4 The Humming Bird. 



Quaritch, the noted London book-dealer, intends to send to 

 the Exposition an autograph letter of Christopher Columbus, 

 for which he paid $5,000. 



Thomas A. Edison, the famous electrician, has applied for 

 35,000 feet of space, or about one-seventh of all that the 

 Electricity building contains. " I have it from Mr. Edison 

 himself," said Chief John P. Barrett, " that his display at the 

 Fair is to be the. greatest achievement of his life. In talking 

 of his application for space Mr. Edison admitted that he was 

 asking for a large section of the building ; ' but every inch will 

 be put to good purpose,' he added. ' I shall not waste a foot 

 of the area assigned to me, but will present a series of the 

 most interesting electrical inventions ever produced.' I happen 

 to know," Professor Barrett added, " that Mr. Edison is doing 

 just as he says. He is making an almost innumerable list of 

 novel and spectacular exhibits. Other electricians are not idle. 

 We are already crowded for space in our building, and if the 

 demand continues as it has begun I don't know how we will 

 accommodate all the exhibitors." 



Customs regulations for foreign exhibits to the Fair are being 

 prepared by Assistant Secretary Spaulding, of the Treasury 

 Department. These regulations are substantially the same as 

 were asked for by the foreign commissioners who recently 

 visited Chicago. Mr. Spaulding says that he has no doubt 

 that the regulations will be found entirely satisfactory to foreign 

 exhibitors. 



The Agricultural Society of France has decided to offer a 

 number of premiums for the best French horses shown at the 

 Fair. 



The number of intending exhibitors who have applied for 

 space at the exposition reached 1,623 on Oct. 24. This 

 is a much larger number than the Centennial had at a 

 correspondingly early date. The number does not include any 

 foreign applications, all of which are made to their respective 

 national commissions. 



Seventy-four cases of relics of the Indians and Mound 

 Builders have been received by the Department of Ethnology 

 of the Exposition from Chillicothe, Ohio. They contain a 

 great variety of prehistoric implements and utensils, such as 

 axes, arrow-heads, pipes, bowls, jars, etc. They were exhumed 

 by a party acting under the direction of Chief Putnam. 



One acre of ground within the Horticultural building has 

 been reserved for an orange grove from Florida and the same 

 amount for a grove from California. These trees will be 

 brought to Chicago next year and planted, so that they will bear 

 fruit while the Exposition is open. These two acres constitute 

 two interior courts of the building. 



