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*

The time has come for the publication of a popular and accurate
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Nature is always new in the spring, and lucky are we if it
finds us new also. — John Burroughs.

" We love things not because they are beautiful, but they are beautiful

because we love them."

*y**>

The Guide to Nature

EDUCATION AND RECREATION

Vol. I

APRIL, 1908

No. 1

II

m OUTDOOR WORLD

A Hunt for Extinct Animals

By Prof, Earl Douglass

Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Pa.

nun

FTER a
thousand

of

voyage ot two
miles over the
prairie-ocean, I found my-
self on the rougher sea, in
the troughs of the great sol-

^5> id, broken waves of the

Rocky Mountains. I land-
ed in Helena, had all the summer before
me and all western Montana for my
hunting-ground. I was after rare game
which no one else had hunted in this re-
gion, so I had the field to myself. I
was not going to slay living animals, but
was gathering the precious remains of
those that had died long ages ago, when
there were no friends to shed a tear or
carve an inscription on the rocks telling
how and when they lived, or expressing
the hope that their bones should rise

again. But there are records more true
than written ones, though he who runs
cannot read them ; he must go slow, stop,
dig, and poi.der long, for he is reading,
not from books which men have made
but from complex, mysterious, fascinat-
ing nature.

Dr. Henry Van Dyke has said that
the charm of fishing is in its uncertainty.
That which is sure to come to pass has
little about it that is exciting or fascinat-
ing. Searching for the burial places of
those strange animals that roamed over
the green pastures and drank from the
refreshing pools and streams, hundreds
of millenniums before we came into pos-
session of them, certainly has all the
charm and fascination of uncertainty.
When one starts out he does not know

Copyright 1908 by The Agassiz Association, Stamford, Conn-

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

what he will find or whether he will
find anything of importance. When he
does find something it will probably not
be the thing he is looking for. Many
times as I have threaded the labyrinths
of hot ravines I have beguiled the way
and kept up my hope by seeing, in my
mind, a huge reptile, from head to tail,
stretched like a picture along some cliff;
or, as 1 have trodden the arid hills I
have seen, on a slab of sandstone, a
whole skeleton of one of those little Cre-
taceous mammals which we know onlv

camp outfit, and dig out, box and ship
the fossils.

1 tried to buy a saddle horse in Hele-
na : but, in the midst of the land of ca-
yuses, I found only one or two for sale;
but the prices did not suit me, and they
were too old to be valuable property,
yet too recent to pass as relics of a for-
mer age. I decided to try to "pick up"
a horse at one of the ranches, so I started
for the place where I wished to begin
my search. With trunk, grip and cam-
era. 1 boarded a train and went back to

LOOKING ACROSS THE MISSOURI VALLEY FROM THE BAD LANDS.

Belt Mountains in the Distance.
"The ' breaks' alone; the Misssouri Valley."

b) a jaw bone with a few teeth. What
wouldn't we give to know the skeleton
of one Cretaceous or Jurassic Mammal?
1 never have found these things of which
1 have dreamed, yet 1 have found the re-
mains of scores of animals which T never
expected to find, and with what delight
1 have picked up every fragment of the
teeth and bones of some animal that no
man bad ever seen before.

My previous experiences in Montana
had taught me that the places where the
bones of extinct animals could be found
were few and were usually separated bv
long distances, so 1 concluded that 1
would first go over the ground on horse-
Lack, and then, if 1 found any good lo-
calities, go with men tern, wp" •-. "H

Winston, a little railroad station on a
great rocky fiat, to examine some
bad-lands east of there along the Mis-
souri River. 1 had, two or three times
before, while passing in a wagon or
train, caught glimpses of these chalky-
looking deposits, but had never had the
Opportunity of examining them.

Leaving my baggage at the hotel in
Winston, I started out on foot with sack
and prospector's pick. After a walk of
two or three miles I came to the oreaks"
along the Missouri Valley, where, in
places, the running waters have carved
the soft rocks into fantastic forms.

Mere, where erosion had so thorough-
ly dissected the old deposits, I thought
T would surelv find some bones of an-

A HUNT FOR EXTINCT ANIMALS.

BAD LANDS NORTH OF BEAVER CREEK AND NORTHEAST OF WINSTON.
"Where the running waters have carved the soft rocks into familiar forms."

cient animals exposed, and I felt like
one who has discovered a sportsman's
paradise where a hunter has never trod.
But night was fast coming" on, the rain
was beginning to fall, and it was a long
walk to the hotel.

across a field (in the
1 went to it, knocked
of the house for sup-
She said they had

Seeing a house
"Missouri bottom,'
and asked the lady
per and

lodging.

not room, but sent me to
a cottonwood grove by
I feared that the house

a fine house in
Beaver Creek,
belonged to a

man who was wealthy and selfish ; but,
as I approached, a tall, pleasant-looking
gentleman came out on the porch, smiled,
and greeted me as if I were an old friend
whom he was expecting. I found that
this man was Mr. Beatty, one of the few
of Montana's pioneers who possessed
steady habits and was prosperous. I
was given a fine room, the board was the
best, and I could well have wished that
I might find enough remains of extinct
animals to Keep me v.t work there all sum-
mer. But, alas! though these were the

CAMP OF THE FOSSIL HUNTERS ON MAGPIE CREEK.

At the foot of Fossil Hill near Canon Ferry, — about twenty miles east of Helena, Montana,
boxes of fossils between wagon and tent. " We had a good camping place."

Pile of

THE GUIDE TO NATURE,

"WITH A TEAM OF CAYUSES, ARCHIPPUS AND A CAMP OUTFIT
WE DROVE TO CANON FERRY."

best exposures of the White River beds
(named from White River in South
Dakota where the deposits were first ex-
plored) I had seen in Montana, and they
were thousands of feet in thickness, I
searched in vain for the smallest frag-
ments of bone, though there were some
impressions of leaves and portions of
petrified trunks of trees in the rocks.

I wished to cross the river, and the
nearest bridge was some distance away,
but on Sunday, Mr. Beatty's son and
family came visiting from over the river,
so I had an opportunity to return in a
boat. I had previously returned to Win-
ston for my camera, and my outfit now
consisted of this, a pick, and a sack con-
taining cotton and paper for wrapping
specimens.

I stopped over night at a ranch-house
on the long sloping bench-land about
half way between the river and the Belt
Mountains which bound the valley on
the east. The next day I bought, for
$30, a horse, old but gentle, and an old
hornless saddle.

After searching the ravines and bluff's
for a day or two and finding little except
a jaw and some teeth of ancient horses,
I tied my pick and sack to the saddle,
put the carrying strap of my camera over
my shoulder, and started — not exactly
"sallied" — forth. I began working my

way northward up the valley — "work-
ing" is the correct word, for my horse (I
named him "Archippus," which is the
Greek for "ancient horse") was slow,
his youthful hopes and ambitions
having changed to a gentle, meek, sub-
missive endurance. On the right, the
broad bench of Tertiary deposits sloped
gently up to the bases of the Belt Moun-
tains. On my left, toward the west, was
the river valley, beyond that the bad-
lands which I had recently examined,
and beyond those the Spokane Hills.
For hours we travelled over these
smooth, sloping benches, but there were
few good exposures of the underlying
Tertiary sands and gravels.

Near evening the scene began to
change. The road descended from the
high bench and made its way along the
foot of the bluffs, between them and a
long lake. There were here quite exten-
sive exposures of the Tertiary rocks. At
last I passed a high mound or projecting
portion of the bluffs which looked as if it
might contain buried animals ; but it was
too late to examine it that night. At
dark I arrived at a little old stage sta-
tion named Canon Ferry, in a little
canon beside the river on the stage road
from Helena to White Sulphur Springs.
The canon is still there, but the "ferry"
has been replaced by an iron bridge, a

A HUNT FOR EXTINCT ANIMALS.

dam has been built across the canon
above the village, making the long lake
which I have previously mentioned, and
a large electric power house, with wires
going to Butte and Helena, has been con-
structed on the west side of the river
opposite "The Ferry."

The next morning I went early to the
bluff which I had passed the previous
evening, climbed up its steep front, and
was looking carefully along a perpen-
dicular bank when I suddenly became
aware of a long face imbedded in the
rock and looking out at me. A fossil-
hunter is as happy when he finds a good
skull as a hunter when he kills some rare
animal, but with the former the story is
not all in. There are still the questions :
Are there more skulls and skeletons to
be found? Is the animal some species
that has been described ; or is it one that
man has never seen before? Does it
reveal something about the past life of
the earth that no one has known? You
shall see in this story how the answers
to these questions are actually worked
out.

I searched a part of the bluff and
saw, in several places, portions of skulls
and bones projecting from the soft rock.
I plainly saw that it would pay to come
to this place with team, wagon and camp
outfit, and I estimated that it would take
about two weeks to dig out the fossils.

These beds were plainly of Miocene age,
but I found that the much older White
River deposits here contained fossils
also.

From this place I rode to Helena, and
then to the North Boulder Valley, near
Cold Spring Postoffice, a distance of
about seventy-five miles, where I found
another place which contained bones of
Miocene Mammals. From here I went
southward to Pony, a little "long town in
a long valley" of the Jefferson range,
and then westward to the Lower Mad-
ison Valley, to get my team and camping
outfit which I had left there the previous
year. When I went to Logan to get a
man to assist me, Mr. Rowland, the mer-
chant there, said: "I've got just the man
you want for such a trip." So I en-
gaged him and an old friend who was
passionately fond of hunting specimens
and who wished to get a little outing.

Before leaving the Madison Valley, we
dug out some fossil fish from gray shales
in the bluffs on the east side of the valley,
and the neck and skull of a large species
of camel which afterward proved to be
new to science. The bones were im-
bedded in a fine cream-colored sand
which was deeply covered with river-
gravel. In another place we found the
rock in a cliff covered with leaves that
had fallen from old trees by an old river
many thousands of centuries ago. In

"THE OLDER WHITE RIVER BEDS NEAR CANON FERRY,
Where we found bones and teeth of ancient mice, dogs, rhinoceroses and little three-toed horses."

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

these beds I had previously found an-
cient squirrels, dogs, three-toed horses,
rhinoceroses, oreodonts, deers, camels,
mastodons, turtles, clams, and petrified
trunks of trees, hut no leaves had been
found in these deposits before.. They
show that the forests of the region of the
Rocky Mountains were more like those
of the Mississippi Valley to-day.

From here, with a team of cayuses,
Archippus and a camp outfit, we drove to
Canon Ferry, and established camp on
Magpie Creek at the foot of the bluff,
which on account of the number of fossils
which it contained we came to designate
as "Fossil Hill." Almost every day, as
we ascended the hill we found new skulls

sessed the charm of novelty, and the
whole scene was pervaded by the atmos-
phere of the past into which we were
getting new glimpses.

Instead of spending two weeks there
we spent six, digging out fossils and
trying to learn more of the ancient his-
tory of the region. Box after box was
filled with the finest specimens, most of
which belonged to an extinct family of
Mammals called oreodonts, — animals
which for ages appear to have swarmed
over the western part of our country, and
undoubtedly the eastern also, though
conditions were not favorable there for
their preservation.

We not onlv collected fossils from

"A LITTLE BELOW 'THE FERRY' ARE PLACER GRAVELS.''
From these have been washed out not only gold but remains of elephants and bisons.'

and parts of skeletons so that we at first
discovered them much faster than we
could dig them out. We had a good
camping place. There was abundant
feed for the horses, and when at noon
or evening we returned to camp we
brought dry cedar wood for camp fire.
We built a table in the shade of the
willows, and we had a summer's outing
with a zest. My assistants, Mr. Roberts
and Mr. Hutchinson, were genial com-
panions, and all that could be desired in
every way. ( )ur days were filled with
fascinating labor and our nights with re-
freshing sleep. Our present surround-
ings were varied, picturesque, and pos-

Fossil Hill and the adjoining bluffs, hut
from the older White River beds, near
Canon Ferry, where we found bones of
ancient mice, dogs, rhinoceroses and lit-
tle three-toed horses. These beds are
undoubtedly hundreds of thousands of
years older than the Miocene beds at
Fossel Hill; but just overlying the
White River beds a little below "The
Ferry" are placer-gravels, from which
have been washed out not only gold but
remains of elephants and bisons. These
fossils show that the beds are vastly
newer than the Miocene.

After leaving Canon Ferry, we went
to a place between the Missouri and

A HUNT FOR EXTINCT ANIMALS.

A PLACE BETWEEN THE MISSOURI AND PRICKLY PEAR VALLEYS.
Where we found remains of Titanotherium, ancient tapirs and three-toed horses.

Prickly Pear valleys, where we found
some remains of Titanotherium ( huge
or giant beast), ancient tapirs, and three-
toed horses. Then we returned to the
Missouri River east of Winston, near

where I had begun my trip on foot.
We made our last camp by the Missouri
in a beautiful spot, and each morning
we went across the river in a boat to
the Miocene deposits, where we found

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EACH MORNING WE WENT ACROSS THE RIVER IN A BOAT
TO THE MIOCENE DEPOSITS.

8

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

bones, jaws, and part of a skull of a
new species of three-toed horse. We
then went to the Boulder Valley near
Cold Spring, then to a place near White-
hall, and then returned to the Madison
Valley, where our expedition ended..

It would take too long to tell all the
results of this summer's work, but we
sent east between twenty and thirty
boxes filled with precious fossils. We
had supposed that we were getting extra
fine skulls and parts of skeletons of ani-
mals that had been found before ; but as
the boxes were opened and the bones
were cleaned from the matrix and com-
pared with those already known, it was
found that nearly all were new to sci-
ence, and almost every specimen added
something to our knowledge of the life
of the past.

A number of the new species have
been figured and described, and it may
be interesting to know that the skull
which was first found partly weathered
out of the bank on Fossil Hill was made
the type of a new species — that is the
first specimen of a species to be de-
scribed— and this specimen with several
other new species collected during the
summer are now mounted and on exhi-
bition in the Carnegie Museum..

Perhaps sometime the reader will have
an opportunity to know more about these
animals themselves.

OUR EASTERN CALLA LILY.

Take a walk in the suburbs of any
eastern city or village, and descend into
the lowlands, during the months of
March and April, and you will find in
full bloom a profuse growth of our east-
ern "calla lily." Now, I confess that the
term "calla lily" for this particular plant
is original. I am aware also that we
have a real, local, swamp calla, the water
arum Calla palustris. I have never

heard anyone else apply the term calla to
the plant to which I now invite your at-
tention, and I neither desire nor expect
that it will be adopted in the next re-
vision of our standard botanies. Yet,
pardon the soliloquizing in print, there
would really be as much reason for
adopting it because of its use in this ar-
ticle, though in quotation marks, as there
is for seriously adopting the revised no-
menclature of some of the Latinized
botanical names. Possibly some learned
botanist, a hundred years from now,
probing among the files of this period-
ical, will discover that this is the first
use of the name, and therefore, on the
doctrine of priority in nomenclature, will
henceforth adopt it as the only true,
authentic and original title. (Strange
what a ma«, confusing to the beginner,
there is of first names, and original
names and priority of names. But that
is another matter, and to prevent any

"THE EASTERN CALLA LILY"— THE STURDY SKUNK CABBAGE.
During the months of March and April, you will find in full bloom a profuse growth of our eastern
"cally lily."

( >UR EASTERN CALL A LILY.

CUT OFF THE FRONT OF ONE OF THESE ARUM SPATHES.
Turn it down and see the wonderful, short-stalked spadix entirely covered with perfect flowers

crowded together in a mass of bloom.

further addition to the already porten-
tious category of names and synonyms
any claim to originality is hereby once
and for all disclaimed. If anybody ob-
jects, not only to the objection but to
the imitation, let him speak now or for-
ever hold his peace!)

But to return to my "calla." I find it
in our swamps and marshes in full bloom
in March and April. Three thousand
miles away, wild in the lowlands and
profuse in cultivated gardens, I find
growing, in the month of March, the
next door neighbor, the Richardia No. 4
Arum of Gray's "Field, Forest and Gar-
den Botany," the cultivated calla lily,
with its "pure white spathes" that bright-
ens the field of California, our eastern
homes and our churches at Easter.

The plant whose praises I sing is No.
5 of the same botany, the Symplocarpus.
The two callas are twin sisters of the
Arum family. One might easily raise a
claim on the point of color that the pur-
plish-green spathe of the Symplocarpus
is not so remote, color-wise, from the
typical lily as is the plain white spathe of
the calla commonly so-called.

Now, once and for all, say and have
done with it, all the bad things against the
plant that you can think of, and I will
take my turn at eulogizing it. Our r>ur-
plish-green Symplocarpus "calla lily"

does smell rather "strong," a little focti-
dus, and later in the year its vigorous
leaves, a foot or two in length, may, if
the imagination has been excited by ac-
tive practice over the modern nature
story, suggest a recollection of the ple-
bian cabbage of the truck-patch. In
brief, it is a skunk-cabbage. But what
is in a name? Called a "calla lily," it
still smells as aromatic, the colors are
as strikingly variegated, the leaves as
luxuriant and the structure as interest-
ing.

But come near the plant. Let not its
common name nor its uncommon per-
fume prevent you from making its other-
wise delightful acquaintance.

In the first place, it is courageous and
encouraging. It strives so hard to drive
the snow away that it pushes through
the wedge like edges of the snow bank
that borders the cold pool. Even in
midwinter the spathes point an index fin-
ger toward the coming of spring. The
plant is so human like in perseverance
that it wins our sympathy. I wish I
could rename it Sympathycarpus felici-
tous— its sympathy makes us happy

Said a naturalist to me in California,
"Don't you think it wonderful that our
calla lilies and other flowers bloom so
well out of doors?"

"No," I replied. "If they didn't bloom

IO

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

in this climate, they should be ashamed
of themselves. Anybody, anything, can
bloom with favorable surroundings.
Our Eastern arum can bloom in spite of
obstacles. If the emblematic, rather
than the aesthetic, were the point of view,
we would decorate our pulpits with the
skunk cabbage rather than with your
calla lilies."

Perhaps my Calif ornian was justified
in being puzzled to kn< >w whether he had
met a philosopher or a lunatic. It was
the former if he took everything into
consideration; the latter, if he judged
only from his own point of view.

If honeybees in April could philoso-
phize they would regard human beings,
in shunning the Symplocarpus, as luna-
tics. For to the bee, the pollen of the
skunk cabbage in early spring is vastly
important. It starts the brood-rearing
a little before any supplementary help
comes from the red maples.

Cut off the front of one of these arum
spathes, turn it down and see the won-
derful, short-stalked spadix entirely cov-
ered with perfect flowers crowded to-
gether in a mass of bloom. What a store
of good things, — really a treasure house
from which the bee takes a few of the
"gems A and does work that must be
done, which the plant unaided cannot
do. The bee does a great and powerful
deed for small pay. In exchange for a
few grains of pollen, the plant will soon
show a liberal fruitage in a globular
mass of botanical socialism. Hence the
name — symploka, connection, and kar-
pus, fruit. The fruitage is connected to-
gether into a great compound ball that
ripens in September. At that time it
stands boldly upright, taking every pos-
sible advantage of the sunshine and of
the air currents in bringing to full rip-

ening and perfection the bulb-like seeds
within the fleshy globe.

Gradually old age comes creeping on,
and death approaches. Slowly the ma-
tured plant bows to the inevitable, and
when the cold weather arrives, falls, as
we do, perhaps, and after "earth to
earth," for a time, rises, as we shall, re-
vived and newly created. The bulblets
go floating and bounding away on pool,
pond and brook, to colonize other
marshes and to beautify other mud flats
with our eastern "calla lilies."

As you go on suburban walks in early
spring, look for these sturdy little life-
messengers, the advance guards of a
floral army of Symplocarpus, the skunk
cabbage, universally despised, because
universally unobserved or ignored. In
its way the Symplocarpus is as beauti-
ful as the spiny fruit of the Malayan
Durian; and if you neglect and despise
the flower of the one, you would, even
in these utilitarian days, probably reject
and condemn the fruit of the other, —
"the delicious Durian with its intolerable
odor." If you ridicule me and other
botanists, for admiring the skunk cab-
bage, to be consistent, when you travel
to the Malay Archipelago, you must dis-
dain the luscious contents of the Durian
fruit, and ridicule those, who, with spoon
in hand, although perhaps at arm's
length, devour the vegetable custard,
and, as they cry for more, call it food fit
for the gods.

The seeds of the Symplocarpus will,
as you investigate their complex struc-
ture, make you a better botanist, and, as
you learn of their courage, their sturdi-
ness, their ability to overcome obstacles,
they will send you from the marsh a
stronger, better, more hopeful man or
woman. And that will not be the least
important part of their teaching..

PECULIAR ACTION IN CALLA LILIES.

ii

The garden, floriculture, domestic plants, suggestions for "the grounds beautiful,' inexpen-
sive greenhouses, gardens for young folks, hobby houses in the back yard, etc.

PECULIAR ACTION IN CALLA LILIES.

BY JOHN C. UHRUUB, "RIDGEWOOD/"
GLKNBROOK, CONN.

I send to you specimens of calla lilies
grown in my greenhouse. The bulbs
were planted last October. Through
some accident in the heating apparatus
the temperature in the greenhouse was
below the freezing point, and the foliage
of the plants perished. The bulbs were
transplanted into another house and took
a long time to recuperate. By careful
nursing and rich fertilizing they at last
developed most luxuriantly, and in some
cases over-developed. 1 have had one

perfectly double flower, and eight speci-
mens like the two sent you, in which an
ordinary leaf had turned into a semi-
flower though in each instance not even
rudiments of the propagating organs had
appeared. In a few instances leaves ap-
peared which showed only white points
or stripes, or half the leaf turned white ;
in a few instances the semi-flower
showed the characteristic curves or un-
dulations of the flower, while in others
the pseudo-flower was perfectly smooth
like this. In each instance the pseudo-
flower appeared on the same stem which
bore a perfect flower also.

THE "FALSE" FLOWERS WITH "TRUE" FLOWERS.
It shows that the relationship of flower to leaf is very close.

12

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Domesticated

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NATURE

The pets, poultry, pigeons, dogs, cats rabbits, cavies, honeybees, etc., etc., too

numerous to mention.

WHERE IS THAT EASTER RABBIT?

At Christmas it was not sufficient to
tell the young folks that St. Nicholas
was a bishop of Myra who died in 326,
that he is a patron saint of boys, that
the young folks all love him, that he is
the original of the Dutch Santa Klaus,
and that for centuries his name in many
nations has been emblematic of gifts
and a season of special merriment.

More was demanded than mere fancies
of "jolly old St. Nicholas," so warmed
up by white furs, red coat and merri-
ment that he radiated warmth of heart
everywhere. The young folks insisted
on seeing the real thing. So you se-
lected the jolliest, kindliest, elderly man
that you knew and dressed him in the his-
torical garb so that a "real, live St.
Nicholas" might be present.

But suppose, for only a moment, that
instead of selecting a kind-hearted man,
you had put before that group of ex-
pectant, bright-eyed, laughing children
a St. Nicholas made as the farmer makes
a "scarecrow man" for his cornfield ; only
clothes with lifeless filling. How much
less the pleasure, even if custom had led
the young folks to expect nothing better !
In this day of real things and of increas-
ing interest in children, inventive, up-to-
date parents, teachers and pastors would
have said, "Let us improve on these
stuffed coats of the past ; let us put in
a real, live, jolly old fellow."

Now what St. Nicholas is to Christ-
mas, the rabbit (or hare, originally) is
to Easter. Both associations had their
origin in Germany and Holland, those
lands rich in folklore and in kindnesses
for the "kinderkins." The young folks
in these lands are as familiar with rab-
bits as they are with fat and jolly old
men.

We imported the idea of a jolly and
aged man of amplified girth to imper-
sonate the spirit of gifts for good chil-
dren, and it has been universally suc-
cessful. And incidentally let us note
that this success is a testimonial to those
of us who are well along in years and
who push the scales down furthest. Ro-
tundity and jollity are proverbially con-
gruous. They never seem out of har-
mony.

Now let us have for Easter more of
the real rabbits and fewer stuffed, filthy
skins and nauseating, unhealthful, cheap
candies in rabbit form. Let us go back
to first principles and learn why we have
these rabbit images.

In Germany and Holland, the rabbit
for Easter is almost as important as St.
Nicholas for Christmas. Children are
taught to believe, that if the}- are good,
and obedient to their parents throughout
the year (and especially for a short time
before Easter), a rabbit will creep into
the house when everybody is asleep and
secrete a large number of beautifully
colored eggs in all sorts of places for
the pleasure of these good children. That
day the fat and jolly mother is mysteri-
ous and smiling.. She goes tiptoeing
and pointing slyly as she walks about the
house. "Sh-h-h, don't frighten away the
rabbit. She's coming with some eggs for
you to-night if you are good to-day.
Then she goes marketing with a basket
of larger size than usual. But the chil-
dren do not notice that — they are so in-
tent on being "good" and watching for
the special rabbit. With rabbits in gen-
eral as an embodiment of all good inter-
ests, for children they are thoroughly
familiar. Next to a rotund parent, their
favorite pets are the known good things,
and it is natural tnat their two best holi-

WHERE IS THE EASTER RABBIT?

13

days should be so closely associated in
fancy with these dearest things.

The mother brings home a large sup-
ply of eggs in her basket. But the
young folks observe not the larger basket
nor the astonishing supply of eggs.
Has Gretchen been good? Was Hans
naughty? These little minds have been
agitated for days by these questions.
Will the highly idealized specimen of
their favorite pet come that night? It
is a long time after the children have
been tucked 111 ) in bed before thev can

"A PINT'S A POUND,

THE WORLD AROUND.''
get to sleep. They are watching for the
rabbit. The mother calls to them from
the kitchen to lie very still and listen.
She doesn't want them to come running
out into the kitchen, for she has piles
of eggs in everv direction, and a variety
of dyes. Some are boiling on the stove
and others are piled on the table or in
dishes of all sorts and sizes. What a

display of colors ! Blue eggs, green
eggs, red eggs and variegated eggs — all
the colors of the rainbow and many
more.

What an astonishingly prolific and
versatile rabbit to lay such quantities of
eggs in such a variety of colors, all in
one night.

When the eggs are boiled and colored
— and, more important, when the chil-
dren are asleep — the parents take the
eggs and go stealthily about the house
and put them in all sorts of hiding places.
What an astonishing rabbit ! It can lay
an egg on top of a beam in the attic as
easily as in a tub in the cellar. It has
a special preference for- odd corners, and
it never ignores boots nor shoes. Then
the chuckling couple tiptoe into the
kitchen and there leave baskets and pans.
With an occasional warning "Sh-h-h,"
as one thinks the other's chuckling is too
loud, they go to the bed, turn down the
quilts and take a peep. Yes, the "kin-
derkins" are still fast asleep ! It was
successful.

Perhaps the parents then go out to a
beer saloon for refreshment and music.
Occasionally they laugh uproariously and
slap each other. Can it be possible that
the music or two glasses of beer or the
clink of mugs can have such effect ? No,
the parents have been describing to a
neighbor some of the queer places in
which they have hidden the eggs, and
how funny it is that the "kinderkins"
will think that the rabbit laid them there
— especially as a reward for goodness !
In the morning the children go search-
ing for the eggs. They may have
doubts even as to their own goodness, but
every twinge of conscience is set at rest
as they pounce upon egg after egg and,
with shouts of joy, drag them to light.

It was easy to believe that St. Nicholas
was the personification of a jolly pro-
vider for the household, and that he sup-
plied welcome gifts to little children on
the holiday of" the Christ-Child. But
not so self-evident is the associating of
a rabbit with the Resurrection. The ex-
planation, however, is not occult. Easter
is a moon holiday, its exact date de-
pending on a certain phase of the moon.
From earliest history the rabbit has been
an emblem of the moon. Perhaps this

14

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

is because the doings of wild rabbits or
hares, which are most active at night,
are visible only in the light of the moon.
Perhaps also from a primitive and occult
myth which refers to the alleged ability
of the rabbit and of the moon to change
its sex at will. Exactly what this teach-
ing was, it is now difficult to determine.
All we know is that ancient literatures
contain subtle references to it.

But, to me, the most probable explan-
ation is, that the German or Dutch
father considered himself to be an em-
blem of the things best fitted for his
children's pleasure on the church's prin-
cipal holiday — especially from the child's
point of view. To that emblematic and
idealized self, he gave the name of a

the claim of no uncleanly habits?

So the rabbit at Easter represents
love. But what about the absurd claim
that it lays eggs, and, worse yet, that in
one night it lays an enormous quantity
of colored eggs ? Easter is a springtime
holiday at the very beginning of plant
life, when miraculous transformations
are made in a short time. The children's
interest in these sudden bursts of plant
life are chiefly centered in the variously
colored flowers. Easter stands at the
beginning of a renewed life, and of that
there is nothing more emblematic or
more realistic than an egg. Easter
stands for love to mankind and for a
new, sudden, miraculous reappearance of
life. Springtime means all this, in the

"CELESTIAL," A BLUE DUTCH, AND HER FAMILY.
Vastly better "display" for Easter than the monstrosities of show windows.

bishop famous for his kindness toward
children. I have often wondered why
the father did not allow the mother to be
an emblem of good things as a secondary
holiday. But it seems clear to me that
he wanted no human competition in that
child's making of an idol. So he took the
other best living thing in the household—
the child's favorite pet. For what child
anywhere on earth (not alone in Ger-
man)' or Holland) doesn't love a "bun-
ny?" The rabbit is the ideal of all
lovableness among four-footed animals.
And rightly so. It stands on its merits.
It is always lovable. For what other
four- footed pet can you truthfully make

plant life, with the addition, especially
noticeable by the child, of a variety of
colors.

The German and the Dutch mind de-
light in absurdity. The bigger "whop-
per" the "fader" can tell the children
and the more firmly he can make them
believe it, when it is for their present en-
joyment and future improvement, the
more jollity he shakes all over with his
laughter. That is why he made St.
Nicholas ride in mid-air and not on the
ground, and tumble down the chimney
instead of walking in at the door. That
is why he has a rabbit suddenly lay so
many colored eggs in all sorts of places.

WHERE IS THE EASTER RABBIT?

E5

He set out to portray to the child's mind
these fundamental principles of Easter —
love and a sudden, miraculous renewal
of life. As emblems he selects their
dearest pets for the love, eggs for life,
and the many colors of the flowers for
newness. But the parent cannot preach
a juvenile sermon in a solemn way. He
must get fun for himself as well as for
the young' folks. And he fully succeeds
in the ludicrous, incongruous mixing of
things, in association with the mysteri-
ous, and with a lively game of "hide and
seek."

The unfortunate phase of it, especially
for. American children, is that the cus-
tom was brought to this country by toy
makers and confectioners instead of rab-
bit breeders. When the real, live rabbit
is left out, the essential part — -love — is
no longer represented. This is as ab-
surd as would be a wrooden image of St.
Nicholas for Christmas.

There is still another unfortunate
thing about it. When the custom ar-
rived in this country, it got entangled in
a rabbit myth, originating among the
ignorant and superstitious negroes of
the Southern States. As most of our
readers probably know, the claim of the
colored man is that there are peculiar
talismanic virtues in the left hind foot of
a rabbit killed in a graveyard on a moon-
less night. Ough ! As if there ever
lived a superstitious negro who would try
to capture a rabbit in such circumstances.
As well might one give a receipt for
flying, Pick up a pebble on Mars and
carry it in your pocket ; or this infallible
remedy for keeping cool on the hottest
days in summer, Carry in a locket a sliver
cut from the North Pole.

But unfortunate as it is, the foot of
the weird graveyard rabbit has become
associated at the stores with stuffed
images of rabbits and with monstrous
compounds of rabbits and eggs made of
colored candy. Away with all this de-
generate, silly trash. Let us come back
to a real, live, lovable rabbit and to fresh,
wholesome, hens' eggs well boiled, and
colored by a variety of suitable dyes.
These are not only harmonious and ap-
propriate, but, as Easter emblems, they
are excellent, aesthetic and enlivening.

Eggs are usually plentiful and lower
priced at Easter. A few cents' worth

of dye will color a bushel, if you want
so many. A little care and slight ex-
pense will readily provide the rabbits.
As with Lowell who would rather have
one live bobolink than a square mile of
printers' ink, so to my mind a hutch with
one or two live rabbits in it is worth
more than a whole show-window full of
the ordinary, Easter desecrations and
misrepresentations. To care for one
live rabbit will inculcate active, unselfish
love in a child, and do it vastly better
than will heaps of toys and hills of candy
trash. The rabbit will require regular
but not tiring nor extended care. The
rules are extremely simple. Water

once a day ; remove the water after the
rabbit has had all it wishes to take ; put
a little salt in the water once a week ;
keep a supply of good hay in the hutch
all the time. After watering, put in a
small supply of oats or a little bread.
Once a day give some form of vegeta-
bles or some green grass (without dew
on it). Carrots are the favorite. Veg-
etables and apple parings are relished.
So are celery leaves, lettuce, corn husks
and cobs.

Yes, the Germans and the Dutch are
right. The rabbit is the best pet for the
"kinderkins" at Easter — or at any other
time.

Tf you think the prospects of your
rabbits really laying eggs are not prom-
ising, try a hen. That, of course, will
lead to chickens — the most lovable,
squeezable (but do not do it) birds in
existence. Then complete the outfit

with a few plants for the young folks.
What a lovable combination of life —
"bunnies," "chickies" and flowers. These
are the ideals for Easter — love and life.

P. S. Special information regarding
rabbits will lie given by the writer, if
inquiry is accompanied by stamped and
self-addressed envelope. Address Ed-
ward F. Bigelow, Stamford, Connecticut.

i6

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

This, then, is a magazine of "what I have done and seen," rather than

"what I have heard and read."

';^^*m.M ;sp

EDITORIAL . —r

OUR INTRODUCTION.

"Labor with what zeal we will," —it is really surprising
how many things remain undone. And yet, for the first number,—
well here it is, without editorial eulogy or apology.

The best explanations of what we propose to do will be
found in this and succeeding numbers, and we hope the best eulo-
gies will be the comments of our readers.

As to apologies, we have none, though they may be
needed. Words are not the only means of atoning for short-
comings.

PERSONAL.

My presidency of The Agassiz Asso-
ciation and my editorship of its official
magazine, "The Guide to Nature," is
neither a profession nor a business. It
is a labor of love. It is not accompanied

by salary, nor by remuneration of any
kind other than the joy of doing good
work, but in this I am well paid.

Every cent received is used to pay the
society's bills, whereby it and its work
are made better. No salaried officer is
connected with the Association. Every
one gives time or money or both to ad-
vance and improve the work. This and
much more is fully explained in the
Manual of the Association, a copy of
which will be mailed to any address on
receipt of ten cents.

The following announcement was
made to contributors in the Prospectus :

"From the first issue "The Guide"
will pay for contributed articles and il-
lustrations. The rate, at first moder-
ate, will be gradually increased with the
prosperity of the magazine. Reports,
letters, inquiries or matter of personal
nature will, of course, not be paid for,
but original articles and illustrations that
may be available will be bought."

The amount offered will be small, and
it is hoped that even this will be used
in purchasing membership, subscriptions,
or contributed directly to the work of the
Association. I firmly believe that a
magazine with the ideals and scope of
"The Guide" is needed and never more
so than at present. I invite your co-
operation.

"WHAT'S THE NEWS?"

Every little village, even if of only a
few hundred inhabitants, has one or
more newspapers to chronicle the latest
happenings. If Groceryman James
paints his store, if Farmer Brown buys
a new horse, or if Miss Jenkins from
the great city is visiting her Aunt Matil-
da, it is duly set forth in type. As even
the little village has its disseminator of
news, so has every organization, politi-
cal party, guild, church and lodge. If
High Mighty Mogul Mosper makes a
speech at the installation of certain
officers, or if he is the chairman at the
banquet of the Ancient Order of Cave
Men, his words are heralded far and
near in the lodge journals.

But let a polar bear die in a zoological
garden, a toad of uncertain age be found

EDITORIAL.

17

in a western mine, and the newspapers
sensationalize the affair. We believe
that scientists, naturalists and the "gen-
eral reader" want the truth set forth by
some one who knows and will not dis-
tort. This is to be an important mission
of "The Guide to Nature." It shall di-
rect to the latest and best things in na-
ture, in discovery and research and in oc-
currences of general scientific interest.
To that end, the editor appeals to every
reader to become "a reporter." Send at
least a notice of the event with the ad-
dress of some one who knows the facts
and from whom particulars may be
obtained.

"The Guide" is a magazine of nature
literature and of news from nature.

Every article, item or comment in the
magazine, not otherwise credited, is
written by the editor or by some of his
assistants under his personal supervis-
ion.

NAMES RATHER THAN CHARACTERIS-
TICS.

Mr Willard N. Clute, editor of the
American Botanist, in a letter to the
Nature Study Review makes this very
important suggestion :

"I ask whether many of the adults who
claim to be interested in nature are really
so. How man\T do you know that are
enough interested in nature to prefer

the study of it to other things? How
many who study nature by themselves
and bring home no specimens? Mighty
few, I'll warrant! I have been trying
for seven years to get our people to take
a real interest in plants by publishing
all the curious and remarkable things
about them that I can find in books, the
periodicals and the field ; but to very
small avail. Meanwhile Dana's "How
to Know the Wild Flowers," which
guides one to the names of his specimens,
has sold 65,000 copies. How many of
our students of botany do you suppose
keep up the study after they leave high
school ? Not many."

What is wanted, as Agassiz said, is
"Study nature, and not books." Know
the things, not catalogues of names.

A TENDRIL SOLILOQUY.

I sat on a crumbling stone wall at the
edge of a swamp, with my camera and
collecting box at my side. I was tired.
I had been tramping for miles, but in
the last half hour had found little of
special interest or value. Perhaps that
made me pessimistic, for my thoughts
ran in a "Persian Garden" style. I felt
like asking myself, as the old farmer had
asked me an hour or so before, "Have
ye lost anything, Mister?"

Seriously, let me introspect, let me

HOW MUTUALLY HELPFUL, HOW EACH SUPPORTS AND IS SUPPORTED TOWARD

A LIFE THAT SHALL BE HIGHER AND BETTER LIGHTED."

This reminds me of many " missionary," hard working students and lovers of nature.

i8

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

" BUT YOU, STRAGGLER, WHAT
ARE YOU DOING ?

Oh, I just make collections for my own pleas-
ure. I do not care about other people."

form a "Rubiyat" of only three words,
"What's the use?" One can be selfish,
even in the love of nature. Are all these
miles of communion with nature, is all
this physical weariness endured for self
or for the good of others ? How will the
world be made happier and better by my
labor? Which is the more commendable,
to help self, or to help others?

At that moment my eye was attracted
by a clambering grapevine with a profu-
sion of tendrils. How mutually help-
ful, how each supports and is supported
in the climbing toward a life that shall
be higher and better lighted.

But you, straggler, what are you do-
ing? Only clinging, intertwining for
self.

O foolish tendril ! O unhappy vine !
you cannot reach highest happiness for
self or others in being an individual.

No other tendrils have intertwined so
gracefully, so firmly, — but it is all lost,
for you are only acting for self.

O foolish tendril ! You neither sup-
port nor are supported. I believe that
you are unhappy.

No others have struggled harder, but
by your selfishness you have lost your
own happiness, and have added to the
burden already borne by the vine.. O
foolish tendril !

fORRESPONDENCE

■~~ and Information

SOME ASTONISHING EXPERIENCES

WITH FOXES.

A Fox in the Kitchen.

Margaretville, N. Y.
To the Editor of "The Guide to Na-
ture"/—
I was visiting my parents on their
farm in this vicinity, and as breakfast
was being prepared, my mother aroused
us with the startling information that
their was a fox in the back kitchen. We
thought at first that she must be mis-
taken, but peeping through a window
we saw a fox snugly curled up on a pile

of burlap bags near the door that led to
the living rooms. The doors and win-
dows were quickly closed, and father
went to the cellar and secured an empty
barrel which he succeeded in placing
over the fox.

The door of the room in which the
fox had wandered had been left open all
night, and it was the opinion of my par-
ents that the animal had been hard
chased the day before by the hounds and
had sought shelter there. Several

hounds had been heard on the hillside.
We kept the animal for some time and

CORRESPONDENCE aND INFORMATION.

19

then gave it to a summer boarding house
keeper, but it escaped from him by jump-
ing through a large window and is prob-
ably still at large.

Yours truly,

Clarke: A. Sanford,
Editor of "The Catskill Mountain
News."

Fox on a Veranda.

Griffin Corners, N. V.
To the Editor of "The Guide to Na-
ture":—

With great pleasure I will try to in-
form you of the facts concerning this
singular hunt. It was in the early part
of December, 1907, and there was about
four inches of snow upon the ground.
It was a warm day for that time of the
year. The surface of the snow was a
little moist, but underneath it was dry
and sandy. Under these circumstances
it was much more difficult for a fox to
travel than for a dog. I am always in-
terested in hunting and was out that day,
standing upon one of the short ranges
of the Catskill Mountains known as
Burnt Mountain. The position which I
occupied gave me a fair view of the val-
ley and surrounding hillsides. I saw
the fox coming across the valley, but
saw at once that he would not come
within my range. I had a dog with me
which is very fleet, and had caught foxes
before by fair running. I at once
showed him the fox and the race began.

My dog, being fresh, was soon near
the little animal, and it was wonderful
indeed to see how the fox tried to evade
his pursuer. He made his way through
jungles and brambles, sometimes on a
fence for a certain distance, then again
taking to the open fields. But the
strength of the dog was holding out bet-
ter than that of the fox, and he at one
time almost reached him, but the fox
scaled a high stone wall, and this scored
a point on his pursuer. They had now
reached a point at the top of a hill and
the fox made directly for a nearby farm-
house. They were now very close to-
gether, and the frightened little animal
rushed upon the porch of the house,
while the dog was at his heels. Here
the tired creature made a second stand
for his life, and faced his pursuer for
battle.

Two young ladies who belonged to
the family now came to the rescue, and
with broomsticks and other weapons be-
gan to make peace. It was not long
before the tired and frightened little fox
was surrounded with warm, comfortable
wraps. Restoratives were administered
and care of the best kind was offered,
but the fright, together with the severe
race had overcome him to such an extent
that he soom died.

Respectfully yours,

J. E. Bellows.

Fox in a Silo House.

Andes, N. Y.

To the Editor of "The Guide to Na-

ttreA —

The first that I saw of the fox he was
running down the road with my coon
dog after him, and he took him about
ten rods. Then he left him and the cow
dog took up the chase. The fox crossed
the brook and started for the woods,
but the dog was so close behind him that
he could not get there.

Then he started for the sheep house,
and ran around it three times. He came
back down the hill across the brook
again ; then he stopped and the dog ran
by him, and the fox started for the
woods again across the brook. He
tried to run on the wall going to the
woods, but the dog headed him off again,
and then he ran around the sheep house
several times.

He recrossed the brook again and
started for the hill on the opposite side.
He would run a ways and then look be-
hind him to see where the dog was. He
ran perhaps fifty rods and sat down on
the wall, and then he started and ran
again trying all the time to get to the
woods..

Then the dog overtook him and head-
ed him off, and the fox came right
straight for the cow barn.. There is a
large silo back of the barn, and between
the silo and the barn there is a shute to
convey the ensilage to the manger. And
in this shute is a large crack about seven
feet from the ground, and he jumped
through that into the shute and lay very
quietly, and then I killed him.

Very respectfully,

Frank Bouton.

20

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

INTERESTING LAKE AND
EFFECT.

CLOUD

BY S. ELLTS HE/TH, }'EEKSKIT.L, N. Y.

This photograph was taken at 10
a. m. I was in what is called the Tow-
er of Victory in Washington's / Head-
quarters, Newburgh, N. Y. It is look-
ing south on what is known as the North
Gate of the Highlands. The mountain

to the right is "Storm King;" to the left
lies "Breakneck;" the island seen is
"Polipels;" the distant background is
West Point. In the near foreground
you can see gas tanks, shipyard, West
Shore and Erie Railroads.

The camera used had an ordinary lens.
I used 22 stop, at 1-25 second exposure,
Cramer medium isochromatic plate.

AN INTERESTING PHOTOGRAPH OF LAKE AND CLOUDS.

THE CAMERA.

21

without ray screen or filter, and the de-
veloper used was mitol hydro. The de-
velopment was carried just far enough
to bring out the clouds, no attempt being
made to get any detail in the foreground.
The secret of my success was in get-
ting up in the tower where I could
shield my lens from the direct rays of
the sun.

A HOME-MADE PHOTO-MUROGRAPHIO
OUTFIT.

Herewith is an illustration of a com-
paratively inexpensive photo-micro-

mination as may be desired. T's in the
rubber tube cany gas to the side jets,
for the illumination of opaque objects.
For delicate high power work, a com-
pound microscope, shown at the left
may readily be substituted for the pro-
jection microscope. The entire appar-
atus is mounted on a plain board with
firm legs tipped by pieces of rubber tub-
ing to prevent jarring or vibration. Un-
der this board is an iron rod, with a
wheel at the end, shown under the rear
of the camera, by which the focussing
is done by delicately sliding the object

A PHOTO-MICROGRAPHIC OUTFIT MADE OF PROJECTION MICROSCOPE AND

PREMO 6l/2 x8*A LONG FOCUS CAMERA.

graphic outfit in the editor's laboratory.
Beginning at the right, as shown in the
illustration, is a Premo camera of four
feet extension front and back focus,
plate 6]/2 x 8y2 inches. In place of the
ground glass of the regular camera, a
photo-micro glass with clear center was
obtained. A wooden tube is fitted at
the front in place of regular lens and
lens board. At the external end of this
tube are disks with perforations varying
in size, some with the society screw to
take a nose piece for three projection
objectives. Other discs are fitted to
the regular camera shutters, or lenses
without shutters. At the left of this
is arranged a projection microscope,
modified from a criterion optical projec-
tion lantern. An acetylene generator
supplies gas for the double jet which
furnished reflected light or direct illu-

while the operator looks at the image on
the ground glass.

Thus, at comparatively little expense,
by the aid of a liberal supply of in-
genuity, was produced a 6l/2 x 8j/2 cam-
era in which can easily be photographed
objects from the size of diatoms and in-
sect scales to entire flowers and insects.

The work was done by the Bausch &
Lomb Optical Company, the Rochester
Optical Company, J. B. Colt & Com-
pany, and local carpenters and machin-
ists.

BIRD HAUNTS.

BY EDMUND J. SAWYER, SCHENECTADY, N.Y.

Considering the herons, gulls, eagles,
snow-buntings, and host of others, and
myriad birds of the tropics, it may be
said no place is too wet or too dry, too-

22

THE GUIDE TO XATURE.

NESTS IN OR NEAR OLD HOUSES.

The haunts of phcebe, robin and house wren.
The yellow warbler nests in near by shrubs.

high, low, cold, or hot to have its bird
or birds. The very fact that the birds
inhabit woods and fields, river-shores,
lakes and even the city streets and chim-
neys might lead the uninitiated to think
one place as good as another for bird-
study. Such is not the case.

i lowever, when 1 am asked as to
whether or not such or such a place is
a good one for birds, 1 always answer.

