Chapter 52
Section 52 of A Thousand Things Worth Knowing. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by phone.
A Thousand Things Worth Knowing by Nathaniel C. Fowler, Jr. Ticket of Leave. The English government in 1854 issued a permit which allowed a convict his liberty before the expiration of his term. It was necessary for him to report to the police at stated times, and if he committed
any crime, his ticket of leave was recalled. The ticket of leave is similar to probation granted in the United States. Time Difference. When it is 12 o'clock noon in New York City, it is 5.13 in Antwerp, about 5.49 in Berlin, about 5.13 in Brussels, about 1.02 in Buenos Aires, about 10.49 in Calcutta, about 6.53
in Constantinople, about 4.30 in Dublin, about 4.34 in Liverpool, about 4.56 in London, about 5.05 in Paris, about 5.46 in Rome, about 6.55 in St. Petersburg. When it is 12 o'clock noon in New York City, it is 33 and a half minutes earlier in Havana, about 11 hours and 28 minutes earlier in Hong Kong, about 9 hours and 24 minutes earlier in Melbourne, about 9 hours and 45 and a half minutes earlier in Yokohama.
Tobacco Industry. The United States grows about 905 million pounds of tobacco a year, and over a million acres are used for grown tobacco. The value of the tobacco grown each year is about 85 million dollars. To estimate the weight of hay, find the length, breadth and depth of the hay in feet and multiply
these three dimensions together. If the hay is on the wagon or newly stored, divide the product by 540, but if it is well settled in the mower stack, divide by 512. If the hay is baled, 270 cubic feet will weigh a ton. The number of cubic feet in a circular stack is found by multiplying the average circumference
in yards by itself and this product by four times the height of the stack in yards. Then point off the two right hand figures and multiply the result by 27. To find length of day or night. At any time of the year, add 12 hours to the time of the sun setting, and from the sun subtract the time of rising for the length of the day.
Subtract the time of setting from 12 hours, and to the remainder add the time of rising next morning for the length of the night. These rules are equally true for apparent time. To measure corn in the crib. Find the length, breadth and depth of the corn in feet and multiply these three dimensions
together. This product multiplied by 0.63 will give the number of heaped bushels in the ear. Sometimes one and one half bushels of ears make a bushel of shelled corn, and sometimes it requires two bushels, the amount required depending upon the size of the cob, shape of the ear, etc.
Tom Thumb Tom Thumb was probably the most famous dwarf in the world, not because of the absence of others of the same height or less, but because he was exploited by the late P.T. Barnum. Tom Thumb, whose real name was Charles S. Tratton, was born in 1838 and died in 1883. In 1842 he was 2 feet in height and weighed 16 pounds.
In 1863 his height increased to 31 inches and later to 40 inches. End of section 52, recording by phone.
