MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 294, 31 March 1874, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

Mr C A. Harper, of Burlington, New Jersey* Ins lately invented a valuable household utensil in the shape of & ' hand flour mill,' not onlj of convenience and comfort to families in the populated district of the Nor! hern Statos, well supplied with flour and meal from many grist mills, but a boon of inestimable worth to settlers in tho far-off Western and Southern frontier towns. There has been nothing like it ever before made. In the great field of invention no ono appears to have thought it possible to produce a mill to make the very best of flour, and at the »ime tima run so easily that a little child could operate it to the extent of making all the meal and flour for a family of n dozpn persons by working half-an-hour a day —The inventor himself hat far exceeded hw own exprctotions in being able to place before the public such a perfected article. The mill stands on a table when in use, being but sixteen inches high ond twelve inc'ies square. By a simple arrangement the |flour is made, and thr whole affair is operated by the turning of a (•ingle crank. The gram is poured in tho top; enters tho beetling reel through the feed regulator ; a drawer beneath, catches the flour, the tailings and shorts falling mlo another ~rmrptool». By tkonvljookmctit dT "a ictcw, ana the using of different sized wires, the mill can make very fair wheat, rye, buckwheat flour, or corn meal. The flour it makes from wheat contains more of the flour than ordinary merchantable flour ; not quite so white in colour or fine'in quality, but makes bread altogether more nutritious and promotive of digestion. This little mill in all the Southern and "Western States, where delays frequently occur m obtaining supplies of flour or meal, will be highly prized by ctery family abovo ■11 other household conveniences, not even excepting the sewing-machine, for the question of daily bread should take precedence of all others. ' They say,' writes Max. Adder, ' that the chief astronomer at the Washington Observatory was dreadfully sold a short time since. A wicked boy, whoso Sunday-school experience seems only ti have made him more depraved, caught a fireflr, and stuck it with the aid of some mucilage, in the centre of the lnrge^t lense in the teleucope. That night, when the ostran >mer went to work, he perceived a blaze of light, apparently m tho heavens, and what amazed !\im more was, that it would give a couple of spurts and then die out, only to burst forth nguin in a second or two. He examined it carefully for a few moments, and then began to do sums to discover where in the heavens that extraordinary star was placed. He thought he found tho locality, and the next morning he telegraphed all over the universe that he bad discovered a new and r?markablo ttar of the third magnitude in the Orion. In a day or two all the astronomers in Turope and America were studying Orion, and they gazed at it for hours until they were mad, and then they began to telegraph to tho man hi Washington to know what he meant. The discoverer took another look, aud found that the new star had moved about IS billions of railei in 24 hours, and upon examining it closely, he was alarmed to perceive that it had legs ! When he went on the dome th« next morning to polish up the glass, he found the lightning bug. People down at Alexandra, seven miles distant, heard part of the swearing, and they say he went into it vith wnole-touled •meerity and vigorous energy. The bill for telegraph disputche* amounted to 2,600 dols , and non the astronomer wants to find that boy. He wishes to consult with him about something.' — American Paper. Much regret will be caused by an announcement in the S. F. Chronicle that the '•wickedest man in San Fran, cisco " has come to an untimely end. This lamented gentleman, it seems, kept the Bull Run •aloon i» p»oiHo .w«fc, which has long been known »• th« most notorious den on the Btrbary coast. Bo was known by the name of Ned Allen, and was famous in the recor Is of crime in many places His saloon in Pacific street was the resort of the lowest kind of thieves and cutthroats, and in it sailors and soldiers were robbed of their last penny without pity or remorse. The hideous noises and drunken revelry of the guests who frequented Mr Allens hospitable horn- made tb« plao* '• a synonym for all that is low and vile." From its doors poor drunken wretches were cast into the streets after they had been fleeced of all they po6s< ssed, and frequently Mr Allen himself made charges against his victim* to geb rid of them. One night recently the " Bull Bun" vna tilled as usual with a drunken crowd of men and women. Allen had just successfully robbed a long shoreman, and "gave treat" all round in the exuberence of his \t the time he was scraping into the till the money of his victim, three men apppared at the door and calmly surveyed tbf* scene. Allen walked quietly towards