Sugar Planting in Jamaica 583 count to five years, and then adds "the sentences to run concurrently." There seems little good in such actions, and prisoners consider " concurrent" sentences farcical. Except in Kingston, the capital, it is difficult to obtain impartial or ordinarily intelligent juries. A colored man is not quick to decide that a man is guilty, for he does not know how soon he may be in the prisoner's box instead of on the jury bench. There is a deduction made for good behavior. A well-behaved convict may shorten his term if so disposed. The country lying adjacent to Falmouth is rich, and very much of the sugar made in the Island finds its way to that port, or Rio Bueno (good river), which lies a few miles east. It seems inevitable that sugar planting in Jamaica will become a thing of the past. Already the progressive people in this section recognize the handwriting on the wall. Relief for present distress can only come through establishing central factories whereby expenses will be kept low and the output will be considerably increased. As things are now, the small estates are under much greater expense in proportion than the large. They require as many men for "busher" (manager), overseers, sugar-boilers, bookkeepers, and laborers as do the large works. There can be but little saving to them in the salaries of the important, more expensive, members of the staff. The principal saving must be in the smaller number of ordinary laborers; but against this is the fact that the output of sugar and rum is much smaller also. (Begun in issue March 16. To be continued.) EASY SCIENCE BO Of the 100 units of energy in an electric current, only five or six come out as light, yet the light of a firefly is said to be 100 per cent light. Light Without Heat. Then that little creature we hold in our hands of a summer night without singeing a finger tip holds the secret which learned scientists would give a great deal to know, namely, how to produce light without heat. One scientist has invented a lamp in which there is next to no heat at all, and no electric connection. The flame is bluish, and though, as the inventor declares, it is the nearest approach to a firefly, it would seem to ordinary people far inferior to Mr. Moore's brilliant white vacuum tube light. One of the great events of the twentieth century will be the cutting of a ship-canal from the Baltic to the Black Sea. It will be 994 miles Long. the route. A Canal 994 Miles long, and its least depth will be 28 feet. Fifteen ports will lie along The cost will be $100,000,000, or $20,000,000 less than would be required for the Nicaragua Canal, and it will take five years to complete. Russia wants this great artery first of all to help her ironclads out of trouble when the Bosphorus and Dardanelles are closed in time of war. Vessels would find it very convenient to pass from one sea to the other in six days. The waterway will be of immense benefit to The Trans-Siberian Railway. 585 Russian trade, bringing traffic to what have always been inland towns. How surprised the peasants will be some morning to see 300-foot vessels anchored near their doors! It is interesting to know that only about 125 miles of the Canal will be made to order, as the rivers Düna, Beresina, and Dnieper will form part of the course. The clay soil will not be difficult to cut, and only two locks will be needed. On the other hand, there are marshy forests in the upper Dnieper, and 200 miles from its mouth are nine rapids falling 107 feet in 40 miles. One town is 161 feet above the sea level; another 50 miles to the south is only 49 feet above. The Trans-Siberian Railway. Another great Russian undertaking of which you have heard is the Trans-Siberian Railway, which is not finished, but will be before long. It will reach from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, a distance of 4,200 miles. It will be the shortest route from Europe to the East. It now takes 25 days to go from London to Hong Kong by way of the Suez Canal, and 33 days via the Canadian Pacific Railway. The new railroad will bring down the journey to 20 days. One will be able to go from Paris to Peking in 16 instead of 34 days. The rates will be less than a third cheaper than by other routes; mail will be carried more quickly, merchants will be helped; and it looks as if in coming years some now famous centers of trade will be centers no more, cities at present unknown taking their places. In case Russia goes to war again, it will be well-nigh impossible to steal a march on her army, the greatest in the world, or catch her navy a-napping, for she can be everywhere at once with the aid of her mammoth railway and canal. The largest tree in the world, says Mr. Scharf, a recent writer, grows near the foot of Mount Etna, Sicily. It is called "The Chestnut Some Remarkable Tree of a Hundred Horses," because Trees. it once served as an umbrella for a Spanish queen and her courtiers. Its trunk is 204 feet in circumference; if you should run around it 25 times, you would cover a mile. A Mexican tree little more than half as large around is thought to be over 5,000 years old-which would mean that its babyhood was passed in the days when Noah was building the ark. The fruit of a tree in Ceylon is baked for bread; milk oozes out of a South American tree; and, strangest of all, the olive-like fruit of an African tree produces butter that a famous traveler says is better than the kind to which we are accustomed. The berries of the soap-tree make suds so quickly that if a Chinaman wants to shave, all he has to do is to go to his garden, pick a berry, and rub it on his face. We are waiting to hear of a tree laden with razors that shave one nicely when the wind stirs the branches. If it is true that from other tropical trees are made candles, vinegar, sugar, and flour, we had better move to a place where there will be no grocery bills for evermore. If papers are to be re-forwarded (from one post office to another), under a recent postal law, subscrib- Copyright, 1899, by The Great Round World Publishing Company. |