IN SHRUBBERY BY WALL.
Just the place to look for the catbird.

"Yes." I have pursued the study in a
dozen states and have yet to find any
c< msiderable area without birds.

When once you have acquired the art
of finding the birds, every locality will
prove fruitful. To know their likeliest
haunts is to know half the art of find-
ing birds. It is not enough to know
that a certain species is a woodland or a
river-shore or a field bird. The wood

YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT AND
LAND YELLOW THROAT.

MARY

Also white-eye 1 vireo, brown thrasher and
rose-breasted grosbeak.

RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD BY
THE POND.

Little green heron nests in the maple trees in.
the background.

THE CAMERA.

23

birds may be divided into half a dozen
groups according to the nature of wood
each group prefers ; it is possible to find
woods where one or more species are
abundant, that certain other wood birds
would entirely shun.

Grouse like hard wood with plenty of
low evergreen and logs; woodcock like
such a place with addition of boggy
ground and water; hawks ask nothing
better than the same wood, provided it
have a sufficient number of large hard-
wood trees ; while crows would prefer
hemlock and pine. In the case of many
species, to know only that they are with-

actual or fancied. The orchard oriole,
meadowlark, and wood thrush are all
fairly well named. The name "bank
swallow" is an infallible guide to that
bird's home ; barn swallow, chimney
swift, and eave swallow, are equally apt
names for their respective owners. On
the other hand ''wood pewee" is the
name for the familiar little roadside fly-
catcher who loves nothing better than,
if as well as, a shade-tree in front of our
house. "Tree sparrow" is well-nigh a
delusion and a myth, for the bird, when
not on the snow or bare ground, is us-
ually found among the tall weeds or

WHERE FIELD SPARROWS NEST.
On the ground and low in the bushes.

in a certain wood is of about as much
advantage as to know of a person you
are seeking that he is in a certain town.
As with wood birds so it is with those
of the shores and swamps. The marsh
wren and the marsh hawk are not always
neighbors, nor are the field plover and
the field sparrow. What we need are
the street numbers, as it were, of the
birds we seek. Such a decided prefer-
ence do many of the birds show for
their chosen haunts that certain acces-
sories become associated inevitably with
the birds in the field student's mind.
Thus cat-tails and red-winged blackbird
riaturally go together ; as do the pasture
thorn and the loggerhead shrike ; the
thistle and the goldfinch ; tall grass, dai-
sies, buttercups and the meadowlark,
bobolink, field plover, and grasshopper
sparrow. The names of many of the
birds are taken from their usual haunts,

HAUNT OF THE BOBOLINK.
Builds nest on the ground.

bushes. "House wren" is a doubtful
name for a bird whose usual home is as
often far remote from as near a house.

Though seclusion is often sought by
nesting birds, and by some species al-
most invariably it does not follow that the
place most remote from human society is
favored by the greatest number of birds.
An ideal field would include woods and
open reaches, streams and swamps. In
such a place birds of very widely sep-
arated families would be brought close
together in the breeding season. It is
not unusual to find in many parts of our
eastern states bitterns, redwinged black-
birds, swamp sparrows, meadow larks
and wood-loving crows, several species
of hawks, ruffed grouse, thrushes, and
so on, and even phcebes, orioles, hum-
ming birds and brown thrashers, and a
score of others, nesting in an area cov-
ered in a day's tramp.

24

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

MAKING PLANT STRUCTURE TRANS-
PARENT.

In early spring, in certain localities,
the pretty little flower popularly known
as bluets, sometimes as innocence,
blooms so profusely in meadows and
low-lying fields, that the mass reminds
one of a delicate cloud of tender blue
just touching the tips of the grass blades,
while in other places the flowers appear
in patches and tufts "like little puffs of
blue smoke along the ground."

The plant is interesting botanically be-

A BLUET "CLEARED" TO SHOW DETAIL.

cause nature has so prepared it that cross
fertilization is assured. Some blossoms
have the anthers set high on the corolla-
tube so that they project from the throat,

YAID
THE LENS

while the style is short, the two stigmas
therefore being held within the tube.
This form is shown in the photograph.
In the other variety, the style is long,
the stigmas projecting, while the anthers
are set low and included within the
throat.- The arrangement makes it cer-
tain that a small insect visiting the high
anthers will carry the pollen to the pro-
jecting stigmas, and that the pollen from
the low anthers will be placed on the low
stigmas. The two kinds of plants

always grow in separate groups, which
appears to be another effort to assist in
cross fertilization.

The flowers are no more transparent
than those of any other plant, but the
reader will perceive that the photograph
shows one enlarged and so transparent
that not only are the ovules visible
within the ovary, but the botanical struc-
ture, and even the spiral vessels forming
the veins, are plainly discernible, while
within and at the top of the corolla-tube,
on both sides, pollen grains are so dis-
tinctly defined that they may be counted
with a low-power pocket-lens. The

method by which this was accomplished
was until a few years ago, a mystery to
those microscopists that bought the
beautiful preparations from the dealers,
who had nothing to say on the subject
when questioned. It is possible that
they were only "middle-men" and were
themselves ignorant of the process of
preparation, which the writer has acci-
dentally discovered, and here repeats,
hoping that the microscopical reader will
find it useful, not only for small flowers,
but for leaves, to which it may be applied
with equal assurance of success.

The process destroys most of the color,
but it leaves the structure practically
unaltered and perfectly transparent, so

SEEING BY AID OF THE LENS.

25

that the cells of the interior parts may
be as readily examined with the micro-
scope as those of the epidermis. The
hair-like and the glandular appendages
and the stomata are preserved in place
and in structure, the protoplasmic con-
tents alone being contracted toward the
center of the cells.

Liace the petal, the anther, the whole
blossom, or a part of a leaf on a slip of
glass in a large drop of glycerine. See
that the object is completely submerged,
and add a large cover-glass. Then boil
the glycerine over the lamp-flame until
the parts are entirely transparent, or at
least translucent, a condition that will
arrive in a short time. Do not allow the
boiling to be so violent as to disarrange
the thin glass ; let it be so gentle that
the bubbles will run one by one to the
edge of the cover and there break. If
the glycerine should become discolored,
as will often happen when leaves are
under treatment, draw off the liquid, by
a wet cloth, and add fresh glycerine,
repeating the process and the boiling
until the leaf is saturated. The use of
glycerine and the saturating of the
cells are the secret of the process. The
saturation is easily accomplished
with petals and with other delicate
parts ; with thick and opaque leaves
the time needed is longer and the
specimen may become only translucent.
I have made the thick and opaque leaf
of the garden geranium, Pelargonium,
so translucent that there was no diffi-
culty in examining the hairs on the sur-
face, the epidermal cells, the parenchy-
ma and vessels, with the cells of the
epidermis on the opposite surface. The
objects, after this treatment, must be
permanently preserved in glycerine.

Petals and other part" of the flower
need no previous preparation. It is well,
however, to cut leaves so that there shall
be two or more open surfaces to facili-
tate the entrance of the glycerine into
the substance of the tissue. This is
especially necessary when the leaf is
thick or very opaque. In some delicate
specimens it will not be needed.

AN INTERESTING ORGANISM FROM THE
DITCH.

(Volvox globator.)

The partition wall, or dividing line
between plants and animals, is narrow ;

THE WONDERFUL AND INTERESTING
VOLVOX.

in some instances so narrow that it is
impossible to decide whether or not a
certain specimen is a member of the one
or of the other "kingdom," as scien-
tific men at one time were in the habit
of designating what seemed to be na-
ture's way of dividing her creations into
Animal, Vegetable or Mineral. Such
divisions are even now convenient, pro-
vided we do not descend into that mys-
terious region where the object is both
animal and vegetable, or neither.

Such living creatures abound wherever
water collects, and remains exposed to
the air and the sunlight. Every ditch, ev-
ery pool, every mill-pond is crowded with
these humble creatures, and they puzzle
the naturalist who works with the micro-
scope, and interest him beyond expres-
sion. Some may be nothing more than
a drop of living protoplasm, with the ap-
pearance and the viscidity of the albu-
min of an egg, without a cell wall, with-
out organs of progression, without a
digestive apparatus, with only a nucleus
and a contractile vesicle, yet such crea-
tures live, move, digest food, reproduce
themselves, die and melt apparently into
the surrounding medium. They are

26

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

colorless, and invisible to the naked eye,
yet they seem to achieve the purpose for
which they were created, whatever that
may be. They crawl over the ooze
of our ponds, they glide up the stems of
aquatic plants and hunt their prey among
the submerged leaves, and themselves
fall victims to other prowling creatures
higher in the scale of creation, or of the
naturalist's classification. Some havo-
been bandied back and forth between
the two sections, until the patient reade "
has begged for rest, and the lowly crea-
tures, if they could feel the blows di-
rected toward them, would long ago have
been annihilated by the concussions.

One such, that in favorable circum-
stances may become visible to the unaid-
ed vision, is Volvos globaior, now be
lieved to be undoubtedly a plant, al-
though its experience with microscopists
must have caused the beautiful thing to
dissolve in laughter, if it could know
and feel.

On those rare occasions, when Volvox
is visible to the naked eye, it is a charm-
ing object, although it is no more impres-
sive or imposing than a green globe ono
one-fiftieth of an inch in diameter. Yet
the little thing rises and floats and falls
through the water in graceful curves,
and long sweeps and sudden ascents tow-
ard the surface, constantly rolling lik;
the animated ball that it is, and by some
mysterious influence rarely colliding
with any of the innumerable company
of its fellows, which may fill the pond
until that is made green by its presence
It is to be found during the summei
months in almost all parts of the coun
try, but rarely in great numbers. The
writer has once only seen a small pond
so thickly habited by it, that the water
was tinted by its presence, and a spoon-
tul lifted out appeared to be moving
spontaneously, so numerous were the
Volvoxcs. Rut they have never since
appeared in that pool. They are tak-
en sparingly through the summer, and
have been captured from beneath ice four
inches thick. When Volvox was first
observed, the discoverer decided it to be
an animal, probably on account of its
freedom of movement, and its activity.

When sufficiently magnified, the sur-
face of this delicate globe is everywhere
seen to be dotted with minute, green

bodies that produce the faintly verdant
tinge that characterizes the plant, and
rather indirectly subserve the purposes
of locomotion. "These peripheral cells,'-
(I am quoting from Professor A. W.
Bennett) "contain each a green proto-
plasm-body, varying in shape according
to the age of the individual ; they usually
contain a minute starch granule, a red-
dish-brown 'eye-spot,' . . . and one
or two contractile vacuoles, .
They constitute a single peripheral layer
enveloping" the entire organism.
They have, however, as far as known
no reproductive function, and in th.i
respect stand almost alone among cells
endowed with a spontaneous power of
motion."

It is these surface cells that bear tne
two, or more especially the one particular
body that lead investigating microscop-
ists to place Volvox among animals.
These are the vibratile cilia, by whos.;
action the globe advances and rotates,
and the contractile vacuole. None of
these organs is ever visible to the naked
eye. Even to see them with the micro-
scope demands a high magnifying power ;
to study them properly, calls for the best
and highest power lenses, careful illumi-
nation and the trained eye of a micro-
scopist.

• The cilia are delicate, colorless
lashes that almost constantly beat the
water, and by their action urge the Vol-
vox along its graceful course. Two of
these vibratile lashes arise from each of
the peripheral cells, and in number have
been estimated to be about twenty- four
thousand. They are difficult to see, even
with favorable microscopical conditions.
It is only when they are quiet or at least
quiescent, that the exceedingly slender
threads can be demonstrated to exist.

Each seems to be nothing but a deli-
cate, colorless filament, yet they vibrate
slowly or rapidly at the volition of the
Volvox ; the movement may cease ; it
may be resumed. How are these ac-
tions accomplished? Are these vibra-
tile appendages formed from threads of
vegetable muscle (if I may be pardoned
for so incorrect an expression as vege-
table muscle), that they contract and
relax at the will of their bearer? Is
Volvox, after all, an animal with muscu-
lar filaments studding its surface? If it

SEEING BY AID OF THE LENS.

27

is, then so are the zoospores which have
often been seen to issue from the cells
of an undoubted plant, and to dart
through the water, urged, much as / "ol-
vox is urged, by the vibratile action of
two or more cilia. That argument is
worthless.

Another minute, motile organ con-
tained by the green peripheral bodies
(gonidia), is likewise difficult to see
unless carefully looked for, and even
then is readily missed, as eminent micros-
copists have done and have consequent-
ly denied its existence. Its presence in
undoubted animals, for instance in the
infusoria, the so-called "animalcules," is
readily observed, and readily accounted
for, as the recipient of at least some of
the water engulfed by the animalcule
when taking food, the latter as well as
the infusorian itself being continuously
and totally immersed. This organ is
the contractile vesicle, which has been
said to have no existence in plants, even
in nature's lowest and humblest. If, as
has been seriously stated, a contractile
vesicle is observed within a living object,
it follows that that object cannot be a
plant. Yet each gonidial cell contains
two of these minute organs, that regu-
larly and quickly contract, disappearing
entirely only to re-appear almost as
speedily in the same place. With twelve
thousand gonidia, each bearing two con-
tractile vacuoles, Volvox, let it be what
it may, is well supplied. But as Volvox
does not swallow solid food, as the in-
fusoria do, what function have these reg-
ularly pulsating spaces? One effect is
to puzzle the observing microscopist.
But as a feature by which to decide the
animality of the revolving, ciliated globe,
they are worthless, for the undoubted
zoospores of not a few microscopic
plants not only possess cilia, but pulsat-
ing vesicles that contract as rapidly and
as regularly as do those of Volvox. The
statement that no plant can have a pulsat-
ing vacuole may be safely rejected.

But the gonidia contain still another
organ no less puzzling than those already
mentioned. This is the red, "eye-like
pigment spot."' Similar collections of
colored pigment are common in the in-
fusoria and the rotifera, in the last-men-
tioned animals sometimes being placed

in contact with a distinct lens, which
may give the owner at least a glimmer-
ing of light, and so enable it to advance
toward the source. But what function,
if any, a similar pigmentary spot with-
out a lens can have a Volvox, is an un-
answered question. With motion, cilia,
contractile vacuoles and twelve thousand
"eye-spots," characteristics of common,
microscopic animals, Volvox becomes
an interesting object for serious study.

Reproduction takes place in two ways,
each of which is complex and cannot be
described in a popular paper like this.
But as the result of one method, the
original sphere may contain within it
from eight to ten young spheres, much
smaller, but somewhat similar to the
parent, as shown in the accompanying
photograph, where ten are pictured in a
single maternal Volvox. These finally
escape through the ruptured surface of
the original sphere, the parent giving
her life for that of the young.

In the photograph the small rings
which stud the surface are the green,
gonidial bodies. The cilia attached to
each one are not shown. To photo-
graph them with Volvox living and
actively moving, would be almost im-
possible ; to do so after it had been pre-
pared as a permanent "mount," for pre-
servation in a cabinet of microscopical
"slides," would be almost as difficult,
since soon after death they become flac-
cid, indistinct and difficult to be detected,
even by the eye aided by a good micro-
scope-objective.

But is Volvox a plant or an animal?
Eminent microscopical botanists have
unanimously decided in favor of the
plant. But who knows what it reallv
is?

ANNOUNCEMENT.

Beginning with1 the May issue, Miss M.
A. Booth, of Springfield, Massachusetts, will
take charge of a department of "Practical
Microscopy." Miss Booth was for many
years an editor of "The Observer" magazine,
and is well known to all who use the micro-
scope for serious scientific work or for
pleasure.

28

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

IlTERARY

I—^andBIOGI

BIOGRAPHICAL

THE TWIN PERIODICALS.

They were not born twins, but soon
became so, or at least the younger is
trying with all possible speed to catch
up with the elder, and to be so like it
that one "can't tell t'other from which."
And, to its discredit, it is succeeding
fairly well in that ambition. First came
''Country Life in America," anxiously
awaited from its first announcement by
a host of lovers of country life. It
promised well and, to be frank, it, for
a time, fulfilled these promises fairly
well, and in many respects is mighty
good yet. It is at once a "joy and a
botheration" as one might speak loving-
ly of a frisky child full of animal spirits.
It is a pleasure to turn over the leaves of
''Country Life in America" and to gaze
appreciatingly, enjoyingly or longingly,
according to the spirit of the moment,
upon beautiful pergolas, elaborate gar-
den walks, high-bred stallions, vig-
orous bulls, gorgeous automobiles, lux-
urious rooms and intricate tapestries.
It makes the gentle reader happy to
think that some one has such posses-
sions, or that persons really exist in this
world who can have them. There is a
satisfaction in knowing that some of
mankind can show such evidences of
superabundant wealth. But the country
life, alas! where is it? The reader looks
through the magnificent pages that il-
lustrate metropolitan wealth and is dis-
appointed, because he is seeking some-
thing that shall flavor of rural life, and
fails to find it. Yet "Country Life in
America" is the title of the magazine.

When we were feeling decidedly de-
pressed at such portrayal or absence of
portrayal of our favorite country, a star
of hope began to shine faintly but clearly
in the east. "Suburban Life" at the
popular price of $1.50 appeared in Bos-
ton. On the first cover page it set up its
standard of an open barn door, and down
the vista we saw a sleigh gliding along

a country road. It was charming, and
we eagerly bought the first number, and
at once sent in a year's subscription.
"Suburban Life;" that is it. The city
on the one hand and all wild nature on
the other. Beautiful for location ! One
can tolerate half of metropolitan life,
if the other half is made up of suburban
walks, country roads and wild nature.
But the star moved westward, and stood
over New York. And like Thoreau
who, when he went to make his home
with Emerson, acquired, it is claimed,
his tone, his walk, and even the curva-
ture of his nose, so this second "Life"
came to be more and more nearly a twin
to the first "Life," for it moved down
toward Twenty-third Street, shall we
say, to be closer to its beloved ideal !
And it, too, advanced its subscription
price to $3. It left just a distinguishing
bow of ribbon, as on human twins. The
number of ths second "Life" now before
me has a pink cover, while that of the
older "Life" is blue. That is the way
I "know t'other from which." Each
magazine is a delight, and both, like
some other twins, are a "bothera-
tion." Yet with all the joys and
delights embodied in each, both are
a disappointment. They are not just
to country life nor to suburban life.
There is something in the country and in
a suburban existence besides the arti-
ficiality here so extravagantly portrayed.
The writer has been a cash subscriber
to every number of both publications,
and hopes to continue, and no one more
thoroughly appreciates their needs, nor
more greatlv regrets their one-sidedness
and their shortcomings. It is on account
of the last mentioned conditions that
"The Guide to Nature" has become a
necessity. The very country, the shrubs,
the tangled thickets, the leaves, the wind-
ing roads, the natural vireo and the cost-
less daisy have long been crying out
for representation. No one blames the

DIMINION OVER PHYSICAL NATURE.

29

"parents'' of the "twins." They have
been lead by the pocket-book into de-
lineating a metropolitan wealth, super-
abundant delightful wealth, and calling
it the country and the suburbs. They
boldly and confessedly are "class" mag-
azines and in that class they are good.
But they have wideiy diverged from the
connotation of their names and in draw-
ing away from their true sphere, as sug-
gested by those names, they have left a
space that is broad and deep. "The
Guide to Nature" ?* coming to fill that
vacancy. It will tell you truly of coun-
try life as well as of the delights of the
suburbs. It will try to show you what
to look for and to look at in the country,
and what to take to your home in the
city or in the suburbs. It will not deal
entirely nor frequently in "glittering

generalities," although it hopes to spar-
kle sometimes, and at all times to grow
steadily with the fire of nature's inspira-
tion, fanned by the breezes that swing
above the fields and toss the clouds
across the sun. The sight of a leaf
lying on a cluster of bluets in a
grassy meadow will be more welcome,
and will more thoroughly merit a full
page illustration, than will a thousand
Fur rugs of a roomful of priceless tap-
estries. It will be a guide to nature, not
a sign-post to point out the useless things
that unlimited wealth can buy. A de-
scription and picture of an invisible ob-
ject as it appears under the microscope
will give "The Guide" greater satisfac-
tion than the portraits of forty bulls of
Bashan.

m

DQMINIQN 2VER?
PHYSICAL NATURE'

fcu

~^w^m

HEAVIEST LOCOMOTIVE IN THE WORLD

All records in locomotive construction
have been broken by the completion at
the Schenectady Works of the American
Locomotive Company one of the three
Mallet Articulated Compounds for the
Erie Railroad. It was only three yCars
ago that the railroad world was astound-
ed by the enormous size of the first re-
presentative of this type in America, the
articulated compound built by the same
company for the Baltimore & Ohio Rail-
road. These Erie engines, however, sur-
pass their predecessors as much as that
engine did its contemporaries, and they
stand in a class by themselves as the
largest and most powerful locomotives
of this or any other type in the world.

The articulated compound locomotive
was first introduced in this country to
solve the difficulties brought about, on
roads with long and steep grades, by the
rapid increase in size and power of the
modern road engine. On such grades
several helpers are required to handle a
train which a single road engine can

Wf®»&

bring to the hill, or else the train must
be "cut." This entails trouble and de-
lay in the moving of traffic. To solve the
problem it was suggested to concentrate
the helping power in one combined set of
engines flexibly connected under one
boiler. In this way the power of each of
the ordinary engines could be put in the
hands of a single crew.

This method was brought into reali-
zation on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad
in the locomotive above referred to, and
the decided success of this engine during
the time it has been in service has
brought about the increasing popularity
of this type, which has reached its high-
est development in the engines just de-
livered to the Erie Railroad.

Each of these enormous locomotives
is in reality two engines combined in one.
The rear engines are carried in frames
which are rigidly attached to the boiler ;
while the forward engines are carried in
frames which are not rigidly attached
to the boiler, and are in fact a truck
which swivels around a centre pin locat-

3Q

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

THE LARGEST LOCOMOTIVE.

ed just ahead of the high pressure cyl-
inders. They are designed for pusher
service and will operate on the Susque-
hanna Hill between Susquehanna and
Gulf Summit, where the ruling grade is
1.3 per cent. The total weight in work-
ing order of each of these locomotives is
about 410,000 pounds. Each locomo-
tive has sixteen driving wheels, arranged
in two groups of 8 coupled wheels. The
high pressure cylinders which drive on
the rear group of wheels are 25 inches
in diameter by 28 inches in stroke, and
the low pressure cylinders are 39 inches
in diameter by the same stroke. With a
boiler pressure of 215 pounds and driv-
ing wheels 51 inches in diameter, these
engines will develop a maximum tract-
ive power, working compound, of 94,-
800 pounds and 116,000 pounds, working
simple. This means that one of these
locomotives will haul 210 cars.

The boiler is the largest locomotive
boiler ever built, and is of the radial
stayed type with conical connection. The
inside diameter of the first or smallest
course is 82 inches, while that of the
largest course is qf> inches. The plates

are, of course, all very heavy, the heav-
iest ring of the shell being 1 1-16 inches.

The engines are compounded on the
Afellin system which has been so success-
fully employed on a great many two-cyl-
inder compound engines ; and their oper-
ation, therefore, is exactly the same and
as simple as that of a compound loco-
motive with half the number of cylinders.
By an ingenious arrangement of the re-
versing gear, the weights of the valve
motions of the front and rear engines
counterbalance each other. The reverse
lever is operated by compressed air cylin-
ders by means of an auxiliary lever
which controls the valves in the air cyl-
inders.

While the hauling capacity of these
enormous engines is more than double
that of the heaviest freight engine now
in service on the road, the load on any
single pair of driving wheels is less than
that of many of the ordinary road engines
of the present day. In view of this fact,
the advantages offered by this type for
the concentration of power in a single
unit are readily recognized. — Courtesy of
Erie R. R.

EDAGOGICAL

This department has been unavoidably omitted from this issue.

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION.

31

Zj\

ciati°n

WHAT THE AA MEANS.

The Agassiz Association stands for
the stud)- of nature from the student's
point of view. It is the University
and not the Kindergarten. Whether
you are four or eighty-four it says, be
an original investigator ; see things for
yourself; look into the thing, not into
what has been written about the thing ;
what you find, not what someone tells
you to find ; begin with nature : in the
words of the great scientist from
whom we take our name, "Study na-
ture, not books." The Association
does not stand for the Kindergarten
notion which says, "I will show you
how to play the game ; then we all
will play it." It does not tell you to
study this or that and to do it this
month, regardless of the fact that
"this" or "that" may be totally in-
accessible to you.

The AA has no publishing house
to advertise, no list of general nature
study books to sell, no cuts to be se-
lected from its li?t of publications and
saying, "Study these things this
month," but meaning, "Buy these
books tins month." The AA publish-
es its own magazine, — The Guide to
Nature, — monthly, illustrated, — hajs
its handbooks of instruction as an or-
ganization, the total income from the
sales going to enlarge the field of its
activity. It is to support no Insti-
tution. It does not delude its mem-
bers into the belief that they may re-
ceive something for nothing. Its
officers have no salary. They give
their time and their labor, and are paid
by thanks. It confers honors where it
sees honors are especially due, but
never with the ulterior designs of

some Institution or periodical adver-
tisement. There are no money divi-
dends It is an Association for mu-
tual helpfulness, in which every mem-
ber every Officer, every Councilor
contributes time or money, or both, to
further the original study of nature.
The A A believes that there can be no
highei occupation for the human mind

'&

lv-1^7 f^**>r -u^*— '

kL

IS\

6^

'^hy-^

and nothing more inspiring than the
contemplation of some aspect of this
beautiful world.

It frankly invites you and with no
secondary motive to join its ranks,
to help and to be helped, to give your
time and your mite of money to help
yourself and to help others, and to re-
ceive gratefully the assistance that
others can give you.

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

In this matter of mutual helpfulness
in the study of nature, by all ages and
in all places, the AA is the oldest,
most extensive and most efficient or-
ganization in existence. Its member-
ship means aid ; its honorsmean merit;
its study of nature means love for na-
ture, and its onward course is ever
true to its motto, "Per naturam ad
Deum." On these principles, and to
this end, it cordially invites you, if you
are not already a Member, to become
one, or to form a Chapter of Mem-
bers. If you are a Member, it urges
you to greater activity in extending its
influence. The work of the AA was
never more needed than in this age of
artificiality, of the nervous stress and
strain of the modern struggle for ex-
istence, of the tension of high keyed
life, of intense competition, of finan-
cial fluctuations and of varying pros-
perity and adversity. Now more than
ever there is a deep meaning in the
words "back to nature," or better
still, "keep anchored in nature."

The organization, activity and pur-
poses of the Agassiz Association for
the study of God's Works is, in many
respects, a parallel or at least reminds
one of a church that studies, pro-
motes and is benefitted by God's
Word.

The AA has in its Corporators a
board of directors or vestry. In its
Council it has its leading and inspir-
ing "lay" workers and teachers.. It
has a membership of all ages, all de-
grees of bodily strength, all degrees
of enthusiasm and mental ability and
all conditions of wealth or its absence.
Some are there to be helped ; others
to helo. In this organization it is
especially "more blessed to give than
to receive." Those who are the most
helpful to others, either financially or
educationally, are often more bene-
fitted than the recipients.

If you are not familiar with all our
departments, but have read of only
one part of the work, do not think that
we are limited to that. We circle the
earth, and with us take youth, old
age and all conditions of life and cir-
cumstances. We are true to the char-
acter of the scientist whose name we
bear. Louis Agassiz was equally at

home in Switzerland, America or
Brazil ; equally enthusiastic with a con-
pany of children or with the world's
greatest scientists. He would so-
lcit monev from the millonaire to build
up a museum or to pay for an explor-
ing tour, or with equal readiness give
to a child a book as a help in some
favorite department of natural history.
Gifts to further the cause of the AA
have been made, varying from five
thousand dollars to five cents ; or in
service, from the thirty-three years of
Ex-President Ballard who still contin-
ues as a Trustee, to a moment of time
used by an expert in briefly answering
some inquiry by mail ; in knowledge,
by more than a quarter of a century
of faithful council and instruction by
President David Starr Jordan to that
of a bov or girl who assists another
on some outing or by a comparison
of collections. We number among
our Corresponding" Members many of
the most eminent professors of the
United States and other countries,
and we also have many voug people
engaged in office or in business who
pursue natural history as a recreation.
Its aid to the worker is the most effi-
cient ; its honors are the freest from
commercialism or institutional adver-
tising its membership is therefore most
satisfactory. Whether you have just
begun to studv butterflies, or have all
the honors nf an Edison or a Marconi,
the W will welcome you. If you
can help it more than it can help you.
that is the "•'■eater reason why you
should become a member, for the
work of the A A. is in the aggregate
vastlv greater than that of any single
worker.

ENTHUSIASM.

"The Grand Master of Enthusi-
asms" is the title bestowed by Presi-
dent David Starr Jordan on his for-
mer teacher Louis Agassiz. That is
the kevnote of The Agassiz Associa-
tion,— it is enthusiastic in its love and
studv of nature.

But not particularly that the AA is
enthusiastic, — not gushing, not frothy,
but sane, sedate and earnest.

AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY MAGAZINE FOR ADULTS. DEVOTED TO COMMONPLACE

NATURE WITH UNCOMMON INTEREST.

PUBLISHED BY THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION. OFFICE: 113 GROVE ST.. STAMFORD. CONN.

Subscription, $1.50 Per Year. Single Copy, 15 Cents.
Application has been made for entry at the Post Office at Stamford, as second class matter.

The Sachs Tablets

A PLANT FOOD AND STIHULANT

Apply to the roots of the plants in any form you wish and the
plants will grow and thrive. The plants may be grown in earth
and the solution applied as a fertilizer and stimulant, or the plants
may be grown, for novelty and experiment, on crushed stone,
pebbles, bits of brick, sponge, sawdust, or between two sheets of
glass and the growth watched.

The Sachs tablets grew these luxuriant and thrifty plants from
less than a tablespoonful of sawdust in each eggshell, "and we can
prove it."

Sections of roots or root hairs may be taken at any stage for
careful observation, free from all soil.

Excellent for experimental work. Efficient with 'house plants."
Just the thing to awaken a dormant plant.

Box containing 30 tablets (sufficient for 15 points of solution) mailed
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Less than 500 tablets not supplied in bulk.
These tablets and the directions with them will guide you into most interesting

fields in plant life.

ADDRESS:

The Guide to Nature, Stamford, Conn*

1 A *»*'

w^B| B^^^^"J ^^^

i i — JH s# -jtS

'

"MUTE SWANS."
Courtesy of Mr. G. D. Tilley, Darien, Conn.

SEE ARTICLE "GROWING MILLINERY IN THE BACK YARD," PAGE 44.

"We love things not because they are beautiful, but they are beautiful

because we love them."

?y***

The Guide to Nature.

EDUCATION AND RECREATION

Vol. I

MAY, 1908

No. 2

m

iTffi OUTDOOR WORLD

>•■ -jf

Savages in the Jungles of Hoang Ho.

A PARODY, A PARALLEL AND A PUZZLE

By Edward F. Bigelow

Stamford, Connecticut

"A man lay upon the grass, peering- at it and among it, studying it curiously and in-
tently with a magnifying glass. His friend passed by and asked, 'What do you do there?'
Said the man, 'I am traveling in a foreign land.' " — "The Century Magazine."

Author's Note. — I have applied thi
a foreign land to an ordinary ramble i
Park only a short distance from the ce
live. I have treated this as a "foreig
who live near it, or perhaps have been
place trees, birds, cows, squirrels, fr
rare specimens. The scantily clad boy
in all seriousness, I think they did
place as "home" than do most of us.

s principle of "grass travelling" as in
n a grove by a brook near Woodside
nter of the City of Stamford, in which I
n land" (as it is in sad reality to many
in it) and have mentioned the common-
ogs and microscopic forms of life as
s represent the "native" savages. And
get nearer to the heart of the charming

Copyright 1908 by The Agassiz Association. Stamford, Conn-

36

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

To our older readers I submit this as a parody,— yes, and in many re-
spects a parallel (!) to much scientific writing that buries simplicity and real
interest in a mass of words. If, from this point of view, our older readers
shall see a touch of sarcasm, I shall be glad; that is, if it tends to reform.
To our younger nature lovers, perhaps it will serve as an amusing puzzle to
be deciphered and told in common language what are all the animals and
plants referred to.— E. F. B.

EARLESSLY I pushed on-
ward into the wilderness.
It had been a long and
weary tramp since 1 left
the haunts of men. I was
in a forest untamed and un-
touched by the hand of man,

and there a faint sign in a
show that some other

save here
broken shrub to

explorer or Nature lover has been along
that way. Persistently I had followed a
trail now almost lost in the tangled shrub-
bery, now winding among huge trees,
down deep ravines and across great
stretches of lowlands.

How came this trail here, I wondered.
I fancied that it might have been made
by the constant trampling of some huge
animal in his quest for water ; some crea-
ture whose ancestors had been remotely
related to the primitive bison.

I was near to the heart of Nature.
Few from the crowded cities had dared
to venture into these weird and strangely
impressive shades.

Wild beasts, fierce but beautiful,
peered at me from the bushes, or startled
me by a leap across the trail, as I pressed
onward through the jungle; brilliant
birds flitted before me, or darted from
limb to limb in the leafy arches above.
I was prepared to meet any of _ these
creatures. Indeed, even thus far in the
journey I had had many an exciting en-
counter. Creatures strange in name, im-
pressive and beautiful in appearance had
gathered to increase the accumulating
spoils of many a previous hunting trip.
It was a journey of attack, on my part.
It was a chase within the unknown, and
a preparation for the unexpected. In
addition to the usual weapons, I carried
my trustv camera. The land was a land
of wonders. On a huge Quercus alba,
a fierce Sciurus hudsonicus gymmcus,
chattered and bristled, and flashed light-
ning from his glowing eyes, till in
a very explosion of wrath he had leaped

into the topmost branches of the
Quercus. And I said, "That's you! I
know you." From a Betula flitted
through the air Cyanocitta cristata
with defying taunts, while from an
Alnus came the terrifying rattle of
a Cyrele alcyon. But not in the
least daunted (though thrilled by all
these) I pursued a Spelerpes into a cav-
ern under an old log. The battle was
at all its exciting height. A Rana cat-
esbiana sounded forth its sepulchral
warning. But not even this could

daunt me. I said to myself, "I have but
one life to live, let me live it here in
conquest. Give me the battle royal."
lust then a Neotoma darted from a se-
cluded part of the jungle and I started
in full chase. But here it was not for
me to conquer. He who had never
fought, but ran away lived to fight some
Megascops another day.

At the edge of the densest jungle of
all I calmly collected trophies of this
strange land, among them Chelone, Ly-
simachia, Xvris, and just beyond the
water's brink a wonderful Utricularia.
And I thought, "How strange would be
all these beautiful objects to the gray
heads and ignorant eyes of yonder city."
Perhaps they had read of the Basilosau-
rus, of the Archaeopteryx, the Dinosau-
rus', the Thespesius of ancient days,
and said, "What wonderful animals in
those days. How I wish I had been on
earth to 'see them." The most wonder-
ful things are always supposed to be
distant in both time and space.

Just then, to interrupt my meditations,
came a blood-curdling cry.

"Yo-ho! Yo-ho! Yo-ho! Yo-ho-o-o!

It was answered from the distance.

"Ah hi! Ah-lu! ah lua lua loo."

'Twas enough to strike terror into the

heart of any exploring pale face. My

heart beat quickly. That was the only

sound I could hear except the cry of

some strange Canis in the distant tangle,

SAVAGES IX THE [UNGLES OF HOANG HO.

37

and the rippling of the waters in a brook
before me.

Almost involuntarily and with haste,
I leaped to the body of a dendron and
clung to the spreading arms above.
Thus secure, I looked down on four sav-
ages, young' and lightly clad, who, car-
rying canoes above their heads, rushed
out of the thicket on the opposite bank
of the stream.

Judging from the outlandish language,
which was mingled with their fiendish
yells, as the young savages hurried from
different directions to wdiat seemed to be
a point of rendezvous, I was not a little

made a pleasing picture, as they stood
in the shallow water at the opposite side
of the stream. The canoes above their
heads pointed upward; the tangled
shrubbery formed a beautiful back-
ground, while, to me, in my perch in the
dendron, the entire scene was reflected in
trembling flashes, as the water rose and
fell in broken ripples at their feet.

They seemed oblivious of the whole
world, except of that small part contain-
ing themselves and their canoes. With
a cry of raucous stridor, one dropped
his boat and fell beside it on his knees.
As the others clustered about him, with

THE "SAVAGES" READY TO MIGRATE WITH THEIR BELONGINGS.
"They made a pleasing picture, as they stood in the shallow water at the opposite side of the
stream. The canoes above their heads pointed upward : the tangled shrubbery formed a
beautiful background."

a repetition of his bellowing, the air to
me appeared to acquire a peculiar con-
dition, by which I was enabled to see to
the bottom of the stream, and to hear
delicate vibrations wdiich were appar-
ently non-existent to the wild creatures
on the bank.

Within the water, advancing over the
sand, was the most horrible monster
that my eye had ever seen, although I
had been using the microscope and its
accessories for manv vears. With a

surprised to observe, that they could
speak many words not wholly familiar
to me, yet not entirely unknown. I re-
tained a recollection of certain parts of
some peculiar intonations, and of certain
inarticulate gurglings, that I myself had
often uttered in my own youthful days.
Could these creatures be what are gen-
erally known as boys? They appeared
to be such, and I must admit that, in
spite of the horrible sounds that contin-
ued to issue from their breasts, they

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

"THE ALMOST NAKED SAVAGES."

It was a camping party, I was sure, for behind the unfortunate little chap was a small canvass
screen, that certainly concealed a sleeping place, and before which he stood and dripped."

slow, steady and relentless advance, it
approached the boys. I had no eyes
except for that terrible aquatic beast.
A pear-shaped mass of stones, the nar-
row end apparently applied to the earth,
it moved in a stately way, but by what
means, I then failed to see, and that
failure added to the horror of the situa-
tion. The pyriform mass was composed
of great rocks of varied size and form,
cemented together with a skill, a care
and a beauty of finish, that I had rarely
seen equalled by the work of any earthly
stone-mason. Each piece, big or little,
was fitted exactly in contact with its
fellows, so that not a crevice, not the
minutest space could be seen, yet there
was no cement, no mortar, no external
supports to hold them together. It was
the perfection of skillful work with
stone. But what had made it, and
what was within and moving it ? I for-
got the young savages ; I was deaf to
their horrible noises ; I saw only that
slowly advancing, pear-shaped building
of stones. As it reached a slight de-
clivity in the bed of the stream, it tilted
a little, so that I saw a round opening,
from which issued a mass of long,
squirming tentacles, colorless, semi-
fluid, in aspect like the white of an egg,
but ever extending and retreating, twist-
ing and writhing. Could it be that these
jelly-like arms were a part of an animal

within that stone dwelling, and which
had built it of the rocks at the bottom
of the stream ? It could be no otherwise.
I thought that the monster was prepar-
ing to attack the youths, perhaps at-
tracted toward a good meal by the terri-
ble sounds that, not for a moment, ceased
to issue from their gaping mouths, and
I was on the point of crying a warning,
when I perceived that the stone dwelling
was advancing toward a matted mass of
what seemed to be a green scum on the
water's surface, but which another
glance, in that strange atmosphere,
showed me to be a cluster of thread-
like plants, composed of cylindrical cells
placed end to end, with transparent
walls, and with several bands of the
most beautiful green twisting spirally
around the inner surface of each. A
gyrating spiral, as truly as a spiral ever
twisted about a cell-wall. I could see the
contents of every thread flowing rapid-
ly up and down the sides, and could hear
the clashing of the solid particles as the
internal currents dashed them together,
a steady, delicate hum, mingled with
the tinkling; of the colliding: grains. The
monster, without a moment's hesitation,
mounted into the mass of these lovely
plants, and at once, with the tip of a
colorless tentacle, pierced the cell wall,
and in a slow, deliberate, relentless man-
ner, that increased the horror of the

SAVAGES IX THE TUXCLES ( >l< IIOAXG HO.

39

scene, surrounded the cell-contents with
those jelly-like arms, and threw them
into the mouth of the stone house, and
beyond my sight.

The animal was actually feeding". I
was witnessing" a sight that other micro-
scopists had yearned to see, hut to happy
me it had come unsought, as a part of
this enchanted glen. 1 then recognized
the terrible creature as the Difflugia,
one of the Rhizopods, to he taken in
every ditch, and familiar to every owner
of a microscope; and in the mass of
plants with the banded spirals of green,
I knew the common fresh-water Alga,
the Spirogyra. 1 was delighted, al-
though I felt that I was in an enchanted
country, and that as soon as 1 felt my
dendron. 1 should awake to the realities
of the ordinary world, in spite of the
youthful savages yonder, that never
ceased to utter those raucous yells,
which, as far as I could perceive, were
entirely unnecessary. I afterward
learned, that boys always and almost
continuously, make such noises.

Rut there was something" wrong with
one of the canoes, and in the savages'
interest they, for a few moments, forgot
to yell. The silence was delightfully
soothing, in the rarefied state of that at-
mosphere, where every rustle was mag-
nified into a roar. As the youths ex-

amined the damage, I heard the most
delieate and delicious musie thai ever
greeted mortal ear. In faintest waves
and whispers of an unearthly melody,
the music rose and fell, until the jungle
was trembling under the daint) vibra-
tions of a symphony from crystal bells,
that pealed and tossed until they seemed
to be delirious with their own melody.
What was it. Where was it? If those
savages would keep still for another
moment, I could find the source. In-
deed, 1 must, though 1 descend and
throttle those wild creatures. Dainty
and delicate, that music fainted into si-
lence, and delicate and dainty it swelled
again until the world seemed to he a
music-hall of the fairies. 1 see them,
I see them! In the depths of the water,
silver and crystal hells are swinging" and
tossing at the end of their supports, as
the waves flow past, and that delicious
oratorio became a part of the very soul
of the only human being that heard it.
The bells, colorless, minute, exquisite,
were attached to the filaments of var-
ious fresh-water Algae, and I recog-
nized them, too, as old friends seen in
a new locality. Many a time I had had
them under my microscope, but never
before had 1 heard their music. My
dull ears had never before been sensi-

THE "SAVAGES" HAD MADE BOATS FOR THEMSELVES.
"But around the curve they dashed in a reckless way. * * It must have been a delightful

experience and sensation.

4Q

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

tive enough to catch their delicate peal-
ing, but I felt that the music must be
there.

They were animals, too ; I knew that
by my previous observation. They
were familiar to me and to other micro-
scopists as exceedingly common inhab-
itants of every ditch and shallow pool
in the land. They were the "Collared
Monads'' among the fresh-water infuso-
ria. I was still listening, rapt, when
those horrible stridors broke out afresh,
and the youthful savages drowned that
delicate music with raucous cries. Then
one became articulate.

"I say, fellows, let's lug 'em further
down, under the grape vines, and get
a fair start where there's plenty of
water."

Boys they surely were. They could
speak my language !

"It's a go ; and the last one in camp
is going to be the cook."

With a fiendish shriek that split the air,
and made the leaves quiver, they tossed
their canoes into the water, and leapt
into them. With knees drawn up, and
in threatening attitudes with arms and
paddles, they prepared for a dash across
the stream. They appeared to be boys
of the human species, but I failed to
understand why it was necessary to be
so violent, so painfully active, and to
make such grimaces. Look at them in
the picture, which my camera caught
unsuspected by them, and you will no
longer wonder at my amazement. If
they had been quadrupeds, or micro-
scopic creatures in the mud, I should
have appreciated the situation, but these
appearances were mysteries. Yet they
all are possibly a part of the undevel-
oped animal nature in such young sav-
ages. As they paddled down the stream,
they unintentionally formed another
beautiful picture. The light was spark-
ling" on the waves, and touching the
leaves with a golden gleam, while the
spray from the paddles flashed rain-
bows. I made a movement to descend
from my dendron, yet refrained, as I
was not entirely satisfied that it would be
safe. I had had sad experiences with
animals before this, and had suffered
from too much confidence. I would

wait. And 1 did not care to disarrange
the scene.

Suddenly a cry of pain came from the
upper stream, and suggestive gurgling
and bubbling preceded a silence that
brought the paddles to a quick rest,
with many gutteral noises, and a swirl
of water.

"I believe that gone gump has run
on a rock, and tumbled over-board again,
as usual. Quick, fellows ! get back, and
help him out !"

I will not repeat their words as they
turned their canoes and paddled toward
the starting" point, and neither will I
mention those used at the destination.
I do not find them in my dictionary. I
doubt if they are known among civilized
adults of the human species.

"Now," I heard, as the unhappy fel-
low was seized by the seat of his trous-
ers with a shake, and slapped down on
the bank, "Now, stay there, and dry
off, and serve you right ! How many
times have we pulled you out this trip?
Get in again, and you stav in. Mind
that."

It was a camping party, I was now
sure, for behind the unfortunate little
chap, was a small canvas screen, that
certainly concealed a sleeping" place, and
before which he stood and dripped and
where, while he was not entirely happy,
he was not absolutely disconsolate. I
imagined that canoeing was not "all
cakes and ale" to his young nerves and
sinews, but that there was perhaps a
sting somewhere in the boat.

There will be no rapids for you to-
day, Jimmie ; and see that you cook a
good supper by the time we get back.
Say, do you hear? Say, Jimmie, pony
up now! Say, s-a-a-a-y, J-i-m ! Over-
board three times in three days. O-o-o-h,
)im! Ya, va, hi, hi, hoch, hoouch, hi,
Jim!"

Savages without doubt, and "rubbing-
it into" poor jimmie. None but sav-
ages would thus treat a companion. I
felt that they might be cannibals, too,
and would eat poor Jimmie if the meal
that he must prepare were not satisfac-
tory.

They were off like a flash, while I
peered from my leafy dendron, and
rather hoped that Jimmie would not be
the only one overboard when the rapids
appeared. But around the curve they

ORCHIDS AM.) CYl'kll'KDUM.

4i

dashed in a reckless way, past Julian
Island, past Rockland Cove, to Turtle
Point.

It must have been a delightful expe-
rience and sensation. The voyagers
were momentarily silent. They had
something more to think of just then,
and more important, perhaps, than the
blood-curdling howls which they were
capable of producing. It was a relief,
as I could still faintly hear a gentle
swelling music from the crystal bells,
as the water broke over them and the
canoes floated above them, setting them
into a mad peeling as they tossed in
the foam.

I was now convinced that these pad-

"What are you having here?"

"Fun!"

"What do you live on, if I may ask?"

"Vittles !" was the complete and ex-
plicit explanation.

"What do you see here? I know that
my presumption is great, but what do
you see here?"

"Things !"

I shouldered my camera and my im-
plements of warfare, and without an-
other word, retreated from the jungles of
the Hoang Ho, wishing that there could
be more boys to form such camping par-
ties, and thinking well of them, not-
withstanding their impetuosity and ex-
cess of animal spirits.

