SOME QUEER SILK-SPINNERS. SJ LK WORMS DC) NOT HAVE A .MON OPOLY ox Tin; RUSIXESS. Silk Spiders of Madagascar and America. —Remarkable S.>a Shells that produce a beautiful silk. Silkworms are iuot the only silk-spin ners; for instance, there are certain sea shells that are allied to the common mus sel ami which, extraordinarily as it may seem, produce a strong ami beautiful quality of silk. The pinnas (from a Latin word signi fying a wing) as they are called because of their shape, posses- the power /112 spin ning. with what is called a fo.it, a large number of thread* in the aggregate form ing the cableor byssus by which they moor themselves U) the particular spots under the water that they select to oc cupy. Gibbon the historian tells of a wo man in ancient Koine who w ore a, magni ficent dress woven of pinna silk. There is now in the British Museum a pair of gloves made of the byssus of the giant pinna, a species that sometimes attains the length of two feet, and gloves and purses of tlie same material may be 'bought it any time in the cities on the Mediterranean c ists. The Queen of Jinvaria is said to have once worn a dress of a still more re markable fabric woven of silk actually spun I • clothes -moths, whose specialty has alwa,' - been supposed to have been to destri'v. rather than to pi-'luce ma terial- i ! which clothing i- made. A Mr. Hal.enstreet, it appears, having noticed that the larva, or grub, of a par ticular kind of clothes-moth called the Tinea padella spun an extremely delicate and fairy-like -ilk, set to work to make fabri. - composed of this silk. An op- ; portunity keurmo-untably difficult first j encountered in carrying out his purpo e was the fact that the flat patch of silk i spun by each of these larvae measured ' only about half an inch square; but by placing t!»<• laiv ie and making them spin . in close proximity to each other he dis covered that the squares united at the edges and produced a continuous fabric. Mr. Hal enstreet constructed a number of models of paper, oiling the parts not to le covered with *ilk, and by setting a great number of the clothes moth larvae at work n the -urtiee of hi* models he ; succeeded in producing a balloon about four feet in diameter, two shawls liter ally as light as a feather, and a seamles* dress with sleeves. This dress, presented to the Queen of Ifcivaria and worn by her over her court costume, a frock for which babv clothes-moths not only spun the material but made it up as well, is the most delicate thing imaginable. That which, in the well-known fairy tale, the King's son drew through a finger ring scarcely could have been finer or more compressible. It is, indeed, light to a fault—the merest zephyr is enough to carry the whole dress away. fn the first half of the eighteenth cen tury an enterprising and enthusiastic little Frenchman, M. Bon, turned his at tention to spider-webs, and discovered what to liiin was a new and interesting fact: that female spiders when they had laid their eggs, immediately proceeded to weave webs of strong silken threads, forming cocoons about them. He had conceived the idea that spiders might, to some extent at least, take the place of silkworms, and be made to furnish ma terials for silk and satin fabrics. It is true that the web used by spiders to cap ture unsuspecting flies proved on trial al- Newspaper Publishers and Job Printers! Bran new 8-point Roman newspaper body type, cast from standard formula type metal, at twenty-five cents per pound. 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BUFFALO, NEW YORK together too lrail and flimsy to be woven I into fabrics; but he belb-wd that he had ( found what he ivallj rei|Uired in the - ilk of which spiders* cocoon- are composed. , After eon jMstitive contest in which Bon set all the different French species of i web-spinners spinning cocoons to dis cover which was the most available for his purp se, lie was led to adopt the "Thoinisus" spidi r, or "short-legged silk spider,'' us he c I]ed it, the most pro- ; duclive. He collected all of these that j he could, hiring a number of persons to ; go in search of them. As soon as he had procured one he put it by it elf in a little perforated paper ' box. After a protracted imprisonment in thee miniature Bastiles, during which time Bon found his time principally oc cupied in catching flies and feeding them to his prisoner-, he inspected his paper cells and found to his ••real. :\ . when sent t<> a mission in Madagascar, noticed with t-:urpri-e the enormous -piderwebs that son ! net works of golden w ire over the tree- and bushes in the gardens of the quarter oc cupied by his fraternity. The threads composing these webs were fo strong that, remembering