HERE AND THERE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3035, 15 May 1912, Page 77

HERE AND THERE.

—Tobacco-growing in Canada. —

Canada raises a great deal of the tobacco which is consumed in the country. The industry is of recent origin, and its progress has been greatly forwarded by the work of the tobacco division of the Government Experimental Farms, which has helped the growers in selecting and testing the righ kinds of seed, and also by practical demonstrations of the best processes of curing the leaf. Canadian tobacco manufacturers compete eagerly now for all the tobacco that is grown. The improvement of the quality may be imagined when it is stated that some 15 years ago samples of the tobacco then grown by the Quebec farmer for his own use, upon being submitted to several of the leading tobacco manufacturers in the United Kingdom, was pronounced to be of a quality quite unfit for their purpose; that in their opinion a use for it might be found foT fumigation purposes, as an insecticide for greenhouses; and that its commercial value was about Id per lb. Tobacco ie at present raised almost entirely in Quebec and Ontario. The total crop last year was 20,000,0001 b, two-thirds of the whole crop being raised in the latter province. The yield averages 15001 b per acre in normal years, and if well cured commands from 6d to 7£d per lb for "bindens," and from 4d to for pipe tobacco. Tobacco is one of the most paying crops. It is generally grown in areas of one to four acres, especially in the fruitgrowing districts of Ontario and Quebec, where it forms a. useful adjunct to fruitgrowing. Recent experiments in Nova Scotia demonstrate that the Annapolis Valley, the pick of Nova Scotia's orchard area, is highly adapted by soil and climatic conditions for the growth of tobacco.

—Costliest Apartments in the World.— A house with a rental value of £60,000 a year has just been erected in the exclusive society quarters of Fifth avenue, near Mr Andrew Carnegie's mansion, and it is believed to be the most expensive residential building in the world (says the New York correspondent of the Daily Express). It is an apartment house, the first one to be built in the upper Fifth avenue district, facing Central Park, and the enormous rental will be borne bv 18 tenants, all the buildinw will house. Each room in the house \AU average £204 a year rent. The building has only just been finished, but nearly all the apartments have been taken. Among the tenants are Levi P. Murton. ex-Vice-president of the United States, United States Senator Eoot, and United States Senator Guggenheim. Only millionaires will be able to afford the luxury of living in the apartments. Senator Root pavs the highest rental—£sooo a year. The building is divided into simplex and duplex apartments, the former being, apartments of one floor only, and the latter occuying two floors connected by private stairways. The hr>use has all the features of a modern private dwelling, with fine marble and wood lavishly used in all the apartments. Each kitchen is provided with a waste incinerator, which makes handling of refuse unnecessary, and in every laundry are electric drying and ironing equipments. Refrigeration is sunplied by - a plant in the basement of the building, ice being made on the nremises. The rental, it is announced, includes the washing of windows and the cleaning of all rooms by the vacuum process. —Where Madmen Run Loose.— In the year 600, according to legend, a young Irish Princess, named Dymphne, seeking to escape from her cruel father, travelled to the Continent of Europe, and in Releium established herself in a hut, where it was her misfortune to be discovered and murdered by her parent. A temple was afterwards built and dedicated to the memory of the princess, and it later became a refuge for the "sick in mind." Huts and houses were gradually built to accommodate those who came, until after many centuries it became the town of Gheel, known far and wide as the colony crazed. The remarkable thing about this Belgian town is that the residents accept patients into their own homes, so that they may enjoy the beneficial effects of domestic and social intercourse. Nearly every house contains at least two mental incompetents, and except in certain cases, the patients are permitted, to go about the town and enjoy themselves. A stranger may not know whether he is meeting a patient or a sane resident in his walks through the town. For more than 100 years this system has prevailed at Gheel. Attempts at suicide are few. The death-rate among the unfortunates has averaged about 4 per cent, during the past few years, while in England the rate has been 7 per cent, for the

past 10 years. The percentage of' recoveries for 25 years has been almost double that in England. —Trouble in Sing Sing.—