ORCHIS SPECTABILIS.

Transplanted from the woods to the back yard.

dling creatures were boys, and that I had
little to fear from a closer approach, per-
haps an actual contact. My muscles, too,
wrere becoming cramped by my long stay
in the dendron, as I am not so young as
I once was.

The boys had returned to Jimmie at
the camp. I descended and approached
them, with some caution, yet with much
confidence, too, for a boy is a loveable
animal after you have smoothed him
down in the correct way.

Perhaps my touch was not sufficiently
delicate. To Timmie, who was still ^en-
tly dripping in spots, while the others
grinned and emitted rhythmical yells
and screeches, I said :

ORCHIDS A>D CYPRIPEDIUM.

BY PROF. WM. WHITMAN BAILEY, BROWN
UNIVERSITY, PROVIDENCE, R. I.

When visiting a conservatory of choice
exotics, we are usually most attracted by
the singular and beautiful orchids. It
is a rather curious fact that while genus
"Orchis" gives its name to the vast and
noble Orchis family, it contains, in our
flora, but two species, and these by no
means so common as examples of other
genera.

The one of these illustrated in our
figure is Orchis spcctablis, the showy
orchis so-called, though as a matter of
fact, not nearly so handsome as certain
"Habenarias." While not a rare plant, we

42

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

have found it shy and local. Thus, it
skips Rhode Island altogether. It has,
however, a wide distribution, from New
Brunswick to Georgia, west to Minne-
sota and Missouri.

It is found in rich woods, and is one of
those plants which from its lovely asso-
ciations, ever recalls to the mind of the
wood-lover, scenes of rare beauty. Thus
the writer, when he occasionally sees it,
thinks at once of his early home at West
Point in the Hudson Highlands. There
it may be found, unless "improvements"
have eliminated it, growing in the dark
ravines of Crow's Xest or about Re-
doubt Hill. Its associates in this haunt
of the Culprit Fay, are the yellow violet,
wild ginger, climbing fumitory, yellow
lady's slipper, and starry campion. It
will be noted that these friends of its
choice, with others too numerous to men-
tion, are all beautiful and equally retir-
ing. Finding orchis we may safely look
for them, though their presence does not
necessarily denote the vicinage of orchis.
Such ecological relations are among the
most fascinating subjects of modern bot-
any. Once considered merely curious,
they are now recognized as of profound
significance. There seems almost a hu-
man quality — something pathetic — in
these long-continued friendships of
plants. How did they start? Why
do they endure ? Are they eternal ?

Showy orchis is a small plant, with its
scape or flower stalk some four to seven
inches only in height. It rises from a
root of thick and fleshy fibres, crowned
by one or two smooth and glossy oblong-
ovate, radical leaves. In texture the
bracts resemble these, but are lanceolate
in shape, subtending the individual flow-
ers of the erect raceme.

As would naturally be expected from
the type or "name-flower" of the family.
Orchis exhibits in a fine way, the dis-
tinctive characteristic of the noble order.
The flowers, usually pink or purple, and
with a faint, ineffable perfume, are rin-
gent or grinning, of three sepals and
three petals, the latter being of nearly
equal size. These lightly join to form
the hollowed "helmet" or upper lip. The
apparent lower lip is undivided, and
turned downwards. This characteristic
part of all orchids is really an upper

segment of the perianth, which by a half
twist of the ovary is more commonly
brought to the bottom of the flower.
There it forms a lodgment or platform
for visiting insects. In our special case
it embraces the base of the "column," a
term employed in orchid description to
denote the union into one body, of the
stamen (or, in Cypripedium," two sta-
mens ) with the pistil. The anther-cells
of these are contiguous, — i. e., touching,
— and parallel, producing pollen in
coarse waxy grains, agglutinated into
pear-shaped masses by cobwebby threads.
Each pollen-mass, (pollinium) extends

CYPRIPEDIUM ACAULE.
Transplanted from the woods and grown in the
back yard

below into a stalk — bent near the base
at right angles, and terminating in flat,
circular, adhesive disks. These, when
removed, as shown by Darwin, through
hygrometric effects of the atmosphere,
change from an erect to a nearly hori-
zontal position. As originally standing,
when removed by a visitor, they could
not, when the insect approached another
flower of the species, in any way, reach
its stigma. The change of direction,
however, accomplishes the desired end.

( >RCHIDS AND CYPRIPEDIUM.

43

Here must be borne in mind, that of
all created plants, orchis appear best
adapted to the process of cross-pollina-
tion, so necessary to their continued ex-
istence as a race. Their extraordinary
colors, their fantastic and not infre-
quently grotesque forms, their simula-
tion of insects and even birds, and their
often powerful odors, have reference to
the structure and needs of their visitors.

The reader can derive an excellent
idea of these wondrous doings from
Darwin's "Fertilization of Orchids,"
from Gray's "Text-book of Botany," and
"How Plants liehave," and from that
rich mine of botanical information, Ker-
nels "Natural History of Plants," trans-
lated by Prof. Oliver. In all these, the
beauty and clearness of style, and the
admirable pictures make straight the way
for any reader.

When we turn from the genus "Or-
chis" to "Cypripedium" we note at once,
material difference of structure. The
most important of these is the change in
number of the stamens from one to two.
But a more evident featural peculiaritv
is the hollowing out of the lip into some
ornate, often exquisite form of bucket.
It is perfectly marvellous how this bucket
is played upon and modified by nature
as one view's the host of cvpripedia
that the tropics supply. We 'will note
even in the small number of our North
American species, how it varies. Thus,
in stemless lady's slipper, Cypripedium
acaula, it has a deep slit or gash in
front, while in the three others here fig-
ured, it is a bag with more or less wide
month. It is this bucket or sac to which
the name "slipper" has been popularly
applied. Indeed, the botanical name also
refers to a shoe or sandal, the "Slipper
of A enns." Our American ones are
often generically called "moccason flow-
er,'' a more significant name so far as
their shape is concerned.

Of these, Cypripedium spectabile is the
most beautiful. It may be called com-
mon in our extreme Northern States,
from Maine, across the country to Min-
nesota. It is splendid enough for any
garden, and indeed, is cultivated to an
increasing extent, where it is at all possi-
ble to imitate its natural, but not impera-
tive requirement, a peat bog. Its large

pouch or slipper is one and a half inches
long, snowy white in the body, but in
front superbly painted with pink-purple.
A group of these noble plants — or a
wood full, as one sometimes sees — is a
sight for gods and men,— a temptation to
any American Persephone.

The stemless lady's slipper, is, un-
doubtedly, the most familiar of any,
It is especially fond of sandy districts,
such as Epigaea also likes, and in such
places as in parts of Rhode Island, it is
abundant. Averaging about a foot in
height, it is downy and two-leaved at
the base of the scape. In rare cases the
writer has seen two flowers to the scape.
Usually there is but one ; this,
except in the high north, (Maine, New
Brunswick, etc.) generally rose-purple.
The Manual says "rarely white." In
New Brunswick we would note "rarely
purple," generally white. This albin-
ism is apt to develop in plants as they ap-
proach boreal or alpine situations. The
big bract, overarching the flower, as seen
in our picture, is green, while the sepals
are of a peculiar livid, or brownish-green
color. The slipper is marked by its in-
tricate veins of a deeper shade of its
body color. The big, plaited, parallel-
veined leaves are conspicuous at any sea-
son. This plant also readily bears trans-
planting.

The Lady's Slipper.
Perhaps Titania, wandering by the way.
Espied this slipper in her path one day;
A yellow sandal, striped with bands of red,
And stitched with many a mystic golden
thread.

She doffed the satin wonder of a shoe —
Beyond the beauties that we mortals knew,
And left it here by elfin wishes blessed, —
A peerless sandal that a queen had pressed.
Or is this slipper gleaming in the grass,
Pair Cinderella's tiny shoe of glass?
May be the Prince, who never can forget
His lovely partner, seeks its fellow yet.
Or did some Indian princess, in the chase,
Leave here a relic of her dusky race?
A beaded buskin, set with gems and gold —
A prize indeed, for any chieftain bold.
I think no mortal can attain the gift,
This wondrous treasure from the ground to

lift;
The tale may yet be told by fairy pen—
Or poet gifted o'er his fellow men.

44

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

The two species of yellow lady's slip-
per are more choice and rarer than the
purple. The}- are so closely similar ex-
cept in the same size of flower, that
some suppose them to be but variations
of the same plant. They are found in
low woods or in bogs, where to approach
them one may have to wade through dark
water and black mud, up to his knees.
They do not actually grow in water, but
often have these uncanny surroundings.
This, in one way,, is fortunate, as it
tends to preserve two of our loveliest
plants.

The smaller one, Cypripedium parvi-
floruni, grows a foot or two in height,
and has oval, acute leaves, alternately
disposed on the stem. The lip or slipper
is over an inch in length, almost glossy

yellow, and, instead of being slit in front,
is a well-closed bag. The sepals are
ovate, — or approaching lanceolate. The
flowers are fragrant.

Cypripedium pubescens is a pale yel-
low, grows fully two feet in height, and
is soft-hairy, where the other species are
smoother. The sepals and petals, too,
have less of a brown purple color, and
the lip is laterally flattened. Both spe-
cies have about the same range, that is
from Newfoundland to Georgia and west
to Minnesota and Kansas.. Both of
these are supremely beautiful plants, and
he who finds them on some red-letter
day, is well aware that he has secured a
treasure. Like Cypripedium acaule, the
stemless or purple species, they are eas-
ily cultivated.

The garden, floriculture, domestic plants, suggestions for "the grounds beautiful," inexpen-
sive greenhouses, gardens for young folks, hobby houses in the back yard, etc.

GROWING MILLINERY I> THE BACK
YARD.

It was a sunny forenoon in the latter
part of May. I was weeding the flower
bed by the fence next to the road.

I stopped and looked up as I heard the
voice of an Aged Resident say cheerily,
"I thought you were a naturalist, but I
see you have turned horticulturist.
What's the matter? Isn't there as much
money in the bug business as there used
to be?"

"Wrong you are, again." I said. "I
haven't turned horticulturist; I've be-
come a milliner."

"Milliner!" he shouted in astonishment.
"You are a queer one. I've sometimes
thought a naturalist is a little 'off.' but
I shall think so more than ever if you
don't explain what in the name of thun-
der that bed of plants has got to do with
women's hats."

He leaned against the fence in a way
that showed he was determined to get

an explanation if it took all the fore-
noon. "Perhaps you have not thought
how persistently the milliner pushes
herself into the domain of the naturalist.
I went to California, and at Pasadena,
in a 'poultry' yard of huge domesticated
birds, was the milliner pulling out os-
trich plumes, decorating show cases with
them and shipping them away by the
hundred."

"Don't mean to say, do you," inter-
polated the Aged Resident, "that there
is a plant which is an imitation of the
ostrich plume? I've heard tell of ostrich
plumed ferns and oyster plants and a
lot of others that imitate animal forms,
but I never heard of ostrich plume
plants."

"Be patient and I will tell you all," I
replied. "This is no imitation; this is
the real original thing."

"You see I went to Florida, and there
were the milliners with a lot of assist-
ants with guns almost completely anni-

THE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE

45

A BOUQUET OF EVERLASTINGS.

hilating" the beautiful white herons. We
who are naturalists tried to stop it, and
our warden was shot."
"Milliners shoot him?"

"I didn't say so ; vou suggested that,"
I replied. "Can't hang milliners on such
circumstantial evidence. But the mil-
liners must have something new ; the
white herons for egrettes were either all
gone or the others so guarded as not to
be obtainable in the quantities desired.
So I went to a biological laboratory, and
there all along the shore in company with
the biologists were the milliners collect-
ing marine animals for—

"What, what, what!" again interrupt-
ed the A. R. "Now you're not in ear-
nest ; you can't stuff me that milliners
were after fish market stuff for hats."

That's exactly it," I replied. "You
describe it nicely ; it even smells fish
market when first unpacked from the
boxes and before it is aired on the hats.
The scientific people call the animals
Sertularian hydroids, and say there
were hundreds of them in a colony.
The milliners call the material Parisian
moss, and it has been having 'a run.'
You see the milliners so hasten from
place to place, that I want to get them
into the garden, or where the greater
the demand the greater may be the cul-

tivated supply, like the ostrich plumes,
but not like egrettes and Parisian
moss. So I'm going to grow millin-
er). Perhaps I shall set a new fashion
and the milliners will make raids on gar-
dens for millinery supplies."

"Saw now, what are you drivin' at?
You seem to be 'off worse than usual
this morning. Are you jokin' or only
foolin' ?"

"Perhaps both; perhaps neither. I
am raising a 'full line' of all the plants
with everlasting flowers that I can find
in any seedsman's catalogue."

"Oh, I see," said the A. R. as he hob-
bled away, "bachelor's buttons and them
things. Used to raise them when I was
a boy."

No, not so much the bachelor's buttons
as "them things."

The miscellaneous "things" not so well
and commonly known proved to be the
best part of the experimental bed.

It was indeed interesting to observe
the unfolding "rosettes of confetti" as a
visitor not inaptly described the slowly
spreading, beautifully tinted, papery
petals. It was astonishing to see that
the petals of any flower could be so dry,
papery, glossy and iridescent.

To go into details of ways and means,
let me explain that the plants were as
follows : I give scientific names because
some of them have no other kind, except

ONE OF THE "PAPER FLOWERS
ENLARGED.

46

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

A MASS OF BEAUTIFUL EVERLASTING BLOOM.

such an indiscriminating one as ever-
lasting or straw flower or live-forever,
or something like that.

Canantanche alba and C. cerulea, also
Ammobium alatum. I started in hoxes
withindoors about last week in March.
The others, sown in the bed about the
first week in May, were: Xeranthemum
annum, # also A', superbissum, X. album,
X. multfflorum Aerodinum, Helichry-

suiu, Hlechrysum, Gomphrena, and others
listed in some catalogues as everlastings
and straw flowers. In no one catalogue
did 1 find many kinds, but I took all the
catalogues and so got a variety. Even
with some species listed under different
names, I found differences enough to
make it worth while to get from various
dealers.

The plants grew readily and became

THIS COLLECTION WAS IN RICH VARIEGATED COLORS.

THE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE.

47

strong and thrifty. The Ammobium
that produced small white flowers was
especially oi botanical interest in that

the leaves, small and lanceolate, extended
down the stem in the form of leaf-like
wings. It plainly showed the close con-
nection of stem and leaf, — a modifica-
tion for different class of plant work to
he done. The coloring of some of the
brighter kinds was marvellously exquis-

1 hiring their cultivation in the gar-
den, they had attracted the attention, not
only of my friend, the Aged Resident,
but of numerous passing strangers, who
Stopped to admire and remained to ques-
tion. When summer tied and winter
had possession of the garden, the gar
dener's friends smiled at the sight of his
boxes of straw dowers, and, with a
heart made joyful by the sight of the

A HAT TRIMMED WITH "BACK YARD MILLINERY.

ite, changing in different lights and sug-
gesting changeable silk.

As the flowers unfolded, they were
cut with seven or eight inches of stem
and pinned upside down on the edges of
shelves or on sticks especially placed in
"racks" for the purpose. With some
kinds it was necessary to learn by ex-
perience just the right time to cut them.
If too early, they shrivelled up; if too
late, they "went to seed," the heads fall-
ing to pieces and floating away as do
tufts of milkweed or dandelion.

When thoroughly dry, the flowers
were packed in boxes, for convenience
in handling and preserving.

beautifully variegated petals, murmured
inarticulate words about the "conserva-
tory" and the "greenhouse," and as they
passed on, after another admiring look,
gently declined to listen to him when he
said "out of doors," or "my own back
yard," or "just along the front fence."
But the reader knows and believes.

The stem and leaves of some, espec-
ially of the Amobium, remained green
and continued to grow even in midwin-
ter. I commend these beautiful, papery
everlastings not only for permanent bou-
quets whose beautiful colors will bright-
en the home during the entire winter,
but as an ornament for the buttonhole,

48

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

EVERLASTINGS PINNED HEADS DOWNWARD.

or to add beauty to a dainty waist, to
express an unfading' friendship or, if
you please, a regard that shall be deeper
and more permanent than mere friend-
ship.

If it is my good fortune to be, like
Curie or Marconi in their specialties, a
pioneer in the domain of everlasting mil-
linery, 1 will try to bear the honors meek-
ly. If 1 am to go down to oblivion amid
the laughter of the ladies, I will thank
them, before I vanish with my splendid
flowers, for their kindness in listening
to me as I have tried to entertain them
during a leisure moment, and have tried,
too, to suggest a floral display for an un-
occupied corner of tde garden. A gar-
den bed of straw flowers may contain
possibilities and suggestions not to be
even dreamed of with less novel growths.
Everlasting bonnet fixings' Unfading!
( )nly one payment needed ! Think of
the economy! Married men, flee to the
garden and plant the seeds of straw
flowers. And when you hear murmurs
tnat connote a new bonnet, lead her gen-
tlv but firmly to the back door, and with
tne proper gesture, say, "There you are.
mv dear."

THE PLANT THAT SITS ON A ROCK.

While weeding in the corner of my
eold frame I was about to pull up what
I at a first glance supposed to be only a
strange looking weed, but upon second

thought decided not to disturb it. Then
1 carefully removed all the commonplace
plants and studied the interloper. What
kind of a plant you are, I don't know ;
but 1 am sure you are not a weed — -not
"a plant that grows where it is not
wanted," for this glass-covered bed is
for experiments with new things, and
you are a thing new to me. I purpose
therefore to add you to the list of my
experimentings. So the plant, then only
about an inch in height, was not only
allowed to grow but encouraged.

About two weeks later I was again
weeding the frame and by chance, bad
luck as I at first supposed, but really by
good fortune as it turned out, broke one
of the straggling branches then about five
inches long. This I placed on the exam-
ining table in my laboratory. Other
matters claimed my attention and I was
absent from home for more than a week.
Imagine my surprise upon going into my
experiment room to see the branch as
green and succulent as when I picked it,
and actually developing new branches
and tiny "cabbage head" buds. I went
to the cold frame and examined the orig-
inal plant, There in the earth it seemed
to be doing no better than the branch on
the table. But the examination brought
to mind the name. I recalled that the
previous year in another part of the gar-
den T had planted some "live-forever,"
bought from a florist at the suggestion

THE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE.

49

of a botanical friend. That portion of the
garden was soon after dug up by an in-
truding skunk in search of grub worms.
And although my garden is in a thickly
settled part of the city, not far from its
centre, that citified yet uncivilized, en-
tomological skunk persisted in his mid-
night maraudings in spite of traps skil-
fully and craftily set. But he had one
merit. He was industrious. He dug
and he dug, and he dug, — till evidently
there were no worms left to pay for
further work. Then I dug. I dug

up the entire section, using some of the
earth to fill a lower corner of the cold
frame. That was the last of the "live-
forever" until I saw it almost a year
afterwards growing serenely among the
weeds in my cold frame.

But can it be possible, I thought, that
this plant is a second generation of that
supplied last year by the florist. I had
supposed, because it came from the flor-
ist, that it was a dainty and delicate thing.
I hastened to the botany and found the
book claiming that this particular species
is not hardy at the north, though mighty
hard to kill. Tn that particular respect,
basing what I know of the plant on cir-
cumstantial evidence, I was inclined to

render a verdict that the botany is
wrong. But upon second thought 1 de-
cided that I had no evidence against the
botany, as 1 had shovelled in that earth
before cold weather arrived, and, thanks
to the skunk, and to chance, I had
put the plant under the protection of
glass for the winter. I returned to the
botany, and gained better admiration for
its accuracy. Sedum, from Latin sedeo;
that is, it "sits on rocks, walls, etc."
Yes, and upon dry laboratory tables, too,
and thrives as luxuriantly as in the
ground. I haven't the slightest doubt
that it would "sit" with equal serenity
and happiness upon a rock. Later on,
when the rosy-purple buds were bursting
from the broad cymes, I cut two pieces
from the luxuriant plant in the cold
frame and pinned them on the laboratory
wall and there they budded and bloomed
in a beauty that was peculiarly attract-
ive, and an interest that was intense. I
can fully sympathize with Mr. Siebold
( who he was 1 do not know ) for ex-
perimenting with the plant so extensively
as to get his name attached to it, for I
am indebted to him and to Japan for
producing such a beautiful novelty as
Sedum Sieboldii, the live-forever.

THE SEDUM SIEBOLDII, "GROWING" AND BLOOMING, THOUGH
CUT AND PINNED TO A WALL.

50

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

THE SI'lHIT OF "THE GLIDE TO NATURE;"

It is the mission of "The Guide to Xatu
of the beauty and value of natural object
of wild nature: to arouse tlie listless stud

Even to the most enthusiastic of us w
when after we hare "wandered away and a
what Longfellow said of Agassiz. that

. . . "the way
Or his heart began

It is at such times that "The Guide" w
every student by telling of the faithluluc
good cheer from fellow workers. Much o
which freely translated means, "We are i
Guide" «ill be a leading, enticing', cheeriu
of nature.

re" to draw the reader toward an appreciation
s and away from artificial objects to the domain
ent to activity and zeal in the study of nature,
ho study and love nature, there comes times
way with Nature" we can sympathize with

seemed long',
to fail."

ill inspire to greater efforts and encourage
ss. zeal and success of others. >Ve all need
f our inspiration is, "Oiune vivuui ex vivo,"
aspired ami cheered by a friend." "The
g1, encouraging' friend to students and lovers

"GLITTEKlXG GENERALITIES."

The most difficult task that has thus
far come to me in the establishing of
"The Guide to Nature" has heen the re-
turning' of manuscripts, as I have had to
do even to some of the magazine's best
friends. The announcement that this is
to be a magazine of helpfulness, to in-
spire and increase an interest in nature,
has brought forth an immense number of
essays on what, for lack of a better term,
I must call "glittering generalities"
about fhe beauty and suggestiveness of
nature. This is to be a magazine, not of
preaching on "The Beauty and Interest
to be Observed in Insects," "The Fasci-
nations of ( >rnithology," "Wonders of
the Plant World," or similar general es-
says; but each article is to have a spe-
cific statement of what has been actually
seen or done, not what the author's
point of view may be nor what he has
read.

Long ago I learned that to show one

real interest is worth more than many
lengthy arguments about abstract inter-
ests of that subject. It is not necessary to
tell nor argue that this thing is attrac-
tive, but point out the winning features
and let the persons for whom you write
decide whether it is interesting or nor.
No jury cares for opinions. It wants
proofs. Submit the "Exhibits" and let
the jury of our readers decide.

And do not try to tell too much in on*
story. Tell it as brightly and brief!) as
possible and stop.

THE USUAL AND UNUSUAL.

Constantly to crave some new thing-
seems to be a natural quality of the hu-
man mind. But it is not the new things
that are really the most important nor
the most alluring, when the cultivated
man begins to think and to investigate.
The commonest objects upon which the
undeveloped or uneducated person sets
his foot in ignorance and in careless

EDITORIAL.

51

indifference are more frequently than
not of the greatest value as a mental
stimulus or even as a physical recre-
ation. No amount of investigation can

exhaust the simplest or least complicated
natural object. The more apparently
exhaustive the study, the more there re-
mains to be discovered. No human be-
ing ever will entirely understand any oh-

O - -

ject in nature. That remains with ( )m-
niscient Providence. All that feeble
man can do is to look for only infinites-
imal distance beneath the surface and
to pass by near the edges of things.
The well known are the most important,
but we are all so calloused to them that
we rarely see them, although they are
teeming with unknown facts and with
lessons whose importance cannot be
overestimated. Why do we not all live
in a state of ecstacy regarding the com-
mon objects about tts? Because, as I
suouose, it would take some mental ef-
fort, and that is what the ordinary per-
son tries to avoid. It is more pleasing,
it sets the circulation into greater activ-
ity to have a new thing brought sud-
denly to one's attention.

"If a flower

Were thrown you out of heaven at inter-
vals,

You'd soon attain to a trick of looking
up,"

says Mrs. Browning. And that con-
tains the secret of much of our indif-
ference to the common things in nature.
An educated man is company to himself
because every wayside weed, every bit
of cloud, evenr puff, of wind may set his
mind into a new channel and suggest
thoughts that may cheer his otherwise
lonely way. "To me my mind a king-
dom is."

Recently a new light appeared in the
evening sky. It was probably a modified
aurora borealis, or other form of electri-
cal display, but being unusual, it at once
attracted attention. The sun is a daily
companion and we seldom think of him,
unless he is eclipsed, hut a new flashing
of electricity in the evening sky was fol-
lowed by telegrams, telephone messages,
letters, personal questions in the street.
What the light actually was no human

really knows the cause of the aurora
borealis, although we talk of electrons,
orgon and other things of which we
arc crassly ignorant, hut to which we
have given names. That half circle of
light exhibition was wonderful and
beautiful, and being out of the ordinary
it attracted much attention. But doesn't
it remain strange that in a world so
crowded with wonder and allurement it
needs the unusual to wake tis to a real-
ization of even our own existence? If
that light had continued, it would soon
have ceased to attract even a passing
notice. But would it have become any
the less wonderful? Yes, it would, to
the ordinary mortal. Like the ordi-
nary moon and the commonplace stars,
it would soon cease to exist except for
the special few. What a pity it is that
we all become so hardened to the beauty
and the teaching of common thing's!
Can we not "call a halt," and "turn over
a new leaf?" It is possible to do both
at the same time.

NOT 310 HE 3IATEKIAL lil'T MOKE
ASSIMILATING.

When the naturalists' controversy be-
tween President Roosevelt and my fel-
low townsman, the Reverend William
J. Long, was at its height, a neighbor,
the principal of one of our graded
schools, met me one morning and in-
quired, "How many are there of you fel-
lows, any way?"

"What 'fellows'?"

"Naturalists."

"Far fewer than there should be," I
replied. "A prominent naturalist has
said that the Almighty has about one to
appreciate His works to about ten thous-
and who do not."

"Well," says my teacher friend, "I am
surprised to know that there are as many
as that. And," he continued, "in all
my reading I have known not more than
half a dozen prominent naturalists in the
whole country. And as half of those
(Roosevelt, Long, Burroughs) have been
fighting among themselves for a year or
two, I've come to the conclusion that
you fellows are a mighty quarrelsome lot,
and I guess I'll keep awav from all of
you."

being knows or can know. No one Replying in the same jocose spirit, and

52

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

vet partly in earnest, I said, "You are
not to blame for not knowing, for the
simple fact that you don't do the going.
A man who never goes to church nor
reads a religious paper might get the
notion that God's Word is at a low ebb.
We see things out of our own eyes !"

"If you are going to preach a nature
sermon to me — that I ought to be inter-
ested in bugs and things, I think I will
be going," he laughingly remarked.
"Good morning!"

:Jc :£ % ^

Yes, I want to "preach a sermon"
along the line of that conversation, with
the subject, "The Fewness of Natural-
ists," which is another term for lovers of
God's Works."

On the desk before me as I write lies
a book entitled "American Men of Sci-
ence." It contains a little more than
four thousand names of those "who have
carried on research work in the natural
and exact sciences." These are men of
ability, who for the most part have richly
endowed institutions of learning with all
the instruments of modern science.
These men form a large company of
workers. They have been aided by the
liberal gifts of philanthropists. They
have vied with one another in the publi-
cation of detailed and learned mono-
graphs, until the literature of anyone sub-
ject, or even a small part of a subject,
has become formidable to the uninitiated,
and burdensome even to the esoteric few.

Thev form an army of respectable
size, and they are doing commendable
work. We are all proud to claim that
this is the age of science, and we congrat-
ulate ourselves on the great advances
made in the last quarter of a century.
Now, in face of this great efficiency, this
commendable work, this wonderful pro-
gress, these gigantic delvings into natur-
al science, what did my friend, the prin-
cipal, mean when he said that he knew
of only a half a dozen naturalists? He
unconsciously voiced in his jocose man-
ner a great present need ; namely, the
lack of assimilation in an age of won-
derful accumulation. He was uncon-
sciously confessing his ignorance of a
subject in which his remarks showed that
he felt no interest.

To enter the closely related field of
God's Word, what a deplorable, one-

sided state of affairs it would be if we
had about five thousand students of tech-
nical theology, or of the "higher criti-
cism," shut up in monastic institutions
and vying with one another in piling up
pamphlets to discuss the number of
angels that can dance on the point of a
needle, or in producing elaborate tomes
to argue about the difference between
homoousian and homoiousian, with only
a few scattered evangelists and Christian
preachers to make the world better
through the teaching and the influence
of God's Word. In the Middle Ages
theology was piled so high that it finally
toppled over ; now we have the world
growing better through the application
of Christian ethics, which is the basic
principle of what is, or should be, the
true theology.

I do not mean for a moment to claim
that the present technical minutiae of
science are comparable with the verbal,
hair-splitting foolishness of theology in
the past. Xor would I claim that our
present technical science is miserly and
hoarding. All honor to pure science and
to its investigators. But I do claim that
the natural science of the present is ac-
cumulating; too much and too rapidly.
in proportion to dissemination. I would
not hold back science, I would advance
popularization.

The bulk of scientific knowledge is now
enormous, and much of it is not only
buried within ponderous tomes written
in technical language, understood only
by those specially trained to read it,
but even the locality in which these vol-
umes are stored is a secret so far as the
amateur, or the ordinary but intelligent
reader is concerned. Even the strictly
scientific investigator is beginning to
complain. The late Professor Josepn
Leidy, one of this country's most illus-
trious observers and biologists, said that
he published the results of his study in the
Proceedings of only one scientific society,
because he wanted to spare future read-
ers and investigators all the time, labor
and annoyance that might be in his
power to save them. He said, in effect,
that the results of other men's work
were so extensive and so scattered that
to find the records, or even trying to
find them, was painfully exhausting
not only to the bodv but to the mind and

NOT MORE MATERIAL BUT MORE ASSIMILATING.

53

the nerves. To help the scientific man
to thread his way through this scientific
wilderness, "Zoological Records" are
published at intervals, but as these vol-
umes themselves now fill long stretches
of shelf room, to find one's path through
them is beginning to demand some skill.
Soon we shall need an Index to the In-
dex. We want at this beginning of the
Twentieth Century not fewer to accumu-
late or to originate ; but more to dissem-
inate, utilize and make available to the
non-technical reader who may feel an
interest in such matters, but who is com-
pelled to remain with his mental longing
unsatisfied because, while he knows that
what he desires is in existence, he does
not know where nor how to find it. \\ e
are not willing to part with Luther Bur-
bank, nor with any that may resemble or
even try to imitate him, but we do want
more lovers of the garden, the flowerpot
and the window-box. We do not want
less of "The Journal of Morphology"
but more articles on life forms in our
popular magazines ; we want not less of
the laborator- but more descriptions of
walks in field and forests and how best
to profit by such excursions ; we want
"The Botanical Gazette, but want still
more "The American Botanist;" we
want not less of the American Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Science,
but more of The Agassiz Association;
we want the Misses Foote and Strobel
who with elaborate appliances have for
about fifteen years been studying the
anatomy and histology of the earthworm,
but we want more numerous Harlan H.
Ballard's, who for a quarter of a centure
has been laboring to get young and old
to observe the forms of life around them ;
we want no fewer men like Professor
Castle of Harvard, who has issued by the
aid of the Carnegie Institution learned
monographs on "Heredity of Coat Char-
acters in Guinea-pigs and Rabbits," but
we do most earnestly desire more men
like Professor Ellard of Columbia Uni-
versity, who is the leading spirit in pop-
ularizing a knowledge of "guinea-pigs"
(more correctly called cavies) and of
rabbits. Professor Castle, liberally aided
by the Carnegie Institution, will reach
and do good to a few technical scientists
who will mark, learn and inwardly digest
the elaborate tables, the x, y. z formu-

lae, issued on heavy paper with uncut
edges, the handsome cover with the seal
of the Carnegie Institution of Washing-
ton stamped on it.

But while all this is commendably doing
good in- its way, Professor Ellard and
his associates. Professor Southwick and
Mr. Whittaker, go down into their own
scantily laden pockets and take a few
dollars from them, and many hours out
of busy lives that must labor only to live,
and they become prime movers in the
American Fur Fanciers' Association ;
they have exhibits at the shows ; they
write popular articles, and, by means of
their cavies and their rabbits, they in-
fluence the lives of thousands of persons.
Tell me, if you can, why it is that the
world still gives its greatest praise to the
publication of a list of Choctaw names
that costs thousands of dollars, to a book
of trigonometrical symbols representing
the relation of thickness to length of
certain hairs, publications necessarily
limited to the smallest conceivable con-
stituency, while it will at the same time
regard as a sort of harmless, enthusiastic
lunatic or deluded "crank" the man who
spends his final dollar to influence the
minds of thousands of persons who are
longing for knowledge for its own sake.

Religion may have banished to the
limbo of the past the angels that were
imagined to be trotting on the point of a
needle, as well as the combative argu-
ments centered on oo or oi ; but in the
domain of God's Works the medal of
honor, according to the human stand-
ard, still seems to be the largest for him
who helps in the investigation and pub-
lication of the relative length and thick-
ness of a hair, or in discovering the seg-
mentation of a microscopic egg, rather
than to him who gives evidence of noth-
ing more imposing than the possession of
a commonplace, plebian act of really lov-
ing and being influenced by that form
of living animal that owned the hair or
laved the particular egg. The fault, if
fault it may be called, is with the public,
not with the great philanthropists, These
men will invest their money in monu-
ments just as shrewdly as in stocks or
goods, to make it go the farthest pos-
sible toward supplying what the public
demands or applauds.

But some of us who are working in

54

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

the field of human life as influenced by
nature look forward hopefully to the
time when it shall be considered as com-
mendable to help a boy or girl to observe
the growth of a common plant as it shall
be to enable a technical scientist to
measure the length, breadth and thick-
ness of that plant's microscopic stomata
or to discuss learnedly its metabolism or
the diameter of its ducts.

Let us pray for the day when the
evangelist shall be as highly honored as
the "higher critic" or the technical theo-
logian ; when the disseminator shall be
as assisted as is the discoverer ; when
the popularizer shall be as greatly ap-
preciated as is the inventor of polysylla-
bic names.

ivirJ

Domesticated

Safe q

ife

,Q_

"A '

-^

NATURE

A TABBY AM) A WHITE SIIOKTHAIKEI)
DOMESTIC CAT.

BY C. II. JONES, ROCHESTER, N. Y.

Why do we call this cat a tabby? Be-
cause of the stripes. If he is brown he
is a brown tabby, if gray a gray tabby,
if orange he is an orange tabby with
white and so on through all the colors.
It is a common mistake to designate
every cat as a tabby. Tabby means a
marking of distinctive kind. Any
striped cat is a tabby. If the cat has
more white on the bodv than other color

It is called a shorthaired cat to desig-
nate it from the longhaired or Persian
(commonly and mistakenly called An-
gora) variety.

From a fancier's standpoint this cat
has a fairly good head and face, it being
round and full, the ears, though, are a
little large.

We can oicture him as the carefully
cared- for pet of some cat loving house-
hold. His freedom from nervousness,
his attention to his mistress* call to give
attention while his picture is being taken

A GOOD-xNATURED TABBY CAT.

then it would be properly called a white
with brown, or other color, tabby mark-
ings, providing these markings were in
the form of stripes or regular markings.

are evidences that he is free from ner-
vousness and is ready and does properly
fill the place required of a good "Domes-
tic Cat."

DOMESTICATED NATURE.

DO

PETS AM) CIVILIZATION.

BY C. II. Kl.I.Akn. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY,

N. Y.

The civilization of a people is meas-
ured in accordance with the beholder's
point of vieWj and therefore by many
standards. Few, however, give the do-
mestic pet any credit for its part in
moulding- character, widening the hori-
zon of thought, and bringing people into
communion with the mysteries of nature,
and with the omnipotence and omni-
presence of our Creator. The men and
women who deprive themselves or their
children of the pleasure, the thoughts
suggested and the diversion obtained
from a hobby, are narrow and lack that
"one touch of nature which makes the
world akin." The civilization of the
people or of the individual can to a de-
gree at least be measured by the hobbies
that they accept or reject.

The most popular amusement with
our English cousins is keeping small
members of our furred and feathered
friends. The study of types and the de-
velopment of new forms more beautiful
or more striking in some feature that is
odd or useful, has given the world horses,
cattle, swine, sheep, poultry, pigeons,
dogs, rabbits, cats, cavies, and even mice,
all of which are adapted to propagate
and promulgate some useful or beauti-
ful characteristic.

That the American youth may enjoy
his English cousin's advantages .in the
study of animals useful and ornamental,
that he may have the opportunities and
gain the training afforded by the care of
pets, that .American men and women,
whose tastes are not all centered in the
"frivolities," may be able to enjoy a
clean, healthy hobby, although thev can-
not afford a racing stable, an expensive
kennel, a cattle ranch or a sheep farm-
to achieve these praiseworthy results, an
effort has been made to bring to their
notice small, furred fancy-stock as pets,
and each vear the success of the move-
ment seems to be* greater. The project
centered about a few fanciers who or-
ganized an American Fur Fanciers' As-
sociation for the mutual benefit of those
interested in such stock, to encourage the
exhibiting of types, and to increase the
size, number and quality of such exhibi-
tions.

Keeping pets of a doubtful sort has
some advantages, but keeping some stand-
ard, well-tried varieties has a thousand
times greater influence for good, while
its care and management result in a
training that adult or youth can ill afford
to miss. There are ten standard varie-
ties of rabbits, each with its own fixed
scale in points of excellence, each differ-
ing in type and characteristics from all
others, but all produced by the art of
selection on the part of thoughtful fan-
ciers, who have consistently followed
definite ideals of beauty in form and col-
or. It makes a difference whether you
prefer the spotted English, the neat trim
Dutch belted, the racy Belgian hare with
his rufous coat, the huge and popular
Flemish Giant dressed in his steel grey,

CAVY A FEW DAYS OLD NOT AS LARGE

AS A SMALL APPLE.
Perfectly content (unlike an adult cavy posing)
in the warm sunshine.

the fluffy aristocratic Angora, in his even
admixture of white with its silver sheen,
or the black and tan with its odd and
pretty coloring, you will get both pleas-
ure and profit from the breeding of any
or all. You will have pleasure in the
satisfaction of producing an approach to
an ideal, in the diversion from care that
the hobby will afford, and in the insight
into some of the mysterious ways of na-
ture; your profit will be in the annihila-
tion of business worries and painful
thoughts ; the mind will he rested, the
nervous system quieted, and if care be
taken, your stock, will produce enough
to be sold to advantage, and at the same
time, will give you specimens worthy to
compete with those of your fellow fan-
ciers at some exhibition where your art

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

in breeding and in ideal is matched
against another's in a friendly and stim-
ulating- rivalry. A place at or near the
top will put you in a position to be envied
by other breeders who will want some of
your stock, with which, in the future, to
surpass your results, if they may.

These advantages are by no means
confined to rabbits. The little cavy so
often referred to as "only a guinea pig,"
is of just as much use from the aesthetic
point of view. These little animals are
not so wonderfully prolific as one might
gather from "just stories," as naturalists
of the real sort term some published
writings with cavies for the subjects.
Thev are as clean as a canarv bird and

ation, and even of "pocket money.""
Were more of them kept, were a greater
number of boys and girls interested by
their parents in some of the varieties,
and encouraged to keep them, childrens'
courts would be fewer, and fewer, too,,
would be the adults with nothing awak-
ened with them in sympathy with na-
ture and with the Creator.

NOVICES IX NATURE STUDY.

BY II. I.. Wool), M. D., GROTON, CONNECTI-
CUT.

Xature study is the skillful interpre-
tation of those signs by which is record-
ed the ancient as well as the modern his-

IT WAS THEIR FIRST ACQUAINTANCE.
But whether of pleasure or surprise, it would be hard to say. They eyed each other perfectly still

as if hypnotized.

can be kept in a similar way. They ex-
hibit definite standards of excellence for
each (if the three varieties and many of
the sub-varieties
The

innocent little mouse, despised
and feared by women and elephants, is a
favorite pet among those who become its
devotees, and who perhaps, are at first
attracted by the ease with which it may
be kept, and by the fixed and definite ex-
cellence of its color varieties, which arc-
greatly diversified.

Be they what they may, pets are an
essential part of our civilization, a source
of profitable study and delightful recre-

tory of animate and inanimate nature.
As fancy leads, perchance we read this
history written in rough lines upon
the rugged surface of some rock of the
glacial epoch ; or observe it at the present
day in the life cycle of the plant from
seed to bloom, and back once more to
seed.

Again we may read history in the
course of the planets, in Mars, for in-
stance, as she periodically approaches so
distantly near, leading scientist and lav-
man alike to speculate over the probabil-
ity of this sister planet's being an abode
of kindred souls.

DOMESTICATED NATURE.

57

It may suit still others, both in inclina-
tion and in facilities at their disposal, to
devote their spare moments to the fasci-
nating study of heredity, its influence
and control, as observable in the occu-
pants of the kennel, hutch or lofts of the
fancier. Into whatever branch of this
great work the fancy may lead if one
is possessed of an investigating habit,
he has an almost unlimited held at his
disposal, and his success will be meas-
ured only by his skill as an observer.

The botanist must look to geology for
the ancient history of his work ; the biol-
ogist and fancier find many points in
common, while the zoologist and orni-
thologist alike have come to respect the
unclassified field lore of the farmer boy.
It is unfortunate that, in the field of nat-
ural history as it has become popularized
under the name of nature study, possibly
more than in any other semi-scientific
pursuit, there has crept into our litera-
ture much that is highly colored and
misleading. Injustice has been done,
and not a little prejudice aroused as a
result of the "yellow" nature journalism,
where imagination sees farther than the
eye, and ambition for notoriety is greater
than the ability to read the signs, or to
select the fancied from the real. Truth
is indeed stranger than fiction, and the
realistic interpretation of Nature's won-
der-works makes far more interesting
reading than the weirdly distorted nature
fable, supposed pen pictures by those
who assume to be past masters in na-
ture's school.

Flowery rhetoric and soul-stirring
romance are not evidences of the writer's
nearness to nature's heart. Many an old
hunter and trapper who can with difficul-
ty write an intelligible label for his bale
of furs is possessed of a fund of nature
lore that would make a valuable addition
to our literature could it be put into
print.

A magazine which, as a pioneer in this
work, did more to awaken interest in
nature study than any other of its time,
was the old "Recreation" when under the
management of that close observer and
popular writer, Mr. George Shields.

It is not my purpose to advertise man
or magazine, and I do not even know
whether this periodical is still published,

but 1 can say to the student looking for
rare and reliable information upon nat-
ural history subjects, that if he can gain
access to a file of "Recreation" 1890 to
i«)O0 he will there find much of value.
There is a growing demand for trust-
worthy popular literature by trained ob-
servers in all departments of natural sci-
ence, and if I might suggest a title
applicable to the need, it would be the
partly borrowed one of "Literary Di-
gest" of nature study.

To illustrate this, let me say that while
recently writing about mice, I needed
information regarding the striped Bar-
bary variety of which little appears to be
known. An exhaustive search of all
known authorities left me still in the
dark, until I accidentally stumbled upon
an article by a lady who once owned a
pair of these curiously marked creatures.

Like the professions of law and medi-
cine the field of nature is so vast that to
attain proficiency one must necessarily
be a specialist and do one thing, and do
it well. One may be an admirer of all
branches of nature, a lover of all crea-
tures on the earth, and in the water; but
it is impossible within the limits of one
life to become an authority as an observ-
er of all.

To the novice in the field of nature
study 1 would say, see some of every-
thing when you are afield, but train your-
self to see all of something. If your
inclination tends to birds then determine
to perfect yourself as an ornithologist.
Note well their migratory habits, learn
to distinguish their flight at a distance.
Classifv your varieties, what to look for
in swam]), meadow and wood. Learn
that the oven bird's nest is not found in
the birch sapling as is the vireo's, or
that of the nuthatch exposed to view.

Find if you can where bobolink spends
the davs of his molt, and why the snow-
bird appears with the snow.

Why are the eggs of the bluebird
sometimes white but at other times blue,
and what is the pigment that tinges an
esfS: shell? Why at times do the black,
at other times the brown, feathers of
the bird become white? And why is the
albino canary yellow? Verily the les-
sons from nature's storehouse of wisdom
are not all solved.

58

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

A BIRD OF GREAT STRENGTH.

A bird which because of its rarity in
addition to its strange appearance is a
notable accession to the collection of the
New York Zoological Society, is a mag-
nificent ultramarine or hyacinthine ma-
caw. This bird is seldom seen in captiv-
ity alive, and when one comes into a
dealer's hands, it commands from one

the huge mandibles of any other species
of macaw. When it really wishes to es-
cape from its cage, the strongest wire
generally gives like pack thread, and the
thickest hardwood perch is reduced to
sawdust in an incredibly short period of
time. But strange to say, with all this
mighty strength, the bird shows a quiet-
ness of disposition and lack of ill temper

A STRONG BIRD— THE HYACINTHINE MACAW.
Courtesy of the New York Zoological Socety.

to two hundred dollars. Little is known
of its habits in a wild state, but it is
said to lay two white eggs at the end of
a burrow scraped out of the side of a
steep bank overhanging a stream. This
macaw is the largest of its family and
is wholly of a deep blue color. At the
base of the bill and around the eyes are
small patches of brilliant yellow, and
the tongue is stained with the same hue.
The enormous b^ak is black, dwarfing

which is unusual among its near rela-
tions. The hyacinthine macaw in the
Zoological Park enjoys being fondled
and caressed by its keeper, and if car-
ried around on the hand, never, with-
out provocation, attempts to fly away or
to nip hard. Altogether, it is a most
delightful inmate of the Bird House, and
there is ever an admiring throng about
its cage. It seems to enjoy this pub-
licity, and revolves slowly on its perch,

IX LMKSTICATED NATURE.

59

showiup' o

ft all

sides ol

its wonderful

plumage. Sometimes it secures a linn
grip with its feet and bill and vibrates
its wings so rapidly that they become a
bluish haze, calling out all the while in
the thick and almost human utterances
of its own strange vocabulary, the un-
translatable language of the macaws.—
Zoological Society Bulletin.

A REALLY SELF-SACRIFICING MOTHER.

Much has been written and said about
the courage of maternal animals in caring
for their offspring; much of their jealous
devotion and faithful work in providing
food; much of their skillful devices, cosy
arrangements and comfortable burrows;

;-y-;;>'-T:^r^3JIB

THE RABBIT NEST.

The naked little ones curled up in mixture of
fur and hay

but in my opinion no other seems quite
to equal the maternal rabbit. She pulls
from her breast and sides great quanti-
ties of fur to build a nest for her naked
little ones, and her depilation is evi-
dently painful or at least decidedly un-
comfortable. The process seems to bor-
der on tragedy, suicide or something
equally momentous when it is consid-
ered only from a physical point of view,
but when the observer thinks of the
wonderful maternal instinct there ex-
hibited, it becomes an admirable instance
of parental care..

