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to improve the seed; and united in a request to Congress to continue the experiments in our own state. The reports of the committees were unanimously adopted.
B.
During Prof. Marvin's absence from the University last week, on account of his wife's illness, A.S.Riffle took charge of the engineering classes, and acquitted himself nobly,
The material moved on all the works of the Panama Canal in November was 82,- 000 cubic yards. The total removed to December 1st, 1883, is 52,700 cubic yards.
The Cantiliver bridge over the Firth of Forth is under full headway. Several of the piers are built up to low water mark, and much of the machinery to be used in its construction has arrived.
It is reported that the Straw Lumber Factory, of this city, owned by S. H. Hamilton, will soon re-open and manufacture lumber for car building only.
American Dredge,No.2,at Panama,has been totally destroyed by fire; loss $150,- 000. The fire is supposed to have been of incendiary origin. The indirect loss to the canal company is considerable.
It is reported that fourteen thousand men are now at work upon the Panama canal. The dry season has set in and hopes are entertained that much progress will be made this year.-Engineering News.
On February 1st, the tunnel of the Junction Railway Company, of Pittsburg, Pa., was completed. The tunnel is 2,200 feet long, and extends through Herron Hill to Bellefield. It is 20 feet high, and some 40,000 cubic yards of stone have been taken out. The work has been prosecuted day and night since its commencement, some eight months ago. The cost of the tunnel will probably reach $300,000.
—Thornton in his history of China brings evidence that 1600 years ago the Chinese had sufficient skill to invent and build suspension bridges. Shanglang built one, which still exists in Shangse and stretches 400 feet from mountain to mountain, over a chasm of 500 feet. Many of their bridges were of iron. "82"
—Engineering in China has achieved a notable triumph in the construction of the bridge at Lagan, over an arm of the China Sea. It is five miles long, built entirely of stone, has three hundred arches seventy feet high, and the roadway is seventy feet wide. The pillars are seventy-five feet apart.
—Prof. F. O. Marvin has purchased, for the Engineering department of K. S. U., one of J. W. Queen's best plane tables. We now have some of the best engineering instruments made, and Prof. Marvin will add good instruments to the list just as fast as he can convince the Regents of the necessity.
Mr. S. H. Hamilton, of the straw lumber fame, has returned to Lawrence and will soon reopen his straw lumber factory. The New York Sun, in a recent article, has the following concerning the lumber: "It takes 100 years to grow 20,000 feet of natural lumber on an acre of ground. This is according to official statistics. On the other hand an acre of ground will produce every year straw enough to make 2,000 feet of artificial lumber, and hence in a hundred years, it will produce 200,000 feet, ten times as much as the quantity of natural lumber."
---To remove pitch, varnish, or oil paint stains from clothing, soften the stain by applying butter or lard; then wash it in turpentine or benzine. If the stain is very dry use chloroform.