them from behind the bar. " in an unoffensive, gentlemanly manner. " Within the door of the Bull's Run is a large green screen ; the three men sto^d just in*ide the door, partly hidden by the screen. Allen stepped up to them and invited them to enter, at tho same time saying that "he did not want his door blocked." Two of the men came inside the screen, but tho third remained hidden from view, and as Allen approached him drew a dagger or a sword and stabbed him just below the heart. Allen turned quicckly round, walked to the bar without a word, and fell down dead. It is supposed that he made direct for the har, in order to get a pistol. At all events he was too late, for the mnrderer escaped, and the " wickedest man in San Francisco," unavenged, had passed away for ever. Possibly some one almost as wicked will be found to take his place *t the Bull R«n, but in the meantime his death seems to have created quite a. void. — American paper. With proper care, a large amount of extra feed can be gathered in the process of taking up turnips or mangels. As soon at the time has armed for taking up the loots, a man provided with a sharp heavy hoe walks along the rows and strikes off the tops. These are gathered up, and carried either to the barn or feeding sheds, or the fields, where they will supply sheep or horned stock with a large amount of additional feed. A plough. js then run along the rows by a steady hand, which removes the soil from one side of the rooti. They can now bo gathered and thrown into heaps with a pronged hoe. The boo should be stuck into the earth just beneath or on one side of the root, aud a sharp jirk will throw it to the heap. If it is deiired to tail the tt.impt, the sharp hoe should be used to cut them from the tap and fibrous roots ; and, at the same blroke, as the hoe is withdrawn, the turnip is thrown out and jerked on to the heap. This process, however, leaves in the ground a large amount of feeding material ; and though the turnips require lesi room to etore them when nently trimmed — as they may be stored in the field — room is not ao mucli an object as amount of feed secured.

An extraordinary feat of seamanship has been performod by Captain Moridrel, mister of t!io ship MJndors,, wbich has arrived nafoly in London, after a lempet»tuou3 voyage from San Francisco, during whioh ehe lost her rudder aul Bearing Rear, and ln\ at the mercy of wind and wares for twenty-three dayti. The Mmdora ie a roodon ship of 1000 tons register, km! is ov mnl l>y Me*sr* B\o Mart Brothers, of Liverpool. She lefl Sin Frmcuco hi M»Ji with acirgo of 1300 tons of wkeat tor Falraouth. All ! went well until (lie 23rd of Jul)', when n heavy galo canio ci\ 'rom Hip north, "With a shift of tho wind to west-south' »>e«t, nnd a heflv\ cross sea, which carried the rudder clear away. Tho vessel was at that time id the vicinity of Cape Horn, and canif in for the full force of the storms which prevailed in that region. Day after day she was driven about entirely at the mercy of the wind all efforts to guide her course- being ineffectual ; and in her damaged and crippled condition fenrs were constantly entertained lest she should founder. By skilful seamanship, however, she was kept afloat, and the construction of a jury rudder and false sternpost was proceeded with as quickly as possible. A rudder was ultimately made out of several of the spars, but, as with all the chains and gear attached it weighed about two tons and a-half, great difficulty was experienced in getting it properly shipped, the first attempt uearlj resulted in the etoving of tho ship's side, on ing to the heavy sea. At last, after twenty-threo days of anxiety, the jury rudder was successfully shipped, being held id its place by stream chains and topsail sheets, and the vessel was able to resume her course for home, reaching Falmon^h on the 3rd November. During the time that the Mmdora was without a rudder, she was driven 500 miles out of her true course, which was north by east ; and the course she a°tually made, when laid down upon the chart, assumes most fantastic and extraordinary forms, the, vessel having been drif.eJ in al )"os»ible directions from day to day. After the jury rudder had been brought into use, her progress was very satisfactory, and on one occanou a distance of 180 miles wti3 run in a day. The courage and perseverance of Captain Moddrel under the trying circumsstances m which he was placed, and his skill in navigating his vessel safely into port without assittance from other vessels, are wortiiy of all praise. Lieutenant De Bogeyns (of the Eleventy Hilf-Dozenth N.B. Eounoibles, ordered to the Gold Coast) : " Plagay nuisance, yoa know, major ! 'Tisn't the sciunmage one ruiuds — enjoy that — it's the beastly climate. And what I do complain of is, that a wich couniwy like oosu -> s can't ship this blank tellow— what's 's name, Chickowy — and all his niggers over here in the autumn, and let us polish 'em off quietly on Salisbury Plain in tho manueuvies !" — Punch.