There has been trouble in Sing Sing, which, as our readers know, is, a gaol belonging to the State of New York. This is how the trouble has come about. The warden of the prison and the State Superintendent of Prisons found out not long ago that prisoners were being supplied from outside with morphine, opium, and cocaine, as well as with whisky and tobrfcco. They say there has been an organised morphine ring working both inside and outside the prison. The ring consisted of some of the warders, ex-con-victs, and others interested in the sale of illicit drugs. Drug-smuggling could even be managed without bribing the warders. The Sing Sing authorities noticed lately that embossed picture postcards were suspiciously popular among prisoners' friends. It was noticed that some of them were surprisingly heavy, and the matter was referred to the warden. He slit one of the embossed cards with a penknife, and found that it contained a dozen "shots" of morphine. "We have to watch for bulges in postage-stamp 6," the warden remarked. "A postage stamp, as many of the prisoners have learned, is large enough to shelter a 'shot' of morphine." There is profit in the trade, for the market price of six "shots" of morphine is one dollar outside the gaol and two dollars inside. Grafting an Elbow.— Dr Tuffier, a leading-surgeon of Paris, reports (says the correspondents of the Daily Telegraph) two cases of successful grafting of bone on a human elbow in a communication to the Academy of Medicine. The two operations were per formed more than a year ago, and as the subjects are in perfect health there can no longer be any doubt of the success of the experiment.- Dr Tuffer says that lie was called upon to treat the arm of a young man of 23. The elbow joint was affected by ankylosis, and had to be removed, as the entire arm was paralysed. The bone of another patient, a woman whose foot had to be amputated, was used to replace the missing bone. Dr Tuffier presented radiographic views showing that the arm and joint were now perfectly healed, and the young man, after 13 months, is "able -to use his arm. The second case was that of a young man of 21; whose elbow had been destroyed by tuberculosis. In this case Dr Turner grafted cartilage which had been preserve-i for five days from an operation performed on the leg of another person. This operation was carried out 14 months ago, and was a perfect success. Sturdy Emigrant Mother.—

An Irishwoman Mho left London for Sydney as a nominated emigrant to join her husband had sufficient faith in her adopted country to land in London with her six children two days before sailing, with a capital of five shillings to last her til] the departure of the steamer and during a journey of 13,000 miles. Unfortunately (says the Standard) she arrived in London on a Sunday, when the offices of the .Agent-general for New South Wales were of course, closed. A charitable London hotelkeeper . took her and -her family in till the following day when an official from the New South nales office took charge of her and her family, discharged her hotel bill, and finally saw her safely off by the Pakeha the day after. She assured the emigration official that she had no fear in coming to London with so little money. "Sure, I knew I'd be all right," she said, philosophically, " and when I to Australia I'll be the richest woman there, for all my five boys will bring their milking wages home to their mother." • Two Pounds of Bulbs for £1666.

Eight years of patient work in hybridising gladioli have resulted (■say* the Amsterdam correspondent of the Daily M|ail) in Mr C. P. Alkemade, a Dutch bulb-grower of Noordwijk, near Leyden, making a small fortune with a new and beautiful form, lie has.sold several-large bulbs for sums varying up to £23, and has just disposed of 21b of bulbs for £1666. The new . gladiolus, called-Glory cf Noordwijk, is of a rare hue of soft, light yelrow, with' 12 flowers on one stem, measuring from sin to 7in in diameter. Mr Alkemade, who is a nurseryman in a comparatively small way, has told me the romance of his triumph, which is the outcome of am original outlay of 13s 4d on seed. "I bought some seed of yelhnv variety of gladiolus," he said, " with the intention to produco a new variety. I sowed the seed in the open field, and fertilised the flowers with pojlen of other kinds. The new bulbs thus obtained I mixed with others, and so on, making several hundred experiments before I got> the Glory of Noordwijk." ■—Wife Sentences Husband.— At Philadelphia on March 8 Magistrate Morris solved the problem of family difficulties to the satisfaction of three women who had caused the arrest of their husbands when he made the wives judge, jury, and court, and had them pass sentence upon the husbands. In two cases the Women relented, but in the third the wife decided that about three montf/s In the House of Correction would be a mighty good thing for her husband. Mrs Patrick Mackin, of 1812 Lambert street, was the strong-willed woman who sentenced her husband to threo months. She said they had been married 17 yearg, and that in that time she had supported the family and had been forced to give money to her husband to purchase liquor. To-day, the woman said, was the first time she wally was boss of her husband, and she rrwjant U> "see how it felt to give orders." Mrs Marie Gegertbimer, 1826 Judeon street, told a harrowing tale of her seven years of married life. When the time cam© for passing sentence, however, she decided that it might \be > ;as -jyell: tr/' ghre husband one - chance*/' mfeifflk took' 1 him - home.