Part 26

_Answer._—The first chaplain of the Senate of the United States was the Rt. Rev. Samuel Provoost, of the Episcopal Church, Bishop of New York. The first chaplain of the House of Representatives was the Rev. Wm. Lynn, D. D., of the Presbyterian Church. Both of these officiated in the first Congress organized under the present Constitution in the spring of 1789. The Congressional proceedings of that time are preserved in the “American State Papers,” selected and edited under authority of Congress.

THE HARMONICA.

UNION CITY, Ind.

Please give a history of the harmonica.

FORD A. CARPENTER.

_Answer._—The original harmonica consisted of drinking glasses, played with moistened fingers. We read that about 1750 Mr. Packeridge, an Irish gentleman, was noted as a player upon glasses, whose pitch was regulated by the amount of water contained in each. Benjamin Franklin greatly improved the harmonica by making the glasses revolve about a spindle and fixing the pitch by the size of the glass. He also adopted a different color for each note in the scale, and moistened the rims by passing them through water. Miss Davis, a relative of Franklin, became a celebrated harmonica player, and performed at concerts with great credit. The mouth organ, which is now commonly called the harmonica, is a toy in which the sounds are produced by the vibration of metallic reeds, moved by the breath. Reed instruments essentially similar have been in use in China, Germany, and Holland from very early times. The inventor is unknown.

OREGON AND WASHINGTON TERRITORY.

ALTA, Iowa.

Please inform your readers about Northern Oregon and Washington Territory. Is any part of them safe from Indian depredations? Is the land mainly government or railroad grants? State chief facts as to soil, climate, and the various kinds of grain raised.

R.

_Answer._—The Indians in Oregon and Washington Territory are all gathered into reservations, and are now peaceable. They are not so fierce and restless as the tribes on this side of the Rockies, being more inclined to pastoral life, farming, and fishing. Little trouble is to be apprehended from this source, particularly in Oregon, the Indian population of which is not large. There are great bodies of public lands. The railroad land-grants are not so extensive as in the Missouri Valley States. There are immense quantities of fine timber lands open to purchase at the minimum price of $2.50 per acre under the “timber lands act” of June 3, 1878, which applies only to such lands in Oregon, Washington Territory, California, and Nevada. There are also wide sections in these States for sale at 25 cents an acre under the “desert lands” act of March 3, 1877. Great bargains have been made in lands passed under this description which are capable of easy irrigation, and are then remarkably productive. Oregon is divided into two parts, differing essentially in climate and productions by the Cascade Range of mountains, running nearly parallel with the Pacific coast, with an average breadth of 50 to 60 miles, and an average elevation of 8,000 feet. The portion of the State west of this range, constituting about one-third of its total area, is well watered, is generally very fertile, and, for the most part, covered with forests of valuable timber. The eastern two-thirds of the State, with the exception of the broad, fertile valleys of the Colombia and Wallawalla Rivers, is mainly made up of elevated plains, with insufficient rainfall for agriculture, except in districts where artificial irrigation is practicable.

The description of Washington Territory corresponds in the main with that of Oregon. The Territory is similarly divided, as regards climate and productions, by the Cascade Range. The rainfall is even greater in the western portion of Washington Territory than in the corresponding portion of Oregon, ranging from 70 inches in the south to the remarkable measure of 125 inches in the north, where it borders on Puget Sound. In this same region the temperature is remarkably equable, varying but 27 degrees during the year between the lowest and highest points. East of the Cascades a narrow strip on the north is mountainous and covered with forests, but south of this lies the Great Plain of the Columbia. Along the western border of this vast region, next the Cascade Range, it is claimed that the rainfall is sufficient for good cereal crops. The same is asserted of its eastern edge, bordering the Coeur d’Alene Mountains of Idaho; but the rest of it, like the southern extension of the same plain into Oregon, is fit only for grazing, except where irrigation is possible. It resembles very much the western portions of Kansas and Nebraska and the western parts of Colorado and Wyoming. In both regions the nutritious, self-curing bunch grasses, which form the chief reliance of the herdsmen east of the Rockies, abound. The grazing and agricultural interests of Oregon and Washington are increasing with great rapidity. The census of 1880 credits Oregon with 500,000 cattle and 1,250,000 sheep, and Washington with 250,000 cattle and 200,000 sheep, and since then the increase has been nearly 100 per-cent. The wheat crop of Oregon, according to the census, was 7,480,010 bushels, the oat crop 4,385,650 bushels, and the barley crop 920,977 bushels. At the same time in Washington Territory the wheat crop was 1,921,322 bushels, the oat crop 1,571,706, and the barley crop 566,537 bushels. Undoubtedly the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad this year will open an era of marvelous growth in the State and Territory above described.