Ron and what he had accomplished with French spiders, it oc curred to him to try w hat could be done with the greatly superior silk of the Madagascar spiders. He began by collecting the numerous webs, and with infinite patience he carded and spun them; but the fabric woven from this silk, though immensely strong, was commercially of no value, on account of ilie irregularity of the threads. De termined not to be beaten, however, he tried by every means in bis power to ob viate this difficulty, and at last managed to draw the silk directly from the abdo men of the spider, inclosing the insects in old match-Wxes for the purpose, it is precisely this principle which is fol lowed in the schools of Madagascar to day, and the good father can honestly claim to be the inventor of the system. The French have taken the fcubject se riously. and profev-ional schools have been founded for the scientific propaga tion and the cultivation of the spiders and for the instruction of the natives in winding, spinning and weaving the silk. These schools are due to the initiative of General (iallieni, and are the most useful works instituted by that energetic officer, supplying- a- they do immediate employ ment for the natives, as well as forming a nucleu- of an industry Tj'hose end in this age of progress it is impossible to foresee. The spider, which the natives i call "Ilalal*," belongs to the Xcphila, a j genus <>f largo spiders found in tropical ; j and tropica I countries, and noted principally lor 11M- ai/.« and strength of i tin: webs they spin. Captured in the j 'i Jiigo groves and brought to the school ! :ti Inrge, square ba ■ keithey icquire im ' nii ii uv al.ntion, or the opening oi tho i •a. , sad U> relate, will reveal in eaelt ■ | a striking and undeniable instance of the j " nrvivnl of the fittest" in perhaps one! solitary survivor, who has eaten up all 1 j its I'elluw-prisoni . Not only does ni\ lady feed upon her ! ; companions, but when Decision offers has i , no hesitation in devouring' her litis! end. 1 Indeed, he is an iu-ignil! ant, half- j ir\cd. dingy-looking; mite, not m re j j than a tenth the size of his- mate, whom j lie fear-, and worships. When united to ! the -pider of her choice, having incoiiti : nentl) eaten all her uiisucce-siul suitors, i I .Miul.ime Hahibe begin.- to look about her if< r -.«) ie locality when provisions fori herself and her eoniing brood an; likely to be found close at hand. Many of the j -pider ■> discover these in the immense ; in::''go groves of the lioyal (iardens at Tanv.narivo, the t ipital of Madagascar, and lin.' the creatures are to be found in gre .t number~. A-. so -n as they are i iken from the biskei- the v are placed in ' ease divided into pigeonholes or s pia-re cells like those in which letters are placed in country jio, -oil':.- A spi !er is pi... i in each cell, with t!i" a ! . loiaen proje ting on that side ■ the 'ell from . iit.li lb -ilk is to I.- «i- iwii. The I.iilly i-augiit and se cured 'H a ll it pieee oi wood in which a j ha if-moon-shaped notch is cut. This pi- slide up and down ;• -ro-- the buck ' of the tvfl, and i- adjusted to catch the | spider jusi. in front of the .b lomen and 1 hi Id it la (ionless, '1 lie leg- are brought forw.iid, and lhe\ and the head and for- i ward |■ irt ol (lie ! oily in.in t!u- cells, wh-le the a. lolnen iclucs te.ond it Oil the lnrther side of the notched.pieee of ; 1 the .-pkl -rs in their elJs -o as not t hurt them. The tin .id- an- n ,v dr.s n from the abdomen of the ha'abes. This i- done by gently I ying a linger on each spider in turn. Hid -oftly . ilhdrawing the hand. ? and by light and skilful manipulation manage to draw the silken filaments Iron all the -piders in the case at. one time. Tie thread thu ■ extr:-. led is led to a -iicelmnicai twister, whie'j in turn sends it t a reel. The insects thus lirm ly held yield without resistance a goodly supply of lilaments. fwdvi- thousand live hundred yards of silk can .el iken in a month in four or live suc.e-sive wind i: . fr< m a single after v.hieli, IIO.M er, the particular spider operated on dies, a mart r to commercialism. lu general the spider- are not drawn up n to the extent o; utter exhaustion; i but when a certain amount ot silk has been yielded they are at to a place pro vided for them where they gradually re- ' gain their full vigor and spinning capaci ties. The thread drawn from this spider i- ! really marvelous in color, as well as in quality and quantity. We are accus tomed to think of spider webs as white, and so they are in most instances. Some- j times, however, the web is a steely blue | and often, says Professor MeCook, "with a luster like spun glass." In the silk j used by spiders in