Items of Interest May 12, 1917 Issue

Items of Interest

Material from the New York subway excavations may be utilized in the construction of artificial fishing banks a few miles off the coast of Long Island, between Rockaway Point and Far Rockaway. The United States Bureau of Fisheries has conferred with a committee of the United Anglers' League, which suggested the project, and the secretary of commerce has obtained the sanction of the War Department. It is proposed to dump material in a stratum one or two feet deep on the sandy bottom, and thus establish an artificial bank which will offer no obstruction to navigation but will provide a rock or gravel area suitable for the development of marine growths. Experiments have shown that such growths are quickly established, that they in turn give shelter to the invertebrates on which various species of local fishes feed, and that the latter assemble on the fishing banks in large numbers.

Siberia is generally believed to present excellent openings for the investment of capital in industrial undertakings. Practically the only industries already established are those that depend on a plentiful supply of cheap raw material, such as spirit distilling, skin curing, flour milling, match making, etc. There is, however, a great wealth of other resources in western Siberia. The growth of industries there has been retarded by the insufficiency and high cost of capital. Foreign investors in Siberia have hitherto been attracted chiefly to mining ventures; but recently representatives of foreign interests have visited Siberia and have investigated the possibilities for the establishment of paper mills, sawmills, leather factories, meat canning factories, agricultural implement works, brick works, iron works, and other industries.

In the extreme southern part of Bulgaria, along the coast of the Ægean Sea, there are great stretches of olive gardens which under proper cultivation would yield, it is claimed, as fine fruit as is grown in Syria. In this particular district almost the same conditions of climate and soil exist as in Syria, the original home of the olive. The finest trees are to be found between Makri and Maroni, where there are about 9400 acres of olive groves, mainly owned by the Bulgarian Government but leased to private individuals. The trees number about 4,050,000, not including 150,000 growing wild in almost inaccessible places. Although Bulgarian olives are small, they have an excellent flavor.

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