WILLIAM COBBETT, THE AGITATOR.

ALDER GROVE, Neb.

Who was William Cobbett? He is spoken of as a reformer.

J. M. K.

_Answer._—He was an English political writer of the latter part of the last and the first third of the present century. Born at Farnham, Eng., in 1762, the son of a farmer of moderate means, he acquired habits of industry and self-dependence. Not liking rural pursuits, he went to London and engaged as a copying clerk. Soon tiring of this occupation, he enlisted in the British army, where he rose by merit to the rank of Sergeant Major. His spare time in barracks was given to self-education, and on obtaining his discharge, in 1791, he married and emigrated to Philadelphia, where he entered upon his after career as a political writer under the pseudonym of “Peter Porcupine.” At this period he satirized American democracy and French republicanism, attacking the inconsistencies and political fallacies of the time in terms of scorn and bitter denunciation. He was denounced by the American press, particularly by the Democrats, or “Republicans” of those times, as a Tory aiming at reviving the royalistic element in this country, not then completely eradicated. Not pleased with the reception of his political diatribes he returned in 1800 to England, and in 1802 began the publication of his _Weekly Political Register_, now famous, which he continued to his death, June 18, 1835. At first Tory, the _Register_ gradually changed its politics until it became the most fierce and unrelenting opponent of the government, then conducted by Pitt, and the foremost champion of English Radicalism. He advocated the abolition of flogging in the army, and for strictures on the government and satires and charges claimed to be libellous against certain high officials, he was condemned to imprisonment for two years in Newgate Prison, and to pay a fine of £1,000. He attacked the six acts of the British Parliament for the suppression of free discussion, pouring vials of abuse on the leaders of the government party; and to escape pecuniary embarrassments and the dread of again going to Newgate, he once more came to America, where his change of politics had raised up many friends. He virtually edited his _Weekly Political Register_ from this side the Atlantic until some years later when he returned to England. Radicalism had made great strides, and he found himself one of its recognized champions. In 1829-30 he delivered political lectures in several of the principal towns of England and Scotland, and was everywhere met with enthusiastic welcome as the boldest and most powerful advocate of the people’s rights. In 1832 he was elected to the first reformed Parliament as the member for Oldham. He was re-elected in 1834, and continued in this relation until his death the following year. Among his many popular works may be named “Cottage Economy,” “Rural Riches,” “Advice to Young Men and Women,” “The Emigrant’s Guide,” “Parliamentary History,” and an “English Grammar.”

CONCRETE OR GROUT HOUSES.

FOUNTAIN, D. T.

Please describe the method of building houses with concrete walls. What should be used to make the concrete, and in what proportions? Will common lime answer, or must Portland cement or water lime be used? The former comes high here.

WM. M. FISK.

