Scintific.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2251, 11 December 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

Scintific.

[The following paragraphs are extracted from tho London (society papers and other journals.] The first volumes of Mr George Augustus Sala's autobiography are nearly ready for publication. It is stated that the average value of an acre of celery in the region of Kalama/.00, Mich., is $000, and that the annual crop reaches ,~>,ooo tons. An acre contains from 2.1,000 to 30,000 plants. The land was originally a sand marsh. The Govan police force boasts u band of eight bagpipe blowers. In Holland the police, as late as 1850, used to frighten away thieves by largo rattle* which announced the approach of the guardians of the puhlic peace and property. One of the severest hailstorms on record occurred on September 24, at Ancona. The hailstones which fell during twenty minutes were perfectly spheroidal in form, gradually increasing in fli/e from that of a hazlcnut to that of a large orange. It is estimated that the peanut crop for the year 18S6 will be worth $3,000,000 The crop of Virginia is put down at 2,500,000 bushels ; North Carolina, 130,000 bushels; South Carolina, the same ; Tennessee, 200,000 bushels, and Alabama (iOO.OOO bushels. The death-rate in Italy appears to be declining. The average annual mortality during the period 1862 to 1885 was 303 per thousand ; during the last five years of that period the rate was considerably below the average, for it only reached 27 0 per thousand. It is said that one peculiarity of the Mexicans is that if they meet a pretty woman in the street, although an entire stranger, they will say to her : " You are so sweet !>o pretty! I love you !" No offence is meant, and the lady is not expected to notice it. We who chronicled the birth of Volaptick now mourn over its untimely decease. Some two years ago we watched by its cradle, it is now our tn.sk to weep by its bier. Volapiick, it may be remembered, was to become the language of the whole commercial world. It is now numbered among the dead languages, the society bearing its name has ceased to exist. At Brooklyn a society is being formed to insure its tn^mbeis against the horror of being buried alive. For the first six months after apparent death the bodies are to lie in unclosed coffins, placed iv a large chamber, which will be provided with electric signals for communicating with the world without. It has been suggested that a connection should be made with the Telephone Exchange. A survey of the British ship Victory (Nelson's fl<ig-»hip) has disclosed the fact that many of her timbers are so rotten that to repair the vessel with new planks is impracticable. Orders hare accordingly been given for tho more decayed sections of tho ship* sides to be removed and tho spaces filled in with cement, which is t® be covered with cauvass on the inside. Prince Bismarck has managed to establish two new lines of mail steamers — one from Bremen to China and Japan, und the other to Australia. They are run by the North German Lloyds Company, who are to receive a subsidy of .$1,100,000 a year for fifteen years. The bteamers are under contract to run at a very high rate of speod. Buffalo is going to have the largest clock in the world. The dial will be 25 feet in diameter, and the centre of the dial will be 361 feet above the street. The dial will be illuminated by electricity, and it is calculated that the time can be seen at night from any point in the city, and with a field glass the position of the hands can be distinguished at a distance of fifteen mile*. Figaro nays some of our contemporaries assert that a marriage has been arranged between the Princes Louise of England, aud the infant Dom Alfonso ; others say he is to be married to the daughter of the Comte de Fliudro. The Figaro continues : " Cc« deux nouvelles sont absolument inexactates." A very free translation of which is that one of them may be exact. The extent, says the Pali Mall Budget, to which Londoners lean on the police has often been a subject of remark to intelligent fogeigners, but it has seldom been pushed so far as in the cnae of the poor boy whose suicide formed the subof a recent inquest. He wan seen hanging, but tho neighbours did nothing. They u had never seen any one in similar circumstances before," and besides they were waiting for the police. They waited accordingly — with the result that the boy was left to hang till he was dead. The attempt to grow tobacco which has been made by Messrs Carter on a farm at Plaistow, in Kent, England, has so far proved a marked success. The crop, which covers an acre of grotiDd, is now being harvested, and is a splendid growth. Those who are acquainted with the American tobaccos, and those who have seen the attempts made in India, freely admit its splendid condition. The leaves are well grown, succulent, and large in size ; some measuring as much as 27 inches in length by 13 inches in breadth, whilst the mid-rib is delicate and not coarse in condition. The Court Circular is responsible for the following statement : " A gentleman named William Nokes, a M captain " in the Salvation Army, was charged at Birmingham a short time since with deserting his wife and family, who have in consequence become chargeable to the parish. When arrested he said he had been "serving the Lord," and while he was doing that some one else must look after his wife and children, as he had no time for euch matters. On being santenced to a month's imprisonment with hard labour, he called out loudly, " Praise the Lord for all things ; that is what I wish !'' He was removed, shouting " Praise the Lord !"' If this is the style of recruit Mr Booth admits to his ranks, we have, if possible, even a worse opinion of the Salvationist* than we entertained before. It is bad enough for Mr Booth to tell children to leave their parents and follow him ; but it is simply criminal when he encourages men to lea\e their wives and children in order to shout rank blasphemy in the streets.