Although the breeding portion of the
hutch may be liberally supplied with fine
hay, the mother will cut parts of that into
the fur. and within the mass will place

^^T

W * v

F\ t -

v m

1 /f r ■>

-1

I W&:

1 V

M

^^k

A NEAR VIEW OF THE NAKED RABBITS-
Separated from fur and hay.

additional layers of clean fur daintily
arranged.

For two weeks after its completion it
is not wise for the fancier to disturb this
nest except for an occasional peep. At

THE PILE OF FUR IN ONE NEST.

6o

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

about that time, the little ones will be-
gin to venture out, or they will at least
have a sufficient growth of fur to pre-
vent them from being- chilled by a brief
opening of the nest.

One very cold day in mid-winter I lost
an entire family of white Belgians by
freezing. I took out nearly all the fine fur,
or most of that not greatly contaminated
with hay, and of this fairly clean nu-
cleus I had a pile that filled a large sized

dinner plate and was two and a half feet
high ! The mother rabbit seems to have
realized the severity of the cold and to
have gone to an extreme in depilation.
Not much was left on her breast and
sides, or that seemed to be the fact as
1 rubbed my hand over those parts, but,
strange to say, she had removed the hair
so evenly that in no place was the skin
entirely bare nor the fur ragged. Its
absence was apparent only to the touch.

MIRROR PHOTOGRAPHY.

There is a peculiar charm in a reflec-
tion. It is a "memory" of the present and
doubles the pleasure. There is an indefin-
able appeal to the aesthetic emotions from
seeing the thing from two points of view.

Then, too, there is a scientific value. I
have often wondered why mirror photo-
graph}' is not used more extensively by
scientists and naturalists. We all ap-
preciate a mirror photograph on a large
scale, as when mountains or trees are

AN EXCELLENT EXAMPLE OF PHOTOGRAPHY IN A NATURAL MIRROR.

Shadow Lake, Liberty, N. Y.
Photograph by Mr. H. H. Moritz.

THE CAMERA.

61

A MIRROR PHOTOGRAPH OF THE AA FLORAL EMBLEM.
Photograph by Mrs M.' E. McDougall, Plattsburgh, N. Y.

reflected in a glass)' lake. But here it is
evident that the appeal is wholly to our
sense of beauty, or to the novelty of the
topsy turvy. All photographers take de-
light in work of this kind and vie with
one another to get the most effective
"turn in either way" results. But mir-
ror photography has more than a novel
or aesthetic value. Take, for example,
that excellent "The Frog: Book" by Miss

Dickerson. Suppose some of the best
photographs of her specimens had been
taken in front of a mirror it would have
given us an all round view. When one
goes to a tailor to have a coat fitted, he
is made to stand between triple mirrors
and the tailor tilts and swings them in
threefold directions to just the right an-
gle so that basting threads and a one-
armed "raggedy" coat projects into the

BELGIAN HARES. PHOTOGRAPHED IN MIRROR.

62

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

hope of the distant future, when the coat
shall be finished. Why not let the nat-
uralist see the "coat" of a frog or other
animal or a specimen of plant life in the
same manner? A photograph before a
mirror will show at least two sides, and
in such an object as a butterfly or moth

BOTH SIDES OF ONE BOUQUET.
Photographed in Mirror.

this is all important because it shows
"over" and "under" in one view.

Everyone has noticed the increased
loveliness of a bouquet when set in front
of a large mirror. This enhanced at-
tractiveness can be made permanent by
the "eye" of the camera. Real beauty
is not more than "skin deep," but it is
beautiful all the way around. It seems
a shame in photographing a beautiful
bouquet to slight more than half of the
flowers. This injustice is spared by a
photograph in a mirror.

The only real difficult) in mirror photo-
graphy is to put into the mirror any color
of background to suit the subject. But
this is not' so difficult as it may at first
seem. Set the object to be photo-
graphed in front of the mirror as if the
mirror were the background. Then put
the proper background at the side of the
object and the mirror as far as possible
from the source of light. Carefully
swing the mirror, from the end next to
the light, till it reflects the background
at the darker side into the mirror. Then
the original not only is "doubled," but
both views stand out as if against a back-
ground. I have found it best to use
non-halation plates, as these plates pre-
vent any reflection halos.

I cordially advise nature lovers to use
this form of photography for especially
beautiful or interesting objects.

In photographing a series of speci-
mens I have found it most convenient to
lay the mirror fiat in front of the row
and then slightly tilt the front of the
mirror till the background shows. Then
the real background is back of the orig-
inals and the reflected background is back
of the reflections. This, of course, is
the usual method in water photography.
The real sky is the background back of
the real object and the reflected sky or
clouds back of the reflection.

"The Guide to Nature" cordially in-
vites contributions of mirror photo-
graphy and will buy any that prove
available to show further advantages in
this interesting branch of nature photo-
graphy.

INTERESTING ATTITUDES OF YOUNG CEDAR WAXWINGS.

Photograph by Edmund J. Sawyer.

•RACTICAL MICk< )SCOPY.

T^T£$&T&S&

Edited by Miss M. A. Booth, 60 Dartmouth Street, Springfield, Massachusetts.

ANNOUNCEMENT.

Ever since "Practical Microscopy" (of
"The Observer" magazine) ceased to be
published, we have received numerous
expressions of regret at its absence and
frequent requests for its continuance.
Manv subscribers have written us that
thev keep their files of "Practical Micro-
scopy" for constant reference, and have
urged us to give them more of what they
deem such helpful literature. We are
pleased to announce that this department
is the successor of the first "Practical
Microscopy," to be conducted along the
same lines and by the same editor. It
aims to be an informal, popular, practi-
cal, helpful, common sense department.
Here we hope experienced workers will
like to record their work and exchange
experiences ; beginners to bring their dif-
ficulties for solution ; and that it may
introduce thoughtful minds to the world
of the infinitely little, an acquaintance
with whose marvelous forms and adap-
tations will prove a restful, intellectual
stimulus and pleasure. We ask our
readers to tell this department what they
are doing, seeing and learning. What
microscopical literature have you read
and what were its points which most im-
pressed and helped you? What collec-
tions have you made and what processes
have you used? We ask for inquiries
and for answers to inquiries. Watch
"Our Club" for items of interest. Let
us hear often from our microscopical
readers and let these columns promote
the same friendly, cordial spirit and ac-
quaintance among microscopists as in
"The Observer" davs.

There has been considerable inquiry
as to the suspension of the work of the
Postal Microscopical Club during the
past winter. The suspension was but
temporary and was due to the accident
and illness of its President. Dr. F. R.
Ward.

Among other good things for Practi-
cal Microscom' which we are promised
for the near future are an illustrated de-
scription of the microscopical laboratory
of one of our readers, a description of
a card index for microscopical use and
an illustrated article on mahogany wood.

The varied suggestions of our readers
are well worth reading. We particularly
endorse what one correspondent says
about subscribers talking" to each other
through these columns. If our readers
will tell us out of their own experience
just the things they wish to know, the
difficulties they wish to have solved, it
will help us to provide the most accepta-
ble menu. The columns of Practical Mi-
croscopy are open to its readers. Let us
make it a rousing good journal!

THERE IS INCREASED INTEREST IN
MICROSCOPY.

There are indisputable indications of
a revival of interest in microscopy. Two
vears ago a dealer in microscopical
goods and supplies wrote us, "There
seems to be more microscopical interest
than usual throughout New England.
Several microscopical societies have
been formed within the last year or two,
and a hopeful state of affairs microscopic
seems to be dawning." The same dealer
has just written us of considerably in-
creasing his stock of mounted objects

64

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

in response to a demand for them. Pri-
vate letters from widely separated lo-
calities also report an increase of inter-
est in the microscope. Perhaps, as a
correspondent suggests, the pure food
laws and their requirements for inspec-
tors may have in part prompted the re-
newed interest in the revelations of "the
magical tube." If, however, it is only
a fad may it be a permanent fad ! Never
was there a more intelligent fad, nor one
whose possessors disturbed their neigh-
bors less. Microscopy merely as a re-
creation is a great mental resource ; it
furnishes unfailing food for thought and
widens one's mental horizon immensely.
Moreover it is an inexpensive hobby as
compared with most other hobbies.
Tnere is the first cost of the microscope
which can be governed by the length of
one's purse, but the after cost is merely
nominal for the great wide world of na-
ture is free and one doesn't have to tra-
verse a continent or cross an ocean to
find it — lo, it is at our very doors !
But in its serious fields of work what
has not the microscope accomplished in
conquering disease and saving life ! Not
to know how to use the microscope, not
to be familiar with the microscopical
appearance of common things, is not to
be in consonance with the spirit of this
progressive age.

EXPERIENCES IN COLLECTING.

Collecting Volvox. Noting the desire
for localities for collecting, I give a few
experiences. I have been greatly inter-
ested in the vagaries of Volvox as to its
occurrence and disappearance. The first
Volvox I ever found in any quantity I
found in great quantity, so great that the
water was green and thick with its abun-
dance, and I collected it in a two-quart
water dipper. The locality was a deep
ditch in the woods in Longmeadow,
Mass., where the bright sunshine pene-
trated and where Drosera grew and
blossomed abundantly. Both soon dis-
appeared, suddenly and unaccountably,
and without the agency of the "axe of
improvement." Next I found Volvox
in a partially shaded pond in Forest Park,
Springfield, Mass. With the bright sun-
shine and perhaps liberation of gasses
in the water it came to the surface and

as the coldness of night came on it de-
scended to the bottom of the pond, so
that the time for collecting was at mid-
day. It was very interesting to watch
the different states of the cell as the sea-
son advanced. The specimens photo-
graphed were collected in autumn, some
of them ruptured for the exit of the
young Volvox. In this pond, too, and
with no apparent change of conditions,
the Volvox suddenly and completely dis-
appeared. Fortunately I had collected
a good supply which I mounted in the
mounting medium given by Dr. Stokes
in "Aquatic Microscopy for Beginners,"
and instead of the Volvox cells present-
ing a mummified appearance as they
often do, after ten years, some of them
are fit for photographing, which speaks
well for the preservative qualities of the
mounting medium, inasmuch as a spec-
imen cannot be too perfect for photo-
graphic purposes.

OUR CLUB.

In response to requests "Our Club"
will again send out unmounted objects
for the microscope, not indiscriminately,
but to those who send descriptions of
the methods and appliances which they
have originated or adopted to accomplish
desired results in microscopical work and
research," and who at the time of send-
ing the same enclose a stamped, self-ad-
dressed envelope to the editor of this de-
partment at 60 Dartmouth Street,
Springfield, Massachusetts.

For May the club offering wTill be
Spicules of Red Gorgonia.

ASKED AND ANSWERED.

Hozv to Clean Gorgonia Spicules: — i
have inherited large collections of curios,
among them Gorgonias in considerable
variety, which ought to yield me fine spi-
cules. How shall I proceed in order to
obtain the spicules in proper condition
for the microscope? — F. H.

Books for the Amateur Microscopist:
Will readers of Practical Microscopy
please suggest a list of the most practi-
cal books they know for the amateur mi-
croscopist, treating of laboratory meth-
ods for invertebrate dissections and pre-
paration of same for permanent mounts
for the microscope.— G. H. M.

PRACTICAL MICROSCOPY.

Books for Microscotoists: With the in-
creased interest in microscopy which the
re-appearance of ^Practical Microscopy
indicates, it seems to me that a list of
books on general microscopy now most in
use would be of interest to your readers.
Of course. Carpenter is always a stand-
ard, but the last edition of Carpenter,
"The Microscope and Its Revelations,"
the eighth edition, was published in 1901.
Catalogues speak of Stewart's "Manual
of Plant Anatomy," of Greene's "Vege-
table Physiology," etc., etc. ; but what we
want is knowledge first hand from some-
body who is using and found valuable
books whereof they can speak, so that
not only we may not part with our hard
earned shekels needlessly, but that we
may not fill our bookcases and particu-
larly our minds with useless lumber. — E.

J. L.

Very Low Power Photo-Micrography:
In looking over collections of photo-mi-
crographs one often sees prints where
the amplification is very small, say only
three or four diameters. These are un-
doubtedly produced by photographic
lenses. Will some one tell us what kind
of photographic lenses are used for such
low powers, and whether used in the
camera or by special mounting in the
micros ope? If the lens is used in the
camera, how is the slide held for photo-
graphing so that it may be certain that
every part of the field is in the same
plane?— E. B. C.

SUGGESTIONS BY OUR READERS.

Practical Microscopy is not to be con-
ducted in the interest of any personal
hobby. Our subscribers will pay their
money and it is proposed that they shall
get a good deal more than their money
is worth. In order that we may know
just what the wishes of our readers are,
as to the character of Practical Micro-
scopy, we have requested suggestions,
and some of them so well express our
own ideas that we have obtained per-
mission to print them, and they will be
found interesting reading, full of ideas.

Experiences in Collecting is the sub-
ject of one reader's suggestion, and an
excellent one, too. "I would suggest,"
he writes, "that notes on good localities
for collecting diatoms, desmids and in-

fusorial pond life would be acceptable."
Our Club: "1 presume," says another,
"that it meant much work to send out
club material as was done to "The Ob-
server" subscribers, but it was a very in-
teresting feature and t hope it may be
adopted by the new Practical Micro-
scopy."

./ Future for Practical Microscopy:
"I am very optimistic in regard to the
success of your undertaking," writes
one who is glad to see Practical Micro-
scopy in the field again, "for you have
this great country of ours for your field,
with a chance for overflow into other
countries, and during the past ten years
the interest in microscopy must have in-
creased one hundred per cent, with all
the nature work done in the schools and
the discoveries made in the germ world
and elsewhere. Nearly all the maga-
zines and newspapers publish from time
to time articles based on work done with
the microscope, and that they are printed
shows a popular demand for them, and
straws, even, proverbially show which
way the wind blows. There seems to
be no journal just now which fills the
want, the higher priced journals being
too deep and too expensive for the ama-
teur, and something is sadly needed to
afford a medium for those interested in
microscopy to exchange their ideas, git
acquainted with each other and place on
record the work that is being done in
this line all around us. I believe it is
only necessary to let these people know
that such a result is possible and that by
a little united effort such a periodical
can be produced and you will find thai:
you will soon have a journal strong
enough to walk alone and fight its ow.i
way.

"Many of the amateurs of ten years
ago are now professionals, those who
have not attained that rank have had
ten years of experience, and all of them
must possess some item of interest whicn
will appeal to the others. Microscopy
is my recreation, and I subscribe to all
the leading journals relating to my pro-
fession. Some of the leading and most
popular journals that I take have been
made so by encouraging their subscrib-
ers to talk to each other as man to man
through their columns, telling each oth-

66

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

er how they did a thing, why they did
it, and what the result was. One of
these journals has a department of
"Shop Kinks'* in which the greenest ap-
prentice, as well as the finished work-
man, is invited and encouraged to sub-
mit his ideas in even the crudest man-
ner, and the editors put them into proper
shape to make them interesting to their
readers.

"I think there ought to be a similar
department or column in Practical ^Mi-
croscopy where the novice or amateur
can feel free to tell how he has done a
thing and ask for advice on points he
has in doubt. Such a column will appeal
to the popular section of your subscrib-
ers.

"While I think it would be useful for
subscribers to tell each other abont the
text-books they are using, I think that
the snggesions 1 have made above, if
carried out, would make Practical Mi-
croscopy of greater interest and more
useful to the beginner and amateur than
many of the books now on the market
would be for the reason that if the read-
ers can be made to feel that they are
perfectly free to gain their experiences
in the columns of the journal and get
in touch with each other, they will find
out many ways of doing things and
points in technique that they will fail to
find in many of the books on the subject

for a great many authors seem to as-
sume that their readers are alreadv post-
ed on these rudiments and leave the
lie- inner all at sea on vital points which
a few simple words would make per-
fectly clear to them. I own some of the
best standard works on the microscope
and its applications, but I cherish my
volumes of 'The Observer' and of the
Bausch and Lomb Company's 'Applied
Microscopy,' and have the matter filed
so it can be readily referred to. 1 read
them over and over and find many
things not mentioned in the standard
books.

"Of course much of the matter would
be an old story to professionals but they
would find other contributions from
writers of their own class, and, too,
they should remember that one must be
an amateur before he can become a pro-
fessional, and thus what seems trivial to
them now would have been very inter-
esting to them at the outset of their
careers. I am only one of thousands
who must be waiting for that insight
into this line of work and who when
they get the proper start will enter into
it with enthusiasm."

The suggestion of the exchange among
microscopical workers of card index
cards on microscopical subjects is origi-
nal, up-to-date and excellent.

" 'T P '■ " " 'l 1J IL '■ " " " " " ■■ " ■■ ■' ■■ ■' " ■' n-rr

Literary

BIOGRAPHICAL

A NATURALIST'S CAREER.

Like so many of those who have suc-
ceeded, Miss Ellen Rogers, author of
"The Shell Book," (published on April
15th, by Doubleday, Page & Company)
claims some of her best qualities by right
of inheritance. Her father, Daniel Fer-
rard Rogers, the son of Nathaniel Pea-
body Rogers of Concord, N. H., the able
jurist and anti-slavery reformer and edi-
tor of "The Herald of Freedom," was a
man of broad education and experience,
who through his intellectual and moral

power soon gained leadership among the
pioneers of his community, as a farmer,
an educator, and a public-spirited citi-
zen. Her mother, Ruth Llewellyn, was
also a teacher before her marriage, and
her splendid character and high ideals
proved a source of inspiration not only to
her eight children, but to all who came
in contact with her.

The loyalty of these worthy pioneers,
to the state of their adoption (Iowa) is
shown by the fact that one daughter and
three of the five sons, (all of whom are

LITERARY AND BI( )GRAPHICAL.

physicians) arc alumni of the State Uni-
versity, and a fourth son is now a student
in the College of Medicine. Another
daughter, Mrs. Mary Rogers Miller, of
New York, has also distinguished her-
self as a lecturer and author.

Miss Rogers' preparatory education
was obtained in the Adel High School
Callanan College of Des Moines, and the
Iowa City Academy. She entered the
University in 1888, selecting the Philo-
sophical course, and graduated with hon-
or in [892, being one of the six speak-
ers. She gained membership in Phi
Beta Kappa in 1902. During her entire
college course she was an active member
of Pi lieta Phi. She subsequently be-
came a special student of Agriculture
and Entomology for two years at Cornell
University, Ithaca, X. Y., taking the de-
gree of M. S. in Agriculture in 1902.

Miss Rogers has achieved notable suc-
cess as a teacher. Before entering the
University she taught in country schools,
and in the primary grade in Dallas Cen-
tre, Iowa. After leaving the University
she served as principal of the high school
in Worthington, Minn., for two vears,
then as teacher of biology in the East
Des Moines High School for five years,
and in the Cedar Rapids High School
for one vear. Later she was instructor
in the Cornell Summer School of Xa-
ture Study in 1900, and in the Chatau-
qua, X. V., Summer Schools in 1903 and

1904. She has also been a most suc-
cessful lecturer on nature study at teach-
ers* institutes since 1900, chiefly in Xew
York and Pennsylvania, but also in
Michigan and in the Summer School
of the South at Knoxville, Tennessee.
Her first work of this kind, however,
was done in city institutes in Iowa, with
Hon. Henry Sabin.

Notwithstanding her success as a
teacher. Miss Rogers is more widely
known as an author through her two
most notable productions, "Among
Green Trees," published in 1002, and
"The Tree Book," which appeared in

1905. Into these two volumes the auth-
< ir has gathered nearly eight hundred
pages of interesting information, pre-
sented in pleasing form, and illuminated
with a healthv. infectious enthusiasm

which betokens a profound love for the
natural world. Throughout these hooks
the spirit of the teacher is displayed, and
indeed they seem to have been suggested
by the author's experience as a teacher
of nature study. They have also been
eminently satisfactory to those who love
and appreciate trees, as well as to those
who take a purely practical interest in
their care and preservation.

"The Shell Book," Miss Rogers' latest
achievement, is unique among contem

MISS ELLEN ROGERS.

Author of "The Shell Book" and other
booKS of nature.

porary nature books. It is the first pop-
ular book on the subject, gives a de-
scription of the species, the growth, food,
habits and homes of living mollusks,
industries such as pearl fisheries and
snail- farming, the cultivation of oysters
and other shell fish, instructions for
making and maintaining aquaria with-
out running water, and while scientifi-
cally accurate, is likewise charmingly
simple, and will interest beginner and
expert alike. The book contains eight
plates in color besides ninety-six half-
tones from photographs — mostly the
work of A. Radclyffe Dugmore.

68

THK GUIDE TO NATURE.

Ration

WHY NOT START AX AQUARIUM?

BY CHARLES M. GOETHE, (CORRESPONDING
MEMBER NO. 2OO3). SACRAMENTO, CAL.

The opening spring is perhaps the best
and most interesting time of the year
for aquarium work. The needs are sim-
ple and inexpensive. First, you must
have a glass receptacle. An old fish
Sflobe, a s^lass battery jar, such as tele-
graph companies use, or even a Mason s
fruit jar, will suffice. Outside of this
all you need is some good clean sand
for the floor, and some pebbles, if your
jar is large enough. Next you must be
careful to keep the animal and vegetable
life balanced. For the vegetable life

you will find it sufficient to have perhaps
a slip of "Wandering Jew," some of the
green, slimy plant which can be found
in ponds where water does not flow rap-
idly, and some "Duck Weed," that may
be found on the surface of almost any
still pond.

For the animal life get plenty of
snails. You can catch these in almost
any still water. They are the scaven-
gers and will keep your aquarium clean.
Then put into the water whatever water
life you can find. If you have access
to a Comstock's "Insect Life" it will
help you with the names of the queer
tilings you will find in the water. You
are almost sure to find back-swimmers.
Learn why they have this name. Also
there will be a water boatman, and almost
anywhere in America you can find some
of the queer whirlagig beetles. You will
also find some of the diving beetles.
Watch how they carry their bubble of
air with them. Then, too, you will find
some of the water measurers. Learn
how they manage to run on the surface
of the water. Perhaps you will find the
larva of the damsel fly, and will be able
to learn how their gills are attached to
the cadual end of the body. Perhaps
you will find the larva of the dragonfly.

See what you can find about his lower
lip and how he uses it to catch his food.
You will be almost sure to find some
water tigers, and you will find how they
get their name.

Perhaps somebody may say to you that
an aquarium is not a healthy thing to
have around. I have had them in my
bedroom before I commenced sleeping
out of doors, and at no time was there
any unpleasant odor. There is no rea-
son why they should not be healthy, al-
though of course there is no reason why
you should keep them indoors, as there
is generally a place around almost any
house where you can have them.

PRIZE OFFER.

In a personal letter, Mr. Goethe
writes :

"I enclose a check for five dollars
which I would be glad to have you offer
in one prize of three dollars and two
more of one dollar each, for the best
article on "What 1 Have Learned from
My Aquarium,' to be written by chil-
dren under, say twelve years of age."

In accord with this offer, contribu-
tions are invited. The contest will close
September 1st.

FIRTHFR PRIZE OFFERS.

The Agassiz Association also offers
prizes as follows: first, a beautifully il-
lustrated book; second, a year's subscrip-
tion to "The Guide to Nature." For the
best and second best articles from nature
students above twelve years oi age on
any of the following topics :

: Care of an Aquarium "

"A Garden for Plants" (not for beauty
nor t< 1 eat).

"Mosses and Lichens.'

"Interesting Facts Regarding Pets."

This is five topics, two prizes for each.
Gmtest closes November 1st.

AN ILLUSIKAItU MUNIHLY IVIAUAZINt hUK AUULIS. UbVUIEU TU COMMONPLACE

NATURE WITH UNCOMMON INTEREST.

ill %l I t

The Guide
To Nature

Stamford

dward

Vol. I

JUNE, 1908

No. 3

I5HES

pfff^wf>

&

IAMHAL1

H.CH/*U'.'-

&

<1;awvc0.

PUBLISHED BY THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION. OFFICE: 113 GROVE ST. STAMFORD. CONNECTICUT.

Subscription, $1.50 Per Year. Single Copy, 15 Cents.
Application has been made for entry at the Post Office at Stamford, as second class matter.

The Sachs Tablets

A PLANT FOOD AND STIHULANT

Apply to the roots of the plants in any form you wish and the
plants will grow and thrive. The plants may be grown in earth
and the solution applied as a fertilizer and stimulant, or the plants
may be grown, for novelty and experiment, on crushed stone,
pebbles, bits of brick, sponge, sawdust, or between two sheets of
glass and the growth watched.

The Sachs tablets grew these luxuriant and thrifty plants from
less than a tablespoonful of sawdust in each eggshell.

Sections of roots or root hairs may. be taken at any stage for
careful observation, free from all soil.

Excellent for experimental work. Efficient with "house plants."
Just the thing to awaken a dormant plant.

Box containing 30 tablets (sufficient for 15 pints of solution) mailed
postpaid with full directions for 10c.

Prices in bulk as follows:

500 Tablets, $1.25 ; 1000 Tablets, $2.00 ; 2000 Tablets, $3.50 ; Additional 1000, $1.25.

Less than 500 tablets not supplied in bulk.

These tablets and the directions with them will guide you into most interesting

fields in PLANT LIFE.

ADDRESS

:The Guide to Nature, Stamford, Conn*

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IV

PUBLISHERS NOTICES

»

The Guide to Nature wants a sub-
scription agent in every community. Will
our friends please recommend desirable
persons for this remunerative work.

A PUBLIC EXHIBITION.

When you get a really sharp negative
of a good nature subject, the best method
of showing the positive to a company of
friends is to have a colored lantern slide
made by Charles Beseler Company, New
York City.

This company also makes high grade
stereopticon slides with a large variety
of subjects, and rents or sells them in
sets or singly.

THE PREMO CAMERA.

The editor of The Guide to Nature
has used almost every grade and size of
Premo camera. Many of the illustra-
tions in this magazine and in his articles
in other magazines have been made with
a Premo. It is compact and convenient
—a good "all round" camera.

For an all day's tramp in the haunts
of nature, the film pack is a great saver
of weight. Twelve films may be carried
in the space of an ordinary holder.

THE KODAK IX NATURE.

It is a very simple matter to use a
kodak, that is, so far as hands and me-
chanical skill are concerned. The manu-
facturers have done everything possible
to make every grade of kodaks simple
in construction and convenient to use.

But to make the use in nature really
worth while, to have the hand camera
a means in studying, to make it depict
things of value, is a more difficult task.
The article by Mr. Howes in this issue
is suggestive. This is to be followed by
others on the use of the kodak. The
Guide to Nature will be pleased to
have other suggestions along this line.

THE BIRDS AT HOME.

Bird nesting is now at its height. The
birds have settled down as permanent
residents. Now is the time for intense
enthusiastic study, and an eight power
stereo, made by the Bauson & Lomb
( )ptical Company is an instrument with
which to see them. The managing edi-
tor of Thfc Guide to Nature cordially
recommends this "glass," because he has
used it for several years and knows of
its efficiency and superiority over all
other forms of binoculars.

PRIZE ARTICLES OX AQUARIA.

Readers of The Guide to Nature
doubtless saw the offer of a prize for
articles on aquaria, — page 68 of the May
number. Aquaria may be obtained from
any dealer, but in the writer's experience
those supplied by the Kny-Scheerer Com-
pany, New York, are convenient, at-
tractive and efficient. Dr. G. Lagai is a
born and trained naturalist. He knows
just the kind of supplies of all kinds that
are useful to a naturalist. Write to
him for his new catalogue. It contains
lots of good things.

THE MODERN GUN.

There is a fascination in creeping up
to rame, taking: aim, firing;, and then
bagging the victim. Theorize and study
all we may, there still remains with
most men, vestiges of the original hunt-
ing instinct. It is not essential nor even
commendable to eradicate the instinct,—
but to guide it into modern methods
freed from cruelty. One of the best in-
struments for this purpose is the natur-
alists' reflex camera. It emulates the
bow and arrow, and the gun of powder
and shot. One has "to take aim" and
"fire" in much the same manner. The
"game also is bagged in the twentieth
Century manner, the best of all ways.

ii ADVERTISEMENT.

JL BI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE

Edited by Frank M. Chapman.

CONTAINS:

Descriptions of experiences with living birds in their haunts,
and helpful articles on how to study birds.

Photographs of birds from nature, and two or more colored
plates in each number. (During 1908 the flycatchers of North
America will be figured in color. )

Migration tables, showing when birds may be expected at
many places throughout the country.

A list of prominent ornithologists who will help you in your
study of birds.

Bird Censuses by numerous observers.

Reviews of books and of magazine articles relating to birds.

Editorials on current questions in bird study.

An Audubon Department, with all the news concerning
bird protection.

A School Department designed especially for Teachers and
Students, and Teachers' Leaflets, with colored plates of birds.

Annual Subscription, $1.00

Single Numbers, 20 Cents

ML

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

Publishers for the Audubon Societies

Crescent and Mulberry Streets, - - - - Harrisburg, Pa.

66 Fifth Avenue, New York City

Happy indeed is the naturalist: to him the seasons come round like old friends; to him the
birds sing; as he walks along, the flowers stretch out from the hedges or look out from the
ground, and as each year fades away, he looks back on a fresh store of happy memories.

Sir John Lubbock.

m

The Guide to Nature.

EDUCATION AND RECREATION

Vol. I

JUNE, 1908

No. 3

7^*$?'

1§

w

m OUTDOOR WORLD

jy\ p :js.'y-

A Night in the Maine Woods.

SOME OBSERVATIONS OF ANIMAL AND BIRD LIFE AT LAKE WEBB, WELD, ME.

By Harry G. Higbee,

Hyde Park, Mass.

»( )i JT eighteen or twenty
miles southwest of the
famous Rangeley lakes,
lies a beautiful stretch of
water six miles long and
from one to three miles
wide, known as Lake
Webb. This lake has
an elevation of about
8oo feet, and is set in a
surrounded bv mountain

affording some of the most pic-

basin entirely

ranges

turesque scenery to be found on the

American continent. It is fifteen miles

from the railroad, but the village of

Weld is settled snugly down among the

hills on the east shore, with Mt. Blue
rising up in the background to a height
of about 3,400 feet.

Being surrounded as it is by moun-
tains, and with forests on one side,
stretching away for miles toward the
great northern wilderness, and with the
village and farm lands on the other, this
locality is an exceptionally good one for
the variety which it offers to the lover of
nature, and for the study of animal life
in its natural environment. In this vi-
cinity, during the months of July, Au-
gust and September, I observed eighty-
seven varieties of birds, besides various
other forms of animal life. The streams,

Copyright iyo8 by The Agassiz Association. Stamford. Conn.

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

of which there are a number flowing into these streams, known as West Brook,
the lake, are fairly alive with the beau- that I took one night, which I will de-
tiful speckled trout, and in the woods and scribe and which is typical of the life

in the Maine woods.

fields along its shores and in the moun

I PADDLED QUIETLY UP TO THE SHORE OF THE LAKE TO LISTEN TO THE

SOUNDS OF THE WILD CREATURES."

tains nearby, bears, deer, foxes, and
many smaller animals wander at will-
Here, also, a great variety of birds make
their home, finding a safe retreat in the
cool deep woods, where they may build
their nests and raise their broods unmo-
lested, except by their natural enemies.
Oh, that the hand of the wood-chopper
might he stayed, and that such a beau-
tiful spot might be left undisturbed,
where the wild creatures could roam at
will, and man might only enter for re-
creation and for the study of the lives
and habits of the wild things about
him.

In such a place nature unfolds her se-
crets to the one who seeks them in ear-
nest, and each one of the beautiful crea-
tures has its lesson for him who would
submit himself to them and study their
ways. It was a trip up the largest of

As it was a quiet and beautiful even-
ing, in September, I left my little cabin
in the woods about n.oo P. M., and rig-
ging my lantern on the bow of the canoe,
I paddled quietly up the shore of the
lake to listen to the sounds of the wild
creatures, and to observe what animals
made their haunts about the shores of
the lake or the streams flowing into it.
The scene was impressively calm and
peaceful, and as I floated quietly along,
there was no sound to be heard, except
the occasional twittering of the birds mi-
grating overhead. I sat there drinking

and

wondering

in the beautiful scene

what animals were wandering forth

seeking their prey on the mountains

yonder, which rose up from the lake and

stood out in such bold relief against the

sky.

Suddenly a great horned owl broke

A NIGHT IN THE MAINE WOODS.

73

the stillness with the weird, melancholy
hoot, in the woods near the shore, and
I knew some less wary bird or animal
would soon tall a prey to it1- vicious beak

Soon, again, the stillness was broken
by the barking of a fox up on the moun-
tain-side, and as I approached the marsh
at the entrance of the brook, a great blue

and talons.

SUNSET AT LAKE WEBB, WELD, MAINE.

Then the loud, hoarse laugh

of a loon came answering back from
out on the lake; and once more all was
quiet. The bats came circling about my
light, wondering, no doubt, why I could
not see in the dark like themselves.

heron rose slowly up from the edge of the
water, and with a low "squawk" at his
being so rudely disturbed, he disap-
peared over the tree-tops into the black-
ness beyond. I then paddled slowly and
noiselessly up the stream. Here was the

'IT WAS A QUIET AND BEAUTIFUL EVENING. * * * NO SOUNDS TO BE HEARD
EXCEPT THE OCCASIONAL TWITTERING OF BIRDS."

74

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

home of the muskrats, and, startled by
the light as I came along, they would
turn from their course, and with
a loud splash, would dive under
the water, only to reappear, how-
ever, a few feet away. One cu-
rious fellow, a little bolder than the rest,
swam out toward the canoe until within
a few feet of it ; then turning, swam up
stream, keeping just ahead of the canoe,
and turning even- few feet to look again
at the light, as if wondering what huge,
one-eyed monster was thus invading
their quiet domain.

Soon 1 heard a sound that was new to
me — a low whining — somewhat like that
made by a porcupine. I soon found the
author of it to be a muskrat, and dis-
covered him sitting upon a log on the
bank of the stream, evidently much
troubled about something. Xo doubt I
was the cause of it all, and as I came
near him. with a jump that almost star-
tled me, he plunged into the water and
disappeared under my canoe. As I pad-
dled along farther up the stream, a
swamp sparrow in the bushes near the
shore, would now and then burst forth
with a little song, as if being disturbed
in some sweet dream. Once or twice I
heard deer walking along near the shore,
but the brush was so thick I could not
distinguish them. After making my
way up stream as far as I could go, I
paddled leisurely back to camp, only dis-
turbing, near the mouth of the brook, a
flock of black ducks asleep on the sur-
face of the water. At my approach, the\
arose, with a loud "quacking," and flew
farther out on the lake, where they
might rest undisturbed, until daylight.

As I neared the camp, the loon
laughed mockingly, across the lake, as
if to say, "Ha! ha! you'll never catch me
napping;" and the owl hooted "Good
night" as I came out of the cabin and
crawled into my sleeping-bag on the
ground under the trees, to be lulled to
sleep by the gentle swashing of the water
against the shore and the sighing of the
wind through the tree-tops overhead.
It was now 2.00 A. M., and feeling well
repaid for my three hours of wandering,
and determined to go again at the first
opportunity, I closed my eyes, and sank
into that deep, refreshing sleep, which
is one of the greatest blessings of life
in the Maine woods.

THE REVELATION OF THE WHITE
MOUNTAINS.

BY CAROLINE E. CLARK, NEW YORK CITY.

There is nothing so delightful, on this
tiresome all-day journey to the moun-

GEORGIANA FALLS, NORTH WOOD-
STOCK, N. H.

tains, as the gradual change from the
dust and heat of morning to the cool,
clear air of late afternoon. As the car
is no longer crowded and noisy, the
body relaxes under the influence of a
quieter, calmer and cooler atmosphere.
How glorious has become the scenery !
What a revelation when beheld for the
first time! How beautiful the sunset,
dazzling in its contrast to the dignified
shadows of the sweeping mountains be-
low ; while serenely the new crescent
moon rises over the hill-tops on the op-
posite side, — one brilliant star following

THE REVELATION OF THE WHITE MniWTAINS.

/ 5

in its wake like a faithful satellite. This
is life ! This is nature in all her grandeur
and undisturbed beauty. The dark

woods so near your window, and the
perpetual tumult of nearby mountain
streams, hint that civilization has still
to conquer and subdue the never-ending-
wonders of the mountain region.

There is regret in the fact that this
state of intoxicated rapture must come
to an end. To think of entering the
noisy, lighted hotel with its hundred
petty affairs ; of eating dinner, unpack-

in

g and resting your weary limbs in

sleep, has none of the attractions that
such a prospect held in the morning!
You have entered a kingdom which, in
its heights and mystery of shadow and
growth, rules with sublime dignity, the
entire world of nature ! To adjust your-
self to the sound and sight of human
beings within doors seems an impossible
task after this effect of nature's mag-
nificence has entered your own being !
But to-morrow — happy thought ! The

to-morrows of this world .allow hope to
live with perpetual fire in your heart.
The to-morrows are the embers of the
imagination which kindle the desire to
live and enjoy.

When to-morrow dawns with a love-
liness which you have missed, your phys-
ical needs so often seeming greater than
your spiritual, you escape the hotel full
of gossip, giggling girls, conventional
tennis players, tourists and mere amuse-
ment seekers. The sun is shining almost
fiercely in its efforts to shed as much
ight upon darkened mankind as possible.
Its rays reach and warm you even when
buried in the woodland paths that lead
to some hermit abode or distant lake.

There are a thousand shades of green
everywhere, — on the magnificent moun-
tain-sides that come into view as you
emerge for a moment from the wooded
path, and in the woods themselves, that
also reveal to you that mysterious sound
of silence so dear to those who love na-
ture. Some little mountain stream talks

31

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THE CATHEDRAL WOODS, INTERVALE, N. H.

76

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

to you all the way, and in response, you
plunge your hand in its clear depths and
drink from your palm this wondrous
water as cold as ice.

You feel the stirrings of present life

like a bird before, except in an automo-
bile at sixty miles an hour. Now you
are not a bird flying through the air : but
instead you are as one that is perched
on some high tree-top; a mere speck of

ECHO LAKE AND WHITE HORSE LEDGE.

"Now you are not a bird flying through the air ; but instead you are as one perched upon some

treetop ; a mere speck of breathing life beholding things as they are."

Illustrations from the Boston & Maine Railroad.

and joy. Perhaps you are fortunate
enough to come upon a wild deer, or to
see a fox rush across the trail, almost
in front of vou.

Next, you climb some mountain-top.
its name holds no significance for vou,
for it is all a part of a marvelous whole,
and as it reveals that whole to your re-
sponsive gaze you catch your breath,
dizzy and amazed. There, below yon,
sweeps the famous Crawford Notch,
while in the distance looms Mount Wash-
ington. You have become a mere speck
in the sky. You imagine how small a
bird must feel. You have never felt

breathing life beholding things as a
whole. You feel that birds must be
more broad-minded than men to thus
always behold life from a height. Then
at night, solitary and dreaming, you
wander out to view the beauteous scene
in the subdued light of the moon. At
first dim clouds float across its face,
like a veil that adds to a woman's
beauty by only half revealing it. You
are standing on the edge of a tiny
lake, on the opposite shore of which,
darkened woods stretch away into the
distant mountain shadows. Soon, the
sky clears, the veil has disappeared and

TWE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE.

77

the moon is revealed to you encircled by
rainbow-colored clouds : — A marvellous
effect that you will never forget.

Alas! All too soon you are drawn
into the world of humanity that has gath-
ered under one roof from all parts of
the universe, to flirt, to dance, to amuse
itself for a month or so, and thus to
enjoy a "change." Hut this is not the
"change"' you have been seeking. Hu-
manity is everywhere and much the
same. Here you have come to see the
mountains, to let them teach you, so
tnat in the drudgery of winter work their
influence will still be over your soul.
The result of this learning must ever
stir your imagination and rest your
weary brain in the midst of the city strife
and overwork. And yet, in humanity,
there is a certain claim that nature will
never feel or give. These same glor-
ious mountains may furnish the poetry
in your life, but it is humanity that must

furnish the prose, — you can live without
the former but never without the latter.
After all, the young girl who came all
the way up in the car with you has made
a certain impression on your mind.
After a day's journey by her side, as a
stranger, you soon meet in the hotel and
in half an hour are like old friends.
This so-called complex creation is all
very simple. The revelation which the
mountains stirred in your own soul is
nothing compared to the revelation of
this girl's soul. It is she who draws you
into an appreciation of humanity once
more, and who, hereafter, shares with
you those woodland walks and those sub-
lime thoughts ; which suddenly you dis-
cover she has experienced in greater or
less degree since the years of her earliest
understanding. The mountains had
made you a poet, a contented dreamer,
but the awakening" to realities under the
influence of sweet companionship was
still more beautiful.

CHEMICAL

TABLETS FOR
PLANTS.

FEEDING

BY EDWARD F. BIGFLOW, STAMFORD, CONN.

(Reprinted, with revision, from "The
Nature Study Reviczv.)

I am requested to tell how I use in tab-
lets the chemicals of Sachs' nutrient so-
lution for the artificial feeding of plants.
For those not familiar with feeding
plants with chemicals I first quote briefly
from Prof. Sachs :*

"The complete revolution which ra-
tional agriculture and forestry have ex-
experienced through the establishing of
the theory of the nutrition of plants,
proves how much has been accomplished
in this department. It would extend far
beyond the scope of this lecture to re-

produce even briefly the substance of
the literature of the subject. The most
significant result of the development of
the nutrition theory is met with, how-
ever, in the fact that we are now able
to rear plants artificially- — that we are in
a position, with chemically pure water to
which we add some few chemically pure
salts, to rear artificially highly devel-
oped plants as well as the simplest algae
(and mutatis mutandis, also fungi) —
that from inconspicuous and often
scarcely ponderable quantities of vege-
table substance, quantities of it as large
as we choose may be produced in this
way.

"Such being the favorable position of
affairs, I regard it as the simplest and

lSee Lecture XVII, "Ths Nutritive Materials of Plants," in Professor Julius von Sachs' "On the
Physiology of Plants."

78

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

most instructive method to connect the
main points of the theory of the nutri-
tion of plants, so far as they concern the
food materials, with the description of an
experiment in artificial nutrition made
with a highly organized plant. I think
that in this manner the essential and

have added these three points : ( i ) Con-
venience of supplying the chemicals in
tahlet form. (2) Novelties in situations
of growing plants. ( 3 ) A germinating
case for scientific or popular observation
and experiment.

This is how I came to use chemicals in

A LUXURIANT EGG-SHELL GARDEN.

Several common plants grown three feet tall from sawdust in egg-shell. Sawdust kept moist

with water during germination and afterwards with the solution.

important points come into view more
clearly than with any other mode of ex-
position. In the year i860 I published
the results of experiments which demon-
strated that land-plants are capable of
absorbing their nutritive matters out of
watery solutions, without the aid of soil,
and that it is possible in this way not
only to maintain plants alive and grow-
ing for a long time, as had long been
known, but also to bring about a vigor-
ous increase of their organic substance,
and even the production of seeds capa-
ble of germination."

I have utilized all that this honored
botanist and others have recorded re-
garding artificial nutrition of plants, and

tablet form for feeding plants. I was
familiar, as are most teachers of botany,
with Sachs' solution from experiments
made several years before in a university
laboratory ; but it took time for the sug-
gestion to arise that the solution could
be ustd aside from technical experi-
ments, and by anyone as a common
plant food. I bit one day light came. I
ordered some of the mixture in bulk, put
up loose in two-ounce packages. Later,
as I saw a physician leave tablets for
a oatient and heard him refer to the con-
venience of these over the old method
with powders and mysterious mixtures,
the suggestion came to mind — Why not
put up those nutrient chemicals in tab-

THE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE

79

lets? I at once gave an order to a
manufacturing chemist for 10,000 com-
pressed tablets. This was in the early
part of igoo. All that spring and sum-
mer I experimented with my tablets,
as did a few naturalists to whom I gave
a supply. We used the entire 10,000.
Thev were found to work marvellously
well, even beyond my fondest hope.

Each of the tablets is composed of
the following: common table salt (sod-
ium chloride) 2^ grains; plaster of Par-
is— gypsum (calcium sulphate), 23/2
grains; Epsom salts (magnesium sul-
phate) ; phosphate of lime, nearly the
same as burned bones (calcium phos-
phate), 2]/2 grains; East Indian saltpetre
—nitre (potassium nitrate), 5 grains;
compounds of iron and chlorine (ferric
chloride), nearly 1-10 grain. To make
the food solution two of these tablets
are required for each pint (500 ccm.
nearly) of water. Crush the tablets to
be used and put the powder in the water.
Shake or stir thoroughly before using.
Keep the plants thoroughly moistened
with this solution, which is both drink
and food for them.

The solution orepared from the tablets
will nourish a plant if the roots can be
kept supplied with it, even on top of a
stone, or a brick, between two sheets of
glass, on crushed rock, sawdust, pebbles,
bits of glass, or any similar insoluble
substance. Plants thrive well on per-

TO SHOW GROWTH UP AND DOWN

Oats growing on mosquito netting tied over a
tumbler. The liquid in ihe tumbler is the

nutrient solution.

A DECORATIVE TANGLE OF PLANTS.
Grown in sawdust in a dripping pan. A profusion of white lupines and buckwheat.

8o

TFJH GUIDE TO NATURE.

A GARDEN, WITHOUT SOIL, IN A WINDOW.

In center "agateware" pan cotton plants are growing in bits of crushed stone. In outer pans
beans are growing in sawdust. Fed by the nutrient solution.

forated cloth or wire-netting" stretched elty or scientific experiment there are

tightly across any receptacle that is kept
filled with the solution. The photo-
graphs accompanying this article show
some of these situations. But for nov-

many others equally good. Plants may
even he suspended in mid-air and grown,
if the roots are kept moist with the solu-
tion. Apply the solution to the roots in

THE BEAN GARDEN
Grown in sawdust in a dripping pan.

THE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE.

81

any way that you please, keep the stem
and leaves in the light, and the whole
plant will grow and thrive if it is kept

germinate a seed only three things are
necessary : warmth, moisture and air.
It will not germinate with only one or

GERMINATING CASES ARRANGED IN CARD-CATALOGUE STYLE IN AN

ENAMELED PAN.

By this arrangement space is economized and the roots in each case, except the one in front, are
darkened by the adjoining case. A piece of black cloth may be used to cover the front glass. The
excess solution poured over the upper edges is collected in the pan, and from time to time is used
again to moisten the cotton above.

warm. 1 have not found so much advan-
tage in keeping the roots in darkness as I
had anticipated. In most of my experi-
ments they have been wholly in the light.
This is undoubtedly somewhat of a disad-
vantage to the plant, but to be able to
watch the development of the roots adds
greatly to the interest.

I have found the tablets helpful as a
fertilizer, and large numbers have been
sold as plant stimulants.

