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THE MARINE RECORD. MID-OCEAN ‘TELEGRAPH S81 From the New York Herald. In its issue for June Chamber’s Journal takes up the recent bold plan of Mr. W. C. Anderson for founding ‘deep sea light- houses” as a ‘hopeful scheme” whieh, if earried out, “will fulflll a want which has long been azknowledged as a necessary one.” Mr. Anderson’s plan, as recently explained to the London Society of Engineers, is to construct a hollow cylinder of riveted iron work 200 feet long, to consist of two sections —the upper part to be 10 feet leng, des- tined to rear its herd above the waves and fitted as an ordinary lighthouse--while the remaining portion is to be ballusted go a8 lo sink beneath the water line and coun- teract the force of the winds and waves on the exposed part. ‘The whole apparatus is to be anchored in deep sea by heavy steel cables. ‘The inventor claims that it would be easy to tow such a structure to the spot selected for it, and then by admitting water to the lower section it would assume an up- right position and ride the waves like a bot- tle. The English journal referred to says: “Owing to our insular position we are de- pendant for our storm warnings on. our transatlantic neighbors; but if it becomes possible to found a floating telegraph sta- tion, say 1,000 miles from our shores, in mid-Atlantic, we could have warnings of the coming sterms quite twenty-four hours before their arrival.” : ‘The idea of founding mid-oceun floating telegraph stations hag long been discussed, put no engineer has yet devised, unless it be Mr. Anderson, any structure which would yemain stationary, and if connected with the telegraph cables would not in stormy weather endanger them. ‘The depth of wa ter to which the agitation of a wave reaches never bears a large proportion of the wave’s dimension, the motion diminisbing in geo- metrical progression as the depth below the surface incsenser in arithmetical. “In case of n wave a quarter of a mile in breadth and forty feet in height. as Sir John Herschel shows, “the displacement of water at a depth of 1,320 feet in its passage over it, would be Jess than an inch, and would be incapable of disturbing the smallest. grain of sand.”’ As Atlantic waves seldom attain these di- mensionag, it seems highly probable that the construction of a deep sen floating ata- tion, which can in all weather be kept in place is not a mechanical impossibility. The success with which gas-hghted buoys have been maintained on storm-swept shoals on our sea coast muy be taken as evidence that such a structure as Mr. Anderson devises might be made, with some modifications as to shape and length, to stand moored to anchor plocks in deep water. If this much could be demonstrated the work of connectir.g the structure with one of the transatlantic ca bles would be simple; and the structure, thue serving the purpose of a mid-ocean telegraph station, would be an immense boon both to navigation and to meteorologi- cal science. ANTHRACITE IN VIRGINIA. From the Baltimore Sun. Mr. R.N. Pool,a Virginian, who for some years resided in Piiladelphia, is stopping in ’ Baltimore at Barnum’s. He has for a long time been engrged in geological investiza- tions into the mineral resources of the Vir- ginia Valley region. He brougtt with him to Baltimore some handsome epecimens of anthracite coal from, a deposit near Rawley, twelve miles trom Harrisonburg, on the Valley Railroad of the Baltimore and Ohio system. ‘I'he coal ig a pure white-ash an- thracite, which, he says, shows better than Pennsylvania Lykens Valley coalin analy- sis. Tt is an older deposit than the Pennsyl- vania anthracite, and this fact may have led to the statement of Major Hotchkiss before the American Institute of Mining Engineers that there is no anthracite deposit in Vir- ginia worth anything as a commercial com- modity. Mr. Pool, following the report of Rogers in 1836 on the geological resources of Virginia, has labored in that field since 1875, and spent thousands of dollars in his investigations. He used the diamond drill in his researches after anthracite, and says the facts established are incontrovertible that the deposit exists in veins of three to eight feet ina territory forty miles in extent, of which Rawley and Brook’s Gap ore the basins. He considers the supply very great, and that the coal is the purest anthracite known. He believes that the established existence of this coal will be of great advan- tage to Baltimore. A branch of a few miles from Broudway, on the Valley Railroad will lead into it, and one of twelve miles to Raw- ley will tap the basin there. The fron ore deposits of the same region are also said to be very rich. ae GENTLE REMINDER. Husbands are so stupid! ‘The story in the June Drawer of aman who went to town with his wife to do errads, and was sorely perplexed at miesing something on his re- turn, until he reached home and found he had forgotten his wife, reminds somebody of a woman in Philadelphia who gave her husband six commissions to execute in New York. He telegraphed back that he had ex- ecuted five and forgotten the last. It was an order for an illuminated sentence fora Sunday-school room, He a was good