owosso 



4435 



OXFORD 



The call of owls, usually heard at night, is 

 mournful, and sometimes is a weird, startling 

 hoot which has caused some people to regard 

 the bird with superstition. Owls really do more 

 good than harm, however, and should be re- 

 garded as the farmer's faithful night watchmen 

 that destroy many insect and other animal 

 pests. According to a report of the United 

 States Biological Survey, only six of seventy- 

 three species and subspecies of hawks and owls 

 of the United States are injurious to crops or 

 poultry. 



Some Species. The little screech owl, eight 

 inches in length, and in color gray or red, is 

 one of the most common species in the United 

 States and Southern Canada. It is especially 

 valuable as a destroyer of mice, and should be 

 encouraged to remain about barns and gran- 

 aries. Gray barn owls are also numerous. The 

 great horned owl, common throughout North 

 and South America, is a large brown and white 

 bird, often destructive to poultry and game 

 birds. The snowy owl of the north is a large, 

 handsome bird, which hunts by day and attacks 

 ducks and other valuable waterfowl. Long- 

 eared owls appear in the woods of both hemi- 

 spheres. Short-eared owls are widely distrib- 

 uted over prairies and meadowlands. The bur- 

 rowing owl of Western America lives in the 

 homes of prairie dogs and other ground ani- 

 mals, and preys upon those little burrowing 

 creatures. The sooty-brown, fierce hawk owl 

 also hunts by day. There are many well-known 

 species throughout Europe. 



Consult Evans' Birds ; Fisher's Hawks and 

 Owls; De Kay's Bird God*. 



OWOSSO, o wos'o, MICH., a city in Shiawas- 

 see County, in the central part of the state, 

 twenty-six miles northeast of Lansing and sev- 

 enty-eight miles northwest of Detroit. It is 

 situated on both sides of the Shiawassee River, 

 in the midst of a fertile agricultural section. 

 Transportation is provided by the Ann Arbor, 

 Grand Trunk and Michigan Central railroads 

 and the Michigan United Traction line. The 

 population, whirl) in 1910 was 9,639, was 10,230 

 in 1916 (Federal estimate). 



Prominent features of Owoeso are a Federal 

 building, Carnegie Library, convention hall and 

 hospitals. There are important manufactures 

 of caskets, screen doors and windows, iron, fur- 

 niture, bate, etc. A sugar-beet factory and can- 

 ning establishment are other large industrial 

 plants. Owosso was settled about 1832, and be- 

 came a city in 1859. The commission form of 

 government was adopted in 1913. 



OXALIC, oksal'ik, ACID, one of a series of 

 organic acids, of great importance commer- 

 cially. It occurs in many plants, especially the 

 wood sorrel, called by botanists oxalis aceto- 

 sella; hence its name. It is very poisonous. 

 Cases of its use by mistake for Epsom salts 

 (which it resembles) are frequent, and are usu- 

 ally fatal unless milk of lime, chalk or milk is 

 quickly administered. It is chiefly important 

 as a bleach in all kinds of commercial enter- 

 prises, especially in leather and cotton-goods 

 manufacture, and is also used to remove ink 

 and iron stains. It is important, too, in the 

 manufacture of certain chemicals, especially 

 manganese dioxide. 



Oxalic acid is prepared commercially by fus- 

 ing sawdust (cellulose) with caustic potash or 

 soda (potassium and sodium hydroxide) in iron 

 pans. The sodium and potassium salts so formed 

 are extracted with water and sulphuric acid. 

 Oxidation of starch or sugar by nitric acid is 

 another common method. With bases, it forms 

 salts called oxalates. Of these the most impor- 

 tant is lime oxalate, which has medicinal quali- 

 ties. It is present in rhubarb and in certain 

 lichens. Potassium oxalate is well known in 

 commerce as salts of sorrel. 



OX 'FORD, the home of a world-famous uni- 

 versity, is a Parliamentary borough of England 

 and the county seat of Oxfordshire. It is situ- 

 ated at the junction of the Thames, there called 

 the Isis, and the Cherwell rivers, fifty miles 

 northwest of London. It is built on a low 

 plain, surrounded by hills, and since 1830 has 

 grown rapidly, extending its area into the beau- 

 tiful suburban districts. The center of Oxford 

 is at a place called "Carfax," from which four 

 main streets run to the four points of the com- 

 pass. High Street, which derives peculiar inter- 

 est from its long connection with academic his- 

 tory, is one of the finest thoroughfares in all 

 England. Oxford is also called the Cathedral 

 City, because of its many notable churches ; the 

 most famous are Saint Mary's, Saint Michael's 

 and Saint Peter's. The university buildings, 

 however, are of greatest interest. 



Oxford is first mentioned in history in the 

 tenth century, although there are evidences 

 that it exited before this (iino. During the 

 Middle Ages it occupied a i>lan of considerable 

 importance. In 1258 the Provisions of Oxford 

 were passed by a Parliament assembled 1 

 During the ptrupple of Charlo-^ 1 with Parlia- 

 ment. Oxford wtA thr miter of the Royalist 

 movement, and although besieged by the army 

 of Parliament, the city was not bombarded ; so, 