Contrary to the persistent belief or to
the inquiries, let me say that the tablets
do not germinate nor aid in germinating
the seeds. They feed the plant after the
tiny roots have been formed and are
ready to take food. In fact, the appli-
cation of the chemical solution in the
very earliest stages of germination has
seemed to me to be a disadvantage. To

two of these. It must have all three.
The tablet solution will not supply the
warmth nor the air, and the moisture is
better supplied by water than by the
solution. Darkness is helpful, but not

A LIVING CHART OF A GROWING PLANT.

White lupins, growing from successive plantings in a germinating case made of two sheets of glass
tied together with cotton wadding next to the back glass and a layer of black close woven cloth be-
tween the wadding and the glass in front. The cloth is for a dark background and to force the roots
to grow in one plane between the cloth and glass in front. The case is kept standing on edge. The
seeds are planted on the upper edge between the front glass and the black cloth, and kept moist ( with
water until rootlets appear and then wilh the solution). Strips of cotton should be used to cover the
edge and protect the seeds from drying until the plants begin to grow. At the end of two weeks there
is a living chart showing successive stages.

82

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

an absolute essential for germination.
Allow the seeds to sprout in the ordinary
old-fashioned method on moist cotton,
blotting paper, etc., or in soil, and apply
the solution only to feed them as soon
as the young plants tell you by starting
their roots that they are readv for food.
They may also be used to good advan-
tage on potted plants.

For eight years I have experimented
extensively with this solution by grow-

ROOTS OF BEANS.
Grown between two panes of glass, so as to
show clearly all details. No soil.

ing plants in a great variety of situa-
tions. This has not been work, it has
been play, most enjoyable hours snatched
from the pressure of many duties. I
have come to love plants, not alone from
the scientific or the aesthetic standpoint,
but as pets. My desire has been to
create and increase an interest and love
for the growth of our common plants, in
their entirety, as living things. It is
not enough to know the flowers, not even
enough to know the plants, that is at any
one stage of their existence, in the sense
of knowing either the name or structure.

The message coming to us from the
Great Nature-Study Teacher, regarding
one species of plants, was intended I
think to apply to all. He said "consider
the lilies of the field hozv they grow."

[How to obtain the tablets. — A box
containing 30 tablets, with full directions
for use, will be mailed for ten cents —
a very small amount which is just suffi-
cient to pay for the tablets, printing,
packing and postage. I have no finan-
cial, only an educational interest in the
sale. This low price is possible only be-
cause thousands of boxes are prepared at
a time by a manufacturing chemist. Ad-
dress Edward F. Bigelow, Stamford,
Ct]

INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S SCHOOL
FARM LEAGUE.

BY MRS. HOWARD VAN SINDEREN, NO. I,
WEST 8 1 ST ST., NEW YORK CITY.

In the spring of 1907 the friends of
the Children's School Farm movement
formed the International Children's
School Farm League, to unify the inter-
ests of this movement in the United
States and other countries.

It is the purpose of the organization
to furnish practical information, oppor-
tunity for mutual help and to urge the
introduction of Children's Gardens into
school and park systems, as well as un-
der private control.

The League is prepared to issue con-
cise information as to how to start and
conduct the work, to whom to apply
in each section for proper advice and
influence, to establish an exchange of
photographs and lantern slides and pro-
vide the services of a lecturer and practi-
cal adviser.

Under the auspices of this League,
Children's Gardens can be placed on un-
improved property and introduced in
connection with institutions for children
and convalescents. The boys and men
in the tuberculosis hospitals frequently
say : "( )h ! if we only had something to fill
in the lon°" hours." Wherever this work
has been introduced in prisons it has
Droved most advantageous. For fee-
ble-minded and backward children the
garden is a most successful means
of education. The gardens have proved
a great boon to crippled children whose

THE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE.

83

misfortune disqualifies them from the
activities of the ordinary playground
and the street. The League respond-
ed to the request of the internation-
al Committee of the Educational De-
partment of the Young Men's Christian

enth Avenue, founded by Mrs. Henry
1 'arsons in 1902 and now conducted un-
der her directorship by municipal auth-
ority under the department of Parks for
the Boroughs of Manhattan and Rich-
mond, has been so successful that ur-

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Association for literature, photographs
and general information which they sent
out through their various Secretaries to
interest boys to do similar work.

The Children's School Farm in New
York City, 52nd~54th Street and Elev-

gent requests for advice and information
in regard to the work have been received
in such numbers that Mrs. Parsons could
not adequately respond to them.

The general movement is spreading
rapidly throughout the country and from

84

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

many places inquiries have been receiv-
ed asking about it :
How is it conducted?

Mrs. Parsons did not wish to form
this League until she had worked out a
comprehensive plan to fit the needs of

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Where can teachers be obtained?
How can it be correlated with other
school work?

What practical good is it?

normal, high, village, consolidated or
training schools, city schools with con-
gested conditions and recreation centers
under boards of education and in parks.

THE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE.

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86

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Also to meet the needs of feeble-minded
crippled and delicate children and for
reformatories and prisons and had trained
a secretary whose point of view would
enable him to grasp and handle the sit-
uation.

Although children's gardens are not
the cure for all the ills of life, they are
the missing link which will help to solve
many of the problems educators and
philanthropists are wrestling with, for
when properly conducted they should in-
clude nature study, entomology, botany,
elementary agriculture, manual and phys-
ical training, household industries, math-
ematics, color work, composition, civics
(covering individual ownership and trie
private care of public property) econ-
omy, thrift, hygiene and many other sub-
jects vital to mental, moral and material
prosperity.

The Children's School Farm at the
Jamestown Exposition was the first pub-
lic work of the League, and an answer to
many of the inquiries regarding the
movement.

The comments of the visitors and of
the parents of the children who have
worked on the farm give an indication
of the many useful sides of the move-
ment. A gentleman from Philadelphia,
after watching the work go on, summar-
ized his opinion with the remark. "You
are teaching children to be of some use
in the world." A mother of a small far-
mer, in the most enthusiastic language,
said, "You have taught my children some-
thing I thought they would never learn,
the importance of little things." An-
other mother, who had visited the Farm
several times, had examined carefully
our very simply-equipped kitchen and
watched the children at work. Her in-
terest had been so aroused, because as
she said, "the Children's School Farm
this summer has excited in my daughters
an almost unbelievable interest in the
house-keeping of their own' home." One
little girl, while being shown how to mop
a floor remarked, "I never did anything
of this kind before T came to the Chil-
dren's Farm, but mother says it is a very
good idea for me to learn housework."

While the whole scheme is entirely
new to the majority of people and there
are almost endless details about which
thev have asked questions, the two things

which have appealed to the public and
excited their interest more than all the
rest, were the simplicity of the equip-
ment and the very evident interest of
these children in the homely duties of
the little farmhouse, workshop and gar-
den. To be sure, this work has been
presented to the children in a new light
and in a different spirit, nevertheless,
they did much hard work which soiled
their hands and tried their patience, and
they have, in some degree, come closer
to the mysteries which surround their
daily lives and gained a much higher con-
ception of manual labor.

The air is pulsating with the Chil-
dren's School Farm movement. It is
useless to attempt to send children into
the country from the cities unless they
are first taught something of the Book
of nature. It is useless to attempt
to keep the farm children at home unless
the Book of Nature is attractively in-
terpreted to them. The school garden
is the only practical method to bring
about these results.

Promoting the class for training
teachers in children's school gardens in
connection with the New York Univer-
sity Summer School will be the League's
special work this season. This Depart-
ment of School ' Gardens is under the
directorship of Henry Griscom Parsons,
the League's Secretary. The class was
established in 1906 under the most ideal
conditions. The course is designed to
prepare teachers to take charge of or
teach in children's gardens. The course
consists of lectures and laboratory per-
iods. The lectures take up the theory
and practice of the work ; the laying out
and planting of the garden ; soil, plant
and fertility problems. The needs of
different localities are considered. At-
tention is given to insect life and meth-
ods of presenting it to children. The
laboratory period is spent in the work-
shop and garden, where the students do
all the practical details of actual work.
There is a beautiful grapevine arbor run-
ning across the garden which affords
shade for short talks. The lecture course
is given out under the fine old trees on
the campus, from which a beautiful view
of the Hudson and East Rivers can be
obtained. The course is from July first
to August eleventh. Send for particulars.

THE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE.

87

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88

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

JUST AS WE ARE.

The Guide to Nature is an attempt
by an Association of nature lovers to pro-
duce a nature magazine really worth
while. It is yet far short of its ideal,
but even now, with all its imperfections,
it is undoubtedly the most successful at-
tempt to publish a periodical for nature
lovers. It is better patronized, it con-
tains more valuable and instructive mat-
ter, is better illustrated, is more attract-
ive mechanically, and. its prospects are
in every way better than those of any
other similar publication in this country.

ADVICE A>D SUGGESTIONS.

It takes many people to make a mag-
azine, and it takes more to tell what the
magazine should be. Most persons vote
silently, for or against, that is they sub-
scribe or they do not. Suppose every
person who has subscribed would tell
fully why he did so, and every person
who has seen a copy or announcement
and didn't subscribe, would tell why he
didn't! How clear it all would be to
"guide" aright.

lint being surrounded by a silent com-
pany is like steering in a fog, with only
one's own ideas and sometimes mere
guess work to direct one's course. Please
let the sunlight in so that we may see
the channel and the objects on the shore.
Please write and tell us what yon want,
what you don't want, and why.

FOR THE SPECIALIST.

Many copies of the Prospectus of this
magazine were sent to various special-
ists in various departments of nature
science, and, we are erateful to say, that
from these specialists we have received
a liberal number of subscriptions, and
not a few contributions'. Most of this
clientele seems readih7 to understand the
scope of The Guide to Nature, and all
is well and ha1"^""

We naturally expect that it will take
a new thing some time to grow, to
find its true form, and to adapt itself
to its surroundings. This fact is true
of The Guide. But in the main the
ideals of its forms and adaptations are
clear and sharp. This magazine is to be
ore-eminent1" a magazine for the spec-
ialists, but not in all his needs nor in
his major part. Professor William F.
Ganong, in his book, "The Teaching
Botanist," well defines a specialist. He
savs :

"Specialization is 1 no means a selfish
isolation in a narrow line of interests,
but rather it consists of making one's
greatest interest the axis for the group-
ing of the others. The conditions of
modern life have settled it for us that
the well-educated man is a specialist, one
who knows somethin"" well, it matters
not so much what, and has sympathy for
other things."

\'o one magazine can represent for all
specialists the "know some thing well,"
but The Guide to Nature can and will

EDITORIAL.

89

fully represent the "sympathy for other
things."

Then, too, it is for the specialist to
inspire in others a "sympathy" for his
"things." For that most commendable
purpose every specialist is invited to
use our columns freelv.

OUR ENGLISH TWIX.

Born at the same time (Vol. I., No. 1,
April, 1908) and of the same parental
plans — "for the interchange of knowl-
edge and ideas hetween all students of
nature and lovers of country life," is
"Country Queries and Notes," at 2 and
4 Tudor Street, London, E. C.

The editor, E. Kay Robinson, in his
salutatory "( Hirselves," savs :

"And we venture to think that such
a journal has long been needed by a large
number of excellent people whose sym-
pathies frequently turn from the narrow
topics of society, business and public
life to the wide world of nature. No
matter how vexations may have been
the worries of daily work, the student of
nature and lover of the country finds all
the refreshment of a mental plunge-bath
when he turns again to the hobby of his
leisure hours.

"But pleasure is always doubled when
it can be shared with others ; and one
great drawback of the study of nature,
compared with most occupations and
pastimes to which men devote the best
thoughts of their leisure hours, has been
its solitariness. It is true that when one
is alone with nature one is in the best
of all company. There is no solitariness
then. But it is afterwards, when one
is flushed with new experiences and new-
ideas, that one feels the need of kindred
minds to discuss their meaning and ana-
lyse their value. Hitherto the nature stu-
dent has perforce accustomed himself for
the most part to live a lonely life apart
from the noisy crowd that follows poli-
tics, sport and pleasure, becoming by de-
grees a living storehouse of locked up
knowledge. It is lamentable to think of
the thousands of men and women who
have trodden in the steps of Gilbert
White, making" intimate acquaintance
with the wild life of our country, and
have died, leaving none of their knowl-
edge behind for us. Painstaking ob-
servers of nature have not, as a rule, any

itching for publicity; and of no branch
of human inquiry can it be more truly
said than of nature-lore in Britain that
'those who write do not know, and those
who know do not write.'

"But in congenial communication with
fellow seekers after nature's secrets the
pen of the naturalist moves freely; and
it is our ambition to supply a permanent
medium for all who have thoughts or
facts to exchange regarding any branch
of natural history."

By an interesting coincidence the edi-
tor has an article in department "Wom-
an in the Country," on millinery from
the garden, but the writer does not limit
the decoration to everlasting flowers, nor
even to flowers, but includes fruits. She
says :

"I always think that flowers and feath-
ers in country hats are out of place, ex-
cept, perhans. for what might lie called
the 'Sunday-go-to- meeting' hat. Even
for our best, however, why not, espe-
cially in the summer, use natural flowers.
Have a straw hat trimmed prettily with
ribbon or chiffon, leaving a space at
the side or front of a bunch, say of
roses or carnations or whatever flowers
are in season.

"When I lived in the country, and now
when I am out of town for week-ends, I
decorate my hats with blossoms and buds
from the garden. I keep green-covered
wire especially for twisting up bunches
of flowers.

"I remember some years ago, when my
father was the vicar of a country parish,
I used regularly to resort to the garden
on Sunday morning and gather myself
a suitable hat-spray or bunch. I believe
I sometimes distracted the attention of
the devout worshippers, who weighed
the pros and cons of my floral hats, dur-
ing divine service!

"I recollect hearing of the remarks
made by an exceedingly prim spinster
who took exception to my headgear and
denounced the vicar's daughter for 'wear-
ing natural flowers in the House of God' !

"However, I continued in my disgrace-
ful! ?) course, and even had a bunch of
ripe red cherries on a string-coloured
straw hat, round which was twisted some
green chiffon. The effect was really
very pretty, and I recommend my readers

90

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

to try this economical and artistic mode
of trimming their spring and summer
hats.

"Needless to say it is very advisable
to select flowers of a sort and condition
to last well, and if their natural foliage
is of a kind that fades quickly, there is
plenty of greenery which may be mixed
with the blooms and form an effective
mounting."

The recently issued annual report of
the Society shows that the plan has been
very carefully thought out. A year ago
the organization engaged Professor
Morton J. Elrod, of Missoula, to spend
the summer of 1907 in making a thor-
ough examination of the Flathead Res-
ervation, which now is being thrown

open to settlement, and

site for a national bison range.

recommend a
Profes-

SEPARATING THE SELECTED STOCK FROM THE MAIN HERD.
" A chute, fifty feet in length, had been erected between the two main corrals fronting the Buffalo
House, communicating with both and terminating with a very ingenious sliding iron gate. Against
this gate the crates were placed. The herd of fifteen was driven into the north corral, and the ani-
mals, one at a time, liberated into the chute."

Courtesy of the New York Zoological- Society.

SAVING THE BISON.

Through a bill recently introduced in
Congress by Senator Joseph M. Dixon,
of Montana, the American Bison Soci-
ety has formally called upon the govern-
ment to establish a national herd of bison
on the Flathead Indian Reservation, in
northwestern Montana. The Society
offers a nucleus herd as a gift, if Con-
gress will provide the land for a range,
and fence it in.

sor Elrod's report is printed in full in
the Society's annual volume, and upon
it is based the plan now before Con-

gress.

Unfortunately the Society came into
existence just one year too late to pre-
vent the sale and removal to Canada of
the great Pablo-Allard bison herd, which
had grown up on the Flathead Reser-
vation from 30 animals to a total to-day

EDITORIAL.

9i

of 638 head, not counting between 200
and 300 head previously sold. The his-
tory of that herd, however, has amply
demonstrated the fact that bison suitably
located on the flathead Reservation can
live all the year round by grazing, and
without being fed on hay.

The site proposed for the new national
herd is situated immediately north of
Ravalli, on the Northern Pacific Railway,
which is the station from which 398 bis-
on were shipped to Canada last year.
The ideal range desired contains 20
square miles (12,800 acres) of ridges
and hills, nearly all of it too steep for
agriculture of any kind, and of no value
to anyone save as grazing lands. In the
ravines and watercourses there is an
abundance of water, and sufficient timber
to afford shelter for bison in the severest
storms. The grazing grounds are abun-
dant for the support of 1,000 bison, with-
out the necessity of feeding them. The
proposed ideal range has a frontage of
seven miles on the Northern Pacific Rail-
way.

Unfortunately the Indians will have to
be paid for any land that may be set aside
for a bison range, probably at the rate
of $1.25 per acre. To accomplish this
purpose, and to provide for fencing,
Congress is asked to appropriate $30,000.
If this is done the Bison Society will at
once set about the task of raising funds
for the the purchase of a herd of from
15 to 20 bison, of pure blood, to present
to the government for the new national
range. In comparison with the great
sum that is being expended by Canada, —
between $150,000.00 and $200,000.00 —
for the purchase, transportation and care
of the Pablo herd, the sum now asked of
Congress seems very small. In view of
the object to be gained, it is trivial. The
American Bison Society is backed by a
strong board of managers, and there is
reason to believe that it will make a very
vigorous campaign in behalf of the pro-
posed new herd.

One of the most interesting features
of the Society's annual report is the
bison census, which was made by Dr. W.
T. Hornaday, and completed on January
first. Its summary shows the existence
at this date of 1,722 pure-blood Amer-
ican bison in captivity, throughout the

world, and 325 head (estimated) run-
ning wild. Of the latter 25 are credited
to the Yellowstone Park, and 300 to the
region southwest of Great Slave Lake,
in Canada. In the United States there
are 1,116 bison in captivity, of which 506
are males and 610 females. Of this
total, 203 are calves that were born in
1907. Canada now contains 476 captive
bison, of which 214 are males and 262
are females, 98 of the total being calves
of the vintage of 1907. Europe con-
tains 54 male and 76 female bison, of
which 22 are calves of the past year.
The grand totals for the world, of cap-
tive bison, are JJJ males and 948 fe-
males ; and of these 323 were born last
year.

In 1903 there were living in captivitv
a total of 1,119 American bison. It thus
appears that since 1903 the total net in-
crease has been 603 head. If these bison
were all owned by national or State gov-
ernments, the future of the species would
be far more secure than it now is with
these animals in the hands of sixty-four
different owners! The temporary tenuie
of private ownership constitutes a great
danger to the species, and renders the
establishment of several national herds
imperatively necessary.

In advocating before Congress the e3-
tablishment of the proposed national
herd in northwestern Montana, the
American Bison Society desires the ac-
tive assistance of all persons who are in-
terested in the perpetual preservation of
what once was our most conspicuous and
valuable American animal. The thing
to do is to request Senators and Repre-
sentatives to facilitate the passage of
Senator Dixon's bill.

BUMBLEBEES EOR THE PHILIPPINES.

Clover is one of the most valuable
plants in the whole range of agriculture,
and the lack of it has been severely felt
in the Philippines. The plant is not only
valuable as pasturage for certain animals,
but it actually enriches the soil on which
it grows, instead of making it poorer.
If "you pull up a handful of the first
bunch of clover that you see in your
path, and remove the adherent earth, you
will observe that the roots are studded
with irresrnlar nodules, each about the

9?

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

size of a pin-head. Section these little
bodies, examine them with the proper
magnifying power of the microscope,
and you will find that they are filled with
minute bacteria which, as is well known,
have the ability to absorb from the air
the nitrogen needed by the clover, and
to supply the soil with the nitrogen of
which it too has need. The bacteria
supply to the clover the substance that
it must have to thrive, and the clover
gives to the bacteria what to them is
desirable for their welfare, but which to
it is a waste product. To the farmer the
plant is important, since, among other
purposes dear to him, it may be used to
restore the fertility to an exhausted soil.
But aside from this valuable quality,
clover without seed is unmanageable,
and without bumblebees clover will not
produce seeds. Bumblebees are there-
fore one of the farmer's most valuable
assets, and to assist in the cultivation of
•clover, bumblebees have been carried
from England to New Zealand, and from
the United States to the Philippines.

In his "Origin of Species" Darwin
savs : "Humble-bees alone visit red clo-
ver, as other bees cannot reach the nec-
tar. It has been suggested that moths
may fertilize the clovers ; but I doubt
whether they could do so in the case of
the red clover, from their weight not
being sufficient to depress the wing-
petals. Hence we may infer as highly
probable that, if the whole genus of
humble-bees became extinct or very rare
in England, the heart's-ease and red
clover would become very rare, or wholly
disappear. The number of humble-bees
in any district depends in a great degree
on the number of field-mice, which de-
stroy their combs and nests ; and Colonel
Newman, who has long attended to the
habits of humble-bees, believes that
'more than two-thirds of them are thus
destroyed all over England.' Now the
number of mice is largely dependent,
as every one knows, on the number of
cats, and Colonel Newman says, 'Near
villages and small towns I have found
the nests of humble-bees more numerous
than elsewhere, which I attribute to the
number of cats that destroy the mice."

While the bumblebee is satisfying its
taste for nectar, it naturallv becomes

dusted with pollen which it carries to
another head of clover, thus effecting
the necessary cross-fertilization. The
ordinary honeybee will not do this for the
red clover, because the proboscis is too
short to reach to the bottom of the deep
and narrow blossoms, where the nectar is
stored, but the bumblebee's long probos-
cis is well adapted to the purpose.
Hence it follows that with no bumble-
bees, no clover seed ; plenty of bumble-
bees, plenty of clover seed.

In the Philippines there were no bum-
blebees and no clover, until both arrived
from the United States. The clover, as
a desirable citizen, got there first with
the usual seedless result. But the
Bureau of Entomology in the U. S. De-
partment of Agriculture, has sent a col-
lection of bumblebees in charge of two
returning Filipino students, and another
later consignment by one of the trans-
ports. Professor L. O. Howard, Chief
of the Bureau, reports their arrival in
good condition, with every probability
that they will become established.

It has been said that "The Filipinos
with their scanty clothing may have some
painful adventures before they learn to
treat the American bumblebees with
proper respect. Almost any person who
has had experience would rather be stung
by a honeybee than a bumblebee. A
bumblebee is a splendid thing to keep
away from when his temper is tried."

WHAT IT ALL MEANS.

"To add to the resources of one's
life — think how much that means ! To
add to those things that make us more
at home in the world ; that help guard
us against ennui and stagnation ; that
invest the country with new interest
and enticement; that make every walk
in the fields or woods an excursion into
a land of unexhausted treasures ; that
make the returning seasons fill us with
expectation and delight; that make ev-
ery rod of ground like the page of a
book, in which new and strange things
may be read; in short those things that
help keep us fresh and sane and young,
and make us immune to the strife and
fever of the world." —From the intro-
duction to The Nature Library, by John
Burroughs.

CORRESPONDENCE aND INFORMATION.

93

3"

(CORRESPONDENCE

^*" and Information

A FAMOUS MUSK-OX HEAD.

Zoological Park, New York City.

To THi-: Editor : —

The national collection of heads and
horns, at the Zoological Park, has just
received a notable and valuable musk-ox
head as a gift from Warburton Pike, of
Victoria. British Columbia. All read-
ers of Arctic travels, and all hunters of
bip" game, know Mr. Pike as the author
of that finest of ^11 works on northern
Canada, entitled "The Barren Grounds
of Northern Canada," published by the
Macmilian Company in 1892 Among
books of its kind it is a classic. Jt de-
scribes Mr. Pike's daring and even ter-
rible trip in midwinter into the country
of the musk-ox and barren ground car-

HEAD OF MUSK OX.
Courtesy of the New York Zoological Society.

ibou, from which he brouerht out the

first detailed and authentic information
in

ever given

the world regarding the
barren ground musk-ox on its native
.leath. His

subsequent hunting expeditions into that
desolate, and in winter terrible country.

Mr. Pike is a resident of \ ictoria,
British Columbia, and owns a gold mine
in the Dease LaKe region. A year ago
he passed throush New York, and was
made much of by the big °'ame hunters
of New York, at the Boone and Crock-
ett Club, and in the Zoological Park.
From the first he has been keenlv inter-
ested in the movement for a national
collection of heads and horns.

The musk-ox head recently received
from Mr. Pike is the largest and finest
trophy of his famous expedition. It ap-
pears in Mr. Rowland Ward's "Records
of P>ig Game," well up near the top of
th^ list of "record" h°ads of musk-ox.
Its measurements are as follows:
Length of horn on outside curve. 26% in.
Distance between tips of horns ... 27 in.
Width of horn at base 11 in

The hair under the chin is about a
foot in length.

The head was mounted by John Fan-
nin, late curator of the Provincial Mu-
seum at Victoria, and is in a fine state of
preservation. Its colors are apparently
as fresh as when, in a temperature of 30
degrees below zero, in a howling gale of
snow, the owner was shot, decapitated,
and devoured — all save this head, — by
five desperate men and a dozen hungry

sled dogs.

W. T. liORNADAY.

book was the motif of all

FEEDING GREY SQUIRRELS.

Lowville. N. Y.
To the Editor :

The late frosts of the spring of 1902,
which proved such a blessing in dis-
guise by ridding our section of the coun-
try of the tent caterpillars, were most
unfortunate for the squirrels. The ten-
der flower-buds of the beech, butter-nut
and other trees upon the fruits of which
they depend for their winter's supplies

94

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

were destroyed and the subsequent au-
tumn brought them no nuts. No doubt
many squirrels perished of starvation
during the severe winter which followed,
but our picture shows one of a pair of
fine gray squirrels which fared other-
wise.

The nut-famine drove them from the
forest, and they made their way to a

THE WILD GREY SQUIRREL.

corn-field near our house, where they
found an ample supply of food in its
golden kernels. When the crop was
harvested, however, this supply was cut
off, and, with surprising boldness for
animals so shy as the gray squirrel ordi-
narily is, they ventured into the trees of
our door-yard. Realizing that they

must have been driven to us by scarcity
of food we were very glad to supply it
to them, and also comfortable quarters
for the winter. We filled a box with
warm bedding and a lot of butternuts
and corn, and fastened it in a large
sugar maple tree near our kitchen win-

dow. To introduce them to their pros-
pective home we fastened ears of corn at
intervals along up the trunk to the box,
and one ear was left protruding out of
the entrance. To be doubly sure that
the squirrels would go into the box and
see what nice accommodations we had
for them there the ear was fastened
in the entrance so that they could not
pull it out, and they would have to go
in in order to get the corn on the farther
end of the ear.

The plan worked admirably, and ere
many days it was evident that the visi-
tors had resolved to search no further
for a winter home. This just suited and
during the cold days which followed the
handsome fellows were often seen sport-
ing about the tree or digging in the snow
about it for the extra nuts which we sup-
plied from time to time. We would often
wire ears of corn to the trunk for them,
and these they visited regularly for their
morning meals. It was while one of
them was about to partake of its break-
fast one day that we made the negative
used for our picture.

Note the fine fur of the wild squir-
rel as compared with that of the tame
ones of our city parks. Unfortunately
the very large and bushy tail of our
subject was in such a position that it
shows only in part. It was even larger
than the squirrel's body.

We very much hoped that these squir-
rels would make their permanent home
with us, but all the inducement we could
offer seemed of no avail, for on the
advent of the warm days of spring they
betook themselves to the woods and we
have not seen them here since.

Romeyn B. Hough.

ANIMATED LEAVES.

Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania.
To the Editor : —

All tourists in Southern California
have admired the pepper tree, with its
large clusters of rose-carmine berries
and its dark green, fern-like leaves ; but
few have ever discovered the curious
phenomenon attending the latter.

If a leaflet is broken transversely into
about three pieces and these placed on
the surface of a shallow plate of water
there will usuallv follow, in a few mo-

THE CAMERA.

95

ments a series of sudden jerks, as though
the fragments were really imbued with
life. The manifestation is at some
times more pronounced than at others, —
the rules governing this being yet un-
known to the writer. Usually the best
results are seen earl}- in the day. The
leaf fragments should be kept away
from the edge of the water to avoid
grounding ; they must not be so close
to each other as to touch, else the phe-

nomenon might be attributed to vegeta-
ble magnetism.

The gliding is abrupt, and so nearly
instantaneous that the observer who fails
to give the experiment his undivided at-
tention is likely to miss the motion. The
explanation is that there is an intermit-
tent expulsion of a volatile oil from the
broken cells. As this continues only for
a short time the semblance to animation
is as brief as surprising.

Bessie L. Putnam.

CAMERA RECORDS OF BIRDS' NESTS.

[Also notes on the nesting habits of five of our ground
breeding birds.]

BY P. G. HOWES, MAPLEWOOl),
FORD, CO NX.

STA M -

I wish to emphasize the important
part that the camera plays in the study
of birds or any other natural history
interests. The accompanying photo-

*^>

marked success, and I hiehlv recommend
them to any prospective purchaser.

( )ur ground breeding birds are many,
and to attempt describing the nesting
habits of them all at one time would not
only take up too much room in our valu-
able Guide, but would be practically im-
possible, as the ornithologist can not
make an accurate study of more than

ARCHED NEST OF THE MEADOW LARK.
(Sturnella magna) in short grass in meadow.

graphs show the good results and the
high quality of the Eastman Kodak Com-
pany's cameras. With their cartridge
Kodak Xo. 4 and Premo No. 4, I have

NESTING PLACE OF FIELD AND HENS-
LOW SPARROWS.

In fields near by the spotted sandpiper may be
found at home.

four or five at a time. So I have picked
out five birds which all nest on the

96

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

ground or very close to it, of whose nest-
ing" habits I will make a brief outline
and of whose nests and eggs I have

-tofe'

taken photographs.

To me there is nothing more enjoyable
than to rise about 4 A. .m., don my old
clothes, shoulder my Eastman Kodak No.
4 or a Premo. sling on a fish creel in which
to put my plates and collecting mater-
ials, and after hurriedb7 swallowing a
few mouth fuls of breakfast, leave the
house for a day's collecting. In my
haste to get outdoors I slam the door
behind me, half scaring a sleepy starling
out of his wits, who has just emerged
from his cosy box in a near-by pear
tree, to welcome the new coming day
with his odd and variegated but fasci-
nating song. As I walk on across the
lawn towards the meadows, sparkling in
the faint light of the fading: moon, with
silverv dew, the first robin commences
to sing his long, sweet carol, and his

and tail, utters his familiar "Oubeladee."
By this time the grey dawn is swiftly
vanishing and a rich crimson glow in the
east reminds me that I must not spend
too much time thus idly listening to
nothing and watching the weather condi-
tions instead of my birds.

However it was on one of these trips
in May, 1904, that I first found a nest
of the spotted sandpiper (Actitis macu-
la via). It was placed among the long
grass in a hay-field on our place (Maple-
wood Farm) and contained four eggs of
a beautiful buff color spotted and
splashed with blackish brown. The nests
are composed of grass rounded into a
shallow and frail nest. Birds like the
spotted sandpiper whose young run about
after the parent a few hours after hatch-
ing, need but a frail nest to keep the
e°"p's from rolling about too much, while
hatching. Compare the nest of this bird
with that of the substantial mud structure

NEST AND EGGS OF FIELD SPARROW.
(Spizella pusilla.)

Built among tufts of growing orchard grass so
that when the young are hatched they may have
plenty of shade.

example is soon followed by his fellow
friends. As J approach a nearby swamp
a large male red-winged blackbird
alights in the topmost branch of a
smooth alder, and with a spread of wings

NEST OF THE HOODED WARBLER.

( Sylvania mitrata.)

A warbler showing flycatcher traits, often diving
into the air after a passing insect.

of the robin whose voting occupy the nest
for many days.

The "teeters," as the sandnipers are
commonly called by the country boy, on
account of their habit of continually bob-

THE CAMERA.

bing their tail up and down, may be
found around most any pond or swamp

or coastal marsh. They nest through
May and June, after which they wander
about with their youn.<>\ My migration

of an exceedingly odd pair of birds, a>
they built their nest in the short grass of
an old hayfield, with no protection what-
soever, while generally the nest is so con-
cealed in long grass that it is quite diffi-

NEST OF SPOTTED SANDPIPER.

(Actitis Macularia)

Where nature has supplied pointed eggs which

fit together so that the comparatively small bird

may easily cover them.

lists for the last few years, show that the
time of their arrival in the spring is
between the second and third weeks in
April, they stay through May, June, July
and August, departing for the South the
second week in September.

My second subject is the meadowlark,
(stumella magna}. ( )n some early March
morning, — though the ground be still
frozen and the air still wintry, you may
hear the season of sone inaugurated by
the beautiful flute-like song of "stumel-
la." When I hear for the first time
in the spring, I always forget the cold
and the ice, and the thought of the com-
ing spring, birds, and flowers at once
enters my mind.

The meadowlarks arrive from the South
the second week in March, but do not
commence constructing their nest until
the first or second week in May. They
are exceedingly shy about building their
nest, and even more so after the eggs
are laid. The nest in the photograph is

THE NOOSE STRUCTURE OF THE
HENSLOW SPARROW.

(Ammodramus Henslowii. )

Found on a "Red letter" day.

cult to find unless the bird is flushed.
The eggs are from four to six in num-
ber, white, with reddish brown spots and
lavender shell markings.

All through May, 1907, I searched a
certain hayfield for two nests of this
bird, but did not discover them until
their voting were hatched, and one over
zealous youngster began to squawk as
if he were beino' killed, when I happened
to pass near to their home on June 15,
1907.

The Henslow's sparrow (Ammodra-
mus henslowii) is a very rare migrant,
and still rarer breeder in this locality.
My first acquaintance with this bird was
in May. 1907, while walking through a
swampy meadow. I was walking along
slowly when I heard a bird's note
strange to my ear, and on closer exami-
nation found it to be no less than that
of the Henslow sparrow. At the time
1 thought it only to be a passing migrant
but later in the season I flushed a female

98

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

from a nest in a meadow near a swamp.
This was on June 20, 1907. The nest
was composed of dead grass, lined with
finer grass. It was a very shallow

affair, hardly more than an inch thick,
with a depression in the center which
scarcely kept the four eggs from rolling
out. I have but two other records of
this bird's nesting in this locality. These
two nests were found by my brother, A.
G. Howes, one on June 20, 1897, and
the other on June 1, 1898. The eggs
are white spotted with reddish brown.

Next on my list is the field sparrow
(S pixel I a pusilla). This little sparrow
is always associated in my mind with
useless fields covered with lowbushesand
weeds. Their shrill little song may be
heard all through the heat of the day,
and the hotter it is the better they seem
to like it and the more they seem to
sing.

The last bird on my list is the hooded
warbler (Sylvania mitrata). It is not
exactly a common bird here, but may be
occasionally found nesting in a thicket
or on the ground under one. It was one

day in June, 1907, while walking along
near a thicket that I happened to see a
small nest on the ground under a tangle
of vines and bushes, on which was sit-
ting a small warbler of some kind. The
bird flushed before I could identify it,
so I seated myself on the ground be-
hind a nearby bush and patiently awaited
the return of the bird. After a half an
hour back came the warbler very cau-
tiously, and I noticed with some sur-
prise that it was a hooded warbler.

The nest was composed of leaves,
grapevine bark and coarse grass, lined
with much finer grass, and was placed
in a clump of grass and moss squarely
on the ground under the thicket. This
is an unusual location for the nest, it
being usually in a bush one or two feet
above the ground and placed in a fork
of the bush. The four white eggs are
specked with reddish brown. After

photographing the nest and eggs I re-
turned home with a feeling of satisfac-
tion at this new record. Later in the
season I found one or two more nests
of this bird. — From field notes.

BEAUTIFUL "MIRROR" PHOTOGRAPHY.
Made by F. H. L. Cot ten, with Protar Vila lens (The Bausch & Lomb Optical Co.

DOMESTICATED NATURE.

92

domesticated

3?P&*

NATURE

MY "HONEY" Pi^TS.

Near the apiary is the pet house. My
visitors are taken from one to the other.
In the first, I explain that honey is a
sour-sweet — ■ formic acid supplies the
sour and the grape sugar of the trans-
formed nectar supplies the sweet. That
is why I like honey. It gives the widest
range all at once. Roses are better for
the thorns on the stems. I grow sun-
flowers in the potato patch so that lov-
ers of light and lovers of darkness may
be contrasting companions.

Perhaps it is this love of opposites
that induces me to keep "Nectar," the
angel, in a cage, and next to it "Formic,"
the imp, in the pet house. Perhaps, in
themselves, they are not in harmony ; but

to the visitor just

coming

from the

apiary they are. Pain puncturing and
taste tickling are there in partnership.
And here in these two cages are the
gentle and the ugly — the angelic and the
d dweller of the lowlands. Sci-
entists call him the Marsh hawk. The
other pet from its sweetness and loving
ways is rightly called "home-ing."

Sometimes Nectar and Formic go vis-
iting— when I let them, or, perhaps
more accurately stating, make them. 1
think that each has misunderstood the
other. That was before I introduced
them, and made them friendly. Now
one of them knows that on such occas-
ions there is nothing to fear. The other
realizes that it isn't time for eating.

In the two I see a little world. Happi-
ness with law and misery with anarchy.

NECTAR" AND "FORMIC.

IOO

THE GUIDE T< ) XATURE.

A PASSE PARTOUT BEE-HIVE.

Though it has a French}' name, it did
not come from France, but was designed,
and constructed in a back yard in Yan-
keedom.

And the designing and constructing
were not elaborate, though the results
were effective and wonderfully interest-

are not fussy in this respect. In fact
the more rustic and heterogeneous the
arrangement the better they seem to like
it. Invert the box, which has no cover,
open side downwards. And set the
whole thing on an ordinary bottom
board.

Either shake a queen and some of her

agBP— t II III Mi* i ""'i'^"1 ' "^""'TriBal

* *~««w—

?!

1 mF"
-

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■■*3K * IK-

1

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prirr--»

THE PASSE PARTOUT BEE-HIVE.
Bees removed to show comb attachment.

ing and instructive. You can do the following into this,

whole thing as well as I, in just as sim-
ple a manner, and have just as much fun.
Recipe — Take five sheets of glass cut
the right size to form a box ; a few
sticks; a small roll of passe partout bind-
ing ; a board and a small colony of honey
bees. Mix in the following manner:
Fasten the five pieces of glass together
at the edges, box-like, by a strip of
passe partout binding on the inside of
the box," and another on the outside.
Cut a big hole in the center of the
board or bore several small holes. Tack
the sticks, as comb supports, above and
around the opening. Do this in any
fanciful manner that pleases you — and
it will doubtless please the bees. They

or "swarm" into it
on a bright day in May or June, in the
usual manner — and "there you are."
This is the whole process.

Now follows for weeks through top,
sides and ends, the observation of the
wonderful process going on within. If
the hive is in the house with entrance
through the side of the building, cover
the hive with cloth or blankets for dark-
ness and warmth. If the hive is out
doors, add a piece of table oilcloth and
fasten it down by a brick or a stone on
each corner. I prefer to have the hive
indoors, not alone because it is easier to
protect it from moisture, but because it
can there be easily watched by day and
night, and Sundays, too !

DOMESTICATED XATURE.

IOI

Such a hive will give you new ideas
of bees. Here they are not hampered
by the regulation frame, nor forced to
build comb in any particular manner.
They can go up, down and on all sides,
in every angle. And the manner in
which they build in these angles and
curves is astonishing. ( hie is apt to
forget that the bees' original home is in
a hollow tree with absolute freedom to
build in any manner. Comb is not
naturally in the oblong straight form, as
one learns to regard it by seeing nothing"
but regulation frames and sections. The
bees left to themselves like to throw out
a little projection here, a curve there,
and "turn a corner" as they see fit. A
close observation of methods and results
of the individual cells in these projec-
tions and curves is very interesting. It

is astonishing how the space is utilized
even within the curve. 1 do not want
to tell you all about it, for that would
be to deprive you of a large part of the
enjoyment. Try it and see for yourself,
then report results. The cost would not
be more than a dollar in addition to that
of the bees.

The photographs show the results in
comb building in a hive that I tried last
year. I have removed the bees to show
the comb structure. (The bees may be
easily removed by treating the whole as a
super and setting it on another hive,
with cover of this main hive off, and an
"escape board" between the two.)

Last season's experience gave me
many suggestions. I am trying it again
this year. Will not the reader try it
and report results?

INTRICATE AND BEAUTIFUL FORMATIONS OF HONEYCOMB BUILT IX

THE PASSE PARTOUT HIVE.

102

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

YAID
THE LENS

WITH THE POCKET MAGNIFIER.

Some years ago Agassiz in the ex-
pression "Study Nature, not Books,"
pointed a way to a fuller appreciation of
this old sphere upon which we live. But
we have not followed the suggestion as
closely as we should, and most of us
know a very, very little about what is
constantly going on around us in the ani-
mal and plant world.

It is true that most of the actors on
the stage are too small to be seen with-
out the aid of a lens, but this need not
prevent us from enjoying the beauty and
novelty of these small bits of life, for

there a r e
many excel-
lent pocket
magnifiers or
hand lenses
(such as
those made
by the Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., of
Rochester, N. Y.) which are within the
reach of all.

But, you may ask, what is to be seen ?
Simply multitudes ! With a pocket mag-

(The Triple Aplanat, a tine
lens. Price S3 5°)

(The Hastings Triplet, one of the
best magnifiers. Price $7.5o)

nifier as an out-of-door companion every
stagnant pool, every decaying piece of
wood becomes full of interest, and our
walks cannot lead us into paths that
are devoid of scenes worthy of our
attention. Ev-
ery stone in the
\v< iodland, when
turned over,
opens a door in-
to a new and
different land
where the many legged inhabitants go
scurrying to and fro performing their
part in the division of labor just as in-
dividuals in a well organized community
of men do. Indeed many examples of
activity and the strenuous life may be
found which are well worth following!
One becomes absorbed in the study of

sensitive
antennae,
the absurd-
ly formed
m o u t h
parts, the
hard, pro-

~\

(The Doublet. Price 7£C. )

HORSEFLY'S WING AS SEEN BY AID OF A POCKET MAGNIFIER.

SEEING BY AID OF THE LENS.

103

WING OF GRASSHOPPER.

tective shells and wondering why they
are so until care and troubles are forgot-
ten and the full benefit of being out of
doors realized.

And there is still another advantage,
which is that observations can be made
within the natural habitat of our small
friends so that we may learn to always
distinguish them from our enemies.
And there are many of the latter which
we should learn to know in all stages
of their life cycles, so that wherever
met they may be exterminated. For ex-
ample, there is the gypsy moth, now such

HOUSEFLY.

an imminent danger in New England.

In the plant kingdom many wonders
await us and progressing with the study
adds fascination to our walks in the
fields and woods. The means by which
seeds are
distributed,
the provis-
ion for
plant pro-
t e c t i o n ,

°' 1" O W i 11°" (Pocket Magnifiers in Vulcanite mount-
s' & ings; come in various stvles. Prices

roots, bark, 20c. up)

exquisite mosses, wonderful spores and

FISH SCALES WITH MODERATE MAGNIFICATION.
Show "prongs" for attachment and grooves for lubricating fluid.

ic>4

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

plant parasites — all are realms which
any one with a pocket magnifier may
invade with profit. The magnifier does
away with the trouble of taking parts of
the object under study to one's home and
allows the observation to be made where
the material is natural and growing.

"Seeing by aid of the lens"-— the pocket
magnifier — broadens one's view of
things, makes the world more enjoyable
and gives us some insight into the mar-
velous structure of the universe. The
agriculturist, the horticulturist the geol-
ogists, other scientists and nature stu-
dents have long appreciated the pocket
magnifier for its faithful service. We
who go abroad in fields and wood for
recreation, pleasure and health should
become better acquainted with these won-
der-working lenses. They add both
profit and pleasure at all seasons of the
vear.

PLANT OVARIES AND OYULES AS A
BOTANICAL STUDY.

Any natural science may be made a
pleasing, instructive and beneficial re-
creation. To accomplish such commend-
able purposes it is not necessary for the
student to make himself a professional
investigator, and pursue the study of any

* *

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A>«.

No. 2. OVARA OF BEGONIA

particular department in order to teach
it to others, nor as a means by which to

train a livelihood.

As an amateur he

No. i. OVARY OF NIGHT-BLOOMING
CEREUS.

may not only inform himself, but may
prolong his life, increase his happiness,
and cultivate his aesthetic tastes by de-
voting his leisure time to the study of
some department of nature, toward
which he may feel an inclination, toward
which his reading may direct, or ob-
servation lead him to follow a friend's
example. Of all the natural sciences,
botany perhaps combines more real sat-
isfaction with mental and physical re-
creation, than any other. The pleasure
of finding a flower new to the student
is a delightful experience. The exhil-
aration of the open air, of the compan-
ionship with the humble favorites of
nature, the physical exercise, the sensa-
tion of freedom, and especially the men-
tal rest obtainable from a new train of
thought, and relief from other and per-
haps not entirely congenial work for
daily bread, together give the student a
longer lease of life and a firmer hold on
the spiritualities of existence.

The human being of any number of
years may be felicitated if he have a nat-
ural liking for botany, as most persons
find that they have when, perhaps by
accident or by a casual remark of an

SEEING BY AID OF THE LENS.

105

acquaintance, they are introduced to it.
And if the student discovers that he likes
to use a microscope, even one with only
low magnifying powers, he may con-
gratulate himself, for he has then en-
tered on a field of amateur investigation
to occupy his evenings and his leisure
time, that can never pall, nor tire,
hut will always be ready to show him
some new, interesting and instructive
thing. "Man cannot live by bread

alone," is a divine precept that man
has proved by experience. Bodily and
mental recuperation are rarely obtained
by a mind that is blank.

The pleasure of identifying, or "ana-
lysing" the flower is to be added to the
delight of seeing, with the microscope,
structure or objects invisible to the naked
eye. If the reader has not had that
experience there is something agreeable
in store for him.

Perhaps one of the most interesting
features, possible the one most neglected
by the amateur, is the examination of
sections of the plant ovary, the contained
ovules, and the placenta to which the
ovules are attached. These all vary
widely in number, structure and appear-
ance in different flowers, and all are well
worthy of study and of record. In a
paper like this it is not possible to do
more than to hint and suggest. Further
investigation must be left to the stu-

No. 4. OVARY OF EUPHORBIA
(A SPURGE).

No. 3. OVARY OF COMMON LOW
MALLOW.

dent, who may enter the field certain
that he will be rewarded.

The few illustrations here shown are
transverse sections of the ovaries of
plants not rare nor difficult to obtain,
and are not highly magnified. They are
used more to show the variety and the
general aspect of such objects, than for
any other purpose. The reader is of
course not limited to these ; the nearest
field is full of flowers as instructive and
praiseworthy as are those here pictured.
All that he needs is a fairly good supply
of patience and perseverance, a sharp
knife or razor, and a microscope with
a good, low-power objective. Any book
on botany will inform and help on the
subject, which he has certainly neglected
or overlooked.