deal astonished when he received the reply: «Unto us this day a child is born—two feet wide and nine feet long.” THE LUMBER INTEREST. From the St. Paul Press. ‘The lumbermen have shared more largely than any other class of men the apprehen- sions for the safety of the crop, and found considerable consolation in yesterday’s rain. They have passed the stage where a rain is of value: for its ability to bring down the logs, but with the over production which has taken place, there is probably no interest which would suffer so seriously as lumber- ing should there not be throughout the Northwest the present year a good tair crop. A prominent lumberman remarked yester- day that in the event ofacrop failure throughout the Northwest lumber would be sold as low as $10 per 1,000, At the present time very little store is placed upon the Northwest trade, and the statement is very generally made that trade is only fair. Stocks are about 15 per cent larger than they were at this time last year, and the production since the sawing season was commenced has not been larger than the sales during the same time. ‘The receipts of lumber at Minneapolis during the past week were eighty-seven car loads, and the shipments 215 car loads. A very considerable part of the receipts are of hard lumber, tor which there is a good local demand. ‘Trade aceordiag to these figures does not vary ma- terially from week to week. The shipments of lumber do not represent more thana third part of the sales, local sales being double the amount of that of shipments. There is no promise of an: increase of trade until after the harvest, and much is dey end- ent then upon the yield that is secured. Logs are running in freely, and there is a plentiful supply. ‘his condition of affairs is sure to continue, and the log matter is no longer a problem. ‘There will be more than will be needed. ‘The river is full of loge be- tween the boom limits-and Aitkin, anda steady and bountiful supply is assured the mills. None ot the manufacturers have be- gun to run nights yet, and until compelled to by the necessity of taking care of the logs there is no purpose to increase the production beyond its natural limits. Camp & Walker have received the last bill for the Canada Pacific under their contract, amounting to about $2,500,000. When this order has been filled the firm will. have furnished about 34,000,000 feet to the rail- road builders, all the timbers and lumber for more than 1,000 miles of raiiroa’ west of Winnipeg and to the summit of the Rocky mountains, e Negotiations which have been y ending be- tween ‘I’. B. Walker'and citizens of Grand Forks looking to the construction of un ex- tensive saw mill at the Forks by Mr. Walker have fallen through. Mr. Walker annually cuts on the Clearwater and in the Red Lake lumber country about 15,000,000 feet of logs, only about 5,000,000 of which he will get out this year. ‘I'he logs have supplied Win- nipeg mills heretofore. Maj. Camp estimates that there will be earried over this year in the woods and in the booms here fully 175,000,000 feet of logs or a near approach to supply necesgary for another yenr’s sawing. Farnham leave jto-day for a trip up the river to ingpect the condition of the drives now very generally to the main river. ‘They will be absent several daya. ‘lhe rear of the main drive was at Aitkin yesterday, and all the logs, with the exception ot a few old logs coming out of the prairie, were on their way to Minneapolis, Maj. Camp leaves this evening to look after his luwber contract on the Canadian Pacific, and will go as far as the Saskatche- wan crossing. ‘ BAD LUCK. From Harper's Magazine for Augast, Major C is exceedingly fond of the game of whist. On one occasion he was speaking of the way in which adverse luck Will sometimes pursue a man, and remarked that he once p'ayed a whole season at the White Sulphur Springs and never held a trump. Some one in the company suggested that that was impossible because he must have held at least one trump every time he dealt the cards. But the major replied “Every time I dealt it was a misdeal,”’ ; He illustrated the same idea in another way. He said he was once in a party when the proposition was made to throw dice for drinks and cigars. He threw several times and every time the dice came ont ace, deuce. He was vexed, and threw them with all his might against the wall of the room. When he went to pick them up from the floor he was confronted with the same one and two spots. He went to the window and pitched hmas far as he could into the yard. The next day he felt like trying his luck again, and not having another pair of dice he went ont into the yard to hunt them up. Stooping down and _ peering closely into the grass, his eyes finally rested upon the ace. He was so mad that he made a mental re- solution that if the other die was found with the deuce up he would swallow them. He found it at last, and it was the deuce. He swallowed them both forthwith. Five minutes later, he became dreadfully alarmed at what might be the consequences of his rash act, and took astrong emetic. ‘lhe dive were soon deposited on the graes again. “And as atire as you are alive,’ sald the | major, “there lay the same old ace, deuce,’ DANGERS OF BOATING. ‘The yachting and boating season is at its height, and never was the ae De pastime more popular. Rich men are proud of costly and finely equipped yachts, and boys go into ecstacies over cockleshell sailboats and ca- noes ws light asa feather. In the passion for light and handsome canoes and sailboats, the danger from upsetting, anc consequent drowning, seems to have been almost lost sight of. Boys and men are sailing in ca- noes not weighing ove: 40 pounds with all their equipments. ‘They get into such flim- sy craft, and fasten themselves in, as it were, by decks which shut tight around their bodies, and any accident which oyerturns the canoe leaves the men head downward under, the frail craft, he sailboats are even worse, ‘The desire for fast sailing has equipped such craft with canvass all out of proportion to their size and weight. “There has just been built at South Boston a sail- boat xbout 14 feet long and 4 feet breadth of beam. Itis decked over, all but a cockpit large enough for two persons to sitin, On this boat is to be hoisted a shoulder-of-mut- ton sail of 24 feet hoist and 18 teet spread. The boat weighs 175 pounds. No builast is to be used, beyond a 60-pound sand bag in the bow. Such a boat is a complete man- trap, aud worst of all, it is the property of two boys who will use it-at Martha’s Vine- yard, It is not strange that Boston harbor has already beep guilty of 10 or 12 deaths by drowning this season, each attributable to the careless use of, or to badly-construct- ed, sailboats. Where is the remedy?, Stop the boating craze! It cannot bedone. It must run its course like all other popular sports. But lite preservers might be pro- vided—they shonld be compulsory. Yet all aunybouy. can do is to suggest a life preserver may become popular. A few pounds of cork shavings made into a hassock forms a_ neat and convenient boat or canoe seat. What are its other merits? If it holds halfa bushel of cork shavings and is.made of good can- vas, it has a supperting. power on the water of over 26 pounds. ‘he body ofa good- sized man with head above water, hardly weighs 10 pounds. A cork hassock suffi- ciently large for a neat and comfortable seut, will keep two men afloat so long as they hang onto it with both hands. It should be provided with beckets or handles—handy to carry it by—to be seized the moment there: is any danger of the Doat upsetting. Such a handy boat seat might become an efficient life-preserver, and every boat should be equipped with one for each person. The cost would be a mere trifle. Cork shavings are worth about fifteen cents per bushel. - SUGAR OF ROCK MAPLE. From the Boston Traveller. The following paper on the Acer Sacchar- inum, is by Jacob W. Manning, Reading, Massachusetts : ‘This is in a broad sense an American tree, for it extends from the extreme eastern part ot North America to the Eastern Rocky Montains, and from the highlands. of the gulf States to the water-shed between the waters of the St. Lawrence and Hudson Bay. W. E. Johnson, boom master, and S. W j In all this territory it is found at frequent ¢ oI . ’ a e . intervals on elevated land and along rivers, and is at home in all rocky formations. ‘This tree.is often from three to five feet in diameter, and 70 to 80 feet high, large and straight enough to make ship-keels, growing naturally without any aid from man. I measured a tree in Northampton, Mass., that had been planted 60 years, that was 11 feet 6 inches in circumference three feet trom the ground; even this is small com- pared with some natural trees seen in old pastures, The wood. is close-grained and solid, and one of the handsomest of all light colored woods for furniture and house finish. The bird’s-eye, curley and branched maple ve- neers that make such a rich and varied fin- ish nre from it. It is almost the only wood usedin the manufacture of boot and shoe lasts, for which a surprisingly large amount js used, andin many other industries where a solid and close-grained, but light wood, is necessary. As fuel itis but little excelled by any other wood. No other native plant growth produces such delicious syrup as the rock maple. A sugar orchard is ‘a valuable addition toa farm; even onr street and lawn trees can be tapped without injury; they appear to grow as finely and live as long as those not robbed of their sap, which one would suppose was their vital fluic. Asa street, lawn or park tree,.it is justly valued .as one of the best American trees, It is thrifty, comparatively free from insects, and is sure to grow into a well-balanced tree in nearly every locality. The shade is very dense, and yet grasa will grow quite freely under single specimens where the wind blows off the leaves. In planting, to prevent monotony. it is well to intersperse other trees of different outline. The gorgeous autumn hues of our forests are largely due to this maple. I wit- nessed at Newburg, N. Y., on a cloudy fall day in suburban home grounds, laid out by the lamented A. J. Downing, the very best effects in the varied hues taken on by this tree; interspersed among other kinds each with its own peculfar antumn color, and some sti!l green, but the rock maple outshone them all. Se cael Sekine ees “Can a man serve two masters?” Cer- tainly, sailors on schooners can.