and two Leghorn hens
finishing up its food. We went out, but the two robbers had fled.
Going around the corner, we found them rolling in a flower bed. A
Leghorn will do as much mischief in a garden in five minutes as
anything we know of.

* * * * *

SAWDUST IN ROUGH CASTING.

Siehr recommends very highly the use of sawdust in mortar as superior
even to hair for the prevention of cracking and subsequent peeling off
of rough casting under the action of storms and frost. His own house,
exposed to prolonged storms on the seacoast, had patches of mortar to
be renewed each spring, and after trying without effect a number of
substances to prevent it, he found sawdust perfectly satisfactory. It
was first thoroughly dried and sifted through an ordinary grain sieve
to remove the larger particles. The mortar was made by mixing 1 part
cement, 2 lime, 2 sawdust, and 5 sharp sand, the sawdust being first
well mixed dry with the cement and sand.

* * * * *

SUINT FOR WATERPROOFING FABRICS.--A German chemist has patented the
waterproofing of finely woven fabrics, linen, cotton, etc., by means
of suint composition. He adapts his method to securing the suint to
wool-washing establishments at a small cost.

* * * * *

ABSENCE OF WHITE COLOR IN ANIMALS.

Some very curious physiological facts bearing upon the presence or
absence of white colors in the higher animals have lately been adduced
by Dr. Ogle. It has been found that a colored or dark pigment in the
olfactory region of the nostrils is essential to perfect smell, and
this pigment is rarely deficient except when the whole animal is pure
white. In these cases the creature is almost without smell or taste.
This, Dr. Ogle believes, explains the curious case of the pigs in
Virginia adduced by Mr. Darwin, white pigs being poisoned by a
poisonous root which does not affect black pigs. Mr. Darwin imputed
this to a constitutional difference accompanying the dark color, which
rendered what was poisonous to the white colored animals quite
innocuous to the black. Dr. Ogle, however, observes that there is no
proof that the black pigs eat the root, and he believes the more
probable explanation to be that it is distasteful to them, while the
white pigs, being deficient in smell and taste, eat it, and are
killed. Analogous facts occur in several distinct families. White
sheep are kil