All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, 9 July 1908, Page 38

All Sorts

Asparagus is so plentiful on the .Russian steppes that the cattle eat it like grass. The seeds are sometimes dried and used as a substitute for coffee. ■ - . " ~T Bees are said to see an enormous distance. When absent' from their hive they go up in the air ..Ml they see their home, and then fly towards it in a straight line.

Sweden has the oldest vessel in , Europe — perhaps in the world — in the schooner Emanuel, built in 1749. She was first, a privateer, and is now in "the timber trade.

Teacher : ' Wait a moment, Johnny; what, do-yqu, understand by the word " deficit"?'—'lt's what you've got when you" haven't got as much as if you just hadn't nothin!.' In adversity a man has opportunities" of studying the anatomy of the backs of his acquaintances; in prosperity he sees only their fronts. For a full view of. life, then, a man should have days of pinching, and days of plenty. ' There, Mary,' said a- lady, proudly exhibiting a picture of herself to her servant, ' that is a_ portrait of me painted when I was a child!' ' Bless us, mum,' said the domestic, ' what a pity it is we have to grow up, ain't it?' The largest-trees in the world are the giant redwoods of California. One of these in a grove in Tulare County is one" hundred and eight feet in circumference at the base and seventysix feet at a point twelve feet from the ground. ' Well,' said the young lawyer, after he had heard his new client's story, ' your case appears to be good. I tKink we can secure a verdict without much trouble.' ' That's what I told my wife,'- said the man, ' and yet she insisted at first that we ought to engage a first-class lawyer.' One of the most important substances used by the physician, is iodine, made from the ashes < of sea-weeds, which is a nearly certain remedy for some complaints which were formerly considered incurable. It is also one of the most important agents employed in the processes of photography. The highest lighthouses are the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, which is one hundred and fifty-one feet, besides a pedestal of one hundred and fifty-five feet; -one at Genoa, Italy, two hundred and eighteen feet.in height; and Cape Hatteras light, which is one hundred and eighty-nine ieet. From the -• Newspaper Press- Directory * we -ascertain that there are published in the United Kingdom 2461 newspapers, distributed as follows: England 1881, Wales i H| Scotland 261, Ireland 191, Isles 17. Of these there 'are 184 daily papers published in England, 7 in Wales, 18 in Scotland, 18 in "Ireland, and 4in British Isles. In the year 1846 there were published in the United Kingdom 551 journals. -Of these 14 were issued daily, 12 in England, and 2 in Ireland. The so-called briar pipe is not made of briar at all, but from the root of a particular kind of heather called in French Bruyere, which grows on -the hillsides of the Tuscan Alps, in North Italy, and on the mountains of Corsica. "English tradesmen, finding the correct word bruyere somewhat difficult for the British tongue to pronounce, reduced it to' briar, and in this way the corruption crept in and was established by popular usage. Originally Swiss peasants made snuff-boxes of this. wood, and when snuff-taking became unfashionable the peasants turned their , attention to making pipes from the root, and found a ready market for them* • There was launched recently at Belfast one of th.c largest steamers which has yet been built.- It is the. new .HollandAmerika liner Rotterdam, the first of over 20,000 tons "to be put under the Dutch flag. The gross tonnage is about 24,000. It is worth, notice that the'new steamer has quadruple expansion engines, but the speed aimed at is of 17-knots, so that whilst it approaches in size to the great Cunarders; it does not aim at anything like their speed. The passenger accommodation is for about 520 first cabin, 530 second cabin, and 2400 third class, so that, apart from the crew, about 3450 persons are to be accommodated in this latest addition to the. steamers for the Atlantic trade.-' ■ "~ . 1