Photo 1 is a section of the ovary of the
magnificent Night-blooming Cereus,
(Cereus Grandiiiorus) , which is "one-
celled with parietal placentas." The
preparation was too strenuously handled
before it was "mounted," or too careless-
ly, and only eight ovules remain attached
to the sections of what the technical de-
scription calls the parietal placentae.

The ovary of the Begonia (Photo 2) is
three-angled with the placentae in the
angles. This illustration is also rather

io6

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

imperfect. The wall of the ovary has
been removed, probably by the rough
handling of the person who prepared
the section for the microscope, but
enough remains to show several inter-
esting characteristics.

Photo 3 is the ovary of Malva rotun-
difolia, a plant that produced the
"cheeses" of our childhood, which the

reader, and the writer, too, has many a
time devoured with mucilaginous delight.
The flattened fruit or "cheese," shown in
transverse section by the illustration,
here contains twelve cells, each with an
ovule, but as the slice is not quite flat
( the fault of the operator ) , the ovules
have been cut across at slightly differ-
ent levels.

Literary

BIOGRAPHICAL

How to Lay Out Suburban Home;
Grounds: By Herbert J. Kella-
way, Landscape Architect. Xew
York: John Wiley & Sons.
This is a book more of inspiration
than of doing. It tends to give right
ideas, rather than to lay down rules of
definite methods. It gives the suburban-
ite the "key' to the situation and then
he can unlock his particular problem.
The following quotation expresses the
plan of gradually accomplishing the re-
sults desired :

"Can the ideal be attained? Yes; per-
haps not all at once, but little by little
as funds permit : The scheme must be
outlined and a determined and settled
purpose will accomplish what was seem-
ingly the unattainable. The house is
usually the first thought. Instead the
beginning should be on the ground, the
location, quality, surroundings, and pos-
sibilities for development. The adapt-
ability of the site to secure the ideals of
the home builder should be considered,
whether it is a shrub embordered lawn,
a flower garden, or natural or wild
grounds. It is possible to create effects
on almost any site, but every natural
feature should be utilized. A home well
begun is half done. Consideration
should be given, besides the cost, to the
'upkeep' or maintenance. The cheapest
method of development and least cost for
care is to have mostly lawn and shrub-
bery. The more details planned, such
as arbors, terraces, and gardens, the
greater will be the expense for keeping
them in order."

The book is well printed and beauti-
fully illustrated.

The Open Road: A Little Book for
Wayfarers, compiled by E. V. Lu-
cas. Xew York^ Henry Holt &
Co. i6mo. 1907. Pp. XII., 326.
However unwilling one may be to ad-
mit it, the fact remains that personal ap-
pearance has a greater influence than al-
most any other quality apparent at a
first meeting. Shirt sleeves, unkempt
hair and broken shoes never yet changed
a stranger into a friend. It is no less
true of the external aspect of a book. A
frequent visitor at the public library, or
an attendant there, will not rarely see a
volume rejected with the remark: "I
don't want that. I don't like the print;
it doesn't look comfortable." Similar
criticism cannot be made against this
little book, for it is alluring from start
to finish. The artistic "end papers" im-
press the observer favorably, for he
opens the cover to look at the open road
winding across the landscape toward the
sunrise, and he closes it with a vision re-
maining of the footpath way, and fallen
leaves rustling beside the road beneath
the crescent moon.

After a gentle farewell to the winter
and the town, the anthologist leads us to
the open road, with Titania for a compan-
ion, while a lover is singing in the dis-
tance. "The Little book," as the compi-
ler says, "aims at nothing but providing
companionship on the road for the city-
dwellers who make holiday. It is just a
garland of good or enkindling poetry and

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION.

107

prose fitted to urge folk into the open air,
and once there to keep them glad they
came." We wander below the sun and the
cloud, and beside the windy hills, invol-
untarily, with the change of a single
word, repeating the boy's prayer : —

God who created me

Nimble and light of limb.

In three elements free,
To run, to ride, to swim :
Not when the sense is dim,

I hit now from the heart of joy,
1 would remember him:

Take the thanks of a boy.

In the garden and the orchard there
are music and laughter beneath the
branches. We meet a little company of
good country people, and return with
reluctant feet to the noisy town, re-
freshed by the ramble and made glad
by the remembrance of our experiences.

Among poems that we are all sup-
posed to know and to admire, one of the
most pleasing and suggestive is by the
anthologist himself. He calls it "Jack."

Eve/)' village has its Jack, but no vil-
lage ever had quite so fine a Jack as
ours : —

So picturesque.

Versatile,

Irresponsible,

Powerful,

Hedonistic,

And lovable a Jack as ours.

How Jack lived none knew, for he
rarely did any work .

True, he set night-lines for eels, and
invariably caught one.

Often two,

Sometimes three ;

While very occasionally he had a day's
harvesting or hay-making.

Jack had a big black beard, and a red
shirt, which was made for another,

And no waistcoat.

His boots were somebody else's ;

He wore the Doctor's coat,

And the Vicar's trousers.

Personally, I gave him a hat, but it
was too small. . . .

Then there came a tempter, with tales
of easily acquired wealth, and Jack went
away in his company.

He has never come back.

And now the village is like a man who
has lost an eye. . . .

For my part, I have hope; and the
trousers I discarded last week will not
be given away just yet.

The reviewer has so thoroughly en-
joyed the little book, that he must be al-
lowed the satisfaction of complaining
about something. The paginating

should have been in the proper place at
the to]), not as it is, at the bottom, where
it is as irritating as a briar of the wild
rose in the thumb.

A. C. S.

ifeioN

SUCCESS IN STUDYING BOTANY. .

BY DOROTHY A. BALDWIN, WELLESLEY
NO. 203O.

This winter I have been taking a very
interesting course in botany. It is dif-
ferent from the courses taught in most
schools and colleges, and it seems to me
to be just the kind of a course the A A
would approve of. We have no text-
book whatever, and although for the
greater part of the year we are assigned

our work for certain days, we are left to
do the studying and the thinking out of
the difficult points for ourselves. Then
we are sometimes assigned the study of
some phase of plant life and are allowed
a certain number of weeks to make the
study purely from observation. For

instance, during the winter, germination
was studied in this way and this spring
the opening of buds and cross pollination.
In this way we have gained much more

io8

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

than we ever could have by the use of
text-books, and it has interested us to go
on with the studies we have begun.

I think the way to study nature is to
observe first and then use books after-
wards, if necessary to make sure you are
right. But if you meet a difficulty don't
give up after the first attempt to solve it.
Keep at it, observe carefully again and
again, and take your observation from
as many different specimens as you can.
That is the way to get real benefit and
pleasure out of "nature study" as a
study.

::: ♦ ^ $• * >f:

I wonder if it wouldn't be a good
idea for some of the Chapters to let
their members each choose some partic-
ular point in nature study to work on
while they are doing general work. I
suppose this would have to be as each
Chapter decided, though, and perhaps
some have already tried it. It seems to
me that when there is such an enormous
field to work in you are apt to get lost,
as it were, while if each chose some par-
ticular thing in which he was very much
interested to study it would give some-
thing: on which to start.

THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTE.

During the first two days in April,
Chapter ion, Johnstown, Pa., of the Ag-
assiz Association, had a short but inter-
esting trip to the Carnegie Institute of
Pittsburg.

Here the Chapter was greatly interested
in the different minerals, animals, birds,
fish, and miscellaneous curios from all
parts of the world. Among the curios
the Indian (North American) collection
showed the manner of living and dress.
The animals and birds are very well
mounted, one case being worthy of spec-
ial mention. It was a setter pointing
a flock of quail, the quail being so ar-
ranged among the autumn leaves that it
took some sharp looking to see them.
Among the animals the skeleton of the
famed Diplodocus was the most interest-
ing. A visit to the mounting rooms
showed the Chapter two gorillas being
mounted and a few large live rattle-
snakes making a great commotion.

SAINT GABRIEL'S CHAPTER NO 1013.

Our most recent and a promising
chapter was organized at St. Gabriel's
School, Peekskill, N. Y. There are thir-
ty-nine members. The officers are:
President, Dorothy Kent ; Vice-Presi-
dent, E. Primrose Lawrence ; Secretary,
Margaret Brett.

REPORT.

The changing of our Out-of-Doors
Club into a branch of the Agassiz Asso-
ciation has caused much interest. We
are divided into two parts, the younger
children forming a Junior Branch. They
are very enthusiastic and at present are
busy with an aquarium, an account of
which they hope to send in for your com-
petition.

Our branch is composed of several
committees ; for birds, for trees, for wild
flowers, for insects and for stars, respec-
tively. As a great many of us are be-
ginners, some of the committees have not
accomplished as much work as others.
The bird committee can make the best
report. Seventy-six different kinds of
birds have been seen since the first of
January, and the dates of the arrival
of migratory birds have been kept.

During this last month great quanti-
ties of birds have been seen. One of our
members identified twenty different kinds
in one afternoon, and another, to whom
the work is quite new, has a list of thir-
ty-seven that she has seen this spring.

We do not intend the bird work to
stop with the close of school. Two of
our branch expect to be abroad, one on
a driving trip through Norway, and an-
other along the Mediterranean coast.
Each is going to keep an account of the
various birds she sees. Then several in-
tend to make trips to the Natural His-
tory Museum in New York, and all have
been requested to make observations
around their homes.

Next fall we hope to have all our work
recorded in a catalogue. We are also
anxious to take up the observation of the
habits of birds, nesting, etc., as our work
so far has been chiefly identification.

I will leave the reports of the other
committees until we have done more
work with them.

E. Primrose Lawrence.

NATURE WITH UNCOMMON INTEREST.

The Guide
To Nature

© StamfopljW

Edward ^rT3igelowTTlditor.

Vol.

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JULY, 1908

No. 4

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PUBLISHED BY THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION.

OFFICE: 113 GROVE ST., STAMFORD. CONNECTICUT.

• *\ ■■» ir r>« 1

The Sachs Tablets

A PLANT FOOD AND STIHULANT

Apply to the roots of the plants in any form you wish and the
plants will grow and thrive. The plants may be grown in earth
and the solution applied as a fertilizer and stimulant, or the plants
may be grown, for novelty and experiment, on crushed stone,
pebbles, bits of brick, sponge, sawdust, or between two sheets of
glass and the growth watched.

The Sachs- tablets grew these luxuriant and thrifty plants from
less than a tablespoonful of sawdust in each eggshell.

Sections of roots or root hairs may be taken at any stage for
careful observation, free from all soil.

Excellent for experimental work. Efficient with "house plants."
Just the thing to awaken a dormant plant.

Box containing 30 tablets (sufficient for 15 pints of solution) mailed
postpaid with full directions for 10c.

Prices in bulk as follows:

500 Tablets, $1.25; 1000 Tablets, $2.00 ; 2000 Tablets, $3.50; Additional 1000, $1.25.

Less than 500 tablets not supplied in bulk.

These tablets and the directions with them will guide you into most interesting

fields in PLANT LIFE.

ADDRESS,"^ Gu-de tQ Natuf^ Stamfordt Conn>

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My heart is fixed firm and stable in the belief that ultimately the sunshine and the
summer, the flowers and the azure sky, shall become, as it were, interwoven into man's
existence. He shall take from all their beauty and enjoy their glory. Richard JefferieS.

The Guide to Nature,

EDUCATION AND RECREATION

Vol. I

JULY, 1908

No. 4

W

-Sfc—

m OUTDOOR WORLD

La Jolla, the Nature Lover's Beach

BY CHARLOTTE M. HOAK, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

"Lest we forget that out of wild nature Ave are come; tlrcit our instincts are
great, our wisdoms little, that the main current of our will is still like the green mov-
ing waters, and our reasoned choices like the flutter of foam on its surface; that we
became citizens but yesterday and were bred in the wilderness."

A JOLLA is the nature lov-
er's beach. When the
wheezy little motor that
has tugged you up goes
clanking' on its backward
track to San Diego, the
rhythmic beat of the inces-
santly pounding surf, like
an impenetrable curtain of sound, shuts
out the outer world. Its hurry and bus-
tle, its strident noises and nerve wearing-
discords are one by one forgotten once
you yield yourselves to the charm of the
sea.

A set description of La Jolla is not
necessarv, for her fame has already gone

abroad. Every well informed tourist
comes with large expectations of this
"gem of the sea," and none are disap-
pointed. Not far from the stuffy little
station, which never yet has held one-
half the eager crowd which throngs
thither, lies the main part of the village,
a cliff colony charmingly set on the
brown sandstone bluffs where they slope
less abruptly to the water's edge.

Before you have been many days in
La Jolla, you yield to the charm of the
mysterious caves which are accounted
her chief attraction. At hi eh tide the
sounding surf breaks angrily far inside
their eloomv entrances. The constant

Copyright igo8 by The Agassiz Association. Stamford, Conn.

112

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

boom of gigantic breakers beats and
wastes a useless strength on the impreg-
nable walls of stone. The foam of this
endless strife breaks hundreds of feet into
the air and the restless waters surge back
again to gather strength for a new at-

"A CLIFF COLONY CHARMINGLY SET ON
THE BROWN SANDSTONE BLUFFS. "

tack. The nearest cave, a mammoth
vault forty feet high and two hundred
feet long, may always be reached by a
tunnel which has been excavated from
the land side. Its entrance is in the
hands of a proprietor, and if your sense
of curiosity is more than your spirit of
daring you may enter by this more con-
ventional way.

But the '"white lady of La Jolla?" All
sorts of vague accounts you hear of this
phantom lady of the sea. At extreme
low tide you make your way along the
slippery cliffs over an uncertain pathway
piled high with seaweed wreckage. Now
and then you slide into an eddying pool.
At length you reach the mouth of the
first cave. Threading in and out among
the rocky halls you come at last to a
cave more spacious than the rest. You
turn your eyes seaward and there in
the mouth of this cave, filling its en-
trance, stands the mystic white lady.
1 ler radiant form is clothed in gar-
ments of light. She stands expectant,
listening, her bridal veil sweeping from
her queenly head envelops her tall form
and trails its shimmering folds down to
the water's edge. The older settlers aver
that this strange, life-like form sculp-
tured from the rocks which form the
mouth of this cave is the likeness of an
unfortunate bride who in early days was
overtaken by the treacherous tides while
she was exploring the interior of the
cave.

At every step La folia's surf line is
made up of entirely different features.

Beneath the Natural Bridge lies the
roadway to Rocky Point. Here a series
of shelf-like benches have been worn by
the action of the waves. The honey-
combed surfaces of the upper levels are
riddled through and through with the de-
serted dwelling places of innumerable
colonies of mollusks that have lost out in
the ceaseless struggle for existence. On
the lower benches, just below the sur-
face of the water, lie the "marine gar-
dens." From the vantage point of a
huge boulder you may sit and sun your-
self and study these matchless gardens
of the sea. Marvels of glowing color
and moving grace, their sinuous, undu-
lating folds rise and fall with each move-
ment of the waves, like trees blown bv

vagrant breezes.

A

garden without

LA JOLLA. THE NATURE LOVER'S BEACH.

113

"WAIT TILL THE NEXT WAVE COMES IN."

blossoms, yet simulating all the gor-
geous coloring of our showiest flowers ;
destitute of foliage, yet possessing the
delicate tracery of our finest ferns.
Fishes green and gold dart hither and
thither in this natural aquarium, thread-
ing their devious ways through the wav-
ing branches. Starfishes gleam out like
seastars from the shadowy recesses of
hiding rocks, and here and there gor-

geous sea anemones bespangle the rocky
depths which serve as an anchorage for
this strange garden.

On windy days when the white capped
waves run high one may watch with
spellbound fascination the boiling surf at
The Witches' Caldron. The mad waters
seethe in and out, their heedless fury
lures you nearer until a huge breaker
lunging shoreward catches you unawares

GROUP OF TORREY PINES OVERLOOKING THE OCEAN.

H4

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

and you go home drenched through and
through by a salty shower.

The monotony of a dull day hung low
with gray fogs tempts you inside to ex-
plore that wonderful marine laboratory
on Alligator's Head where the specimens
are preserved alive. In the numerous
tanks and jars filled with sea water you

THE CAVES WITH DEEE MARINE
GARDENS AT ONE SIDE.

find a complete collection of the sea life,
rare and common, of the whole south-
western shore ; and at closer range you
may observe the rarer and shver speci-
mens that eluded you in their native
habitat. You may watch a tiny shark
emerging from his queer ungainly spiral
shell, wonder at the sea anemones curling
their daintily tinted fingers voraciously
around whatever prey you may offer
them and laugh at the starfishes wrig-
gling into humpy and ungainly stars.

On the days when the lure of the sea
is less compelling, you turn your face
landward to the open sunny mesas that
lie beyond Mount Soledad. The most
traveled road across this sea of sage-
brush and low desert herbage is the road
to the Torrey pines. In this rugged and
picturesque natural park lie scattered in
groups or singly some two or three hun-
dred trees of all sizes and ages. They
present a most interesting commentary
on the strenuous struggle for existence.
( )n the seaward side they form dense
mats which creep and crawl persistently
Up the rocky washes until they reach
the crest of the mesa. On the sides of
sheltered ravines slightly protected from
the remorseless buffeting of wind and
weather they assume their characteristic
form — sturdy, clean and upright.

Scientists from all parts of the world
have visited this remarkable grove and
many a conjecture has been offered as
to their probable origin, but these non-
committal pines guard well their myster-
ious secret. This is the only locality in
the world where they occur. They were
named shortly after their discovery in
1850 in honor of our famous naturalist,
Professor John Torrey.

] f you are a fearless driver you may
guide your horse down the steep grade
which pitches abruotb? from the Point of
Pines. At the foot of this hill you may
enter again the new automobile boule-
vard which extends from San Diego to
Del Mar, or you may drop down lower
still, if the tide is going out, to the nat-
ural boulevard which follows the chang-
ing line of advancing and
waves for over ten miles.
turns ever seaward away from the mo-
notony of the high, brown, seamed cliffs
whose soft surfaces are worn into fan-
tastic shapes by the turbulent erosions

retreating
Your gaze

MOVEMENT FOR SCHOOL GARDENS.

ii

<il winter rains. An unbroken sweep of masses of seaweed and kelp throw up
breakers lines up, disperses and lines up
again. Sea gulls wing their strong
flight overhead; shy sandpipers and
sanderlings flit before you

temoorary barriers forcing you to pursue
a devious route. A dazzling sweep of
moving waters, the blue glory of the

tangled

summer sky, the shimmering stretches
of wet sand, the ceaseless music of the
surf, the clear, plaintive call of the wild
sea birds — these are your lasting impres-
sions of that wonderful drive from The
Point of Tines to Del Mar and back
again. The words wherewith you are
wont to describe wdiat you see fail you
in the presence of the illimitable beauty
of this care free solitude of skv and sea.

"THE WHITE LADY."

'There in the mouth of this cave, filling the
entire entrance, stands the mystic white lady."

MOVEMENT FOR SCHOOL GARDENS
GROWING.

The movement for school gardens in
the large cities is growing so rapidly in
all parts of the country, according to the
officers of the International Children's
School Farm League, that there is a
dearth of trained teachers to take charge
of the work in many cities which are
read\- to establish such gardens. To
supply instructors for children's gardens,
the League has lent its encouragement
to a special course on school gardens to
be given during the coming summer at
the New York LTniversitv Summer
School on University Heights. The
course, which will be under the direction
of Henry Griscom Parsons, will be par-
ticularly designed to train teachers in
"the methods of preparing and conduct-
ing gardens for the education of chil-
dren." The large Schwab garden at the
Lhuversity will be used for field work,
and a building nearby devoted to an in-
door laboratory where the phenomena of
plants, soils and insects in their relation-
ship to horticulture and general natural
science can be studied.

The method of instruction, according
to Mr. Parsons, will be strictly practical.
Each student will be expected to prepare
and care for a typical -arden plot such
as the child would have. The class as
a wnole will cultivate the observation
plots showing typical weeds, or grains or
other staple products which are not
raised by the children in their own plots.
Moreover, the teachers will be shown
how to make all of the apparatus which
they will use in their simple experiments.
The class will also be given observation

n6

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

UNIVERSITY SCHOOL GARDENS.

work in the three large children's gar-
dens which are within easy reach of the
University, where they will have an op-
portunity to see from 300 to 500 little
folks actively at work.

AID NATURE STUDY TEACHERS.

The laboratory work and study of in-
sects and soil will, it is believed, aid
the teacher of nature study materially by

showing her how to teach these subjects
in a practical way leading to practical re-
sults rather than through abstract lessons
which the child has no way of putting
into practice. For the real object of a
children's garden is not only to give the
little workers outdoor exercise and to en-
able them to raise eatable vegetables or

fine flowers, but it is also to

give

them

THE OUT-OF DOORS CLASS ROOM.
Any one could study under these conditions.

MOVEMENT FOR SCHOOL GARDENS GROWING.

117

A CONSIDERATION OF INSECTS AND WEEDS.

the educational benefit from living' with
nature's processes. The teacher who
only shows children how to make thing's
grow, fails, according to Mr. Parsons, to
reap the largest benefit from her work.
Teachers who avail themselves of such
a course as is offered will hold the in-
terest of their pupils by being able to

show them many of the reasons why
things grow, why certain insects are nec-
essary and others hurtful to plant life,
and to show the real meaning of soil,
rain, sunlight, water, temperature, not
merely to plant life, but to themselves.
Air. Parsons believes that a few simple
experiments with plants can be made

PREPARING SPECIAL APPARATUS IN THE WORKSHOP.

u8

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

most effective lessons in teaching the
children the importance of ventilation
and sunlight to themselves.

The school gardens can also he used
as a means of teaching a respect for
manual labor, an appreciation of the
value of different economic plants and of
the work of raising them and preparing
them for the consumer. To the city
child the school garden frequently gives
the only point of contact with the coun-
try, and, in certain cases, stimulates a
desire to leave the crowded cities.
While no claim is made of teaching ag-
riculture in the larger sense, it is sur-
prising what an amount of elementary
agriculture and elementary forestry can
be taught in these gardens for children.

However, it has been found that the
elementary knowledge which can be ac-
quired is sufficient to start the prospec-
tive farmer on the right track and to
give him a habit of getting at the rea-
sons for things. An instance of this hap-
pened to Mr. Parsons while conducting
the Children's School Farm at the James-
town Exposition. Many farmers came
to listen to the lectures for the children.
In one case, Mr. Parsons talked about the
tomato worm, which is the cordially
hated tobacco worm of North and South.
The farmers had simply been crushing

these worms, thereby killing, at the same
time, the parasites on the worm which
eventually destroy the worm. He
showed them that if they collected but
did not kill the worms, and allowed the
beneficial parasite to live and breed
others of its kind, they would make war
on other tobacco worms. The farmers
had not thought of this, and were in-
tensely interested because they could see
the reason for it. Children who have
had this preliminary training approach
agriculture with more of a scientific at-
titude and are more likely to avoid hap-
hazard farming. Mr. Parsons hopes in
his course to gain teachers who can im-
plant this germ of science, and yet, at the
same time, be entirely competent to take
over the practical management of a gar-
den in a school yard or on a vacant city
block.

During seven years' experience the
garden work has proved a most valua-
ble means of teaching English and an
ideal method of manual training. For
physical culture it has yet to find its
equal, judged by the results in health,
strength and quickened intellect in both
child and teacher. Without the boister-
ous romping, every side of the child's
nature is brought into joyous activity and
splendid development.

THE DELICIOUS PHTSALIS.

When it first became delicious to me,
I did not know it by so scientific a title
as Physalis, but by the common name
strawberry-tomato. I had also heard it
called the husk tomato and that appealed
to me in those boyish days, because I
imagined that the fruit needed to be
husked like corn.

In later years 1 heard it called ground
cherry, but that always seemed a mis-
nomer, for it does not appear to be

cherry-like and it does not grow on the
gr< >und.

For many years I did not see it. But
I frequently descanted upon its flavor.
When I was asked why do no) we have
it nowadays, I could not answer, but at
once determined to get it. So for a few
years past a part of my garden has been
devoted to these tomatoes. They are
the simplest of all things to raise, be-
cause after the first year they raise them-
selves. The seeds live in the ground

THE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE

IIQ

THE PHYSALIS IN THEIR HUSKS.

during the winter, and no weed comes
up more luxuriantly or persistently.

The calyx is interesting in the manner
in which it separates from the green
pulp of the husk and becomes like fine
lace. This is especially true of the fruit
on the lower parts of the plant where the
calyx is damp, and more generally true
of those falling on the ground.

There are several varieties in culti-
vation, nearly all good to eat, cooked or
not. Physalis is a member of the night-
shade family, and is closely related to the
eggplant, tomato and white potato.

There is a variety in the west known
as garden huckleberry (Solanum nig-
rum) and used for making pies, but not
fit to eat in the raw state. Several
horticulturists of whom I have in-
quired can give no specific information
as to attempts at improving Physalis.
I 'rofessor L. H. Bailey writes :

"I do not know of any very definite
experiments to improve the Physalis.
For a number of years I grew the species
here and once wrote a bulletin report
on them. This report, however, was
more for the purpose of bringing our

THE GROUND CHERRIES, IN THE DISH, REMOVED FROM THEIR HUSKS.

120

THE GUIDE TO NATURE

knowledge up to date than to make ex-
periments in improvement. I have seen
a number of interesting forms on the
grounds of Luther Burbank in Califor-
nia and I know that he has been working
on them more or less. I do not think,
however, that he has made much out of

A SECTION OF THE PLANT SHOWING
FRUIT IN GROWTH.

it yet. I think that there is a good deal
to be accomplished in the mere introduc-
tion of good forms from Mexico and
other places."

The Guide to Nature will be glad
to learn of any attempts at improvement
or of extensive cultivation for the mar-
ket. It is strange that a fruit almost
universally liked, so easily grown, and so
abundant on the stems should be so rare-

ly seen. Strange, too, that I should
have said so much of its good qualities
and yet waited so many- years before
raising it. Perhaps you, too, have been
unconsciously emulating that example.
If so, now turn about and help me to
cultivate and to investigate.

NATURE IN THE GARDEN.

BY A. W. NOLAN, A. P.., PROFESSOR OF HOR-
TICULTURE IN WEST VIRGINIA
UNIVERSITY.

A few days ago I was transplanting
a row of wild sumac, along the back of
my garden on a city lot. The farmer
who was plowing the garden at the same
time stopped his team before the young,
bare sumac stems and said in disgusted
astonishment :

"I don't see what you want to plant
those ugly things here for." I tried to
explain to him that their leaves were
graceful and beautiful, that their seed
cluster gave a pleasing effect in autumn,
and that the abundant massing of the
shrub made a fine background to the
garden. But the farmer whipped up his
horses, started his plow and grunted:
"Umph, you can find that stuff any-
where ; looks too much like the woods
ft >r me."

Here lies a great barrenness in adult
lives — a dwarfed appreciation of the
truths and beauties of commonplace na-
ture. We adults fail to see nature in our
own gardens. We are too sordid to real-
ize the possibilities of inviting nature into
our own dooryard. We grow prema-
turely old, because we fail to catch the
spirit of the sunrise, of the sprouting
grain and of the pipping shells.

There is no reason, except ignorance
and idleness, why we should not make
our home grounds beautiful with the
shade of trees, fragrant with flowers,
luxuriant with fruit and vegetables, and
cheerful with songs of birds. Wherever
there are soil and sunshine, plants will
grow; wherever there are plants, birds
will come, and wherever there are plants
and animals, men. women and children
should be happy. One great secret of
happiness is to live in harmony with one's
surroundings, especially with one's natur-
al surroundings. With every tree, shrub,
grass-blade and flower, with every bird,

THE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE.

121

beast and bee, witb every breeze, cloud
and sky, one should have an intelligent,
sympathetic relationship.

The two greatest sources of pleasure
in life, perhaps, are the creation of some-
thing good and the appreciation of what
has been created. Both of these pleas-

ures are open to us all, even within the
gates of our own garden. We may here
gladly co-operate with nature in the cre-
ation of new and beautiful life, and we
may here gladden our lives by the appre-
ciation of nature's creation.

AN INEXPE>SIVE HOME-MADE
TELESCOPE.

BY LATIMER J. WILSON, 828 DAWSON ST.,
NLW YORK.

Can you imagine a telescope made of
clothes hooks, stretcher sticks, paper
mailing tubes, paper boxes, canvas
strips and parts of an old bedstead?
The photograph, which illustrates this
article, will help your imagination, for
it shows a telescope made of just such
commonplace material. With a few in-
expensive lenses and a little ingenuity,
the old paper boxes that are hiding in
a corner of the attic, and the other odds
and ends about the house can be pressed
into service, with a result that is sure
to be a delightful surprise.

For one or two dollars can be pur-
chased, an ordinary double convex lens,
three or four inches in diameter, and
having a focus of about forty-eight
inches; this will do for the object glass.
A meniscus lens would be better, but
would cost a little more. An achromat-
ic lens would certainly be most satis-
factory, but a more suitable mounting
would be preferred to that described
here ; and this is to be a telescope which
anyone can make.

We will begin with the large tube,
which can be made from the paper
boxes if they are the required length.
The paper should be about one-eighth
of an inch thick and should be rolled to
make a cylinder of double thickness
which will be five inches shorter than
the focal length of the lens, and with an

outside diameter exactly the same as the
diameter of the lens. To make

the tube perfectly round, it can be
shaped on a solid form while the two
thicknesses of paper are glued together,
and securely tied until the glue is dry.
The solid form is easily made by rolling
newspapers tightly around a curtain
pole until the desired size is obtained.
Both ends of the tube should be cut per-
fectly true.

We will now cut a strip from the
paper box, six inches wide and long
enough to make a cylinder of double
thickness, which will fit around the out-
side of the tube. This cylinder should
be glued firmly to the tube, being al-
lowed to project two inches over the
end upon which the lens will rest, thus
making a cap to hold the lens. A flat
metal strip can lie pressed against the
lens to hold it firmly in place. Fig. 1.

In the opposite end of the tube, we
shall fix a paper mailing tube, about two
inches outside diameter and twelve
inches long. Glue heavy paper around
this, until it fits tightly into the large
tube and is exactly centered. Fig. 2.
It should be entirely within the end of
the larsie tube and immovable. An-
other tube, fourteen inches long, can be
arranged to fit into the two inch tube and
will be used for focusing. It can be
made to slide easily in and out, by past-
ing sheets of smooth letter paper around
it.

For the eyepiece, two piano convex
lenses should be obtained, one having a

122

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

THE HOMEMADE TELESCOPE.

focus of one and one-half inches and
one inch in diameter ; the other with a
force of half an inch and half an inch
in diameter. Get a tube about one and
one-half inches long" which fits into
the focusing tube and glue thick strips
of paper in each end, in such a way that
the lenses will be exactly colliniated.
They should have the plane sides toward
the eye and the small lens should be
nearer the eye. Place them one inch
apart, arranging a diaphragm as shown
in (a) Fig. 3. This is a Huyghenian
eyepiece and can be purchased, already
made, for about one dollar and a half.
It is well to have several eyepieces of
different power; the one described will
magnify sixty-four diameters if the ob-
ject glass of the telescope is forty-eight
inches.

Strips of canvas should be glued on
the whole of the large tube and over the
cap, bending down the ends and gluing
them for about one inch inside the cap.

A coat of paint can be applied ; the in-
side of all the tubes should be painted
a dead black. A tin bucket top, the
proper size, makes a satisfactory cover-
ing for the lens cap when the telescope
is not in use.

In making the stand we should select
the strongest material that can be found
about the house. Strips from an old
oak bedstead will make a strong tripod,
if securely put together.

Two wooden pieces (a) Fig 4, two
inches wide, fourteen inches long and
three-fourths of an inch thick, are at-
tached to the ends of an oak block which
is two inches square on the ends, and
three inches long ( 1: ) Fig. 4. A bolt,
five and one-fourth inches long, hav-
ing a fixed head on one end and a thread
on the other, passes through the center
of the ends of the three-inch block (c)
Fig. 4. A nut screws on the threaded
end to hold the pieces tightly to each
end of the block, but allows them to

POPULAR ASTRONOMY.

123

oscillate freely about the boll as a cen-
ter. A large steel nail (d) Fig. 4, five
inches long, is driven into the under side'
of the block and the head is removed.
Two clothes hooks are screwed into each
of the wooden pieces (E) Fig. 4, near
the end ; a short cylinder ( p ) of heavy
pasteboard is tied to the pieces and is
held in place by the clothes hooks. The
telescope tube is to be inserted in this
cylinder as shown in the photograph.
A movable block (o) Fig 5, is held in a
box (k) Fig. 5, by a clamp (h) Fig. 5,
and three oak strips (m) Fig. 5, are se-
curely fastened to the box. One strip
may be arranged (n) Fig. 5, so that it
can be removed, if it is found more con-
venient. The nail (d) Fig. 4. is inserted
in the hole (11) Fig. 5, and provides the
horizontal movements of the telescope.
With a double convex or a meniscus
lens, the full aperture will be used only
in looking at stars and nebula? ; the plan-
ets, sun and moon are best seen when a

diaphragm is placed before the lens.
( )rdinarily, the aperture should be less
than two inches, but it is well to try sev-
eral sizes.

A thick piece of dark glass can be fixed
over the eye lens, to make a solar eye-
piece ; but the best way to observe the
transits or sun spots, is to point the
telescope at the sun through a hole in
the window curtain. A very large
image of the sun can be projected upon
a white screen in a darkened room.

We can see some of giant Jupiter's
belts, and can watch, with much inter-
est, the changing positions of his four
moons. The phases of Venus and the
rings of Saturn are interesting objects
for our glass. The moon affords the
most pleasure, when the conditions are
favorable for the best "seeing." With
a realism that is startling, the craters,
walled plains, and the bright glowing
mountain peaks stand out, in strong con-
trast from their black shadows.

"Position
of the eye-

A-f

VENS

1

C/VP

1

1

+0'"1

S

Ficr 4.

DIAGRAMS TO SHOW CONSTRUCTION.

124

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

X>

CLEAR PHOTOGRAPH OF A GULL.

Here is a remarkably good photo-
graph of a herring trull. Every detail
is clear. ( )f the bird the Audubon
Society (to whom we are indebted for
the cut) has this eulogy and description :

"If there is any one kind that deserves
the title of our national water bird it is
this harbor gull, for it is found in the
Northern Hemisphere wherever there is a
sufficient body of water to yield it food.
For the three or four months of the year
that are its breeding season, it may be seen

only northward of Maine, the Great Lakes,
Minnesota and British Columbia, and in
the northern parts of the Old World; but
for the rest of the year the harbor gulls
travel southward as far as Cuba on the
east, and lower California on the west; and,
in Europe, southward to the Mediterranean;
in great flocks or only small groups stopping
to winter as regularly in certain haunts as
the migrant song-birds return in spring to
their old nesting-places.

"They are very sociable birds at all times
of the year, keeping in colonies even in the

HERRING OR HARBOR GULL.
From a photograph made by William Dutcher in the protected colony on Duck Island, Maine.

THE CAMERA.

125

breeding season, a time when song- and
other land-birds pair, and prefer to be
alone. Trees are sometimes used for
nesting, but the ground is the usual place.
The nests, when on the ground or upon
flat rocks, are built of grass, mosses, sea-

nest is not only a very tasteful object, but it
blends perfectly with its surroundings."

PET SCREECH OWLS.

The accompanying illustration of two
pet screech owls was kindly supplied to

AN EXAMPLE OF GOOD POSING FOR BIRD PORTRAITS.

weed, and bits of soft driftwood formed into
a shallow bowl. If the edges of this flatten
or crumble while the birds are sitting, Ihey
use bunches of fresh grass or seaweed to
keep it in repair, with the result that the

The Guide to Nature by Dr. R. W.
Shufeldt, New York City.' He kept
these owls as pets in a city home for
several years and had many interesting"
exoeriences with them.

126

THE GLIDE TO NATURE.

HOMESICK UNTO DEATH.

BY BESSIE E. PUTNAM, CONNEAUT LAKE,

PA.

Love of liberty may be discerned in
even the humblest of God's creatures,
and while the incidents related can
scarcely be pigeon-holed with premedi-
tated suicides, they certainly indicate a
homesickness which resulted in indif-
ference to life, its joys, and necessities.

Some years ago, two horned toads, or
properly speaking", horned lizards, were
sent to the writer from California, ar-
riving apparently none the worse for the
week's ride in a tin box nearly across
the continent. The larger measured
just six inches in length; the smaller,
two: and both were beautifully marked
in almost white, black, and all the in-
termediate shades, this mimicry of the
sands in which it lived being a not un-
common protective device among ani-
mals.

They absolutely refused all vegetable
food, and seemed insulted if a dead or
maimed insect was placed before them.
The_\T were equally averse to eating under
the scrutiny of human eyes, and when
a choice six-footed bite was offered thev
would close the eyes, sometimes partly
opening one in a moment to watch the
insect : and only after we had retired
would the swift tongue dart forth and
instantaneously appropriate it, provided
Mr. Insect had not in the meantime
walked away — which he usually did.

Despite persistent efforts on our part,
they grew more and more emaciated, the
clear colors changed into the dingy hue
of the clay dust into which, with one or
two dextrous flops, they were wont to
bury themselves so completely that only
the upper portion of the head and eyes
protruded. But this position, an ideal
one in their native sands, availed not as
a food-gathering ruse in captivity, for
few insects passed within reach of the
cage.

The larger toad, more shy, and con-
sequently catching fewer insects, lived
just a month. The smaller survived it a
fortnight, and was, as a last resort, re-
leased in the garden, though never for a
moment lost from sight. But though
ants and bugs passed and repassed within
reach it was too sick or homesick to
notice them, and in spite of our best in-

tentions it died, to all appearances from
starvation in the midst of plenty, simply
because it would not eat.

It is recorded that horned toads some-
times eject blood from the eyes in self-
defense. ( )ur pets, though frequently
handled, never showed signs of resent-
ment until their last moments. Voiceless
before, each, with a peculiar squeak,
rushed toward the hand of its mistress
with widely opened mouth as though
to devour it. and then sank back lifeless.

THE PET HERON.
Photograph by H. W. Putnam.

Whether induced by rage or pain, the
phenomenon, being observed in both
instances, was doubly impressive.

A Great Blue Heron, (Ardea hero-
dias) after being shot thrice through
the head, was brutally knocked down by
a hunter with the butt of his gun and
left to die. Later another hunter, find-
ing that it had regained its feet but was
too badly hurt to offer any resistance,
carried it home. For the next twenty-
four hours it was kept in or at the en-
trance to a village store, mounted on a
dry goods box, absolutely refusing food.
and submitting passively to the gaze and
strokes of those passing.

It was condemned to death finally by
the proprietor, a man too humane to
see it starve to death and too busy to
experiment with it. Thence it was ulti-
mately rescued and brought to the home

nn

THE CAMERA.

127

of the writer as a curiosity for the little
folks, though it proved quite as inter-
esting- to the adults. Blind and too sick
to eat. it would only turn its head slowly
from side to side when disturbed or
curl its head and neck upon its breast.
Standing- upon one foot with the other
drawn up under its plumage was a char-
acteristic attitude.

After a few days it regained the sight
of one eye, and the wounds gradually
healed. But it still refused to eat.
Meat thrust forcibly into its beak was
held perhaps for hours, but never swal-
lowed. The only nourishment taken
was milk or other liquid forced down its
throat with a spoon.

As strength returned our designs were
anticipated and its protests increased, the
contents of the spoon being usually dash-
ed to the floor in the contest. Finally a
small funnel was slipped into one end of
a rubber tube and the end forced into the
bird's mouth and held there and while
one held its beak and the funnel an as-
sistant poured milk and raw egg beaten
together down its throat. It soon learned
the process, and would turn its head
away and try to escape. Failing in
this, wings and legs were used, and
the meal interrupted two or three times
by pugilistic efforts with its formidable
beak, emphasized by vigorous kicking
and a series of flops from the widely ex-
panded wings.

Finally three minnows were placed in
a pan of water at its feet. The heron for
a minute eyed them sharply, and we
thought the victory won ; but 11 gradually
relaxed into the stoic indifference 30
nearly habitual. They were left with it
for the night, with the hope that darkness
might lure it into the old pastime of ang-
ling. Evidently it was not a Simple Sim-
on, and the fish were unharmed. One day
the larger, overestimating the capacity
of its tank, jumped from the shallow pan,
and floundered about almost over the
heron's feet before it could be rescued;
but the bird regarded it with unconcern.
To all appearances it reflected that
friends and home had gone and it had
nothing for which to live. Its sole com-
fort in eaotivity was in paddling over a
sod placed in a pail of water. An occa-
sional fishworm was captured from the
half frozen ground of early spring and
placed in the mud. Y\ "bile it took grim

delight in the sods and the water, it cer-
tainly did not eat all of the worms, — per-
haps not a single one; at least it was
never caught in the act, and some were
always left in the pail. On one or two
occasions pieces of worms were found
at his feet ; but whether through volition
or accident, none can tell.

I Jarring this possible meagre source, it
took no food during the six weeks of
convalescence aside from the liquid
served amid vehement protests. As

soon as the spring weather became mild
enough to warrant release in its ema-
ciated condition, it was taken to a neigh-
boring woods and given its freedom.
Though seemingly tamed and showing
neither fear nor resistance excepting
when fed, rarely leaving its own corner
of the room, the moment it was taken
out of doors the wild nature returned
and it made frantic efforts to escape,
using wings and legs with great force
and making some well-aimed thrusts at
the eyes of its captor with its powerful
beak.

. It was released in the bed of a small
stream and stood motionless until we
strove to approach, when it rose fully
forty feet into the air, and after some
ill-directed attempts caused by the blind
eye, alit on the top of a tall tree. Later
it descended to the ground, but not near-
er to its captors.

Then, only, was its fine protective cov-
ering fully appreciated ; for though we
knew its exact location, discovery was
almost impossible, so completely did the
colors blend with the surrounding
branches. Even the yellow bill, its most
conspicuous mark save the white cap,
proved dull on the lower side, as the head
was thrown back, alert to the slightest
sound or motion. Its policy seemed to
be never to turn the back to the enemy ;
yet so slowly was its head turned to
front the intruder that no motion was
perceptible ; only by comparison with
stationary objects could its change of
position be detected.

Hoping that it might eventually re-
gain its mate, we left it, — protected more
by the garb given by the Infinite than by
its strong beak, legs, or wings ; a strange
example of wild nature which seemed
tamable yet could not be tamed ; a bird
which cared not for a life of captivity.

128

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

"WILL BENEFIT CONTRIBUTOBS."

"Bird-Lore" for May-June copies from
The Guide to Nature's editorial "Glit-
tering' Generalities," (page 50 of the May
issue) and adds this expressive comment
that flavors of longer experience in the
same lines :

"If Mr. Bigelow can produce a maga-
zine which will meet this standard (and
he makes an excellent showing in his
first two numbers), he will benefit his
contributors as well as his readers."

"THERE AIN'T NO SUCH ANIMAL."

Somewhere I have read or I have
heard a humorous anecdote, in which I
saw a moral probably never intended by
the author. It was related of an aged,
back-country farmer, whose life-long
knowledge of animals had been confined
to those on the farm. He had come un-
consciously to regard them as the only
ones in existence.

For the first time in his life he visited
a city zoo and there saw a giraffe. He
long and curiously gazed at its methods
of high feeding and of low feeding. At
last his expression changed to disgust
and he turned suddenly and went away
with a feeling that he had been deceived,
for he spitefully remarked, "Thar ain't
no such animal."

It had taken several minutes for his
vision to take in all parts of the reality
before him and for his sluggish mind to
reach that conclusion.

At first when I heard this anecdote,
though I appreciated the humor, it

seemed to lack the ring of genuineness.
It seemed impossible for a man to doubt
the plain evidence that there was ac-
tually such an animal before him. But
the more I consider it, the more firmly
do I believe that the farmer's opinion was
not far from that of most of us. It is
difficult for a new experience and es-
pecially for a new idea to cancel sud-
denly a life-long impression and a life-
long training. Be the proof ever so
real, we refuse sometimes to accept it.

Then, too, as a representative of cer-
tain animal concepts brought to mind
from descriptions in letters of inquiry,
I am sure that there "ain't no such ani-
mal." These complex and erroneous
descriptions more and more deeply im-
press upon me the need of such work
as that of The Guide to Nature.

What is needed by us all is to see
clearly and to describe accurately. We
color and distort too much, too often.

THEY, TOO, HAVE HAD TROUBLES.

It is refreshing in reading the tabu-
lated technical pages of the "Entomolog-
ical News," to find this touch of human-
ism in the editorial page :

We have touched on this subject before,
but would again like to remind our readers
that we are not egotistical. To those who
so kindly write articles for the News we
wish to say that the editors of this journal
are the most learned people in the world,
and in addition to that are mind readers.
Also, time hangs heavy on our hands as we
have nothing to do. Don't take the trouble

EDITORIAL AND GENERAL.

129

to number the pages of your Ms. as we can
do it better. Write botanical names and
names of places any old way. We know all
the botanical names and have become fa-
miliar with all localities, having lived in
each one.

When you give the measurements of in-
sects, especially new species, you need not
write the figures plainly, as knowing every-
thing we can readily decipher them. The
names of all new and proposed species are
known to us in advance, and knowing them
your self it is not necessary to be particu-
lar about how you write them. When
writing us you need not be particular about
your name and address, as we can read
everything. If errors occur just blame us
and the printer. The printer, by the way,
is a wonder. He reads Russian, Chinese
and Sanscrit with greater facility than he
does English. The collecting season has
begun, so we may be able to forget the
editorial department for a time.

P. S. — Don't forget to mix up exchange
notices and other matter for the news with
personal matter to the Editor.

REMARKABLE BUTTERFLY STORIES.

In an account of the funeral of Willis
A. Barchvell, the "Plymouth Chimes"

( Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, N. Y)
has the following regarding the remarks
of Dr. Raymond at the funeral :

"A strange thing happened once in
that old Montague street library, which
you all know so well. William Hamil-
ton Gibson — one of the bright, brave
souls of Plymouth Church — had been
working at his summer home in Con-
necticut, upon a magazine article about
butterflies and illustrating it with his own
exquisite drawings from life, but when
he had nearly finished it, he found to his
dismay that the most magnificent species
of all was no longer flying among the
New England hills. So, as a last resort,
he came to Brooklyn and sought in the
Brooklyn library an illustrated work
from which he might copy the picture he
needed. Mr. Barchvell entered sympa-
thetically into his desire and soon
brought down from its seclusion a great
folio of plates, which he laid upon the
table before his friend. Together they
turned the leaves until, to the artist's
joy, they found the page upon which, in
the size and coloring of life, the beauti-
ful creature was depicted, and over it,
in mutual delight, the lover of books and
the lover of all living things — lovers,

- '-- . B

THE BUTTERFLY CARVED ON THE MONUMENT

ISO

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

both, of their fellowmen also — bent their
heads.

It was a balmy day of early autumn,
and high above them, in the topmost tier
of galleries, a window was open.
Through that window came a splendid
butterfly of the species which Gibson was
seeking, and circling downward, as if
looking into the alcoves of each gallery,
it came at last to the lowest floor, sailed
fearlessly into Air. Bardwell's alcove and
passing between the two bowed heads,
alighted on the page before them by the
side of its portrait !

