Walnut Grove Owners of Illinois Waxing Rich

Sun (Christchurch), Volume II, Issue 593, 4 January 1916, Page 3

Walnut Grove Owners of Illinois Waxing Rich

TON who own black walnut groves in Jllinoi.s are profiting heavily by the demand for this wood. Home of the larger tracts will bring a fortune to their possessors. The war In Europe is responsible. - Walnut wood is used exclusively for gun stocks and the manufactories of guns are swamped with orders for weapons by the warring nations of Europe, as well as by Uncle Sam. The United States government has been placing large orders for guns of late, and much of the black walnut that is being purchased will be used in filling orders from Washington. The black walnut, after being purchased and cut into proper lengths for shipment on flat cars, goes to the sawmills. One of these is located in Pekin, 111., and another at Richmond, Ind. The wood is sawed and turned in the rough and is then shipped to the gun factories, where the finishing touches are given. Representatives of the gun stock plants arc now scouring Illinois for lumber and are buying large and small lots, no distinction being made at this time because of the great demand. The price paid varies from slt; to S3O a thousand feet, according to the size and condition of the log. Nothing is accepted under ten inches in diameter. Samuel Winkler, of Spring Hay, sold 12,000 feet, of lumber recently. This is considered a good sized purchase at the present time, due to the scarcity of this wood of late years. William Brian, who has a farm ami grove north of Ficklin, sold two hundred of his walnut: trees. Si.me of these trees had attained a diameter of twenty-six inches. The Brian grove has been regarded as one of the beauty spots of Douglas county, and its destruction is regretted by the community. The owner will realize probably SI,OOO from the consignment. Captain J. E. Davis, of Richmond, who has been engaged in buying walnut lumber, met with an amusing experience while dealing with a Quaker. After a deal had been nearly closed the owner asked the buyer what was tobe done with the lumber after its purchase. When he heard the reply, "For gun stocks for the army," the Quaker refused to listen to him further. "Thee can pass on," he commanded, and the deal was off. The lumber will not be sold unill after peace has been declared. Most of the black walnut trees in Illinois have shown signs of decay, due to the drought of 1018 and 1014, and the owners are glad ol the chance to dispose of (hem. It is likely that every matured tree will be sold before the meal war ends.

Spain will be the great coal resource for some time to come. Its coal field area is double that of Fiance and only one-third less than that of England. Only one-fifth of this entire area has been developed.

They are now making burial caskets of glass. The casket is made of two pieces, a top and a lx>ttom. The two pieces are held and joined together by heavy metal straps. The claims made for this new casket are that the glass Is not easily affected by gases or acids, and when it is closed it is hermetically sealed and is proof against air and water. It also serves both as a coffin and a vault and really [lossesses a good many advantages over the old style of wood or ordinary metal caskets.

Tin- statistic crank who delights in computing th.tt a man would have grown a beard iu fifty years equal to fifty foot in length, provided ho had shaved once each day and his beard had grown only at the rate of l-32d of an inch in twenty-four hours, is revelling in some rather stupendous figures relative to the present war. Some German compiler has computed that the approximate number of men engaged in land and sea operations in the present war amounts to 21,700,000. Of this number it is estimated that 18,520,000 are enlisted on the side of the Allies, and that Germany, Austria and Turkey have nearly 5,050,000. The entire population of these two hostile alliances is approximately 800,000,000 for the Allies as against 150,000,000 for the Germans and Austrians. The daily expense of the conflict is computed at the present time to aggregate approximately §42,250,000, while the amount expended prior io last. April is computed at $10,000,000,000, Italy not included in the computation. The annual cost of the war is estimated to exceed $15,000,000,000. Now if this amount were represented in German thousand mark bank notes, placed one en top of the other, tin' stack, it is estimated, would reach a height of 20,000 feet, or about 1,200 feet less than four miles. The iiexl computation will probably be bow long it would lake some!tody to count them. In Sicily and other parts of the Mediterranean country where the locusts are very prolific the eggs arc being gathered and treated with sulphuric acid and lime and used for fertilizing purposes. Tons of the eggs are gathered annually. Experiments have shown that this fertilizer is .especially good as :* food for olive trees. The locust is one of the most serious pests that the Old World has known, and every recurring twentyfive or fifty years It is a plague. On the Island of Cyprus a bounty is paid for the egg cases, and hundreds of men and women at certain seasons are engaged iu the business of seeking for them. The cases are long, cylindrical masses enveloped in a glutinous secretion and deposited in holes excavated in the ground by females. It is estimated that seen tie u sand tons of the eggs are laid yearly, and iu the years fn which the plagues occur much more. Iu the year ISSI an attempt was made to exterminate the pests by searching for and destroying their eugs t and iu that year some thirteen hundred tons of them were collected in Cyprus alone.