The King and a jumbo offer
QUESTION Was Abraham Lincoln offered elephants to help fight the Civil War?
This is in part true. King somdetch Phra Paramendr Maha Mongkut of siam offered the American nation elephants not as war machines, but as a gesture of friendship. They were politely rejected.
King Mongkut, who ruled siam (modern Thailand) from 1851 to 1868, opened up his country to international trade.
he famously hired the Anglo-indian governess Anna Leonowens to teach English to his children. This became the basis of Margaret Landon’s book Anna And The King Of siam, itself the template for the Rodgers and hammerstein hit musical The King And i.
King Mongkut fostered good relations with the U.s. government through correspondence that is preserved in the U.s. National Archives.
he sent two gifts to President James Buchanan during the last month of his administration — a sword and a photograph of the King with one of his children.
in an accompanying letter, dated February 14, 1861, which was addressed to ‘whomsoever the people have elected anew as chief ruler in place of President Buchanan’, King Mongkut said that he’d heard the U.s. did not have elephants.
he offered several pairs that could be ‘turned loose in forests and increase till there be large herds’.
he described how elephants could prove useful ‘since being animals of great size and strength they can bear burdens and travel through uncleared woods and matted jungles where no carriage and cart roads have yet been made’.
President Buchanan’s successor, Abraham Lincoln, responded to the extraordinary offer.
in a letter dated February 3, 1862, penned by secretary of state William seward, the U.s. government accepted the sword and photograph, but politely declined the elephants by deftly dodging the issue.
‘This Government would not hesitate to avail itself of so generous an offer if the object were one which could be made practically useful in the present condition of the United states,’ wrote seward. ‘Our political jurisdiction, however, does not reach a latitude so low as to favour the multiplication of the elephant, and steam on land, as well as on water, has been our best and most efficient agent of transportation in internal commerce.’
Michael Crowther, Sheffield.
QUESTION Why is money extorted by the mafia called a ‘pizzo’?
PROTEcTiON money has been the staple income of the sicilian Mafia — the cosa Nostra — since the mid-19th century. As well as being a steady income, it enables the Mafia to keep localised control over institutions and businesses.
As late as 2010, it was estimated that 80 per cent of sicilian businesses were paying protection.
The original levy, the traditional u pizzu (later pizzo), was based on the system whereby landowners were entitled to take a certain amount of grain from the peasants at harvest time. Pizzu means ‘beak’ in sicilian. The expression fari
vagnari u pizzu means ‘to wet one’s beak’ or, more colloquially, ‘to wet your whistle’ — traditionally, with a glass of wine or another refreshment offered in recognition of a service rendered.
sicilian criminals embraced this principle. instead of asking for a large amount of money that risked bankrupting the victim, it was better to ask for a smaller amount that the victim could afford and return later for more.
Pizzu soon became prison slang for extortion. A sicilian dictionary of 1857 gives only one meaning — beak — but the 1868 edition also mentions the criminal usage of the word. J. Arthurs, London E6.
QUESTION How does a lawn weedkiller target weeds and not grass?
GRAssEs, including rice, wheat and maize, are monocotyledons, i.e. they have only one embryonic leaf.
Broadleaved plants, including most weeds found in lawns, are dicotyledons, which means they have two such leaves. A selective weedkiller would target only these type of plant.
however, if a weed is defined simply as ‘a plant that is growing where it’s not wanted’, then there are monocotyledons in lawns that would be unaffected.
Most selective weedkillers mimic growth hormones. These cause plants to release ethylene, which damages cell metabolism in the leaves and stems.
The exact mechanism for selectivity is not known, but it may simply relate to the number of leaves or to the fact that grasses have numerous fibrous roots while broadleaf plants tend to have a single tap root.
This could affect the way the weedkiller is taken up or metabolised.
The problem of selective weedkiller residues makes grass mowings unsuitable for home composting.
The chemicals break down slowly and may seriously affect crops, even potatoes, planted in ground where the compost has been used.
i have found tomatoes to be particularly sensitive.
John Harfield, Harlington, Beds.
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