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pliia Academy of Natural Sciences, by Mr. Fahnestock, shows this very 

 clearly in a case where the contents of a large green-house were 

 destroyed. In another instance a stroke of lightning", passing along the 

 street gas-mains in Racine, in 18G7, disturbed their joints and caused a 

 leakage which resulted in the death of nearly all the shade trees along 

 an entire square. 



SiE?.iENS' STEEL. — Among the various methods of preparing steel, 

 that of Siemens, so v\'ell known in connection with an improvement of 

 the smelting furnaces, is likely, it is said, to attain considerable promi- 

 nence, possessing various advantages, both as to economy and the char- 

 acter of the product, over many others in common nse. For its pre- 

 l)aration good luematite ore and spathic ore are mixed and treated with 

 carbonaceous materials, by which their total or partial reduction into 

 metallic iron is effected. This metallic iron is then subjected to very 

 intense heat on the open hearth of a Siemens regenerative gas-furnace, 

 and is dropped in certain given quantities or series of instalments into 

 a bath of cast-iron, previously prepared in the furnace. This operation 

 is continued nutil the requisite degree of decarbonization is arrived at ; 

 the mangan.ese is added in the form of ore or spiegeleisen. The quan- 

 tity of molten metal thus produced in one charge is abont four tons. It 

 is dipped into a ladle and poured into iron molds in the usual way, and 

 forms steel of the highest qualitj'. To those acquainted with the ordi- 

 nary way of making steel, the superiority of this process will be mani- 

 fest, while as regards cost it efiects a great saving. One ton of steel 

 ingots may be produced with a ton and a half of cheap small coal. The 

 ordinary Shefdeld process requires from five to six tons of fuel for one 

 ton of steel. 



CoLOES FROM WILD PLANTS. — A German writer shows that a great 

 variety of colors and dyes can be readily obtained from common plants 

 found almost everywhere, the method consisting principally in boiling 

 them in water at a high temperature, so as to produce a strong decoction. 

 Thus, for instance, the well-known huckleberry, or blueberry, ( Vaccinium,) 

 when boiled down, with an addition of a little alum and a solution of 

 copperas, will develop an excellent blue color. The same treatment, 

 with a solution of nut-galls, produces a clean dark-brown tint; while, 

 with alum, verdigris, and sal-ammoniac, various shades of purple and 

 red can be obtained. The fruit of the elder, {Samhuciis nirjer,) so fre- 

 quently used for coloring spirituons liquors, will also produce a bkie color 

 when treated with alum. The privet {Ligustrum vuJgare,) boiled in a 

 solution of salt, will furnish an excellent color; while the over-ripe ber- 

 ries yield a scarlet-red. The seeds of the common burning-bush, 

 {Euonymus,) when treated with sal-ammoniac, produce a beautiful pur- 

 ple-red; while the juice of the currant, pressed out and mixed with a 

 solution of alum, will furnish a bright-red color. The bark treated in 

 the same way produces a brown. Yellow can be obtained from the 

 bark of the apple-tree, the box, the ash, the buckthorn, the poplar, elm,. 

 &c., when boiled in water and treated with alum. A lively green is 

 furnished by the broom-corn, {S2)artiuni s 002x1 r mm ;) and brownish-green 

 by the genista. 



The atlanthus tree. — The disagreeable smell of the ailanthus tree 

 while in blossom need be no objection to the planting of it on a large 

 scale as a timber tree, since, as is well known, it is dicecious, and the 

 male tree alone possesses the unpleasant peculiarity. It is only necessary 

 to propagate the female tree, therefore, in order to have an equally fine 

 grove without the practical inconvenience referred to. It so happened 



