadian Government is interested, and a boom has sprouted in Vancouver property iu anticipation of the happy results foreshadowed. HER SECRET OF HAPPINESS. * Always thinking wlmt I oould do to make me happy.’ What.a revelation that was to me. We women had often wondered among ourselves what was the secret of Maidie’a strong influence over her husband. He was a man of powerful intelleot, cultured and refined, sought after alike by society people and literati. She was quiet, domestic, somewhat shy, possessed of no marked literary or artistic tastes, and had rather the effect of beauty than of beauty itself. Yet the twain were inseparable, a stimulating domestic type in the middle of a somewhat worldly ooterie. No pleasure Beemed perfect to Glenn unless Maidie shared it; no entertainment complete'deprived of her presence. It is the tender woman who is the strong woman ; who binds the hearts of husband, children and friends to her by ties that cannot be broken ; who is helped in weakness, inspired in failure, a sure support in the darkness of adversity, tolerant of everything but sin. CURIOUS DOINGS OF LIGHTNING. A telegram from Crescoville, Pa., says : ‘During the thunderstorm that visited this region Juiy 9, a maple tree in front of Miner Cresco’s residence was struck by lightning. Tbe only damage done to the tree was the splinteriug of a piece out of the trunk, midway between the ground and the lower branches. After the storm was over, Mr. Creeco went out to look at the tree. On the ground at the foot of it lay an immense black snake dead, and holding in its mouth a young robin. There was a robin’s nest in the tree, and it was known to have had three young ones in it. As the tree had been struck by lightning, it was supposed that they had been killed. A boy went up the tree and found two young robins in the nest, alive and lively. It is supposed that the black snake had olimbed the tree and robbed the nest of one of the newly-hatahed birds, and was descending the trunk as it was struck by lightning and killed witfi its prey in its mouth. The lightning thus , avenged the robin.’ A despatch from El "Paso, Texas, says :— ‘ On the night of July 4, this city and vicinity was visited by a thunderstorm which, in the amount of electricity discharged, was unprecedented in this section. One of the peculiar manifestations of the lightning was the striking of a tree under which a flock of goats had taken shelter. Fifty-two of the animals were killed, but only a slight traoe of the lightning could -be noticed on the tree.’ A SAVAGE PREJUDICE. Surgeon-Major E. Lawrie, in his repoit on medical administration in the dominions of the Nizam, during 1887, gives a curious instance of the strength, of the prejndiae against amputation of a limb which survive* among semi-civilised people. A native was severely bitten in the foot by a tiger, and after an attempt to save the foot had been made, tbe patient consented to amputation, but his friends objected that he would be of no use without a foot, and that they would rather he should die. ‘As the patient was old enough,’ writes Dr Lawrie, * to judge for himself, I turned the friends out of the hospital and took the foot off. 1 They returned, armed’to the teeth, after the operation was completed, and, if it had not been for a very strong guard, would certainly have attacked us. Being foiled in. this, they entirely deserted the man, whose foot had been amputated. We were obliged to keep him in the hospital for months, as he could get no food outside, and if his Highness the Nizam had not taken him into his service he would have been there still, or died of starvation.’—British Medical.

The wearing of false hair was introduced into England from France in 1572. The practice was introduced into the latter country from Italy, where it originated. The World says :—The Btory in circulation about Princess Christian becoming a Roman Catholic is so ridiculously untrue, it seems hardly worth noticing ; yet such rumours go abroad, and are largely credited, and ultimately accepted as faots. The Princess is one of the strongest of Protestants, a devoted adherent of the . National Gnurch, and one of its most earnest and tried friends. Not one of the Royal Family is more interested in all the work appertaining to the Church, and she is practical and zealous in her assistance. In the East End of Lenion Bhe is always known as ‘our Princess,’ and her frequent public visits there cn occasions of ceremonial, when she goes to open bazaars or inaugurate any work in which she takes an interest, have made her appearance familiar to the poorer classes in Whitechapel and Bethnal Green. But where she is best known and beloved is at the London Hospital, where she goes regularly when in Eng. land to visit the waids and : read to the patients; and her kind smile and gentle voice have soothed many a sufferer, independently of the more practical help with which she follows up the fortunes of those who on leaviug the hospital need assistance. To clear a room of mosquitoes, take a small piece of gum camphor in a tin vessel and evaporate it over a flame, taking care it does not ignite. A sponge dipped in camphorated spirits and made fast to the top of tha bedstead will bo found serviceable in the sleeping room. Decootion of pennyroyal, applied to the exposed parts, will effectually keep

off these troublesome insects.—American Pharmacist.