The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., November 12, 1919, Page 12, Image 12

About The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924

Image provided by: Connecticut State Library, Hartford, CT

                
III:-. .1' i nrak v S ' 4 - J
Capital of Switzerland, a
City of Fountains Many
of Them Dating Centuries
Back.
Copyright, 1919, The International Syndicate.
SERNB, the capital of Switzerland,
occupying a truly ideal situation
on a rocky peninsular formed by
the river Aar, in full view of the
snow-crowned glistening chain of the
Bernese Oberland Alps, proves a con
stant delight, to all lovers of well
preserved mediaeval architecture. It
is a city of cosy arcades, ancient gates
and towers, and notably of handsome
fountain statues.
These fountains are the special
spride of the Bernese and a particular
object of admiration on the part of
all visitors. The constant merry babb
ling of a spring brings life into the
greatest solitude and the sweet monot
ony of the flowing water seems to
soften any harsh and irritating noises
caused by the every-day traffic. In
bibical times already we find the foun
tains mentioned as a meeting place
and while they are not used to the
same extent in these modern days,
yet we perceive that they are fre
quently patronized. Horses and cattle
are watered here and the children
take a particular delight in making a
fountain the centre of their play
ground. : Tea. some old-fashioned
Gigantic Redwoods of the
Pacific Coast In Danger of
- Extinction Can They Be
Saved?
Copyright, 1919, The International Syndicate.
ROM down the ages comes the
all of the Redwoods. Since man
hunted his. food the Redwoods
have watched him; watched him
till the fields; watched him follow the
wagon trails; watched him' make
canoes; watched him lay the rails that
brought him nearer; ' Watched ' him
make the autos that' brought him still
nearer; watched him make "the aero
plane that watqhes for the forest fire.
And now man has reached out for the
Redwood that has watched the march
of 'progress come' nearer and nearer.
To all men the Redwoods now call to
be saved. Will that call be heard and,
beard, answered? Edward E. Ayer.
who has traveled all through the Red
wood country -in California, has this
cO say in regard to "the conditions in
the Redwood country:
"A year ago last May this road
(Scotia to Fhilipsville). was one of
the most beautiful drives in'the world
.t least one of the most beautiful
we had ever seen in automobiling over
250.000 and visiting more than forty
foreign countries and all of our own
r -;V;rY . l-f HE CALL or I' 1 $ 'I
women could not imagine the possibil
ity of a successful washday if they
were not able to avail themselves of
the abundant water supply of some
fountain; and so it often happens that
one can enjoy the most picturesque
and animated scenes at the foot of one
of those fascinating, silent fountain
statues.
These fo-jntain figures, which are
mainly emblems of the various trade
corporations or guilds, are the most
precious reminders of Renaissance
art in Berne, and, as they have in re
cent years been restored in their orig
inal gay colors, their unique beauty
can again be seen to full advantage.
, Bagpiper Fountain
On our stroll through the Spital
gasse, we receive, first of all. the
comical Bagpiper Fountain put up
by the fraternity of this joyous pro
fession, which also included the wan
dering musicians. The statue repre
sents a handsome young man blowing
the ancient instrument of his guild; a
monkey behind his back seconds him
in his performance, and a goose" at
his feet plays the attentive listener.
His garb is typical of the unconcerned
life of wandering minstrels. His shoes
permit of an ample display of the toes,
and the only brisrht feature of nis
S7es? S -&i7 c?c
States. This year we found right upon
this beautiful State road that the lum
bermen had been up at least three
miles more, and that there were as
many as ten tie camps and two saw
mills, one north of Dyerville and one
south. They were cutting these trees
square up to the roots and cutting the
road all to pieces drawing out the ma
terial. No battlefield' could look
worse."
Save The Trees
In order to save some of these won
derful trees Mr. Ayer is advocating
the purchase by the State of strips of
land along the roads so that not only
Californians. but all the peopleof the
country will have these trees preserved
for them. The Eel River is in the
center of much "of the Redwood coun
try and at Fhilipsville there is a fine
grove which the new State road passes.
