MILITARY ASTRONOMY.

Waikato Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1606, 19 October 1882, Page 2

MILITARY ASTRONOMY.

They manage these things better in Germany. The London Telegraph copies from a German paper a good story apropos of the recent solar eclipse. In the German army great attention is given to science, and even astronomy comes in for a share of notice. A certain Captain yon S ,of the Fusiliers, on the morning of the eclipse issued through his Serjeant-major an order to his company to be communicated to the men after foivnoon parade. The order, given merely by word of mouth, ran thus :—: — This afternoon a solar eclipse will take place. At three o'clock the whole company will parade in the b.irrnt k v.ird. Fatigue jackets and_ caps. I shall explain the eclipse to the men Should it rain they will assemble in the drill-shed. The serjeant- major set . down hia commanding officer's instructions in writing as he had understood them. After morning drill he formed the company into a hollow square, and read his version of the order to them thus :—: — This afternoon a solar eclipse will take place in the barrack-yard, by order of the captain, and will be attended by the whole company, in fatigue jackets and caps. The captain will conduct the s.olar eclipse in person. Should it rain, the eclipse will take place in the drill-shed. This may be described as the military method of dealing with astronomy. It is a method specially suitable to our changeable climate. If the weather proved bad, the sergeant-major's solar eclipse was to take place in the drill-shed. That is the spirit in which the astronomers ought to have chronicled the movements of the comet. The weather has been bad, the astronomers possibly have not seen the comet— the more merit therefore in satisfying public curiosity on the subject, the more room for the scientific uses of the imagination. When eclipses are transacted in drill-sheds and comets are kept for observation under cover, we may expect that astronomy will really begin to be an exact science.-— " Civis," in Otago Witness.

WalterC. Jones, a munificent Englishman, has recently given £72,000 for the religious missions in Japan and China. There are said to be in Dublin 580 liish- Americans without visible occupation. The present Khedive of Egypt, with his family, draws £270,000 a year. Striked among Parisian workmen are now very frequent. In the first week of June the carpenters, shoemakers and sugar-refiners struck work for an advance of wages. A rushing poet asks in the first line of a recent effusion, 'How many weary pilgrims lie ?' We give it up ; but experience lias taught us that there are a good many. A correspondent of the London Journal of Horticulture finds gas-tar water very effective for cleansing weedy and mossy walks. —We give all our walks one application annually about this time through a fine-rosed watering can, taking care that none is split on the grass. Moss and weeds are destroyed instantly, and a weed on our walks is a rarity till the following autumn, when anothtr dose speedily disposes of them. Worms,which are so troublesome about this time of the year on the verges of the grass, will not come near their old haunts for the rest of the season. What Kills Fkuit Trees. — Deep planting is one error. To plant a tree rather shallower than it formerly stood is really the light way, whilst many plant a tree as they would a post. Roots are of two kinds— the young and tender rootlets, composed entirely of cells, the feeders of the tice, always found near the surface getting air and moisture, and roots of eveiy one year old, which serve out} as supporters of the trees and as uonductois of its food. Hence the injury tint ensues m lien the delicate rootlets are so deeply buried iv earth. Placing frc&h or green manure in contact with the young roots is another great error. The place to put manure is on the surface where the elements disintegrate, dissolve, and carry it doM'nward. Numerous forms of fungi are generated and reproduced by the application of such mtnure directly to the roots, and they immediately attack the trees. It ia very well to enrich the soil at transplanting the tree, but the manure, if to be in contact with, or very near the roots, should be thoroughly decomposed. The Preservation of Wood. — Professor Jones, of New Orleans, claims, after a series of experiments, to have succeeded in developing- a method for preserving wood from decay for great periods of time, and even for centuries. The pro cess, as finally developed and perfected by Professor Jones, consists in saturating wood with certain bituminous, resinous, and antiseptic substances and compounds. The sap and moisture of the wood are transformed into steam, and the albuminous constituents coagulated by heat ; the wood thus treated is immediately plunged into a boiling solution, the most important ingredients of which are asphalt, or solid bitumen and carbolic acid. The combination may be varied according to the age and density of the wood. As the preservative liquid and wood cools, the vapour is condensed, aud the solution of asphalt is driven into the pores, and also penetrates the wood by imbibition. The solvent of the asphalt rapidly evaporates from the surface of the wooa after it is removed from the preservative liquid, leaving a smooth, polished surface, impervious to moisture aud water. The antiseptic substances are thus locked up within the fibres of the wood. Great changes are taking place in Anckand, now business 'premises of various kinds are rapidly improving the appearance of the city: several firms are extending their premises, and the keen competitive spirit of the Old Country is now apparent amongst the 'city tradesmen ; the wholesale warehousemen, ironmongers, and banks, are extending their bdundarics ; and not the least important amongst, the local industry establishments is the completion of a large concrete building three storeys high, 75 feet long, and 50 wide, erected in Lome-street, as a cabinet factory for Messrs. Garlick and Cranwell, who have erected machinery with the latest improvements, enabling them to turn out their work economically and expeditiously. t This firm aro now giving up their drapery and clothing business in order to secure more space as show rooms for their furniture, and, to effect a speedy clearance, have reduced to a. very low price all their drapery and clothing, which will be sold (for cash only) for one month. This is a splendid opportunity for thrifty housewives .not; 'only, to secure, cloth- - t ing but all kinds of Manchester and furnishing , goods at rates that will 'pay t6 lay goods by till ' He y are really wanted. - • «- • ' -