_Answer._—For the foundation, especially in sandy or wet soils, it is best to use water lime, or a mixture of Portland cement or water lime and quick lime in the proportions of two shovelfuls of the former and one of quick lime putty to fourteen of fine gravel (or fine and coarse mixed) and one of coarse sand. Above the ground or embankment use quick lime in the proportions of one shovelful of lime putty to six or eight of gravel sand. The proportions depend on the strength of the lime, which varies according to the quality of the stone from which it is made. Slake the quick lime into putty ready for use, mix it partially with the gravel, and only add the water lime at the last moment before filling the barrow or hod. For the foundation dig a ditch of the proper size and dump the concrete into it. Cover it and give it a couple of days to set and harden before starting the upper walls. Take fence boards for mold boards; make clamps of three-quarter inch strips, tapering from two inches to one and one-half inches, so as to drive out of the wall easily before the concrete is hard; bore a half-inch hole in each and two inches further apart than the thickness of the wall, and make half-inch pegs four inches long for these holes. Set one tier of these molds on top of the foundation all around, resting on clamps at distances of five to six feet, and with as many clamps on upper edge to gauge the molds. Now shovel or dump in the fresh concrete as fast as you can mix it. If the weather is fine you can set a second tier of molds on top of the first, twenty-four hours, or even eight hours, after the first were filled, and fill in at the same rate as before, provided you leave the first molds undisturbed. As soon as the second tier is filled, draw the pegs from the taper ends of the lowest tier of clamps and drive them out. Remove the lower set of mold boards and begin a third tier at once. Leave the holes left by clamps, for the air to circulate through. A foot wall for first story and ten-inch above that, with eight-inch for partitions, will make a good strong building. The outside should have a coat of plaster made of medium fine sand, mixed with equal portions of quick lime and water lime; and this plaster should be marked out, before it becomes fully hardened, into blocks, to resemble stonework. As concrete houses, like brick ones, are apt to be damp if plastered directly on the walls, it is best to run in small blocks or strips sixteen inches from center to center, on top of every third or fourth course, before filling the molds with concrete, keep these flush with the inside of walls. Nail inch strips to these blocks to serve for scantling, and lath and plaster over this “furring,” as it is called, and you will have dry walls. Have window and door frames ready to build in as you go; securing them by blocks nailed to jambs, around which pack the concrete to hold them firm. Level up the course of concrete when you reach the height for the first joists, and lay an inch board four inches wide on concrete to rest joists on. Have ends of joists that enter wall cut beveling, so that in case the inside of building burns the joists will drop without prying the walls down. Set joists, leveling them carefully, and go on building wall as before. A concrete house built in this way is as substantial as brick.

LAS VEGAS HOT SPRINGS.

BATAVIA, Iowa.

Are the hot springs of Las Vegas, N. M., beneficial in cases of chronic rheumatism? How far are they from Chicago, and what is the route to them? Also, kindly state the fare.

E. C.

_Answer._—The Las Vegas hot springs are reputed to be highly beneficial in cases of chronic and inflammatory rheumatism; particularly in the latter. They are situated on the New Mexico line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, 770 miles from Kansas City, which makes them 1,259 miles from Chicago, via the Chicago and Alton. The regular fare from Chicago to Kansas City is $14.90; from Kansas City or Atchison to Las Vegas and return it is $42.80. It is claimed also that these springs are of great benefit to patients suffering with blood-poisons, paralysis, dyspepsia, and nervous diseases. In the mountain streams the fishing is good, and game is plenty in neighboring localities. From this point to Santa Fe, sixty-five miles, the railroad runs through one of the most interesting portions of this continent, historically considered; a region filled with the wonderful ruins of the old Aztec civilization, the birthplace of the Montezumas.

BASKET WILLOW

LOVELAND, Col.

Is the basket willow marketable in the United States at rates that pay for cultivating it? If so, how is it cultivated, and what soil is best suited for it.