.Mr. Gibson himself told me this story,
and we who were his summer neighbors
in Connecticut could have matched it
with other instances of the fearless confi-
dence with which all living creatures
seemed to regard him. lint in this case
the butterfly denizen of the air was not
afraid of Mr. Bardwell either, and the
whole scene has remained in my thought
as that of a benediction descending upon
two pure and gentle souls !

Remembering that the butterfly is the
radiant Christian symbol of resurrec-
tion and new life, may we not fancy that
over this refined, absorbed student of the
truth of the Soirit in books, the Spirit
itself, the real Life Eternal, hovered
until at last it alighted before his eyes,
to take forevermore the. place of all im-
perfect and transitory copies of it?"

The following number (May) of the
same publication contains this letter :

THAT BUTTERFLY STORY.

To the Editor of The Chimes:

I mean the story Mr. Gibson told Dr.
Raymond, which Dr. Raymond repeated
at Mr. Bardwell's funeral, and which is
reproduced in April "Chimes."

Had it not come straight and from so
straight-speaking a man as Mr. Gibson
was, many would think it some story-
teller's waking dream. I can, however,
pretty nearly match it by something in
my own experience.

v()u k'-io1-- 110\V enthusiastically the
last fifteen years of Mrs. Ballard's life
were devoted to the study of butterflies
and moths. Naturally, 1 wished that a
butterfly should be one of the emblems
carved on her monument; not for that
reason only, but also because the beauti-
ful winged creature is a type of that

marvelous change at death in which, as
in a glorious immortality, she was so
confident a believer.

Well, one day my artist showed me a
butterfly which he had succeeded in cap-
turing for me. "No," I said, "that is
not the kind I want and you must wait
until I find one." None appeared, and it
began to look as though I were to be
disappointed in my wish, until, standing
by the grave of one who had been one
of Mrs. Ballard's dearest friends and
while looking at the tall vase of flowers
there, a butterfly just such as I desired
came flying over my shoulder from be-
hind me and lighted on the flowers in
front of me. I caught it, took it to the
sculptor, and here it may be seen carved
on my butterfly-lover's monument.
Sincerely yours,

Addison Ballard.

Pittsfield, Mass., April 14, 1908.

THE ALL COMPRISING.

I once advertised in two Stamford
newspapers that I desired to purchase
wood snails and bullfrogs. The number
and variety of natural history specimens
brought forth by the advertisements
would do credit to a local museum — but
with two exceptions — there were no
snails and no bullfrogs. Young and old
evidently ransacked all local creation for
"bugs an' things" and "varmints" and
"creeters." In a way, I appreciated the
promiscuous offerings for I am a firm be-
liever that "everything is 'fish' that comes
to the net of a naturalist." 1 was glad
to know the reputation that I had in the
mind of the local public as to my interest
in "the heavens above, the earth beneath
and the waters under the earth."

However, much as I appreciate this ev-
idence as well as the heterogeneous and
promiscuous collection, the drawback was
that neither of the two classes which I
wanted for a special use was represented.

I questioned the army of hunters and
found only one who had any idea of a
wood snail, and he, I learned, had a con-
fusion of ideas about snails and slugs.
1 questioned and instructed and the army
went forth once more, but I have not yet
a snail.

To my intense astonishment, not one
of the searchers knew what a bullfrog

EDITORIAL AND GENERAL.

131

is. I found that in popular language a
"bullfrog'' means any kind of a frog or
even a toad. The offerings of toads were
especially numerous. One paper bag
contained twenty-five. Though many of
the collectors necessarily made no sales,
I hope they learned some lessons in na-
ture study. I at least faithfully tried to
teach them.

I had impressed upon me two impor-
tant facts :

First, the general lack of definite
knowledge as to commonplace things.
Second, the important part that discrim-
ination holds in nature study and the gen-
eral lack of it in the mind of the general
public, at least in the mind of my col-
lecting public.

Imagine, if you can, calling up a gro-
cery store by telephone and ordering a
bar of soap or a pound of butter, and
that later you have delivered at your
front gate a wagon-load of everything in
that store (except soap and butter), and
you will appreciate my astonishment.

There is probably not a person in
Stamford who does not know a Mad-
agascar monkey or an elephant from
India, but no one seems to have any ac-
quaintance with a snail or a bullfrog.

As the result of iterated personal in-
structions I later obtained a few bull-
frogs, but I have not yet a single snail.

THE OLD AND THE NEW IN MICROS-
COPY.

One of the most heartfelt articles that
The Guide to Nature has published is
L'The Amateur Microscopist," by Pro-
fessor Earl Douglass, in this number.

The mingling of plaintive sorrow for
the disappearance of the old time inter-
est, with the plea for its restoration, and
the gleams of hope for the future — all
are touchingly and delightfully inter-
mingled, and are such as proclaim the
writer unmistakably a true student and
lover of nature.

1 especially can sympathize with the
author. With many of the subscribers
to The Guide to Nature wre were
workers together in "the old times"
when I edited "The Observer" magazine
which more than any other publication
in the United States represented for
almost a decade the interests of amateur
microscopy.

Frequently do I take from a library
shelf near my easy chair the much treas-
ured volumes of "The Observer" and
linger lovingly over the department of
"Practical Microscopy" so ably edited by
Miss Booth, in those good old days of
amateur investigation. I, too, have

longed for a restoration ; have felt the
pathos of existing conditions ; have in-
dulged in gleams of hope for the restor-
ation of "Practical Microscopy" even in
The Guide to Nature.

But it has been only a gleam, only
another realization that "life is a series
of pictures and they come our way but
once." We may go back to the scenes
of our youth or to some much loved
spot of later acquaintance, but it isn't the
same picture.

And after all, isn't it a good thing
that this is so, and that the world
changes and progresses?

Our older readers will readily under-
stand all that Professor Douglass says.
But let none of our younger ones misun-
derstand him. "The microscopist seems
now nearly extinct, and the word by
which we used to have to designate him
is nearly obsolete."

The microscope is now more in use
than ever. Formerly it was in the

hands of an enthusiastic amateur here
and there, or of the esoteric few wdio
gathered weekly to discuss the merits
of sub-stage, swinging mirror-bar, achro-
matic condenser, structure of diatoms,
the continuity of protoplasms, numerical
aperture, black-dot resolution, the con-
tinuity of others of the kind that were
so dear to the amateur's heart.

Now the microscope is in use in every
high school and college laboratory and
by hundreds of specialists in every de-
partment of nature investigation. The
principal value of the old time days of
amateur microscopy was to develop the
instrument. Before Abbe's elucidation
of Numerical Aperture settled the ques-
tion amateurs raced objectives as a
sporting man races horses. The man-
ufacturers met the increasing demands
of devoted amateurs and the develop-
ment of the instrument was hastened.
It is now practically perfect. The in-
terest in the instrument lasted during
its growth. Now the interest is in its
use. We have lost the amateur mi-

1^2

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

croscopist but we have gained the natur-
alist, the modern efficient professional
naturalist, and the modern populariza-
tion of nature interests.

Our author concludes his excellent ar-
ticle with this sentence, "If this is done,
the coming generation will see the revi-
val of the good old microscopy, and the
revivication of the good old microsco-
pist." I believe we need to revive only
the zeal and devotion of the old time
microscopist and apply them to the use of
the microscope as one of the many aids
in being a naturalist. The building has
been erected ; now let us make it our
home. There are plenty of well devel-
oped microscope objectives, plenty of
well devised methods. Now let us have
the use, in nature, with the enthusiasm
and zeal of the old time microscopist.

The Guide to Nature advocates not
the formation of clubs of amateur mi-
croscopists, but Chapters of nature stu-
dents who will freely use the microscope
or any other apparatus that will aid in
the knowledge and the love of nature.

Special terms are only to distinguish
special things. When that thing be-
comes universal the special term is
dropped. Sir Isaac Newton may have
heard discussions of "gravitationists."
No one now is a "gravitationist," be-
cause all are in that list. The word
evolutionist is dying for tne same
reason. If a boy purchases a bicycle, do
we need to differentiate him as a bicy-
clist; or if a man purchases an automo-
bile, is he an automobilist? No. Those
machines of locomotion are too common
for that.

So mourn not if the words by which
we used to designate an intellectual pur-
suit and its cultivator are nearly obso-
lete. Let us bury them, even if with
tears for the past, in the ground of com-
mon use. So, too, expel the term cam-
erist; as well say field-glass-ist, vascu-
lumist or net-ist.

So long as people shall see, shall have
minds to "know and hearts to love, I have
not the slightest fear that the use of the
lens will become less in those phases of
nature where a lens is needed.

The very commonness of microscopy
has made the term microscopist no long-
er necessarv. Common use as well as
disuse can make a term obsolete. We all

have had our regrets, our tears — yes,
even The Guide to Nature its spas-
modic attempts at resuscitation. And
no one appreciates the pathos of it all
more than the editor !

We mourn for the death of amateur
microscopy and for that of microscopy
of any kind.

Let us rejoice in the fact that there
have been born the nature lover and the
student who use the microscope. Let
us all combine to increase that use.
the amateur's interests.
Since writing the above, I have re-
ceived from one of the most proficient
of the old time amateur microscopists a
letter from which I quote the follow-

ing : —

"The amateur cared, and now cares, lit-
tle about 'cell structure,' structure of nu-
cleus, differentiation of staining fluids, tech-
nical descriptions of some creature of
which he never heard until the proceedings
of some learned Society asked him to read
of it. and in which he feels no interest.
Ray Lankester says that the amateur has
disappeared because science bas r-fcomo
too difficult for him, dealing as it now
deals, chiefly with cell structure and stain-
ing fluids. The amateur never tried to do,
nor wanted to do, such work. He was con-
tent to leave all that to the professional.
What he wanted was to talk and write about
his own observations and to ask his friend
or reader, 'Have you seen that?" although
the observation may have been an eon old
and the common property of every profes-
sional in Christendom. All that he wanted
was 'to potter about on the edges of things."
He has vanished principally because there
is now no longer any excuse for 'fighting ob-
jectives' nor discussing angular aperture.
Abbe's N. A. killed all that by settling the
question for the rest of time."

ORNITHOLOGY.

133

ORNITHOLOGY,

THE WAEBLERS

BY EDMOND J. SAWVKk, SCHENECTADY,

N. Y.

The best place for warblers at this
time is a hard wood on wet ground, or
with a brook running through it, and
with a rather dense lower growth of
maple and dogwood. The species dif-
fer widely in habits during the breeding
season and somewhat while migrating,
but nearly all are associated closely at
this season. Such a gathering of colors
and display of charm and animation is
not to be seen among any other birds.
Scores of the little rainbow tinted crea-
tures on every side of you flitting and
hashing and calling with sweet lisping
voices among the fresh green of the new
buds — the scene can hardly be imagined.

THE REDSTART WARBLER.

( )f summer residents and semi-annual
visitors, about sixty species in all, twenty
to thirty may be looked for during the
month in any favorable wood. It is not
difficult to identify a dozen species in a
small wood on a single morning's visit.
So beautifully colored and diverse are
even the commoner warblers that as a
family they are always interesting; so
that, though a certain rare species may
elude you, you will never be quite dis-
appointed. The possibility of seeing
one of the rare ones always gives me
an indescribably pleasant thrill in watch-
ing these birds. I recall one twenty-
eighth of May when I found the "rare"
bay-breasted warbler, the very common-
est species in a small wood where war-
blers of half a dozen other species were
numerous.

( hying to the nature of the cover they
frequent, these birds may often be seen
at very close range, making identifica-
tion easy, even in the case of such tiny
birds, for all but a few in this family
are below the size of a sparrow. But
for the most part, a field-glass will be
found invaluable ; this chiefly owing to
the small size and extreme nervousness
of the birds, and the similarity of their
calls. The song of the water-thrush
(a brook loving warbler) is a beautiful
ringing strain not to be confused with
any other song-bird. The oven-bird's
call of "Teacher, teacher, teacher," is
well known and peculiar. The song of
the yellow-breasted chat would be re-
markable even in the throat of a first
cousin of the mocking bird, but for a
warbler's song it is astonishing in the ex-
treme. However the chat, while classed
with this family, departs from the other
members in almost every respect, being
twice the size of the smaller species, and
a perfect eccentric in its habits. The
typical warbler song is a rather weak

134

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

"tseeping" of a few seconds' duration;
the species differing, as a rule, only in
inflection and accent. For illustration :
here is my memorandum on the song of
the black-poll-warbler: "See, see, see,
see, see, see, see," each syllable distinct,
the first and last comparatively low, the
song evenly increasing in accent to the
middle, then as gradually decreasing to
the end, — like the chipping sparrow's
trill rendered much slower."

It is probably impossible to get beyond
the point of occasional confusion in
mastering the songs of the warblers.
The song of our common summer yellow
bird or yellow warbler, is a typical war-
bler-song, as the singer is a typical war-
bler ; beautiful, animated, confiding, and
useful, this is one of the most interest-
ing, as he is one of the most common
summer residents. It is this little war-
bler who is so often seen pulling the
knots of a clothes-line for lint to line
his nest. The nest is usually built in a
bush, perhaps a rose-bush beside the
house. Made of fine shreds of soft
wood-fiber, horse-hair and the like, and
built, as above stated, in a bush, it is a
good example of a warbler's nest.

habits than the yellow warbler. The
first two are wood-loving, while the last
prefers a patch of tall weeds bordering
a wood or bushy thicket. Among these

THE BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER.

The red-start, chestnut-sided warbler
and Maryland yellow-throat are com-
mon summer birds, more retiring in

THE YELLOW WARBLER.

weeds this warbler will skulk and scold
at an intruder, as much afraid of being
seen as his famous relative, the yellow-
breasted chat. The names in general of
these two are in fact very much alike, as
is their coloring, — the only notable dif-
ference in the latter respect being that
the whole side of the yellow-throat's
head is black, while the chat's head has
only a small area of black about the bill.
The red-start, a fly-catching species, is a
remarkably beautiful bird, — whole head
and upper parts glossy black; wings
with a broad band of salmon across their
middle, otherwise black ; middle feathers
of tail and ends of the others, black, the
rest of the tail salmon ; sides, bright sal-
mon-red; belly, white. The redstart's
song and also the nest, is similar to the
vellow warbler's; the nest, however, is
placed in the crotch of a sapling, seldom
if ever in a low shrub.

The black and white, Canadian, worm-
eating, Nashville, Connecticut, and Wil-
son warblers build on the ground ; while
the black-throated green, cerulean,
Blackburnian, bay-breasted, and magno-
lia warblers build in the coniferous trees
of Canada or northern United States.

SEEING BY AID OF THE LENS.

135

cMSYAID

^

THE AMATEUR MICROSCOPIST.

BY PROFESSOR EARL DOUGLASS, CARNEGIE)
MUSEUM, PITTSBURG, PA.

Not many years ago there were, all
over our land, enthusiastic students of
microscopy, men and women who used
the microscope for the delight that it gave
them. They knew their microscopes as
horsemen know the horse, and took as
much pride in beautiful instruments as
lovers of animals take in fine herds.
The manufacturers of microscopes made
instruments of grace and beauty, yet
some enthusiasts had their microscopes
made after their own designs. As
breeders breed fine heads or legs on their
horses, so microscopists made improve-
ments, as they fancied, on regularly man-
ufactured instruments.

But the microscope was not a mere
toy. No invention, perhaps, has been of
more practical service to man. Besides,
men who were using- the microscope for
the delight of looking into another world,
there were many who were studying
human tissues and physiological pro-
cesses, and discovering, in the unknown
realm, the mystery of disease and death,
and doing it as a business.

It is undoubtedly true that the most
important discoveries were made by men
who were stimulated by the fascination
of discovery, but these men used the mi-
croscope as an axe, a typewriter or any
kind of machine is used. They wanted
the implement that was best adapted to
their work. Many of them objected to
the graceful, beautifully constructed mi-
croscopes which our American manufac-
turers had made. They did not com-
plain so much of their optical qualities,
but they said they were too tall, not com-
pact enough ; they were not built right.

THE LENS

for convenience and long continued
work, as thev required an unnatural po-
sition of the body, especially of the head
and neck; so they sent to Germany and
bought the heavy, often clumsy, and
comparatively unsightly instruments
which were manufactured there. As
American manufacturers were making
instruments to sell, they listened to the
controversy and profited by it. They
saw that there was a demand for the
compact laboratory microscopes, so thev
made instruments after the continental
model, and at the same time also made
those that were more artistic.

But for some reason microscopy be

gan to wane.

Many of the thriving

microscopical societies died out. The
beautiful monthly periodical, "The Mi-
croscope," was bought by a more tech-
nical journal which lived for a few years
and then became extinct. Go now to the
catalogue cards of a large library and
under the reference to nearly every mi-
croscopical periodical you will read this
epitaph, "No more published." The mi-
croscopist seems now almost extinct and
the word by which we used to designate
him is nearly obsolete. Some of us do
not like to have the word dropped from
the vocabulary, for it calls up so manv
pleasant associations, so many fond
memories, and then, too, some of us
believe that a principle is involved. The
microscopists did a splendid work in the
development of microscopical science
and they did it from pure love, not on
account of any sordid interests. The
making of money is perfectly legitimate,
and thorough investigation in some
special practical line is necessarv to the
advancement of science, but among the
most noble human characteristics are

i^6

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

broadness of mind and soul, and work
for the love of the work.

Do not think that I am complaining.
There is nothing discouraging so far as
the past is concerned. An immense
amount of vitally practical work has been
done in technical investigation, but it has
progressed none too rapidly. May its
speed be accelerated instead of hindered.

cover a new field or treat the subject in
a better way for the non-technical stu-
dent, they will be printed. I am satis-
fied that there are thousands, old, young,
and middle aged, who would be healthier
and happier, and life would be fuller, if
they possessed and used a microscope.
It fills with zest almost every walk or
ride in the woods, by the rivers, ponds

\

. » »

9\ W\ ^ *i w^ V^
fc * * fc * V *

MMWmMW

"TONGUE" (RADULA) OF SNAIL SHOWING RASP-LIKE TEETH.

A favorite "Oh my! " object of the amateur microscopist.

From mount by the Rev. J. D. King.

Manufacturers of microscopes have
every year been making better and bet-
ter instruments, not only optically but
mechanically. Some seem almost per-
fect; and though the patterns are nearl)
all of the continental type, some of them
are very beautiful as well as serviceable.
I f microscopists attain become numerous,
as I hope they will, and if they know
what they want as well as the so-called
"practical" men have known what they
want, the manufacturers will supply the
demand. When there is a demand for a
magazine to help, to encourage, and in
a way to unite microscopists, it will be
published. When books are needed that

and marshes, and the pleasure does not
cease with the walk nor with the exam-
ination of the treasures discovered. It
comes up again and again in memory
all through life with a strange fascination
that increases rather than diminishes
with time. The mind is made richer
and sees more in the trees, grasses, flow-
ers, ponds and streams.

It seems that there has been for a
long time, especially among American
people in the country, a longing for the
cities, but within the last few years the
old primeval instinct to get near to
nature is outcropping everywhere. Those
who are so fortunate as to have enough

SEEING BY AID OF THE LENS.

i37

money and have preserved the rare abil- he who becomes enthusiastically interest-
ity to enjoy it truly, can go to Europe, ed in nature, though he might immensely
or make excursions in automobiles; but enjoy a trip to the west, to Europe or to

AN INEXPENSIVE YET EFFICIENT MICROSCOPE FOR

THE BEGINNER.

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

JUST TO DELIGHT THE EYE.
An ideal but somewhat expensive equipment,
lustrations of microscopes, by the courtesy of The Bausch & Lomb Optical Company.

SEEING BY AID OF THE LENS.

139

Africa, finds that his happiness and satis-
faction do not depend on such things.
Besides the many interesting objects
that he can see with the unaided eve, he

nre to the boy is now so associated with
what is repugnant that it loses much of
its charm and of its beneficial results.
I sincerely hope that the microscopes

AN OPEN GIZZAKD OF CRICKET.
To show grinding "teeth."
Well mounted by Miss M. A. Booth.

can, by the outlay of a few dollars for
a microscope, discover a strange and

beautiful world at home.

And there is one class in which I am
especially interested, and in whom I place
much hope. They are the boys. I
have taught them for years. 1 was one
of them myself for a long time, so that
1 can speak with some authority. I
know that they are much interested in
nature, and what can show them so
much nature in so little space as the
microscope.

Microscopes have been introduced into
thousands of schools I know, but the
Moloch of examinations has been intro-
duced also, and what is 'naturally a pleas-

in the schoolhouses will be accessible to
the boys out of school hours, and that
the school hours will become fewer, the
vacations more numerous and longer,
as the young people learn to employ them
better, and that the pupils will be al-
lowed to do something in school because
of their interest in it, something which
has not as its final goal an unattractive
written examination. I hope, too, that
they will get the habit of buying micro-
scopes as well as skates, sleds or bicy-
cles. If this is done the coming genera-
tion will see the revival of the good old
microscopy, and the revivication of the
good old microscopist.

" '* " " " " " " " " " '■ " " " ■' " »■ " '■ " ■' ■' ■' ■'

IlTERARY

BIOGRAPHICAL

To the; Top of the Continent. By

Dr. Frederick A. Cook. New York

City: Doubleday, Page & Company.

This important book not only chron-

icles the first conquering of the highest
mountain peak on this continent, but it
tells of a new gold field 40 miles square,
which will probably be the objective

140

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

point of a great and immediate mining

is an adventurous tale of a perilous trip
rush, and also describes the best big up rushing glacial streams in a motor

It boat ; of travel with a pack trai 1 over a

game country left in North America.

Copyright, 1007, by Harper and Brothers. Copyright, 1907, by F. A. Cook.

THE TOP OF OUR CONTINENT.
The summit of Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain of North America.

Altitude, 20,390 feet.

LITERARY AND BIOGRAPHICAL.

141

land trailed by caribou, moose, mountain
sheep and big brown bear; of frosty
days and gloomy nights in storm-driven
clouds; of the final triumphant piercing
of the frigid blackness, beyond both
clouds and blue sky, to the pinnacle of
Mt. McKinley, 20,390 feet high. Superb
photographs of a miner's map of the
goldfields add to the value of the book,
which is a revelation of north exploring
achievements in our own country.

BIOGRAPB [CAIv.

Dr. Cook was born of German-Amer-
ican parents June 10, 1865, at Callicoon,
among the Sullivan County hills of the
upper Delaware. Before the boy be-
came man he sought his fortune in New
York, worked his way through the Col-
lege of Physicians and Surgeons, and es-
tablished himself in the practice of the
profession. At the age of twenty-six,
he made his first journey to the North,
as surgeon of the Pearv expedition of
1891-92, during which he devoted special
attention to studies of the Arctic high-
landers then, for the first time, brought
into contact with modern scientific meth-
ods and study.

"The Miranda" expedition of 1894, of
scientists, sportsmen and explorers, was
organized by Dr. Cook, and brought by
him through perils of ice and sea, safely
home, though the "Miranda" was left
at the bottom of the sea. While disabled
at Sukkertoppen, Dr. Cook led a party
in an open boat to Holsteinberg, whence
relief was obtained and subsequently
shared with the late Capt. Dixon of the
Gloucester schooner "Riegel," the ardu-
ous duty of the return voyage.

In September, 1897, Dr. Cook assumed
the post of surgeon of the P>elgian An-
tarctic expedition, joining the ship at
Rio de Janeiro, and nearly two years
later returned, having brought all the
ship's company, with a single exception,
safely through the first Antarctic night,
for which distinguished service he re-
ceived gold medals from the Geograph-
ical Societies of Belgium and Antwerp,
and with the rank of Chevalier from the
King of Belgium. The narrative and a
resume of the scientific work of the ex-
pedition were later published by Dr.
Cook in "Through the First Antarctic
Night."

In 1901 Dr. Cook revisited, as sur-
geon of the Peary "Erik" auxiliary ex-
pedition, the scenes of his northern work
of ten years before.

In 1003 he led the first expedition to
attempt the approach and ascent of un-
known Mount .Mckinley in Alaska and
three years later first of men, with a
single companion, reached its summit
alter many thrilling adventures which
he describes in "To the Top of the Con-
tinent."

Dr. Cook sailed a fifth time for the
north in June, 1907, and was reported
in winter quarters at Etah, North Green-
land.

The A P, C axd N Y Z of Bee Cul-
ture. By A. I. and E. R. Root.
(116th thousand) Medina, Ohio:
The A. I. Root Company.
This standard encyclopaedia of the
practical methods of bee-keeping grows
better and better with each succeeding
edition. This recent revision takes a
long stride ahead of any previous. It is
well written and carefully edited, and
excellently printed and illustrated. It
should be in the hands of every bee-
keeper.

Directory to the Birds of Eastern
North America.. Illustrated with
many woodcuts and twenty plates
drawn and engraved by the author.
Written and published by C. J.
Maynard, West Newton, Mass.

This is a convenient pocket manual,
intended primarily for use by the pupils
in the author's bird classes, yet none the
less valuable to all other ornithologists.
The key is conveniently arranged accord-
ing to the habits and locations of birds.

The Bird Our Brother. A contribu-
tion to the study of the bird as he
is in life. By Olive Thorne Mil-
ler. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin
and Company. $1.25 net. Post-
age, IOC.
What Beebe's "The Bird" is to physi-
cal parts, this book is to the psychologi-
cal characteristics. The book is wholly
for the "general reader," so it claims.
And I wonder if that includes the ornith-
ologist. Is not he, also, a "general
reader," at the same time, — or is it at

142

TF-JE GUIDE TO NATURE.

other times that he is scientist ? But I
am diverging. The studies are for the
lovers of birds who have a sincere desire
for better acquaintance with bird lives,
loves and enjoyments.

Even the til"1^ of contents is inviting.
It invites to consideration, not of classi-
fication, where to hunt for birds, etc., but
of individuality, intelligence, language,
education, affections, courtship, amuse-
ments, odd ways, etc. The book has an
idea, and in many respects a new one.
It is well worked out and presented by
the talented author.

no attempt made at popularization, not
an instance of "dropping into poetry"
or telling a funny tale of folk lore, as
with many "popular'' manuals, yet this
book goes so directly to the work it pro-
claims itself to do that it should. have lib-
eral circulation for popular use. The lan-
guage is only reasonably botanical, not
occult, and is to be readily understood
by any person of fair intelligence. There
is an excellent glossary of the special
terms.

Gray Lady and the Birds. Stories of
the bird year for home and the
school. By Mabel Osgood Wright.
New York : The Macmillan Com-
pany.

I must confess that since I first saw a
copy of this book it has been a puzzle.
I often find myself wondering whether
the study of birds requires such an at-
tempt at coating and whether this kind of
coating is really "sugar." Do our grown
up friends who want to interest young
people in the study of birds require such
a round about aid ? It must be that there
is a public demand, for the publishers are
shrewd and the writer is talented. On
these two points only is there convincing
of necessity..

The author is an interesting story-
writer, and a proficient, enthusiastic stu-
dent of birds. I wish she had made two
books : one, "The Grav Lad\" ; the other,
"The Birds."

Daffodils-Narcissus and How to
Grow Them. By A. M. Kirby.
New York City : Doubieday, Page &
Company.

This volume tells all that is really
worth while about daffodils — where,
what, and how to grow them, and it is
also full of suggestions for those who
want to do something better than the
ordinary in their gardens. These most
charming and earliest of the larger flow-
ered spring bulbs — the Lenten lilies,
which "take the winds of March with
beauty" — are gaining rapidly in popular
estimation. Whether for cut flowers,
for pots or o-ardens, or for naturalizing
in the meadows, the daffodils are un-
equalled in beauty. The author has had
a life experience with bulbs of all kinds,
and grown what is orobablv the most
comolete collection of daffodils in Amer-
ica, and has made a hobby of studying
them. The first book of its kind dealing*
with American conditions.

North American Trees. Descriptions
and illustrations of the trees grow-
ing independently of cultivation in
North America and the West Indies.
By Nathaniel Lord Britton, Ph. D.,
Sc. D., Director-in-Chief of the
New York Botanical Garden. With
the assistance of John Adolph Sha-
fer, Pharm. D. Custodian of the
Museums of the New York Botani-
cal Garden. New York: Henry
Holt and Company. Pages 894.
This is a sumptuous and solid appear-
ing volume, of careful description of the
trees within the scope of the title. The
key is convenient. The descriptions are
condensed and scientific. While there is

The Life of Animals. The Mammals.
By Ernest Ingersoll. New York :
The Macmillan Company.

This book tells of the mode of life,
history and relationship of mammals.
The first chapter is "'Man and the Apes."
The last is "Duckbill and Echidnas."
Thus it is readily seen that a wide range
of mammalian life is represented. There
is an equally wide range in styles of il-
lustrations, everything known, and from
a great variety of sources. As the work
is mostly a compilation, it necessarily
flavors of the perfunctor-- and does not
show the author at his best, as he is in
"Wild Neighbors." There is, however,
the merit of care, faithful work and de-
sire for absolute accuracy on the part of

LITERARY AND BIOGRAPHICAL.

143

a competent naturalist. One of the
most valuable parts of the book is the
list of 270 authorities cited.

There is occasionally a controversial
tone as following' a quotation from an
ancient writer on lemur. The

author says :

"Recent developments in literature
seem to show that modern readers would
accept the same sort of wonder-tales as
confidingly as did our grandfathers."

"The quotation is as follows :

"The people say it is very dangerous
to kill these lemurs with spears, be-
cause if a spear is hurled against one

of them it seizes the spear in its flight
without being in itself hurt, and in its
turn stabs with certain aim those at-
tacking it. They also relate that when
the female has borne a young one, she
takes the little creature in her arms and
tosses it to her mate, who is seated on a
neighboring tree, and that he throws it
back to the female. If the little one
does not fall to the ground after being
subjected to this exercise for a dozen
times, the parents bring it up with the
greatest care; but if the contrary event
happens, they abandon it, not even
troubling to pick it up."

$ i — ...... — • 1 n G ; ###- — - i

AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION

wp0

*SmgS&§§S§§§§£SgSS§8S§Sg&&

TO INTRODUCE YOUNG PEOPLE AND
NATURE.

This is the season of the year in which
The Agassiz Association especially desires
to do personal work. Our plans in this
respect are better than those of the or-
dinary "Fresh Air Fund" because we not
only supply fresh air, but suggest ideas.
We believe that romping and devastat-
ing are not desirable as ends to be exclus-
ively sought, but that thought and ap-
preciation should be added to muscular
activity.

We want to buy a farm where children
from the cities may not only be enter-
tained and nourished but inspired and
trained in an affection for nature.

We want more efficient Headquarters
for teaching and for the production of
help toward the attainment of these ob-
jects.

The AA is a humane Society but it
does not say by power of an unyielding
law that you shall not be unkind to a
horse ; but it so teaches head and devel-
ops heart that there remains no desire
to be unkind to any form of animal life.

The AA not merely protects plants but
encourages its students to cultivate
them.

To all these ends we invite contribu-
tions, large or small, and every cent will

go directly to the expenses of the work.
The President and other officers receive
no salary.

There is no worthier cause and none
where every cent will count for more.

THE GRAY MEMORIAL BOTANICAL
CHAPTER NO. 2 OF A A.

Twenty years ago The Gray Memorial
Botanical Chapter of the Agassiz Asso-
ciation was formed for the purpose of
mutual assistance in the studv of botany,
by means of correspondence and the ex-
change of specimens.

Probablv I will be safe in saying that
but a very few Chapters of the AA have
enjoyed such a long lease of life, weath-
ering the vicissitudes of life and show-
ing as much life as we have at the pres-
ent day. To be sure we have had our
trials and tribulations, yet on the other
hand we have accomplished much good
work.

We have numbered in our ranks mem-
bers in all stations of life. Some of our
members have held positions under state
and national government — some with
botanical gardens and some in the busi-
ness and home sphere and some as in-
structors in schools and colleges.

144

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Our membership ranks are open to
any earnest student of botany.

Officers of the Gray Memorial Botan-
ical Chapter of the AA for 1908:

President: Miss Pauline Kaufman, 173
East 124th St., New York. N. Y.

General Secretary: Mr. George P.
Ells, Norwalk, Conn.

Treasurer: Miss Julia J. Noll, 309
East 7th St., Plainfiefd, N. j.

Members of Executive Council: Mr.
Charles W. Allen. Manasquan, N. J. ;
Mr. Paul A. Herr, Lancaster, Penn.

Any information desired in regard to
the Chapter may be obtained by writing
to the General Secretary.

A WORD OF GOOD CHEER.

FROM DR. L. O. HOWARD, BUREAU OF EN-
TOMOLOGY, DEPARTMENT OE AGRI-
CULTURE, WASHINGTON, D. C,
MEMBER OF THE AA COUNCIL.

My home while I was a boy was at
Ithaca, New York, which lies in a de-
lightful region at the head of Cayuga
Lake, with wooded hills, swift streams,
beautiful waterfalls, high cliffs, fertile
farms, and also, near the lake end, ex-
tensive marshes. It is an excellent place,
in fact, for the study of natural history.
I became interested in insects as a boy of
seven, on a visit to Long Island, through
a ten-years-old chap by the name of
Stewart who was collecting cocoons of
cecropia, polyphemus and promethia
moths. I carried the newly acquired in-
terest back with me to Ithaca, and, as
such things spread in a community of
boys, it was not long before a dozen or
more of us were collecting butterflies and
beetles, moths and bees, and had formed
a natural history society with meetings
every two weeks at which specimens
were exhibited and papers were read. I
believe that I happen to be the only one
of those boys to continue a branch of nat-
ural history as a profession, but I am sure
that all of the others retain a vivid inter-
est in such things and that their lives
have been hanpier as a result of their
knowledge of outdoor things and of their
acquired habit of keeping their eyes open
to the interesting phases of nature. At
Cornell University, which I entered at
the age of sixteen, I took especial work
in entomolop'v under Professor Corn-

stock, and after a year of postgraduate
work came to Washington to join the
entomological service of the government,
and here I have been ever since.

There is nothing I can tell Dr. Bige-
low, and probably nothing' I can tell the
people whom he interests which is new

LELAND O. HOWARD, PH. D.
Washington, D. C.

in the way of argument of inducement
to observe nature, but there is so much
in insect life that still remains to be
known, so many interesting facts which
the observer however placed can find out
that will add to the sum total of human
knowledge, that it is a wonder that there
are not many more entomologists than
there are. I have pointed this out in the
introduction to The Insect Book, which
in fact was written not so much to tell
what is known, but to point out what is
not known but which nevertheless can be
more or less easily found out. The most
unobservant of persons, sitting for ex-
ample on a vine-shaded veranda, needs
only to concentrate his attention for a

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION.

H5

few minutes upon what is going on
among the insects on or about the very
vines that shade him, in order to become
interested and to desire to seek for an
explanation of the tilings he sees.

WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT.

FROM SUPERINTENDENT HARRY G. HIGBEE,
HYDE PARK, MASSACHUSETTS, COR-
RESPONDING MEMBER NO. 2034.

Your prospectus of "The Guide to
Nature" received, and I have been look-
ing it over with a great deal of interest
and pleasure. It seems to me that this
magazine exactly fits a long felt want
with nature lovers, and that it has before
it a large field of usefulness.

I have been a most ardent lover of na-
ture since I can remember and have al-
ways strongly worked for and urged the
principle "Study nature in the woods and
fields and not from books, save only to
assist in identification." What we need
is a magazine that will help us to do just
this thing.

I am a member of other organizations
of a similar nature, but it seems to me
that the Agassiz Association comes right
down to the Dractical part of nature
studw and I want to become a member
and do what I can to help along an in-
stitution which incorporates the princi-
ples in which I so thoroughly believe.

I have had a field class in bird study
for six years past and am now conducting
the seventh season. Perhaps through
the Association I may learn of other
similar classes and thereby add to mine
ideas which will give it a larger field of
usefulness.

I can see in many ways how an or-
ganization and a magazine which is so
thoroughly co-operative with the needs
and wants of its members has before it
a great field of usefulness and is bound
to he a success.

Thus I shall look forward with a great
deal of pleasure to the inspiration which
I may receive from this magazine and
from my fellow members, to seek with
a greater interest and a deeper appre-
ciation the wonders and beauties which
Mother Xature gladly reveals to all who
sit at her feet and learn.

TOE SATISFACTIONS OF NATURE
STUDY.

BY PROP. THOS. 11. MONTGOMERY, JR.,

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS, AUSTIN,

TEXAS.

One may undertake any one of the
natural sciences as his profession, and
the majority who do so make the choice
out of pure enthusiasm and love for the
work. Here I refer not to him who
is simply seeking a livelihood, nor yet
to him who finds his main interest in the
teaching, but to the man impelled b\
the motives of discovery and research.
Perhaps no one is happier than the
investigator in his periods of searching
for the truth. Then a natural science
may be prosecuted as an auxiliary to tiie
profession proper, as one must become
acquainted with general biological prin-
ciples if he would lay the proper foun-
dation for his profession of medicine, or
sociology and economics, or agriculture,
or psychology.

But apart from the pursuit of natural
history as a profession, or as an aid to
one, there are many who find a great
interest in it more from the standpoint
of a hobby ; and it is especially for such
that this magazine has been founded.
In the greater number of our towns,
with the notable exception of most of
those in the southern states, there exist
natural history clubs of one kind or an-
other composed chiefly of amateurs : bo-
tanical, entomological, ornithological so-
cieties, societies for the breeding of gold-
fish and geological clubs. The majority
of their members are physicians or other
professional people, and business men,
manv of whom would have chosen
science as a profession had they only
had the opportunity. Then more re-
cently this amateur interest has been
widened by the teaching of nature study
in the schools, by more attractive exhi-
bitions in the public museums, and to
some extent by the trend of modern
literature.

Now this interest among the people
is older than the term "Nature Study,"
and must rest upon satisfaction given
by the subject. This satisfaction is

manifold in its source. To many the
observation of nature appeals rather
from the artistic side. What attracts

146

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

them are the aesthetic elements of wood-
land and landscape, with coloring and
form marvels. I would judge that this
is the stimulus to most, for no sharp di-
viding line can be made between art and
science. To others nature study ap-
peals most strongly because it draws
them away from themselves and makes
them forget for a while the humdrum
of existence. Still others are of more
inquisitive mind, they are not satisfied
with admiration, but wish to understand.
Again, a considerable number, particu-
larly among the beginners, are more in-
terested in buildine collections of natur-
al objects ; they are really tentative
museum curators.

Thus the satisfaction given by the
study of nature is many sided, and that
is whv it appeals to people of very dif-
ferent temperaments. Natural history,
when one gets started into it, always
proves more pleasure-giving than the
reading of newspapers and poor novels,
than the haunting of a social club or the
nursing of a bleacher at a baseball game.
It is within the reach of everyone, rich
and poor. It trains all the senses and
presents an endless field for the fancy
and for thought. Taken all in all it is
about the most satisfying hobby that one
can undertake, and to keep sane and
fresh a man is obliged to have a hobby
apart from the daily business. It helps
us to forget life's disappointments. The
subject presents in right perspective
man's relation to nature, and is thereby
helping to abolish superstition. It

teaches that everyone should feel and
think for himself. The pursuit of nat-
ural history can lead us back to our ear-
lier, more normal and healthy natural
life, from which our over-civilization
has withdrawn us.

"THE JOY OF LEARNING MORE AND
MORE."

by Frederick leroy sargent, cam-
bridge, MASS.

It has always seemed to me that the
most satisfactory things in the world to
know about are those which are common-
est. I believe also that the most satisfac-
tory ideas I can gain regarding them
are such general views of their proper-
ties and places in nature as will enable

me to predict their behavior under var-
ious conditions, to tell what I can do
with them and what they can do for me
—physically, intellectually and spiritu-
ally.

The earnest study of common things
has led me far, back and forth, over
the field of nature, often to inquiries
seemingly remote from everyday con-

FREDERICK LEROY SARGENT.
Member of the Agassiz Association Council.

cerns, and yet leading in turn to ideas
useful in daily life. While yet a school
boy I had the desire to find out all I
could about the curious fruit of the com-
mon dandelion which helps to make this
plant so successful. This early study
of the fruit led me later, through watch-
ing its development, to a study of the
flower. Then were aroused questions
regarding the behavior of the floral parts
in pollination with reference to helpful
or harmful insects and favorable or un-
favorable weather. An attempt to un-
derstand the floral parts led to tracing
their development back to the cradling
hnd of the leaf-rosette. The history of
the leafy shoot with its underground
reservoir of protected reserve food and
far-reaching roots raised many questions
more, not least of which were these:

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION.

i47

What conditions does the plant require
for making' this food upon which its
flowers feed? How does its herbage
compare as regards food-value for man-
kind with the edible parts of other
plants ? How can its value as a vegeta-
ble be increased?

T have wondered how far selection has
availed in improving the flavor and nu-
tritive qualities of cultivated sorts of
dandelions ; why the leaves of dandelions
growing: side bv side are often striking-
ly unlike; and to what extent the differ-
ences we now see in dandelions are re-
sults of what they or their ancestors at
crucial moments chose to do in response
to favoring opportunity. I have come
to wonder how much the inner life of a
dandelion is like mine, and what is the
most important difference between us.

After many years I am still asking
and wondering about dandelions and
other commonest things that interested
me deeply as a boy, and I can see no
end to the joy of learning more and
more about them. Living creatures

have always interested me most ; and
the most satisfying of all the delights
of studying them have come from the
feeling- that we are akin. I try to un-
derstand their needs, comparing them
with my own ; and try to appreciate
their vital problems, rejoicing in the ef-
ficient ways they have found of meeting
the exigencies of their lives.

I have enjoyed especially making
friends with the plants about me, learn-
ing to recognize them when we meet, to
know the names by which they are
called, and to discover how we may be
of service to one another. Some of the
humblest among them, such as lichens,
have by the example of their lives often
led me to reflect on the advantages of
co-operation, of profiting by opportuni-
ties neglected by others rather than
working injury through competition, of
patient waiting under adverse condi-
tions, of substituting beauty for ugliness,
and of contributing to higher achieve-
ment by others.

Surely we are all one — we sharers of
the gift of life — alike inheritors and
contributors, owing to those around us
and those to come the best we can give
for the good of all !

THE ATTRACTIONS OF NATURAL
SCIENCE.

BY WILIJAM WHITMAN BAILEY, LL. D.,
BROWN UNIVERSITY.

I have ever maintained that, whatever
else might be a man's regular vocation,
he would find it to his advantage to
study nature. Of course I am aware
that there are many whose occupations
are such that they can give very little
time to any extra pursuit. But even to
these, though it may be all too rarely,
come a few spare hours. There are
always the Sundays and holidays and the
times, all too limited though they be, be-
fore or after the day's labor.

Those to whom the love of nature
is inherent will find the time to
recognize her and by reading, study
and, above all, by observation to add to
the sum of their knowledge. By this
means, not only will they increase their
own personal enjoyment, but will be
able to instruct and entertain then-
friends. Many a man who has pursued
botany, entomology or geology as a side
issue has become famous in his day and
generation. Some of these devotees, in-
deed, have been persons of humble call-
ing.

Take the case of Robert Dick, the
baker naturalist, a Scotch peasant who
became the correspondent of such men
as Sir Roderick Murchisson, and to
whose quick eye science was indebted
for the discovery in Great Britain of
many a rare plant or fossil. He himself
savs somewhere, and it seems to me the
key to his character, that when walking
on the sea-beach, he filled his pockets
with the glistening pebbles
"Simply because they were so bonny."
Herein speaks true nature love. It
is, of course, conceivable that one may
learn much by a continued pursuit of a
subject — that he may run it down or
capture it by desperate effort. But Na-
ture is proverbially coy ; to be won. she
must be wooed ; and he is happy, indeed,
who has, as it were, inherited her af-
fection.

I think perhaps I can enforce my
point by a note of personal experience.
My father was a noted naturalist, his
side pursuits being botany and micro-
scopy, while his regular professorship at

148

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

West Point was that of chemistry, min-
eralogy and geology. Of course I can-
not absolutely refer my own tendencies
to heredity, but as two brothers mani-
fested the same, there surely is presump-
tive evidence. When, however, onl\
nine years old, I was left entirely under
my father's care and became the constant
companion of his shorter walks, 1 have
never known a more loving student of

WILLIAM WHITMAN BAILEY, LL. D.
Member of The Agassiz Association Council.

nature or one with a brain better stored
with varied information. To this, old
West Point graduates tell me, and I
can assert myself, he added a marvellous
gift of instruction. "Sermons in Stones"
were by him made as interesting as a
romance. Poetic expression clothed his
every thought. No object was too small
or mean for his attention. I recall once,
when a lad, on one of our walks, his
picking up a pebble and explaining to
me that it had come from the Sha-
wangunk Mountains, quite far from
West Point. He told me how there the
same stone was found in situ, while
with us it was only as a pebble. This led
to the whole story of the ancient gla-
ciers.

As a result of this early training and

association, I entered life with a strong
love of nature. Many essential facts,
which others have to acquire, seem to me
to have been mine always. Finding
ever such intense joy in mountains,
woods and sea ; constantly desiring to
learn more about the denizens of these
regions, their relations and habits, 1 have
found increasing delight in imparting to
others such information as I have my-
self acquired. I have repeatedly point-
ed out to my students how well it is to
have a hobby, and how some one of the
nature studies is especially desirable.

A walk for mere health purposes may
degenerate into a constitutional and be-
come a bore; if taken as an excursion
in which one has certain aims in view, or
at least, expectations, it is translated into
a joy. Many a student, including the
President of Brown University, has told
me that it was in the department of bot-
any that, as they expressed it, "the scales
first fell from their eyes," and for the
first time they saw as it is the wondrous
face of nature. Several students of di-
vinity I can recall, who confessedly tak-
ing up botany for the acquirement of
texts, of figures, of comparisons, have
been led to a wider and a more telling
stud\'. The minister, indeed, may make
botany a delightful companion, especially
in a country parish. It is not at all sur-
prising then to find many of them ac-
curate and enthusiastic observers.

To the botanist there are not only the
field joys inherent to spring and summer,
but delightful closet labors in winter. In
such hours,, in his cosy study or library,
he either examines anew his microscopic
specimens, or unfolding his herbarium,
studies, arranges and mounts his dry ma-
terial. Next to the pleasure of the
fields, the association with living things,
there is no greater joy than that to be
found in one's cabinet. Each plant re-
calls some place or event, or it may be,
brings back the face of the loved and
lost. In a certain sense, then, the herbal
is a diary, and one relives with a speci-
men, perhaps grown on some high moun-
tain top, the transcendent moment of its
collection.

I say then, in closing, to all my read-
ers, I warmly advise the study of nature,
for the jov of acquisition in part, but
more for that love of the beautiful and
true that will grow with the years.

TTO ILLUbTKATED MONTHLY MAGAZINE FOR ADULTS. DEVOTED TO COMMONPLACE

NATURE WITH UNCOMMON INTEREST.

