ed, it only remains to polish
and stain or varnish them; and they are sometimes scorched or
burned brown, and carved with foliage, animal heads and other
devices.--_Chambers' Journal_.

* * * * *

FLOWERING OF THE VICTORIA REGIA IN THE OPEN AIR.--Joseph Mager, Esq.,
has succeeded in flowering the Victoria lily, in his pond in England.
The pond is perfectly open, but the water is heated by hot water pipes
coming from a boiler near the pond, carefully concealed. The seeds
of the Victoria were planted in May last, and the first flower was
produced Sept. 10th. Afterwards seven other flowers opened. The plant
has eight leaves, of which the largest is five feet two inches in
diameter. Mr. Mager has also succeeded in flowering a large number of
other tropical lilies in his pond.

* * * * *

JUTE, a material largely used in combination with hemp, for making
cordage, sacking, mats, and carpets, is produced in India to the
extent of 300,000 tuns per annum. The scarcity of fuel prevents its
manufacture on the spot, except by the rudest and most primitive
means, so that the bulk of the growth is sent to Great Britain.

* * * * *

VENTILATION OF THE LIVERPOOL TUNNEL.

This tunnel, which forms an ascending incline of a mile and a quarter
length from the terminal station in Lime-street London and N. W.
Railroad, was worked until recently by a rope and stationary engine,
to avoid fouling the air of the tunnel by the passage of locomotives;
but the increase of the traffic having necessitated the abandonment of
the rope and the substitution of locomotives for bringing the trains
up through the tunnel, it became requisite to provide some efficient
means of ventilation for clearing the tunnel speedily of the smoke and
steam after the passage of each train. A large exhausting fan has been
designed by Mr. John Ramsbottom for this purpose, which works in a
chamber situated near the middle of the length of the tunnel, and
draws the air in from the tunnel, through a cross drift; discharging
it up a tapering chimney that extends to a considerable hight above
the surface of the ground over the tunnel. The fan is about thirty
feet diameter, and is made with straight radial vanes; it revolves
on a horizontal shaft at a speed of about forty-five revolutions per
minute, within a brick casing, built concentric with the fan for the
first ha