making- their cocoons I there also are a variety of hues yellow, green, brown, and even various shades of I red. The thread drawn from the halabes ' has a decided col r. No gold was ever more brilliant, no yellow ever more pun in tint, writes Whitley. "Its extreme fineness, its elasticity and tenacity, in which it far excels ordinary silk, allow it ; to be woven into tissues of fairy-like 1 linen. of exquisite suppleness and sub stantial enough to stand the wear of ages." Those wh vi-ited the colonial < section of the I'aiis Imposition perhaps < will reiuetnl.or of seeing' a specimen of the tissue into which this beautiful spi der-Bilk can be woven, made into a coin- ; i plate set of bed hangings, while hahibe, spiders were exhibited a 1 work. But we I have in our own country a near relative of this French-African spider, and one apparently ju-l as capable of being made of value. Like the hahibe, it, spins a great quantity of strong, beautiful, gold- ! en -ilk. and like the lialabe yields thread that can be spun and woven into lustrous ! and substantial fabrics. This is the Ncphila Wilderi. named after its ■>- cov. rer, l>r. 15. (I. Wilder. "I found in a tree on a desolate island ! a little south from the Harbor of Charles- ! town. South Carolina," he say a, "a Very . large and handsome spider whose web . was at least three feet in diameter. 1 j . entangled her in her web, anil carried her i to my tent. The creature was very quiet 1 and did not attempt to escape; but pres ently after crawling slowly along my sleeve she let herself down to the floor, i taking first the precaution, after the j prudent fashion of most, spiders, to at tach t > the point she left a silken line j which,, as she descended, came from her body. Uather than sei.e the pider her- ! self, I caught the thread and nulled. The spider ..as not moved, but the line read ily drew out and. I cing wound upon my hands, it seemed so strong that I attach ed its end to a little quill, and having I placed the spider upon the side, of the tent, lay down upon my couch and turn ed the quill between my fingers at such a i rate that in one minute six feet of silk ' . was wound upon if. At the end of an I hour and n half I had four hundred fifty j yard- of the most, brilliant and beautiful golden silk I ever had seen." Much greater quantities of silk after ward were wound up with rude appli ances constructed for the purpose. The doctor tested the strength «;f the line spun by this spider by attaching a single silken filament, one four-thousandth of an inch in diameter, to a lixed ]H>int and tying the other end of the spider thread to the arm of an accurate balance. He found that it would sustain ttfty-four grains before mushing tho breaking point. I>y a simple calculation from this, Dr. Wilder found that a solid rope of spi ders' wilk one inch in Uiswueter "would j sustain a weigh. i>f more thaii seventy ! tons, while a I>:ir of steel of -iniilar di ; mensions will sn a tin i weight <>f" fifty - I six, and one of iron twenty-eight fc ns." It -I'CIII- Strang. • thai thi- diseovcn of Dr. Wiloer's. of v. ij.ih •• complete and | ino.-t i »i 1 -1 ii<;_: ae-ount was given in ! "The Atlantic .Monthly" for \ugust, | iMili, !i - - not been made of .me j• r.*vti -1 eal tis . It r.voni- pi.tin Unit the particu i lar spider noticed sin every was the equal if not Ihe super; i of its conqueror 1 in Madagascar. It is easily kept and fed l on soft meat, .such n■ the liver of chick -1 ens, win re in-'et are not to he had; it j is not vei mums, and does not require t j plantation in wliji to re-tipeiute, as do | the Madagascar ipidcrs. Moreover, it ! spins tv. » kinds of ilk a beautiful gold ;''ii sort that is il i .t.n and another, an i inelastic variety, that In- the color and the luster of silver. 'I he subject 1 . one o' really more than ; ordinary interest. It has been proved iov and over again that the -ilk of cer • I'lin s: oof spides is stronger and more lustr ii-, than that of the silkworm, that spiders of his silk-producing -ort are not •!il"lcult to keep when their na tu-'e and want-, arc properly understood and attended to, and thai they are not • I 1 ftlieult to Ineed or keep in good | health »r -upply with their proper food 'as the delii ito and pampered worm.— • -'as. Carter iieard in Ciiiea.") Sunday i Magazine. THE WINE-MAKING INDUS TRY OF NEW YORK STATE. By John S. Steele. Ihe wine-mal ing industry in New York State i- now in full swing. It ho ' ;an luring the first week in September ;)id will continue t ill late in 'he fall,or ;r 1 1 her the preliminary proces of press ; ing the "rapes will continue until then. I he other pice..-,e- of v. ine-uinking con tinue m\"|- the entire i ir. and in the ease of champagne, t-1 least, whieh is the* most imp.