The cartridges are charged with a pound of dynamite to each.  In hard rock only one charge is fired at a time, but in softer material four are fired at once.  If the water over the work is deep, the boat is not moved from its position, but in shallow water it is towed a few yards away from the spot where the explosion is to take place.  The drill holes are about six feet deep, and are spaced at the rate of about one to every three square feet, something, of course, depending upon the character of the rock.  The whole work is now under contract, the mechanical engineering firm of Luther, of Brunswick, having undertaken to complete it in five years, for a payment of less than four million dollars.

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THE NEW GERMAN SHIP CANAL.

The gates which admit the water into the new canal which is to connect the Baltic with the North Sea have been recently opened by the Emperor William.  This canal is being constructed by the German government principally for the purpose of strengthening the naval resources of Germany, by giving safer and more direct communication for the ships of the navy to the North German ports.  The depth of water will be sufficient for the largest ships of the German navy.  The canal will also prove of very great advantage to the numerous timber and other vessels trading between St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Dantzic, Riga, and all the North German ports in the Baltic and this country.  The passage by the Kattegat and Skager Rack is exceedingly intricate and very dangerous, the yearly loss of shipping being estimated at half a million of money.  In addition to the avoidance of this dangerous course, the saving in distance will be very considerable.  Thus, for vessels trading to the Thames the saving will be 250 miles, for those going to Lynn or Boston 220, to Hull 200, to Newcastle or Leith 100.  This means a saving of three days for a sailing vessel going to Boston docks, the port lying in the most direct line from the timber ports of the Baltic to all the center of England.  The direction of the canal is shown by the thick line in the accompanying sketch map of the North Sea and Baltic.  Considering that between 30,000 and 40,000 ships now pass through the Sound annually, the advantage to the Baltic trade is very apparent.

[Illustration:  THE NEW GERMAN SHIP CANAL.]

The new canal starts at Holtenau, on the north side of the Kiel Bay, and joins the Elbe fifteen miles above the mouth.  From Kiel Bay to Rendsborg, at the junction with the Eider, the new canal follows the Schleswig and Holstein Canal, which was made about one hundred years ago, and is adapted for boats drawing about eight feet; thence it follows the course of the Eider to near Willenbergen, when it leaves that river and turns southward to join the Elbe at Brunsbuttel, about forty miles below Hamburg.  The canal is 61 miles long, 200 ft. wide at the surface, and 85