On the west side of the south branch
of the Eel River for a distance of
nearly five miles and up a valley from
Dyerville stretches one .of -the most
wonderful park sites, thickly .studded
with Redwoods, which are giants. An
other drive starts through Grant's
Pass to Crescent City and from there
W . kmJk . iJ4w?L tSj llr
foe;ftS? - . ger Founts, erected fedjjff llkl 1 OagMtfL - '
I iO?H' iKsJvjS -3? kwwmwssai! i 1 y Zahrmgen. the founder of Berne. The Ik iJ$ fcl1 T "I
KVkS3-SfU ' 1 Jll IV figure consists of a bear in full armor PI'lftS' 1 J
rferelfasaaiBfcai'it Wiw-Mttii 'ii-ifiWNl,-OTB-ata- fS-aP? Sijftpg T
upper garments are the gilt fringes
which adorn it.
Seiler And Sharpshooter Fountains
Two interesting fountains stand in
the adjoining Marktgasse. One statue
commemorates Mrs. Anna Seiler, the
founder of the Seiler Hospital, which,
in later years, developed into the now
famous Insel Hospital. The figure
shows a graceful, handsomely dressed
woman pouring water into a basin.
The other statue, which was erected
:TS?2'S&?
on are some very fine trees. At Dyer
ville a drive reaches to the Bull Creek
district, where are some of the finest
Redwoods. Between Fort Bragg and
TJkiah via Orr Springs you reach the
famous Montgomery Grove.
How Age Is Measured
; These links with' an age that has
gone should certainly be preserved.
Think of a! living thing that is more
than a .feovsand years old! There Is
in the University of California a tree
stem analysis. Measurements of a
big sequoia . in Calaveras county,
showed a diameter of 26 feet six
inches. Its age at thestump point
was 1,245 years! The record is un
usual. It was made in 1865 and it Is
a long narrow roll of paper nine inches
wide and 14 feet long on which Is a
pencil center line along which the po
sition of each annual ring is marked
by an Inked cross line with every
tenth line somewhat longer. The only
figures appearing are the serial num
bers of the decades entered for quick
identification. " The : preparation of
such a record must have Involved a
great amount of labor. The late Prof.
E. W. Hilgard. who owned the docu
I
THE BKTOGKFOKr TIMES
by the fraternity of the sharpshooters
right in front of their guild house,
represents a warrior in uniform ready
to take part in some friendly mili
tary tournament. In his right hand
he is holding the banner of the sharp
shooters, and a small bear seated at
his feet points his rifle in a protectory
manner toward the entrance door of
the guild house.
Zahringer Fountain
Further on, in the Kramgasse. we
ment, gave It to the University. The
record, there is every reason to be
lieve is the record of the dimensions
of the first of the giant trees to be seen
by a white man. Prof. Donald Bruce
points out In the American Forestry
Magazine. The discovery of the
species was made by a hunter in 1852.
The age of the tree is far below the
figures quoted as a rule fop'sequoias of
this size.
Trees Reach Great Height
This ."glory of the Coast Range"
reaches some remarkable sizes. Trees
from ten to fifteen feet in diameter are
not uncommon. Some of them reach
a height of 500 feet. The SSquoia
sempecvirens. as the experts call it, is
surpassed in size only by its near rel
ative. Sequoia gigantea or Bigtree of
the Sierra Nevada. Opinions differ
on this point. The "gigantea attains a
greater girth and is heavier and is per-
i haps more beautiful. These two fam
ilies are all known to exist in the
world. The greatest size of the Big
tree is 300 to 330 feet in height and
a diameter, ten feet above the base, of
about 30 feet. Particularly large ex
amples of the Redwood are 325 to 350
feet in height and 18 to 20 feet in dU
ameter ten" feet 'above the base. - Up
to the time they are several hundred
years old. Bigtrees in the open -have
branches the entire length of the
trunk. . The slender branches droop
then curve upward at tlie tip in pret
ty fashion. . This makes a pyramid of
dense foliage. As age approaches,
however, the trunks have no branches
for 80 to 125 feet up. The Bigtree
fights off fungus and insect enemies as
perhaps no other tree Is able to do. .It
is very well able to resist fire too. It
is known that they are oft times struck
by lightning at the top, but the Big
tree seems to have the power to over
come these things.
