Items of Interest April 21, 1917 Issue

Items of Interest

The Congress of Costa Rica recently provided for the payment of bounties to the growers of hemp, sisal, and similar plants. This bounty is to be in the form of 6 per cent treasury bonds, at the rate of about $5.65 an acre of land planted to a fiber crop, and on receipt of the bounty the grower will execute a first mortgage on the land. The total amount of bounties is not to exceed $232,500, and about $46,500 more is appropriated for machinery. The bounty will be divided into three parts, the first to be delivered when the fiber is planted, the second part two years later, and the third when the plants are ready to be cut. When the planter has cultivated his fiber crops for ten years after receiving the first bounty, and has marketed his crops during this time, the mortage will be canceled by the Government.

The Norwegian Government has recently been advised by a committee of the Storthing not to allow foreigners of foreign corporations to acquire waterfalls in Norway, except in special circumstances. The power contained in the waterfalls of Norway and which may be profitably utilized is not known, but has been estimated at from 6,000,000 to 10,000,000 horse-power. Up to the present the development of these falls has been accomplished largely through the aid of foreign capital. The so-called concession act of Sept. 18, 1909, greatly restricted the permission of foreigners to acquire and use such property, and this law was made more stringent by the act of Aug. 4, 1911.

The great hydro-electric dam at Wissota, some fifteen miles northwest of Eau Claire, Wis., and two miles above Chippewa Falls on the Chippewa River, has been set in operation and the current started over the great transmission line to St. Paul and Minneapolis. The dam represents an outlay to date of over $4,000,000, and another $1,000,000 will be necessary to complete it. Work was begun in October, 1915, and since then there has been an average of 1100 men constantly employed. This dam is some 6910 feet long, and two dikes increase its length considerably. From bottom to top of the power plant itself is 120 feet. The backwater behind the dam will cover about 7000 acres.

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