— The Judge. ENGINEERING AND SCIENTIFIC. Neyreneuf has studied the relative trans- mission of sound through air, carbonic oxide, carbonic acid, and illuminating-gas. ‘The sound is fransmitted through a tube two metres long, containing the gas experiment- ed upon, and the intensity is studied by no-- ticing the distance at which a sensitive flame ceases to be acted upon by it. He finds that: air and carbonic oxide have the same trans- missive power, air and illuminating-gas give very variable resulte, and carbonic acid has- a much greater transmissive power than air. A table of results for air and carbonic acid: is given.—-Comptes rendus. ‘Two vessels recently built by the Messrs. J. & G. Thompson have been compared to- determine their relative economy as a means of transportation as affected by a con- siderable difference in proportions. One was 390 feet long, 42 feet beam, and drew 18: feet of water: the second was 375 by 45 by 20 feet. ., ‘The longer vessel had less fine ends. tban the broader ship. The former required: 5,100-horse power to drive her 15 knots an hour, while the latter only demanded 3,900. At13 knots the power demanded was the same for both; but at higher speeds the difference became greater and greater, and more in favor of the shorter, broader, but finer ended vessel. The gain to be expected: from giving ships greater beam, and, at the- same time finer ende, is expected to be ob- served in larger and faster vessels.— Mechan-- ics. Professor R. R. Werner, of the Tech: : high. school at Darmstadt, pub’ishes a Saar describing his trial of a compound engine: driving amillin Augeburg. ‘The engine has an indicated power of 132 horses, | ‘I'he ey)- Inders have a proportion of 2.75 to 1; they are steam-jacketed, as is the intermediate reservoir; the ratio of expansion is 14. ‘The boilers carry a pressure of about 7 aimos- pheres, and the steam: supplied: contains 3: per cent water. The steam-jackets.. eon- dense about 11 percent of the steam, aria the cylinders demand about 7 kilograms (15.4 Ibs.) of stevom per horse-power:and per hour, besides that condersed in.the juckete ‘This is about the amount required as amin. imum in the best-known English and Amer- ican engines. In this country a very simi- lar figure has been reached by Corliss ang Leavitt.—Zeitschr. ver. deutsch. ing., May. Griveaux arranges a glass tube and a bar of pine wood of equal length, for experi- mental demonstration of sound, go that the passage of a pulee through either the column of airin the tube or the wooden rod shal} move one of two light screws, and go break an electric contact. ‘The current from a bat- | tery is divided, and passes into the two evils. of a differential galvanometer; the light screw resting on the end of the rod being placed in one circuit, and a similar screw resting on a membrane closing the end of the tube, in the other. The resistances are go arranged that the needle of the differential galvanometer remains normally undeflected If a sound is produced by a strikin drum, the needle of the galvanometer is leflected in such a direction as to show that the con- tact is broken by the movement of: that screw resting on the end of the wooden rod thus illustrating the greater velocity of the sound-wave in wood than in air.—Journat phys., May. , A PAPER STEAM LAUNCH. In the Maritime Register of May 30th mention was made that a paper steam launch was being ‘built at Lansingburgh, N.Y. It has been ordered by the Westinghouse Ma- chine Company, of Pittsburg. It is a steam launch, length of keel 20 feet; breadth of beam, 5 feet; depth of hold, 3 teet; length over all, 24 feet; draught of screw, 24 inches: length of shaft, 8 teet; weight without ma- chinery, 1,000 pounds; seating capacity, 3 tons. ‘The craft is builtin two sections and jointed on the keel. he sheathing isa solid body of paper, three-eights of an inch thick, a quarter of an inch thicker than on racing: boats. A bullet from a revolver fired at the sheathing, at a distance of four feet, neither penetrated nor made an abrasion. Experi- ments have shown it is impossible to soak or- soften the hull or increase the weight by the contact of water. A paper vessel of a. thickness corresponding with the hull of the launch, prepared without paint or out- side protection, was placed in the water last October and remained eight months. It shows no sign of moistuer inside nor evidence of disintegration. ‘he motive power of the craft will a Westinghouse engine of six horse power, 2,000 revolutions a mipute. The engine and machinery will be placed in the boat at an early day, when a trial tri will be made. y THE POETIC IDEA OF MAN REAL- IZED. ; Aman will rant around aa if mad i better-half asks him to get up at ec fe ee acold day and build the kitehen fire; but he will suffer like a martyr with itching piles and spend an extra dollar on beer te. drown the pain instead of investing a small amount in Swayne’s Ointment for removing the itching and soreness. Verily the Poet has well said, ‘What fools these mortals be.” sae One of our exchanges has the ecard, following “CHAS, KING, Steamboat Butcher,’ What kind of an artist would that be?