-rtan; part of the X«w \'"i kSi Me industry, the proee of man- I ite making of till wines is completed a fa> - a the . li' e work o: tlit? wine i aker is concerned when liar fermenta tion is finished in the fall, but of course \ :ture% part;, that ot in. titrintr the wine by tna\ be extended indefinitely. It is a fact t: t g< tei 11'••• known that in some respects the wine industrv of New \ ork is the most important ill the I nited Stales. Ihe output of California is greater in quantity. tind in \ >lu<> it that of N.- . York. !i is esti mated that th- a vera '/e annual pr-'duc t ion of wine in ( ilifornia is between J twenty and thirty millions of gallons, vhile that of New York is only from five to -even millions of gallons. In value, however, that of California is only about i si.'i .ooo.ooo, while the wine output of Xew York is valued at about !?:i.000.000. This is explained by the fact that the Califor | nia product is largely of clarets 1 and Sauternes, w hen as Xew York is the greatest producer of champagne in Amer ; ica, and champagne runs into value | ijuicker than other wines. Absolutely, however. Now York is seeond both in quantity and value in the United States, with Ohio third. Xew York pa- isse-' the largest cham pagne plant in tin- country, and one that compares favorably with some of the famous European plants. There are reg ularly carried in storage there and in the proee-- of maturing 1,500.000 bottles of champagne, and the regular annual out put is about 250.000 bottles. All this wine is made from grapes grown in the neighborhood of Washingtonville and at I laniuiondsp. rt, X. Y. About 400 tons of grapes arc annually crushed to make, champagne at this plant and an equal quantity, for the manufacture of still wines. In the Hudson Valley alone there are 10,000 acres devoted to the growing of grapes for wine making, and in tl\e Like Keuka district about 15,(MX) acres. 11l the whole of New York State there are about 50,000 acre- un !er wine grapes. Xew York ports and cherries have taken their place in the market with the Eu ropean wines. Xew York claret andSau temc types are rapidly taking the place u the higher grade imported wines, and her champagnes, while handicapped by the popular prejudice against a native wine, are rapidly forging to the front. The process of making champagne is an exceedingly intricate one, and one requiring a long training. A successful champagne maker must not only be an expert viticulturist. but lie must also be a competent chemist, ('hampagne is not the product of any one. grape. It is a blend of the juice of several varieties, and as the constituents of these grap-s vary in different years, they must be combined each year to produce . a uni form and perfect wine. The grapes used 112( r champagne making in Xew York are the Elivira and White Diamond, which are white grapes, the Duchess, a black grape, the familiar red Delaware, and the ICtnelon, which i- a dark grape. The juice . 112 these is expressed separately in the fall, allowed to undergo the lir-t fer mentation naturally, and then allow*d to rest iu immense easks until spring. Then the juice of each is analyzed, in order to determine the proportions of each needed to produce the perfect blend. In their separate state they are known to the wine makers as champagne wines. A perfect champagne should contain about, ten per cent of alcohol, seven-tenths of one per cent of tartaric acid, two or three ]wr cent of sugar, and the rest the water derived from the natural juice of the grape. In seasons like the present when, owing to a cool and wet summer, the grapes are watery and deficient in natural sugar, it is sometimes necessary to add a little pure cane syrup to the wine to bring up the percentage of sug ar. In all cases the sweet wines are pro duced by the addition of sugar. The dry wine is « natural champagne. When the right proportions have bwn determined by a ohenuoaJ analysis of the champagne wiuce in th* spring, the blend iu in ado und the wine bottle I. It then enter* up 011 Ilu proc - of fermentation in the bottle, which i- the distiugu: '..ng char acter of title f.'iaillJ ■:»;■ lie. Many cheap sparkling wine- aie m a.dp s[-• kiing 1»; charging them with gas. The gas in champagne is developed by the fermenta tion in the bottle. I lii-- proves-, take-. a-bout three. years. The bo; tie . 