ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 165, 30 December 1926, Page 1

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

A single sunflower plant evaporates two pints of water on a hot day; an acre of cabbages, 475 gallons in foui months. By a new by-law of the' Pontypool Council, England, milkmen are forbidden to smoke while engaged in delivering milk. The English birthrate last year was ihe lowest of any of the great European countries for which figure's are available. Acorns carefully graded in sizes are used for making a quaint Indian musical instrument discovered in Southern California. The most useful insect is the silkworm. It is estimated that 5,000.000 persons gain a livelihood by raising tho worms. Research shows that there is not a particle of vegetation in the eastern part of the North Sea. It is one great watery waste. As a rule, gre'y horses attain a greater age than lhose of any other colour, but with increasing years they turn white. Oysters arc remarkably sensitive both to' cold and heat, and in shallow waters large quantities perish either by frost or great heat. A farthing lay beside a £IOO banknote in a collection at the stone-laving of a church hall in the Downliam estate at Catford, Eondon, recently. Open-air bathing-pools are provided for the public in twelve of the parks and open spaces under the Eondon County Council. A 16ft woode’n pipe, made of staves and metal hoops, has been constructed in California for bringing water down a hillside to a power-house. A caterpillar eats twice its weight of leaves every day, and a potato beetle devours everv day at least five times its weight of foliage. A Viennese clerk sued for divorce because, after marriage, he found that his wife —a beautiful blonde—was as bald as a billiard ball. While repairing a second-hand suit of clothes she had bought for 25s a woman at Crav’s Hill, Bille*ricay (Eng.) found 800 dollar notes in the lining.