. Table For 25 From Single Slab
The Bigtree has been planted in
Europe and does well. There are
healthy specimens of the tree in New
York and Pennsylvania, The Redwood
hasno enemies. It would seem, except
forest fires. The Redwood contains
much tannin and resists decay to a re
markable degree. This is the reason
that-it is so much sought for interior
decorating. In the American Museum
of NaturRl Hlxtorv there 's a c'rrular
find the Zahnnger Fountain, erected
by the city in honor of Berthold V, of
Zahnngen, the founder of Berne. The
figure consists of a bear in full armor
carrying the banner and coat-of-arms
of the house of Zahringen a golden
lion on a red background. A cub
nestles "comfortably at his feet, and
feeling perfectly safe in such protec
tion, it gracefully devours some
grapes.
Samson Fountain
In the Kramgasse too Is the curious
Samson Fountain, representing the
fifiht of that hero of the Old--Testament
with the lion. The Bernese
were fond of point'ng to Samson as a
typification of old Bernese courage
and the original report about the bat
tle of Lauren in 1339, where the Ber
nese under Rudolph von Erlach gained
a victory over the army of Fribourg
and its confederates, mentions that the
men from Berne met the enemy after
the style of Samson, bold and unafraid.
Fountain Of Justice
From the Kramgasse we emerge
into the Gerechtigkeitsgasse. in the
middle of which we perceive the foun
tain of the same name, i. e., the Foun
tain of Justice. The statue shows a
slice of a Sequoia gigantea sixteen feet
in diameter and if used for a table top
25 persons could be seated around it
with ease. At the heart of the tree a
series of rings continuing outward to
the bark indicates the centuries during
which the tree was growing. The rings
are plainly seen but so crowded the eye
cannot count them. It is figured this
tree began growing in the year 550,
A. D.
Stage Coach Tree
- These trees are considered one of
the sights worth seeing on the North
American continent. The old familiar
picture of the stage coach driving
through one of them has found its
way into millions of households in the
last fifty years. The suggestion that
California buy strips of land on which
these- trees grow would indeed make
wonderful "Roads of Remembrance,"
which is the slogan of the American
Forestry Association of . Washington
for beautifying the thousands of miles
of motor highways in the United
States. Fall tree planting Is underway
in this country on a scale never before
attempted as. a result of this call to
plant memorial trees In honor of the
men who offered their lives to their
country. The people have In mind
the lines of .Joyce Kilmer, the poet,
who gave his life to France, when he
said: "Poems are made by fools like
me, but only God can make a tree."
They see' In the living, growing tree a
fine tribute that any Individual can
erect.' - In -the meantime, from out of
the ages, comes, the call of the Red
woods, v . .- '
Half A Million Dollars' Worth of Gold
Ingots.
!
blind-folded woman with a pair of
scales in her left hand. At her feet
are four small figures Pope. King,
Sultan and Burgomaster the repre
sentatives of the different kinds of
state legislation. All listen earnestly
and with closed eyes to Justice, admit
ting her sovereignty in each and every
land.
Ogre Fountain
The most curious of Berne's foun
How Uncle Sam Prevents Waste
REMARKABLE RECORD OF MINTS IN SAVING
NINETY-THREE CENTS LOST LAST YEAR.
HERE are three places in the
United States where waste Is re
duced to a minimum. Those
places are the United States Mints
I idelphia, Carson City and San
Francisco.
Handling to what amounts to prac
tically the entire gold production of
Alaska and the Continental United
States and much of the output of Mex
ico and South America, these plants
lost only 93 cents in gold last year in
cidental to coining and refining 'pro
cesses.