I. H. DAVIS.

_Answer._—Repeated efforts have been made to cultivate the osier, or basket willow, in the United States, but the labor of peeling and preparing it for the market costs so much more here than in Europe, where this work is done by women and children at trivial wages, that it has been found difficult to compete with the imported stock. The annual importation of prepared willow during the ten years ending in 1879 averaged $33,000, and the willow-work $170,000 a year. The soils best adapted for the osier are rich alluvions and reclaimed swamps. If liable to overflow in spring floods, the ground should have drainage ditches. It is well to have means of irrigating the land in very dry weather. It is propagated from cuttings, selected from the wood grown the year before, cut smoothly into lengths of about ten inches, thrust into soil butt-end first, so as to leave only about an inch above ground. Care must be taken not to peel the bark in setting these slips, and for this reason it is sometimes best to use a hard wood or iron rod to make the hole. They should slope at an angle of 45 degrees toward the north. It is best to plant in straight rows from 20 to 28 inches apart, according to whether they are to be cut every year or every other year, and at intervals of six or eight inches. It is sometimes preferable to set in trenches, and, if the soil is poor, to fertilize with leaf-mold, stable manure, or bonedust, and irrigate with the soakings of manure during dry weather. The ground should be kept mellow and well weeded. The time of cutting should be late in the fall or in winter. The rods should be sorted into sizes, tied in bundles, dried in the sun, and stored in a dry place until ready for peeling. When peeled they should be dried for a day or so in the sun, when if properly prepared they will be white and brilliant; otherwise they will look dull, which impairs their value in market. If exposed to cold and dry winds, the growing osier should be protected by wind-breaks. Dr. F. B. Hough, Chief of the Forestry Division of the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C., says: “An osier plantation costs about $20 per acre for cultivation and yields about $100 to $125 per acre.” If this holds good anywhere in this country, it is strange that osier cultivation is so generally reported unprofitable.

CHEAP PROCESS OF SILVERING METALS.

WEST LIBERTY, Iowa.

Please give us instructions for plating or silvering cups, spoons, and other metal articles.

A. H. COX.

_Answer._—Electro-plating is a process that requires apparatus, and a degree of skill in using the same which render it scarcely worth while to enter into a detailed description of it. We outlined the process not long ago, and cannot reiterate it. A cheap and simple method of silvering metals, that any one can put in practice, is as follows:

Clean the articles to be silvered with nitric acid, rub them with a mixture of cyanide of potassium and powdered silver, and wash thoroughly in clear, warm water. Then plunge them into a liquor composed of two parts, by weight, of grape sugar or sugar of milk, two of gallic acid, and 650 parts of distilled water, filtered and kept from the air in tightly-corked bottles until the instant of use. After a few minutes take them out of this liquor and immerse them in another composed of twenty parts, by weight, of nitrate of silver, twenty parts of ammonia solution, and 650 parts of distilled water. Repeat this process, plunging the articles first into one liquor and then into the other, every few minutes, until they are all well coated. The process can be accelerated by heating either the mixture or the articles to a moderate degree. Some persons prefer to mix the two liquors at the moment of use in equal quantities. In such case, shake the mixture thoroughly and filter before immersing the metals. The ammonia solution should be of standard strength. If there is any doubt of this, dissolve the nitrate of silver for the second liquor in the distilled water, add the first liquor, mix thoroughly, and add only enough ammonia to clear the mixture. This is the process for copper, brass, German silver, and similar articles, but before silvering iron or steel they should be coated with copper by leaving them for a little time in a solution of sulphate of copper.

THE GUILLOTINE.

FAIRMONT, Neb.

I should like to know who was the inventor of the guillotine. How was it constructed and operated.

W. P. JACKS.

_Answer._—For many years the invention of the guillotine, the instrument for inflicting capital punishment adopted by the French during the reign of terror, was accredited to Joseph Ignace Guillotine, a French physician, born in 1738, who in 1785 recommended its use in France from motives of humanity, in place of the barbarous gibbet. However, there is in the Antiquarian Museum of Edinburgh a guillotine made before 1581, which served to behead the Scottish Regent, Morton, who had introduced it into use in that country. It was used in Italy in the thirteenth century in a form resembling the instrument now used in France. The guillotine is composed of two upright beams, grooved upon the inside, and surmounted by a cross-beam. Between these beams and sliding in the grooves is a sharp, iron blade, which falls by its own weight with great speed and certainty, severing the head from the body.

ASSESSMENT OF DEPOSITS.

ANDOVER, D. T.

