“306,” Dana, Iowa—General P. H. Sheridan was at Sedan, by courtesy of the King of Prussia, at the time of the surrender of Napoleon III. and Marshal MacMahon’s army. At the opening of the battle, according to the account of the correspondent of the New York Tribune, written on the field, “the King, Count Bismarck, General Von Roon, the War Minister, General von Moltke, and Generals Sheridan and Forsythe stood in a group overlooking the principal field of attack.”
Leonard Bauman, Clarence, Iowa—The most productive salt region of the United States is the Saginaw salt district, Michigan. The most famous and productive salt mines in the world are those of the rock salt region of Wieliczka, in Gallicia, a province of Polish Austria. Great chambers have been excavated in the solid salt, some of them fully 150 feet in height, and of immense length and breadth. One of these is fitted up as a chapel dedicated to St. Anthony.
An Engineer, Des Moines, Iowa—The assertion that State prisons are filled with criminals of good education is a gross exaggeration. Unhappily, the laws of all the different States do not provide for full and carefully kept statistics, but in all cases where such statistics are kept they go to show that, as a rule, ignorance is the accompaniment, if not the foster parent, of crime. For the most reliable report on this subject write to the Commissioner of Education, Washington, D. C., asking for copy of the paper of Dr. Wickersham, read at a recent session of the National Teachers’ Association.
P. L. Stevens, Montfort, Wis.—Coal oil is much better as a preservative of fence posts than kerosene oil, which is more expensive and is not so effective.
Peter Sanborn, Chicago.—Every soldier who, prior to June 22, 1874, had made a homestead entry of less than 160 acres, may enter so much more as, when added to the quantity previously entered, shall not exceed 160 acres.