It was regrettable, but could not be
helped. The mint officials and workers
did their best. Their practice is to
save every particle of the precious
metal that can be saved, for afl the
gold received must be accounted for to
the last tenth of a grain. However, as
the United States alone produced 4,
085,589 fine ouncesof gold dust and
bullion In 1918, valued at $84,456,600.
the loss of 93 cents is not a bad rec
ord. The crucibles, in which the gold is
melted, absorb some of it in the pro
cess, and this must eventually be re
covered. . They are vessels of graphite
and clay, a foot highf and shaped like
bean-pots.
When one of these pots is put into
a blazing furnace and exposed to in
tense heat It quickly becomes white
hot. The gold contained in it becomes
white-hot likewise, so that metal and
crucible look as if one mass.
The gold can stand it, but It is very
. Making Gold Bricks
trying on the pot, which must expand
and is liable to crack. It may endure
three melts or ten melts, but soon it
is bound to show signs of disinteg
ration. To melt gold in a cracked
crucible would never do, and so, when
a flaw appears, the receptacle is re
jected. It is then broken to pieces &nd
ground to powder In a mill. The pow
der is mixed with water and run over
a plate that has been coated with mer
cury and the latter, having an affinity
for gold, takes up any particles of the
yellow stuff that may be mixed with
the powder. To separate the gold
from the mercury is easy.
This, however, is not all. The refuse
of the powder Is incidentally washed
tains is, however, the Ogre Fountain,
representing a Jew In the act of de
vouring a child, while several other
infants are held In readiness in his
pockets. The sight of this statue has
still an awe-inspiring effect on all
youngsters, and the name of It alone
frequently suffices to change a naughty
behavior into a docile one. The figure
is said to have been erected in mem
ory of a ritual murder wrongly .at
tributed to the Jews. On the lower
portion of the column a procession of .
armed bears appears to be bravely
marching to battle.
While Berne Is not the only Swiss
city which can pride' itself with such
truly artistic ornaments, the fountain
statues of the capital are particularly
Doteworthy for the remarkably uni
form execution of the characteristic
figures and the regular and unique
distribution over the town.
into a trough, as so much mud. which
is smelted to recover any gold that
may be left In it.
The mints, in the-savlng of this gold
which would otherwise be lost, are
using on a small scale a somewhat
similar process to that inaugurated by
the Treasury Department to retain
from waste the savings of the individ
uals of the country. Instead of mer
cury to pick up and amalgamate the
gold particles, the Treasury Depart
ment is using the Government Savings
Securities, such as Thrift and War
Savings Stamps and Savings Certifi
cates. But, whereas, the recovery of
values in the mints is small, the Treas
ury Department process has reclaimed
billions for the nation.
To serve as a "binder" in the manu
facture of crucibles, a special kind of
clay is required.- This clay was for
merly imported, some of It coming
from as far away as Ceylon and dur
ing the war. for lack of it, owing to
interruption of commerce, the mints
found themselves in difficulties. But
the necessity led the Government to
search for a suitable clay in the United
States, and plentiful deposits of just
the right material were found, render
ing us for the future independent of
foreign sources of supply.
The furnaces used for melting gold
at the mints are lined with firebrick,
which eventually are ground to pow
der and subjected to the same treat
ment as the discarded crucibles. For. '
incidentally to the melting of the yel-
At Philadelphia Mint
low metal, some of it passes off in the ,
form of vapor.
Every time a furnace is cleared out
enough gold Is recovered to pay for
several cards full of War. Savings
Stamps. When a crucible is ground
to powder there is expectation of get--ting
the worth of a number of Thrift
Stamps out of its material. -
Even the sweepings of the floors of
rooms where gold is handled are care
fully saved and dumped into a melting
pot, the dust and other debris being
thereby burned away, while the metal' ''
remains at the ,ttom of the crucible.
It is no uncommon thing for the Phil- 1
adelphla mint to recover $25,000 from
sweepings in the course of a year.
BUT W. S. S.--T
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