Barkham Burroughs' Encyclopaedia of Astounding Facts and Useful Information Part 16

Statue of Jupiter Olympus, on the Capitoline Hill, at Rome.

Temple of Diana, at Ephesus.

Pharos, or watch-tower, at Alexandria, Egypt.

Colossus of Rhodes, a statue 105 feet high; overthrown by an earthquake 224 B.C.

Mausoleum at Halicarna.s.sus, a Grecian-Persian city in Asia Minor.

HEAT AND COLD.

Degrees of heat above zero at which substances melt:--Wrought iron, 3,980 degrees; cast iron, 3,479; platinum, 3,080; gold, 2,590; copper, 2,548; steel, 2,500; gla.s.s, 2,377; bra.s.s, 1,900; silver, 1,250; antimony, 951; zinc, 740; lead, 594; tin, 421; a.r.s.enic, 365; sulphur, 226; beeswax, 151; gutta percha, 145; tallow, 97; lard, 95; pitch, 91; ice, 33. Degrees of heat above zero at which substances boil:--Ether, 98 degrees; alcohol, 173; water, 212; petroleum, 306; linseed oil, 640; blood heat, 98; eggs hatch, 104.

QUANt.i.tY OF SEED TO AN ACRE.

Wheat, 1-1/2 to 2 bu.; rye, 1-1/2 to 2 bu.; oats, 3 bu.; barley, 2 bu.; buckwheat, 1/2 bu.; corn, broadcast, 4 bu.; corn, in drills, 2 to 3 bu.; corn, in hills, 4 to 8 qts.; broom corn, 1/2 bu.; potatoes, 10 to 15 bu.; rutabagas, 3/4 lbs.; millet, 1/4 bu.; clover, white, 4 qts.; clover, red, 8 qts.; timothy, 6 qts.; orchard gra.s.s, 2 qts.; red top, 1 to 2 pks.: blue gra.s.s, 2 bu,; mixed lawn gra.s.s, 1/2 bu.; tobacco, 2 ozs.

SOLUBLE GLa.s.s FOR FLOORS.

Instead of the old-fashioned method of using wax for polishing floors, etc., soluble gla.s.s is now employed to great advantage. For this purpose the floor is first well cleaned, and then the cracks well filled up with a cement of water-gla.s.s and powdered chalk or gypsum.

Afterward, a water-gla.s.s of 60 to 65 , of the thickness of syrup, is applied by means of a stiff brush. Any desired color may be imparted to the floor in a second coat of the water-gla.s.s, and additional coats are to be given until the requisite polish is obtained. A still higher finish may be given by pummicing off the last layer, and then putting on a coating of oil.

DURABILITY OF A HORSE.

A horse will travel 400 yards in 4-1/2 minutes at a walk, 400 yards in 2 minutes at a trot, and 400 yards in minute at a gallop. The usual work of a horse is taken at 22,500 lbs. raised 1 foot per minute, for 8 hours per day. A horse will carry 250 lbs. 25 miles per day of 8 hours. An average draught-horse will draw 1600 lbs. 23 miles per day on a level road, weight of wagon included. The average weight of a horse is 1000 lbs.; his strength is equal to that of 5 men. In a horse mill moving at 3 feet per second, track 25 feet diameter, he exerts with the machine the power of 4-1/2 horses. The greatest amount a horse can pull in a horizontal line is 900 lbs.; but he can only do this momentarily, in continued exertion, probably half of this is the limit. He attains his growth in 5 years, will live 25, average 16 years. A horse will live 25 days on water, without solid food, 17 days without eating or drinking, but only 5 days on solid food, without drinking.

A cart drawn by horses over an ordinary road will travel 1.1 miles per hour of trip. A 4-horse team will haul from 25 to 30 cubic feet of lime stone at each load. The time expended in loading, unloading, etc., including delavs, averages 35 minutes per trip. The cost of loading and unloading a cart, using a horse cram at the quarry, and unloading by hand, when labor is $1.25 per day, and a horse 75 cents, is 25 cents per perch--24.75 cubic feet. The work done by an animal is greatest when the velocity with which he moves is 1/8 of the greatest with which he can move when not impeded, and the force then exerted .45 of the utmost force the animal can exert at a dead pull.

COMPARATIVE COST OF FREIGHT BY WATER AND RAIL.

It has been proved by actual test that a single tow-boat can transport at one trip from the Ohio to New Orleans 29,000 tons of coal, loaded in barges. Estimating in this way the boat and its tow, worked by a few men, carries as much freight to its destination as 3,000 cars and 100 locomotives, manned by 600 men, could transport.

HINTS TO YOUNG HOUSEWIVES.

Glycerine does not agree with a dry skin.

If you use powder always wash it off before going to bed.

When you give your cellar its spring cleaning, add a little copperas water and salt to the whitewash.

A little ammonia and borax in the water when washing blankets keeps them soft and prevents shrinkage.

Sprinkling salt on the top and at the bottom of garden walls is said to keep snails from climbing up or down.

For relief from heartburn or dyspepsia, drink a little cold water in which has been dissolved a teaspoonful of salt.

For hoa.r.s.eness, beat a fresh egg and thicken it with fine white sugar.

Eat of it freely and the hoa.r.s.eness will soon be relieved.

If quilts are folded or rolled tightly after washing, then beaten with a rolling pin or potato masher, it lightens up the cotton and makes them seem soft and new.

Chemists say that it takes more than twice as much sugar to sweeten preserves, sauce, etc., if put in when they begin to cook as it does to sweeten after the fruit is cooked.

Tar may be removed from the hands by rubbing with the outside of fresh, orange or lemon peel and drying immediately. The volatile oils dissolve the tar so that it can be rubbed off.

Moths or any summer flying insects may be enticed to destruction by a bright tin pan half filled with kerosene set in a dark corner of the room. Attracted by the bright pan, the moth will meet his death in the kerosene.

It may be worth knowing that water in which three or four onions have been boiled, applied with a gilding brush to the frames of pictures and chimney gla.s.ses, will prevent flies from lighting on them and will not injure the frames.

SUPERSt.i.tIONS REGARDING BABIES.

It is believed by many that if a child cries at its birth and lifts up only one hand, it is born to command. It is thought very unlucky not to weigh the baby before it is dressed. When first dressed the clothes should not be put on over the head, but drawn on over the feet, for luck. When first taken from the room in which it was born it must be carried up stairs before going down, so that it will rise in the world. In any case it must be carried up stairs or up the street, the first time it is taken out. It is also considered in England and Scotland unlucky to cut the baby's nails or hair before it is twelve months old. The saying:

Born on Monday, fair in the face; Born on Tuesday, full of G.o.d's grace; Born on Wednesday, the best to be had; Born on Thursday, merry and glad; Born on Friday, worthily given; Born on Sat.u.r.day, work hard for a living; Born on Sunday, shall never know want,

is known with various changes all over the Christian world; one deviation from the original makes Friday's child "free in giving."

Thursday has one very lucky hour just before sunrise.

The child that is born on the Sabbath day Is bonny and good and gay,

While

He who is born on New Year's morn Will have his own way as sure as you're born.

And

He who is born on Easter morn Shall never know care, or want, or harm.

SECRET ART OF CATCHING FISH.

Put the oil of rhodium on the bait, when fishing with a hook, and you will always succeed.

TO CATCH FISH.

Take the juice of smallage or lovage, and mix with any kind of bait.

As long as there remain any kind of fish within yards of your hook, you will find yourself busy pulling them out.

CERTAIN CURE FOR DRUNKENNESS.