1 • •lit.l; corked and s«urcd with thick wires, are piled one on top of tin other in stacks containing thousand' of hottles, in a moderately warm cellar. There they re main undisturbed until tin- 112. .mentation is eornpiete. The only n 1 ,i , that the ii-aikcr has to know when this is so is by the broakirip of the bottles on account of the enormous pressure of tin L IS devel pt i in the fc.rincntnti' a. About five per cent if all champagne made is lost by (bis breakage, and often whole stacks ij l.'ottles an' shivered before the pro cess can bo checked. When th breakage IK'COIIIIS so great that it is evident that the fermentation is complete, the bottles aio removed to a coolei cellar and there ■et out neck down in slotted t . I in a bato I ro-;m. '!'< k.t is . !< | lv t i the old raisin grape and is a perfectly !:•■■■ v ; t! 1 "■ wi.tn age and dot not acquire its best qualities until it i: ab at t« % years ! oil. Clarets and Sauterncs are tiie I simplest types of wine and are m.tdc from various types of grapes. Nearly all the American l.p , of wine > grapes have i con developed from the! American wild crape. It is : fact .veil j known to viticulturists that see iliug; gapes arc seldom true to tape. Hal; i dwtiMi seed- from one berry will, if plant ed, produce probably as man different I types of grape, and the chances are that i they will all be worthless. The valuable types are .ill propagated by cuttings,! which will always remain true to the! parent typo. Viticulturists are constant- : ly experimenting with seedlings in! search of new varieties, but if they ob- j tain one of value from a thousand -eed- ; , 1 in*;s they consider themselves iortunate. ! Many of the most p pillar varieties have . been discovered by accident. CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE. Case Where Innocent Men Would Have Eeen Accused. I 1 "Several years ago I took a late train from lioston to New York," said a man in business in Kansas City. "In the ' morning I was awakened eiulier than usual by the porter, who said tliat a rob bery had been committed on the sleeper during the night, and that all the pas sengers would have to get up. Some 0113 had taken six SIOO hills from the cloth- ' tag of a gentleman who occupied a berth : in the middle of the ear. "Every section had been taken.before he lett. Ho-ton, and as the train had been ' almost constantly in motion, it seemed 1 certain that the person who had com- 1 mitted the theft was still on the car. ] The porter said 110 one had been aboard 1 but the passengers, and t-lia* none i : 1 them had left. It was proposed to seare'i ' everylfdy. \ "A man who had ab- rth directly on J posite from the on who had been r bhtd objected. He told bis name and said an; one might easily find that he was a man { of good reputation. In the meantime some oflicers lmarde.l the car, and after a | little sweating g t the money from the WE CAN SELL YOU THE 1 $ ' TT~7 •'••••'••• - ' > • / . jjgyr.. qum m : : -¥TQfRTI? oi3 - • S IUADLIJ Ji4 ■ ' / : TYPEWRITER at so very low a price for a short time enly that our offer jWiIl surprise you. Full particulars on request. Remember our offer is LIMITED | Write to-day A. D. Heiselbach Typewriter Co., Manufacturers, KENOSHA. WISCONSIN colore*! porter, who was the guilty one. ■'Then Ihe passenger who ha 1 refused r.o be searched asked the* ofli.-r- to ex hut ho insisted. In an inside pi•• k«-t they i l.al .-ix if*K '' Id!'-. It Wa- Iv ft coincidence that he should have the same amount nf money r::, the other pi -i-nucr h:id I it-', s.is-d in exactly the -.line dfliomj inations, but !.-o knew that inder t'tc circumstances lie could hardly )»;> innocence. How was th : fo; a 1 i»« of < ,11m-lantiul evidence ."- GEN. MILES A PROMOTER. Wants Government to Adopt Rice as Food for Army. 11. \H on A. Miles, U. 3. A ctired, hi 1 nt1• j • i upon a liusin< career. I lively tin null the effort< 01 the of ti'-ial ' : tin' Santo Fe R' .id, iie !i be .intei rsted, with Burton D. 1 Turd, i the r. eiitl v organi/'d Amei i• 1 n Rice Cereal Company, which has undertaken to induce the government to ad''pt rice - a food staple for the army. In a recent, announcement by 1 ie Santa I'e regarding tie.- Pr ect. it • .is stated lhat a former army olHeei ha in vest: itiiiL; rice culture in Tex is, with a ■ ed as 'II anny f< "d. ' ut it va; r, .t pub iir!. known until yesteiv t:,a> i'ueof iici.-i! r;". rn d tn -was tile •' «r-« <-r Com mander-in-chief. It :ip|» ir.s that 10 p 'j"- the railroad an ! Vereal company iave farm ed extends further than at lir.-t an i tii'i i*d. ri I i.i- stated thai t .i-ii. Miles o< n 1 hi es tela let! ; ur i.f Eu r " ith a vie <, 1 dueatin • K'.iropc ill .0: niiuint'- regarding th« \ ;lao of rice pail a lime-. V , . «:: tnt of evera! ! . rop.-.tii trip-, i- '! kno.vn in t rog 1 rding army food- arc mon or less ■ ■■' ■ What Ailed Tier Pittas. 'run tv i .** and her up- . te had be - "I.', "i an • more at IJie mi 'jer --ice of t> \-t atid liw * I'i>\ -a tot had bo- ' " Jit to hr I Iside. '•'llr- i-n't half