Has an assessor in Dakota any right to assess money on deposit in a bank in Michigan?

SUBSCRIBER.

_Answer._—According to the laws of most States and Territories a certificate of deposit is just as assessable as the money it represents. Money is subject to assessment wherever it belongs.

GOVERNORS OF ALABAMA.

GREENVILLE, Ala.

Please give the names of all of the Governors and Senators of Alabama since the admission of the State into the Union, with the years during which they served.

SEA.

_Answer._—The Governors were the following: William W. Bibb, 1819-20; Thomas Bibb, 1821; Israel Pickens, 1821-25; John Murphy, 1825-29; Gabriel Moore, 1829-31; John Gayle, 1831-35; Clement C. Clay, 1835-37; Arthur P. Bagby, 1837-41; Benjamin Fitzpatrick, 1841-45; Joshua L. Martin, 1845-47; Reuben Chapman 1847-49; Henry W. Collier, 1849-53; John A Winston, 1853-57; Andrew P. Moore, 1857-61; John G. Shorter, 1861-63; Thomas H. Watts, 1863-65; Lewis E. Parsons, 1865; Robert M. Patten, 1865-68; William H. Smith, 1868-70; Robert B. Lindsay, 1872; David P. Lewis, 1872-74; George S. Houston, 1874-79; Rufus W. Cobb, 1879-81. The present Senators are John T. Morgan, 1883-89; James L. Pugh, 1879-85. For former Senators see “Lanman’s Biographical History of the Civil Government of the United States;” it is too long a list to copy here.

BACCHUS—TRADE MARKS.

WILMINGTON, Ill.

1. Explain the use of trade marks. 2. Who was Bacchus?

L. F. HAZELTON.

_Answer._—1. Trade marks secure a proprietary right of a single firm in the article thus marked. They are intended to prevent an unknown manufacturer from palming off upon the public imitations of goods that have acquired a reputation from the original manufacturer; or they are a certain warrant of the quality of articles bearing them. 2. Bacchus, or Dionysius, was the Greek god of wine, and, according to the myth, the son of Zeus and Semele, the daughter of Cadmus of Thebes. At his birth he was carried by Hermes to Nysa, to be reared by the nymphs. Being struck with madness, at the command of Juno, he wandered from land to land, attended by nymphs having their heads wreathed with vine and ivy leaves and bearing in their hands the thyrsus. To him is ascribed the knowledge of the cultivation of the vine and the manufacture of intoxicating wine, for in his wanderings he carried to men of many lands this information. Those who received him hospitably were rewarded, but all who rejected him brought upon themselves some form of misery. This hero and demigod was worshiped throughout Greece, but chiefly at Thebes, with sacrifices of goats and oxen, and many noisy and indecent rites, until, in 186 B. C., the Roman Senate suppressed the mysteries, which were the principal feature of the worship.

APOCRYPHA AND THE SACRED CANON.

ALGONA, Ill.

I should like to know in what year the Bishops of the Church of Rome accepted the Apocrypha as a part of the canon.

LAURA A. BARSLON.

_Answer._—As early as the latter part of the first century of the present era discussions arose among Christians regarding the books rejected by the Jews as profane, and at the Council of Laodicea (360 A. D.) the Greek Church rejected all books except those in the present Protestant canon. In 474 Pope Gelasius convened a council of seventy Bishops, which confirmed the opinion of Pope Innocent I., recognizing the Apocryphal books as sacred, and rejecting some of the doubtful books of the New Testament. The Council of Trent (1545-1563) finally settled the mooted question for the Roman Catholic Church, accepting the “Apocrypha” as a part of the sacred canon. The Greek Church has much the same books, while the Protestants retain only the Hebrew canon of the Old Testament.

CHURCH REFORMATION—PAPAL INFALLIBILITY.

DANVILLE, Ill.

Did any reformatory movements or discussions occur in the Roman Catholic Church before the time of Luther? 2. Are all of the Popes considered infallible?

JOHN SHORT.