S3

m

I

%

W- H"'il-

The Guide
To Nature

StamfoM^Connf

idwarcL nBigelov^~Editor.

*2S

&

PUBLISHED BY THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION. OFFICE: 113 GROVE ST., STAMFORD. CONNECTICUT.

Subscription, $1.50 Per Year. Single Copy, 15 Cents.
Application has been made for entry at the Post Office at Stamford, as second class matter.

The Sachs Tablets

A PLANT FOOD AND STIHULANT

Apply to the roots of the plants in any form you wish and the
plants will grow and thrive. The plants may be grown in earth
and the solution applied as a fertilizer and stimulant, or the plants
may be grown, for novelty and experiment, on crushed stone,
pebbles, bits of brick, sponge, sawdust, or between two sheets of
glass and the growth watched.

The Sachs tablets grew these luxuriant and thrifty plants from
less than a tablespoonful of sawdust in each eggshell.

Sections of roots or root hairs may be taken at any stage for
careful observation, free from all soil.

Excellent for experimental work. Efficient with "house plants."
Just the thing to awaken a dormant plant.

Box containing 30 tablets (sufficient for 15 pints of solution) mailed
postpaid with full directions for 10c.

Prices in bulk as follows:

500 Tablets, $1.25 ; 1000 Tablets, $2.00 ; 2000 Tablets, $3.50; Additional 1000/ $1.25.

Less than 500 tablets not supplied in bulk.

These tablets and the directions with them will guide you into most interesting

fields in PLANT LIFE

address The Gu}de tQ Nature> Stamford, Conn.

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CONES OF THE RED PINE ( PINUS RESINOSA ) PICKED UP IN THE ROAD TO THE
ESTATE DESCRIBED IN THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE.

The Guide to Nature.

EDUCATION AND RECREATION

Vol. I

AUGUST, 1908

No. 5

OUTDOOR WoRLD

Nature in Decoration and Pleasurable Resource.

(STUDIES ON A FINE ESTATE)
BY EDWARD F. BIGELOW, STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT

M

if

•

HAT nature does in some
of her aspects need im-
provement is self-evident.
Wonderful as is the hum-
an eye, the skilled optician
might improve it. De-
lightful and picturesque
as is the tangled thicket
that pushes itself close to the gutter of
a country road, it would not be well to
allow the hedge to advance so far as to
destroy the utilitarian drain. Here it
becomes a contest between beauty and
service, and in this particular case,
beauty must be sacrificed. Yet it is possi-
ble to be too eager in behalf of the
strictly useful. Sometimes it occurs
that the utilitarian may be as service-
able and as sanitary after it has been

made beautiful as it was when it was ugly
as well as healthful. There is often a
happy medium, but in nine instances out
of ten that happiness is overlooked, de-
liberately omitted or intentionally ob-
scured. Beautv as well as sanitary ser-
vice has an educational value, but as
ugliness is usually attained with less
effort and less muscular fatigue, not to
say with less mental wear and tear, we
bury the beautiful with our spade and
shovel, leaving the ugly in conspicuous
heaps and piles and irregular mounds
of gravel.

The unskilled optician and the inex-
perienced road trimmer each makes a
bad job of his special work. Too often
injur\- occurs where improvement was
intended. In many attempts to im-

Copyright 1908 by The Agassiz Association, Stamford, Conn.

IS 2

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

prove nature the most frequent error
consists in substituting formalism for
the naturally picturesque.

Near my former home there at one
time existed a natural Eden of charm-
ing" beauty. An entering" wood path led
the lover of nature away from the main
and sunny road along a hillside to an
umbrageous forest, a wild tangle of nat-
ural beauty. It was in every respect a

proved." The landscape has been "cul-
tivated." The "landscape gardener"
has sent in his bill and departed to
make havoc elsewhere. The region
has been "beautified." I am thankful
when I remember that the sky remains
and that the clouds have not been "cul-
tivated" nor "improved." The brook
has been diverted and now actuates an
hydraulic ram, but who am I that I

"BUT WITH ALL ITS WILDNESS AND GRACEFULLY UNKEMPT APPEARANCE, ONE

FELT INSTINCTIVELY THAT IT WAS CARED FOR— MORE APPRECIATIVELY

THAN ANY OTHER PART OF THE PREMISES.'' See Page 156.

charming situation with an alluring and
indescribable environment.

But soon appeared a sign, '"Building
Lots for Sale." The march of "im-
provement" was advancing in that di-
rection. The surveyor sighted his in-
strument and drove stakes. The sound
of exploding dynamite was heard 111 the
land. A house was erected and more
are to follow. Grades have been "im-

should criticise ? Cleon owns the
ground, he says, and Cleon wants me to
look at it through his spectacles but my
eyes are not adapted to Cleon 's lenses.

Rapidly the little paradise has be-
come a thing of the past. A bank
made picturesque by overhanging vines
and a sumach thicket has been trans-
formed to a harsh wall of broken stone
with severe and angular outline. Cleon

NATURE IX DECORATION AND PLEASURABLE RESOURCE, i

53

'EVEN THE TREES WERE PERMEATED WITH A QUIET SIMPLICITY AND AN
UNOSTENTATIOUS YET CORDIAL WELCOME."

into straight

is torturing everything
lines. He has indeed "improved"
A great opportunity for one

the
place. A great opportunity for one of
the most picturesque little settlements
of homes has heen lost. It would cost
thousands of dollars to undo what has
cost as much to do. Imagine the origi-

nal cart path transformed into a firm
driveway, with the effacement of the
rustic stone walls and the natural bor-
ders of shrubbery and vines. Let down
in various places buildings in a rustic
architecture to harmonize with the en-
vironment. Close your eyes and imag-

THE ROSE ARCHES IN THE FORMAL GARDEN.

r54

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

ine all this almost in the heart of a city,
and you will readily perceive what an
offensive thing to a lover of nature is
this so-called improvement, as usually
practised. And yet, to look from the
other point of view, there must he im-
provement. Delightfully beautiful as is
some abandoned farm or old homestead
back in the country, much as we may
admire the neglected rusticity and in-
formal tangle of things in general, even
the most enthusiastic admirer of natural
beauty feels that some improvements

the how." A hovel or a palace or any
grade between will show it. The
problem is not how much or how small
are one's possessions, but how well are
those possessions used. A close observ-
er may see here and there a hut whose
occupant knows how tastefully to min-
gle the artificial and the natural. It
takes only a background of shrubbery
and a few garden beds and a border of
flowers to show it all. Then one often
sees "magnificent" estates that should be
moved so that the North Pole might be

+#*>

v 2S-.

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THIS WELL KEPT GARDEN SUGGESTED TO THE OWNER THAT A GARDEN OF

WEEDS WOULD ALSO BE BEAUTIFUL.

must be made. Otherwise the region
would not be habitable. A human be-
ing should be civilized ; he should be
unwilling to live like a wild animal.
Yet even our civilized nature retains
the call of the wild. It is evident that
there should be an improvement on na-
ture, but not annihilation. To what ex-
tent and by what methods, is the prob-
lem. In a drive or walk through the
country, one who is an observer as well
as a lover of nature and of civilization
may see all grades of "the extent and

in the center — so icily formal is 'every-
thing. The owner may fancy that he
has a country residence, but he is mis-
taken. He has an enlarged section of a
Fifth Avenue sidewalk. There is a real
cause for worry when one walks
through a forest and hasn't entered it,
or when one travels for ten miles on a
country road and hasn't been on the
road.

I should think it would be a great
trial for some owners of country estates
when thev discover that thev have not

NATURE IX DECORATION AND PLEASURABLE RESOURCE.

155

yet left the city.

roadsides, the fields, the forests are not
localities; they are conditions of mind.
The environments are mental X rays
whereby we can see the cerebral, not to
sav the astral, state of the owner.

A CURVE DECORATION OF ROSES.

die country, the oughly savored of the country and yet

was well kept. It was spacious yet
cozy. It was magnificent yet simple.
Even the trees were permeated with a
quiet simplicity and an unostentatious
vet cordial welcome. At one side of

the house, cows were

I have seen a country estate that thor- rustic simplicity of our

grazing

111 the
forefather's

NATURE IN DECORATION OF A GARDEN WALL.
Observe the informal formalism.

156

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

days, while across the road was a mod-
ern garage filled with elaborate "ma-
chines." The persistent action of lawn
mowers gave certain parts of the prem-
ises the neat appearance of a man who
shaves every day. At the other side of
the dwelling was a tangled and enticing
profusion of trees, shrubs, native plants
and grasses that would urge a nature
study class into the hysterics of ec-
stacy. The Indians that centuries ago
roamed the hill enjoyed no more of the
primeval wildness. It was delicious ,
in its tangled profusion it was ravish-
ing.

fuss with me so much ; let me alone ; I
can do my best only when unhampered."
Why this territory was so guarded
and had so beautiful an appearance I
could better understand when later I
walked with its owner through his elab-
orately formal garden. He said, '"Yes,
this is beautiful as you say, but I
should like to make another with
nothing in it but weeds." I must con-
fess, plant lover as I am, that this was
a new idea. Abstractly and with the
enthusiasm of a botanist, I had often
lauded the beauty of weeds — but never
from the horticultural point of view. A

"THE WHITE POND LILLIES BLOOMED IN A POND OF FRESH WATER."
' Their pads floated to and fro as naturally as over the ooze of a muddy pond in the swamp.

This decoration of nature in the wild
dared approach even to the vines that
overhung the edge of the road and the
steps leading to the house. But with all
its wildness and gracefully unkempt ap-
pearance, one felt instinctively that it was
cared for — more tenderly, more apprecia-
tively than any other part of the premises.
It was care not only loving but that most
appreciated by nature — that of being
guided yet practically let alone. Both

nature and man have individual rights.
If Nature could speak, as this magazine
can speak for her, she would say, 'Don't

garden for weeds ! The very words
seem to be antagonistic. I had known
of weeds left in many a garden through
sbiftlessness or a lack of time to re-
move them, but a garden deliberately
devoted to weeds ! I had never before
known my farming tastes and my bo-
tanical enthusiasms to come so seriously
into conflict. 1 had been content to let
them travel along side by side — but al-
ways, mind you, with a mental high
board fence between. It may shock, it
may cause a clash, but sometimes it does

NATURE IN DECORATION AND PLEASURABLE RESOURCE. 157

"TRANSPORTED TO THE LAND OF THE GONDOLIER."
"The ornamental prows have floated away."

one good to pull down a panel or two
and to make easier the approach from one
mental field into another. It is often
beneficial to turn different cerebral
fields into one.

Yes, the formal garden was beautiful
but always in improved naturalness.
Xot a part of it seemed a pergola ex-
tension. Even the inviting seat under
the chestnut tree was rustic. Near bv
the white pond lillies bloomed in a pond
of fresh water with a central over bub-
bling and spraying fountain and their
pads floated to and fro as naturally as
over the ooze of a muddy pond in the
swamp.

In the front of the house, at the salt
water lake, one was transported to the
land of the gondolier, but it seemed as
if in a dream. The ornamental prows
have floated away leaving modern
canoes and batteaus rich in their pol

ished natural wood. The prows ! Oh,
yes, these had grown more slender and
had become vivified in the form of mov-
ing swans, and with truly poetic grace
they floated in every direction above the
limpid depths. They had attendants,
too — as they have in dreamland — big
ducks and little ducks and geese in var-
ious shapes and sizes. The broad stretch
of marsh which for ages had been aban-
doned to mosquitoes had become an
excellent example of nature under real
and commendable improvement. This
now bore many kinds of aquatic fowl.
Some of those were of species not
usually regarded as marine, but these
too took to the salt water as if that had
for generations been their especial pref-
erence.

In the distance was an island, readily
reached by a boat ready for instant use.
To descend the stone steps to the

"FORM OF MOVING SWANS WITH TRULY POETIC GRACE."

158

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

water's edge was an easy journey; to
throw off the line and ply the oars,
equally easy. Even from a distance the
island proclaimed itself an island of
birds. The ivy mantled tower w ith a

"THE IVY MANTLED TOWER WITH A
BRONZE BIRD POISED ON THE
SUMMIT TOLD THE STORY."

bronze bird poised on the summit toki
the story. Like the totem poles of
Alaska that say, "This is the Bear Fam-
ily," "This the Wolf Family," this totem
tower said, "This belongs to the Bird

lush herbage,

pcrcr

Family." The purpose was respected.
The entire island was not only "sacred"
to the birds, but it offered a •pungent
warning against wandering footsteps
that, amid vines and
might come in contact with an
ready to explode and to fill the air with
odors quite unlike those of "Arabv the
blest." The visitor needed no sign, "Be
careful. Birds' eggs are plentiful."

The conditions reminded me of the
story of an Englishman who was show-
ing a guest about his garden. The
guest walked into a tank whose surface
was concealed by a growth of aquatic
plants. As he came up spluttering and
making frantic efforts to free himself
from the clinging vines and leaves, his
mortified host was shouting, "Oh, I
meant to have told you about that. Oh,
why was I so careless?"

" X-n-v-r mind — whuff — and — fhss —
saved — wh-on ghhh — you the trouble.
I found it."

Nobody needed to tell me where were
the nests of ducks and geese and swans.
I found them ; that is, mostly — occasion-
ally one found me! But I never felt
that I had done actual damage. The
goods were too damaged and too shop
worn to be saleable.

But the nests, the real up to date nests,
with not the stray egg that didn't hatch !
What beauties they were! To discover
one had all the charm of the discovery
of a wild bird's nest. But for that mat-
ter, these birds were wild enough, es-
pecially in the presence of a stranger
carrying a mysterious camera. Those
most suspicious of the intruder were the
really wild birds that nested in great
numbers in the ivy. These kept up a
constant nervous fluttering to and fro
as I approached the tower and their
cries plainly said, "Go away."

On repeated visits the birds came to
know me better, especially so when I
accompanied the man who fed them.
He noured the cracked corn into the
water! The long necks should still be
of use as in native haunts. Fie whistled
and from far away came the birds —
short necked, long necked, white, black,
Sfrev, little, bier, medium, all sorts of
birds. The feeding beach was the
'common water" on which all kinds and

NATURE IN DECORATION AND PLEASURABLE RESOURCE. 159

THE HUGE NEST AND EGGS OF A SWAN.

conditions of life met with a common
interest in cracked corn. This was the
long and short of it, but they nearly
all assumed the same perpendicularity.
The swans, however, floated in grandly
toward the shore, and gracefully bent
down their arching necks, except when
they bent them outward to make a grab

at some duck or goose that ventured too
near.

Alike suggested that I get a moving
picture machine and try it. 1 had only
an ordinary camera. Whether it was his
suggestion or the attractiveness of the
scene I do not know. I do know, how-
ever, that 1 forgot myself ( and the cost

A NEAR VIEW OF THE NEST OF A DUCK

These eggs are much smaller than those of the swan. The nearness of the camera makes them

seem larger

iuo

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

"MIKE SUGGESTED THAT I GET A MOVING PICTURE MACHINE."

of plates) and "loaded" and "fired" that
Premo camera with as much activity as
if it were a moving picture machine.
The scene was exciting. I had been
working for several days with a focal
plane shutter, telephoto and all sorts of
"fixin's" with not the best results. And
here were multitudes of birds right on
the beach, hustling in all sorts of atti-
tudes for the grain. I was in the food
house with Zeiss Protar long focus

sticking out the narrow opening in the
door, "firing" with gatling gun rapiditv.

Mike was a faithful and admiring
supporter. He enjoyed as I did the
Mashing pictures on the ground glass.
( It was so dark in the house that no
dark cloth was needed. )

It was exciting. I felt as brave as
if the estate were being" attacked and the
repulsion of the enemy depended wholly
upon a single gun in my hands. No

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"IT WAS EXCITING. I FELT AS BRAVE AS IF THE ESTATE WERE BEING

ATTACKED."

NATURE IN DECORATION AND PLEASURABLE RESOURCE. 161

"THE SWANS, HOWEVER, FLOATED IN GRANDLY TOWARD THE SHORE AND
GRACEFULLY BENT DOWN THEIR ARCHING NECKS.''

hero could have done better. I fired
every shot effectively. Mike, be it to
his everlasting credit, stood by me to
the last and handed me the holders, and
as he offered the final one he said re-
gretfully, "Haven't you any more in that
case vonder?"

"Not one,
pride in

I said with a feeling of
duty, and to

having done my

myself, as regretfully as he — perhaps
more so, for reasons, as I gazed at that
pile of twelve double holders and
thought how much orthonon plates cost
a dozen and how much it costs to devel-
op them, "1 wish I hadn't as many!"

Mike may have felt a little disap-
pointed but I was sure I had "movin'
pictures !"

"BUT I HAD ONLY AN ORDINARY CAMERA."
With which to study characteristic attitudes.

l62

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

A few from that interesting collection
accompany this article.

* $ * * * *

The peacocks, strange to say, were
the most difficult to photograph. In
the first place, it was not easy to get
near three of them and, secondly, they
kept mostly in the dense shadows. The
third manifested a queer combination of
wildness, tameness and ugly curiosity.
He reminded me of the patience and
task work needed in photographing
school children. Seat them on the
ground and all are so anxious to get in
the front row, there is so much "hitch-
ing up," that they get so near as to be
out of focus. So I would set up m\
camera at about tweritv feet. I would
open the lens and put up the dark cloth.
There he is now. Xo, he isn't. Where
has he gone? Off with the cloth — hold
on, hold on. There goes my camera.
He has come up to inspect it and the
camerist and has struck the tripod. 1
could not make him keep at proper dis-
tance. He was altogether too familiar.
I was told that he followed certain
ladies of the household in their walks
and had even carried his curiosity to
such an extent that he flew to their
heads and made close inspection of the
millinery. I did succeed once in shoo-
in°-" him to the twenty feet distance and
in securing a fairly good photograph as
he walked to the edge of the water.
The others I could secure only bv tele-

photo in the early morning when thc_y
sat statue-like on the fence. I wished,
however, that the statue-like character-
istic would have applied a little more
to their heads, especially on a five sec-
ond exposure.

I have wandered around these beauti-
ful premises, utilizing with much advan-
tage and pleasure the privileges of the
life studies and indulging in many ob-
servations of the delightful mingling of
the natural with the artificial. The
fact that the two can be mingled, in a
magnificent and luxurious manner, is a
lesson that should be learned by many
wealthy people. One needs but to turn
over some of the sumptuous pages of
magazines devoted to the description
of country life and of beautiful houses
and gardens to feel that location and
dollars alone cannot make a country nor
beaut,r nor even a home.

Envy no one. The naturalist is the
wealthiest of all. He alone owns the
whole world and has myriads to take
care of it for him. He assumes posses-
sion of whatever portion of the oroperty
on which he may happen to be. Again,
the naturalist learns the lesson of in-
dividual freedom. The scarlet tanager
has the same right to gaudily see the
topmost things of the tree that the earth-
worm has to bore subterranean tunnels
And who shall say which is the higher;
What right has the zenith to claim more

A FAIRLY GOOD PHOTOGRAPH AS HE WALKED TO THE EDGE OF THE WATER."

NATURE IN DECORATION AND PLEASURABLE RESOURCE. 163

"I WISHED, HOWEVER, THAT THE STATUE-LIKE CHARACTERISTIC WOULD
HAVE APPLIED A LITTLE MORE TO THEIR HEADS.''

than the nadir? From the nadir's point
of view the earthworm is the "highest."
But pardon this bit of soliloquy. The
point I want to make is be honest in
using the English language. If you
have "country," "beauty" and a "home,"
as in this particular instance, call it so.
If you have coldness in architecture or
in grounds, if vou have artificiality in
the exclusive extreme, if you have a
palace, call it so. But to most human
beings who live the natural and the im-
proved in nature let there be the proper
intermingling.

But, says some one, not all have the
means to use nature so extensively as a
decoration and a resource. The answer
is that the plea is not for quantity but
quality ; not for ownership but interest.

If you love waterfowl get some ducks
and geese and keep them in the frog
pond. If vou cannot get several get
one duck or one goose. If you havn't
the frog pond and really want one, move
where there is one. If you cannot have
a cement fountain, sink a half barrel
in the ground of the back yard.

In other words, use nature as a deco-
ration and as a pleasurable resource.
Rightfully used, be your estate large
or small, there is nothing more beauti-
ful, nothing more helpful, than nature
properly trained, properly restrained
and properly, which means tenderly, led
along on the way which she would, if
left to herself, select her own path and
freely fling abroad all her native beauty.

164

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

WHAT IT MEANS.

At the top of the cover on the first
few issues of The Guide to Nature
has been printed this descriptive title :
"An illustrated Monthly Magazine for
Adults, devoted to Commonnlace Nature
with Uncommon Interest." The first
four words have been, so far as we have
observed or heard, perfectly clear to all,
but there has been much misunderstand-
ing of the rest. This magazine is edited
in the firm belief that nature is as inter-
esting to the adult as to the child, and
that when we have completed our school
days, we have not learned all there is to
be learned from the natural objects of
the world.

The modern pedagogical term "nature
study" notwithstanding all the good it
has done, has also done one great injury.
That is, it has made and deepened the
impression in not a few minds that nature
study consists only of a few simple
things explained in a simple way to chil-
dren.

The term nature, as viewed by The
Guide to Nature, is not peas, beans,
tadpoles, and bluebirds for the young
folks, but is mountains, rivers, lakes,
camps, trees, rides, walks, home sur-
roundings, in a word, everything in the
great outdoor world that may refresh
or instruct any man or any woman.

"We will look to the hills whence
cometh our help," was not meant to be
limited to kindergarten rambles.

A lady canvassing for subscriptions
to The Guide was told by a middle-

aged and apparently cultured man that
he didn't need The Guide, because he
had studied botany and zoology when he
was a school boy, under the best teach-
ers, and he had learned all that he need-
ed to know !

I, too have studied a little, and I have
no fault to find with any of my teachers,
but the more I have studied, especially
in later years, the more have I realized
how little I actually know of nature and
how vast is the field. May I get off the
earth long before I come to a state of
mind, if such a thing; be possible, when
I shall no longer have an intense craving
for more knowledge. And I am unable
to picture to myself any future existence
worth having where there shall be no op-
portunity for mental expansion and
growth. Much as I love paleontology
as one form of nature study. I can but
add another petition to the Litany.
"Lord prevent me from becoming a fos-
sil."

THE E>THANTME>T OF DISTAACE.

To those who love and study nature,
it seems almost incredible that others do
not have the same zeal and enthusiasm.
We can but exclaim : Why, what else
are we here for but to appreciate the fact
that we are here, and to make the most
of the environment. Even a love and
interest in one's fellow beings is but ap-
preciation of one of the many products
of nature.

But even against all probabilities, the
fact exists that the interest in nature is
far from universal. Occasionally one

EDITORIAL AND GENERAL.

165

meets people who might as well be in an-
other world so far as any appreciation
of this is in evidence.

Then, too, in the realms of nature
literature, and of nature in education,
the support is far from what it should
be.

The more I have considered this lack,
the more I have tried to formulate a
solution to the problem, the more I am
inclined to believe, that the common say-
ing "Distance lends enchantment to the
view," contains a truth on which rests
most of the lack of popular and even
esoteric interest. With the populace as
well as with the select club, there seems
to he a feeling that this thing- near at
hand isn't worth considering. There
is undoubtedly a popular interest in ani-
mals , as witness the money-drawing
power of the menagerie of foreign ani-
mals generally connected with the trav-
elling circus, in the extended sale of
certain books describing animals that
live in distant countries, and in the Mun-
chausen newspaper stories of some new
bear from Alaska, or a 1,000 year old
toad found alive and well in a rock from
a Nevada mine.

How attractive and popular seems the
distant time. The route of the Anab-
asis is regarded as of more vital in-
terest than a path through the neighbor-
ing woods, and the dates in the life of
Louis Somebody of France more cultural
than the metamorphoses of an insect in
the nearest field.

Take for example the curriculum of
any school and observe the undue atten-
tion given to events of the distant past
in comparison with that devoted to im-
parting a knowledge of the common-
place things of to-day.

Take, again, the programme for the
year's lecture course of any woman's
club and observe those on the "Which-
ness of the What," compared with those
on 'AYhat is this that I Have Seen?"

Think of it carefully. Do you,
whether you are a naturalist or not,
know any more astounding fact than
this, that so many hours and so much
appreciation are given to the distant in
time and place and so little attention to
the denizens of one's own dooryard, or
the neighboring field? There is a prin-

ciple involved in the familiar quotation,
"Distance lends enchantment to the
view" that should have infused into it,
that embodied in another equally trite
and time-honored saying, "Charity be-
gins at home." I suppose this word
charity means love, but it may also
mean education and life.

THE END.

I am a devoted reader and admirer
of one of the high grade magazines de-
voted to the description of those lavish
appliances with which the wealthy and
yet busy man is supposed to restore the
normal action of his nerves, when he
flees to the suburbs to escape from the
stress and storm and struggling compe-
tition of the "madding crowd." I read
this magazine not so much from personal
as from editorial interest. I like to see
how that other editor strives to make at-
tractive the "quiet" of the suburbs.

In a recent issue he publishes a mas-
terpiece. The title is alliterative, eupho-
nious and catchy — 'Alice and Money."
And the contributor goes on to tell in
glowing terms how even in a small place
one can make much money by raising
and selling" these small nets. This and
other publications have honored me by
allowing me to tell their readers how to
make money on all sorts of things that
I have in my backyard or have seen in
others' backyards. These magazines
stand then for ways and means-
how to get some money to use as a
means for something else as an end to
get more means.

Let it be known once and for all that
Thk Guide to Nature stands for the
end not the means. This magazine be-
lieves in keeping mice, and advocates
keeping mice if yon have a liking for
those little creatures, and it advocates
any other kind of pet or any plant as an
end in itself.

We do not care for an article on
"How I Sent My Son to College on the
Products of One Hen." and we have no
vearning for an article on "The Aston-
ishing Results of One Hundred and
Forty-four Square Inches of Ground
Devoted to Violets," and scintillating
with $ $ $ and padded between the
sparkles with tabulated columns of re-

i66

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

ceipts and expenditures. We believe
and stand for the end the satisfaction
and pleasure in keeping mice or chickens
or in raising violets ; we believe in the
suburbs and in the country as an end in
themselves. As a resource of life, not
as a source of dollars. If you are a
specialist in raising anything exclusivelv
for money, then, let us be frank, I be-
lieve there are class papers that will
interest you more than will The GuipE
to Nature. You may make your mon-
ey at something else. We stand for the
things that are loved and for the people
that love them.

( hie of my favorite recreations is to
go hunting in ponds and ditches for
microscopic forms of life. The water
is strained and the results of half a day's
work may be carried in a few bottles
in a three pint pail. This pail and
contents, my strainer and dipper are a
center of curiosity to the people on the
trolley car on which I travel to and from
my favorite collecting marshes. It
seems especially difficult to understand
how I can be a user of such things for
the common question is "Can you sell
"em?" To these I have a stock answer,
"No, sir; but I can buy them as I did
these by a half day's hard work."

In other words I can be "the end." I
never yet could understand why so many
people seem to think that some one else
can use such objects to better advantage
than I can. No, I am "the end," and
the things in the bottle are "the end,"
too. They are not a circulating med-
ium with which to purchase something
else.

And The Guide to Nature stands,
too, for the things you fancy, for the
form of outdoor life that best pleases
you.

Speaking of selling the contents of
those mysterious bottles reminds me that
almost every visitor to my pet-house in
viewing the rabbits, cavies, etc., asks, "I
suppose you make a lot of money in
raising and selling these pets?" In fact
I should be almost ashamed to tell how
much of my salary I take in order to
possess this little luxury. How hon-
ored I should feel if somebody should
say, "I suppose you are capable of tak-
ing more pleasure with these than could

any one else to whom you could sell
them."

Then, also, of all this nature in the
schools, I fear that too often nature is
desecrated as a means to something sup-
posedly better. Frequently real "nature
study" does not please me because it is
so correlated, so used as a form of apol-
ogy or as a means for something else.
Even that master, Professor Clifton F.
Hodge, says, "Nature study is learning
those things in nature that are best
worth knowing to the end of doing those
things that make life most worth liv-
ing." His classic definition is admirable
in many respects. It is euphonious and
well balanced and contains much truth.
But to me it seems that nature study is in
itself "the end" as much as any doing
that may arise therefrom.

And the mice and the things in the
bottle or the nets in the hutches are really
worth while.

And this world, good and beautiful in
itself, is really worth making "the end."
We can take our full one hundred per
cent, here and let whatever else of good
may come be above par and clear gain.

PANAMA MOSQUITOES.*

In order to determine the species and
habits of the mosquitoes of Panama, and
thereby to assist in the sanitary war
against them as disease carriers, Air.
August Busck of the Department of
Agriculture, was recently sent on a
collecting and investigating trip to
the Canal Zone. The material
brought back by him has been
studied and identified, and a full report
showing ninety separate species known
on the Isthmus is just published by the
Smithsonian Institution in its series of
"Miscellaneous Collections."

Inasmuch as each species of mosquito,
besides being physically different in
some respect from every other, has habits
of its own, the necessity of knowing ac-
curately and completely just what sorts
of mosquitoes have to be coped with, is
apparent. Some kinds breed exclusively
in artificial receptacles of water such as
tin cans and open vessels, others only in
hollow places in trees, some in high

*Compiled from material furnished by
the Smithsonian Institution.

EDITORIAL AND GENERAL.

16;

vines that overgrow the trees, some limit
their breeding to notches of bamboo
stalks, and a number of varieties are sat-
isfied only with crab holes in the ground.
One of the species carries yellow fever,
some spread malaria, and others are in-
strumental in carrying other diseases.
On the other hand, a large number of
species are entirely harmless, and several
have no inclination to bite human beings.

Thus, aside from the pure contribu-
tions to knowledge resulting from the
trip, this exploration has rendered possi-
ble more economic and efficient methods
for exterminating the disease carriers.

Mr. Busck spent three months on the
Isthmus during the breeding time, cov-
ering the end of the dry season and the
early part of the rainy season, and se-
cured larva? of eighty-three species, of
which thirty were new to science.
With seven additional species already
known, this constitutes the largest
number recorded from any one locality
on earth. Most of the material gathered
has been deposited in the U. S. National
Museum.

Mosquitoes do not fly far from the
place where they are hatched. They
keep close to their food supply. Those
that affect the inhabitants of a town or
camp, normally do not come from a dis-
tance greater than two hundred yards.
It is this fact that renders the sanitary
work of the Canal Commission possible.

SANITARY METHODS.

The land about every settlement is
cleared by the removal of all brush, un-
dergrowth, and grass ; only shade trees
and fruit trees are left, and these are
thinned out to admit sunlight and free
ventilation. When practicable, swamps
and lowlands are filled in with some of
the immense supply of material taken
from the great Culebra cut. Then the
whole area is drained so that the sur-
face water will run off. Ditches and
slow-flowing streams are kept clear of
mosquitoes by drippings of oil or of cop-
per sulphate. Swamps and pools are oiled
at least once a week. Water barrels,
buckets, and pails must be screened or
oiled, and all tin cans must be buried.
Even the old cast-off machines, brush-
covered relics of French occupation, are
drained of their puddles of water. If
many insects infest a camp or town it is
fumigated. By carrying out these meth-
ods of general extermination exception-

ally thorough results have already been
obtained.

Still greater efficiency may be secured,
Mr. Busck believes, by turning to use
additional scientific knowledge of the
habits of special varieties of mosquitoes
found on the Isthmus. The opportu-
nities opened about the Canal for fur-
ther enhancing man's knowledge of dis-
ease-preventing methods are peculiarly
favorable, and a grasping of them makes
for sanitary welfare not only in Panama,
but in all the tropical countries of the
earth.
YELLOW FEVER \ND MALARIA MOSQUITOES

One important feat has already been
accomplished. Ihe yellow-fever mos-
quito, the only kind in America spread-
ing this infection, scientifically called
Stegomvia, is very scarce. It is possible
to live for weeks on the Canal without
seeing a single specimen. This mosquito
is a strictly domestic animal, never found
away from man. It breeds only in ar-
tificial receptacles, such as barrels, wat-
er-coolers, bottles, tin-cans, in and
around human habitations. The author-
ities, knowing this, have it well within
their power to eliminate absolutely this
dangerous insect, and to render a yellow
fever epidemic impossible on account of
the total absence of the only agent that
spreads it.

The malaria carrying varieties, in-
cluded under the general name of Ano-
pheles, are also subject to strenuous at-
tack. Usually the species of this group
deposit larva? along the edges of slow-
flowing streams and stagnant pools, but
specimens were also secured from the
bottom of an old boat, from an aban-
doned dump car, from holes in trees,
and in similar out-of-the-way spots. It
has not yet been determined whether all
of these are instrumental in carrying ma-
laria, and therefore they may furnish a
fertile field for investigation.

Certain genera, technically called Me-
garhinus, Psorophora, and Iutzia, were
found, which, instead of spreading any
disease hostile to man, wage war on
their weaker cousins and at times even
on their brothers and sisters. Rather
than exterminate mosquitoes of these
habits, it might be well to cultivate them
and to enlist them as allies of the san-
itary authorities, were it not for the fact
that some of them are exceptionally an-
noying biters of mankind.

i68

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Correspondence

^•*~ and Information

WILL ASSIST MICKOSCOPISTS..

University of Colorado,
Boulder, Colorado.
To the Editor: —

I beg" to acknowledge the receipt of
the first four numbers of The Guide to
Nature. The article by Professor
Douglass in the July number gave me
much pleasure and much reason to hope
for a new era like that which Messrs.
Nelson and Carpenter enjoyed.

It occurred to me that perhaps there
are some members of the AA, particu-
larly the younger ones, who would like
sections cut or work of a similar nature
done, but do not possess the required in-
struments. I am fortunate in possessing
a microtome, etc., and have tne use of
the instruments belonging to the Uni-
versity. If these of whom I spoke will
write me 1 will be pleased to help them
all I can.

Very truly yours,

Wm. D. Fleming.

NOTE ON FOOD OF BLUE JAY.

New Castle, Indiana.
To the Editor : —

The occupants of a recently disturbed
ant hill were excitedly crawling about
the hill and the adjacent cement walk.
They were large, and to a blue jay in a
neighboring tree they must have looked
luscious, for flying down, the jay began
to pick them up with an eagerness that
seemed to say that this was an oppor-
tunity that might come his way but once.
As rapidly as he could do it he seized
the ants, with each capture lifting a
wing, sometimes one. sometimes the
other, and seemed to deposit his prey
amongst the feathers back of and under-
neath it. So quickly he worked and
with such evident eagerness to make
the most of this rare occasion that, as
he lifted the wing, putting his bill
amongst the feathers, it often seemed

that he must loose his balance and topple
over backwards. But he kept his poise,
worked on with all speed and had laid in
quite a store when a passerby frightened
him from his task.

Whether this jay had only just discov-
ered the most convenient of all store-
houses for his use or whether this food
was to be carried to the nest for the
young, for it was nesting time, he was

most interesting.

Grace Ellicott.

LIBRARY OF NATURE STUDY.

Brooklyn, N. Y.
To the Editor:

The work of the Children's School
Farm in New York City, so attractively
presented in the June number of The
Guide to Nature, must appeal to all
persons interested in the education and
welfare of children. It forcibly shows
that the School garden offers an inviting
gateway to the Book of Nature, and
therefore the progress and development
of the "Children's School Farm League"
in extending such wholesome influences
will be watched with interest.

In connection with the subject of
School Gardening, a selected, annotated
list upon Nature Study recently prepared
by the Children's Museum Library may
be of interest to your readers. This list
of seventy-five books was chosen from
the collections of its own library at the
request and with the co-operation- of the
Supervisor of Nature Study in the Va-
cation Schools of New York City. The
books are divided into several groups en-
titled general nature study, school gar-
dening, flowers and trees, animal life,
and commercial products, being chosen
especially as aids to teachers in inspiring
a love for Nature, and in awakening in-
terest and sympathy. While about one-
third of the titles relate to "Gardening,"
a somewhat smaller number treats upon

CORRESPONDENCE AND INF< (RMATION.

169

''Animal Life," including the domestic
animals, birds, reptiles, insects, etc., from
the standpoint of becoming- their friends
rather than collectors. A few books
upon commercial products were inserted
so that the teachers in the vacation
schools, or those having ungraded
classes in public schools, may correlate
bench-work, sewing, and other manual
work with Nature Study.

A limited number of the Nature Study
lists have been printed and will be fur-
nished free to teachers and adults, upon
application to the Children's Museum
Library, Bedford Park, Brooklyn, X. Y.

Your readers mav be interested to

know further that the Children's Mus-
eum Library is in a way unique, for in
addition to providing necessary books ol
reference for the museum staff, it acts
as a school reference library, endeavors
to supply information to the general pub-
lic, and seeks to interest school children
in the various subjects included in the
scope of the Museum. The library con-
tains at the present time about 5,500
volumes, with 1,800 books upon Nature
Study, including the latest and best pop-
ular, weil-illustrated books.

Miriam S. Draper,

Librarian.

A SUNSET PHOTOUKAPH.

BY I,. G. GILtELAND, AVToX, ONTARIO.
The "Sunset" photograph was taken

on the shores of Lake Huron among the
Gagheto Islands, to illustrate the stanza
from Tennyson's "In Memoriam," which
reads as follows :

SUNSET ON LAKE HURON.
Photograph by L. J. Gilleland, Ayton, Ontario.

I/O

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

'Henceforth, wherever thou may'st roam,
My blessings, like a line of light,
Is on the waters day and night,

And like a beacon guards thee home."

LIVES SAKED OUT OF DOOKS.

BY SILAS G. WRAY, PHOTOGRAPHER, GRAND
JUNCTION, COLORADO.

Many years ago near Provo, Utah, an
Indian boy was playing with a gun and
shot his mother accidentallv. It is the

tears them np and will not use them. It
will be seen in the picture that the tent
is torn to pieces and the Indian blanket
was only put on him for taking the pic-
ture.

"Provo Dick" says he has gone to
feed his brother many times in the morn-
ing during the winter months when he
had to chop his hair loose from the
ground with a hatchet, where it has
been frozen all night, before he could

PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDY OF AN INDIAN WHO HAS SLEPT OUT OF DOORS,
WITHOUT CLOTHES, FOR TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS.

custom and belief of his tribe to pay
penance or punish themselves for any
offense or crime which they may commit.
This Indian chose to spend thirty years,
or as they term "thirty snows" lying per-
fectly nude exposed to elements with-
out any protection whatever, at the end
of which time he is supposed to get up
and take his place in his tribe again.

It is said he has spent twenty-seven
years or "snows" and according to this
he will soon have served his time and
will get up again. The photograph
shows him and his brother, known as
"Provo Dick." His brother "Provo
Dick" is very wealthy and does not like
to have his brother punishing himself,
and carries blankets for him to use and
put up a tent for him to sleep in, but he

get up and eat breakfast.

It is certainly a very peculiar freak
of nature for a human being to live and
endure the scorching sun of the desert
through the summer and the frigid ele-
ments through the winter without a
stitch of clothing on him for so many
years, ihere is no animal that could
endure such treatment for any length of
time. Persons who have felt of his
flesh say it is as thick and tough as a
piece of sole leather.

This poor Indian believes he is pleas-
ing "The Great Spirit" by punishing
himself in this way.

His tribe, several years ago, became
suspicious of him and decided to get
rid of him, and took him a hundred
miles or more away in the mountains-

THE CAMERA.

171

and left him thinking he would die, but,
to their surprise, in a few days after
they returned to their camp grounds,
the poor old Indian returned to his same
place where he had spent so many years
to finish out his penance.

Many people in the West are very
anxious to see if he lives through his
self imposed sentence.

A noble specimen of Indian Chief,
known as "Sam Archie" or "Chief

Archie," called to see me in my studio,
and when we showed him the photo-
graph from which this engraving was
made, and asked him what made the old
Indian lie so long nude, he pointed to
his head and grunted out, Ooli ! heep
Ingun no brains," meaning the old In-
dian was crazy.

Most Indians are very quiet and will
talk only when thev have to.

THE MOUNTAIN STREAM.

Photographic study by Miss Nellie Ewan.

172

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

-:--" .;»*. • V... *:uv''--- f •

H t' ■■'■• T- ' ' ' • -

" 1 ■- ■ ' ■

;■■■, 4 . . * - *$,

ON A HOT, DROWSY DAY IN AUGUST.
Note good positions of cows and excellent depth of focus.

PHOTOGEAPHIC STUDY OF CROSS features of a woody stem. There is

SECTIONS. rather a large central pith, surrounded

Fig. i. — Apple Wood. — This cross sec- by a thick woody cylinder, and this in

tion of a twig shows the characteristic turn by the cortex. Traversing the

Fig. 2, APPLE ROOT.

Fig. r, APPLE STEM.

THE CAMERA.

1/3

wooden cylinder may be seen the "pith
rays," the larger of which extend from
pith to cortex. There may he seen also
the "annual rings" of wood, indicating
that this twig is four years old. The
large open "vessels" of the wood are
also very evident, and it must be remem-
bered that through this wood tissue the
water passes on its way from the roots
to the leaves.

Fig. -?.- — Apple Root. — This cross sec-
tion of a root shows some of the differ-

ences between a root and a stem. The
cortex in general is the same, but the
woody cylinder is solid, with no display
of a pith region. The so-called "pith
rays" are very evident, and certain of the
wood vessels are of larger calibre than in
the stem. The most important difference
between root and stem is not shown in
this section, for there has been a large
amount of secondary wood formation,
making it resemble a stem more than
does a very young root. J. M. C.

^

YAID
THE LENS

A CURIOUS MICROSCOPIC ANIMAL.

BY J. D. HYATT, NEW ROCHELLE,
NEW YORK.

Pond life, with the amateur microscop-
ist, is always a favorite object for study
and investigation, and among the multi-
tudinous forms of animals common in
stagnant pools, one of the most curious
is the Sun animalcule, so-called on ac-
count of the numerous slender rays that
project from all parts of the body.

But there are two different sun ani-
mals, the one most commonly seen and
described in handbooks being an ex-
tremely small creature measuring little
more than the 2-1000 of an inch in di-
ameter, while the one that I have been
studying is comparatively, a monster,
often measuring 2-100 of an inch, or ten
times the diameter of the other ; it is so
large, indeed, that under the microscope
with a 1-5 inch objective it will fill the
whole field of view. This form, although
remotely resembling the first, and found
under similar conditions, belongs to a
different genus, and is not so common as
the other.

Having at one time secured a good
collection of these "microscopically enor-
mous" Suns, and observed their curious
habits, especially their habit of gluttony,

I became so much interested that I de-
termined to cultivate my colony and dis-
cover if there is any limit to their ability
to eat, "all the time."

But as some readers of The Guide
may not be familiar with the appearance
of the Sun animal, it may be described
as a globular body, consisting: of a great
number of protoplasmic vesicles, those
of the peripheral layer being somewhat
darker and much larger than those of
the interior. The vesicles are hyaline,
and therefore allow the contents of the
body to be plainly seen.

Innumerable rays extend from the
body in all directions. These are long,
and taper to fine flexible threads towards
their extremities. In the peripheral lay-
er of vesicles are generally to be seen
two contractile vesicles, at opposite poles.
These are often considerably enlarged,
and are frequently projected, and then
collapse. They always reappear in the
same place.

In the water of my collecting bottle
containing my first gathering of suns,
were also a great number of plants and
infusorial animals consisting of rotifers,
paramecia, and other ciliated or flagel-
lated animalcules, together with diatoms,
desmids and confervoid algae, but after

174

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

twenty-four hours, there was little left
in the water but the suns. I therefore
determined to ascertain the limit of its

ORDINARY FORM OF SUN ANIMAL

■Contains recently captured rotifer. The black spots
are stomachs containing rotifers undergoing digestion.

voracity, but found that it absolutely had
no limit.

10 make this understood, I may ex-
plain its method of capturing and de-
vouring a rotifer.

The sun seldom moves, but it is well

CHANGES SHAPE TO SWALLOW A

CLOSTERIUM.

known the rotifer is an extremely restless

little animal, and this activity often

proves its destruction.

The rotifer then, rushing about, comes
in contact with some of the sun's rays,
with which it surely becomes entangled,
and in its struggles to escape, only be-
comes more and more involved, until it
is drawn near to the body, which then
opens and takes it in.

The struggles of the rotifer, as it is
gradually compressed, are curious to
witness, its final effort to move consist-
ing of an attempt to rotate the cilia
around its mouth.

The rotifer is now in an extemporized
stomach, and digestion proceeds with
great rapidity, any indigestible portion
of this, or of other food being ejected
from any part of the sun's body that may
be most convenient.

In my attempt to ascertain the limit

JJt/fermh /^rtnt as,wm(.i

/Ire »V

of the sun's ability to eat, I found some
water that was swarming with Parame-
cia, and, pouring a part of this into my
live-trough with the suns, F watched the
results under the microscope. I soon
found that, no matter how many I put
in they were rapidly captured. In one
of the suns I counted seventeen under-
going digestion. In this one, a change
of form took place, and it assumed an
elliptical shape. A constriction soon oc-
curred in the middle, giving it a dumb-
bell shape ; the connecting link was then
gradually drawn out, until it became sim-
ply one of the rays touching the point
of one or the other sun. These rays
then separated, and I had two suns about
as large as the original one, and both
eating all the time. In one case, I saw
a sun separate into three, instead of two.

SEEING BY AID OF THE LENS.

175

i found that the process of bisection
occupied two hours' time.

As the suns multiply in this way, in a
geometrical proportion, with a ratio of
2, it will be seen that their number may
increase very rapidly, and I soon discov-
ered that my first colony, consisting of

^Ns%

WY\%\I////

' , . . / '/\/V ' , y, ", rl l liMi ^ \. \

SEPARATING INTO THREE.

perhaps a dozen had become many hun-
dred at the end of the week.

I continued to feed my colony and kept
them under frequent observation for
four months.

Having fed a number of them on some
of the green protococcus until they were
full, I had some specimens of green sun
animals, which might have been consid-
ered a different species by a person not
acquainted with them.

It is interesting to see a sun put him-
self outside of a large desmid, a Closte-
rium for example, whose length is great-
er than the sun's diameter. In such
cases the sun will change the form of its
body to suit that of the food.

The sun is not exclusively a flesh eater,
but diatoms, desmids, or any other vege-
table organisms are equally acceptable.

I omitted to mention the names of the
two kinds of suns spoken of in the be-
ginning, as I know that long' technical
names at the commencement of an article
have a tendency to discourage the gen-
eral reader, but the small sun mentioned
first, is known as Actinophrys sol, and
the larger one, here described, is called
by the familiar name of Actinosphaerium
Ichhornii, which I recommend every
reader of "The Guide to Nature" who
owns a microscope, to study.

Domesticated

\ m

>.%

JSft. %

THE MOUSE FANCY.

P.Y H. L. WOOD, M. V)., GR0T0N, CONNECTI-
CUT.
(In the sudden death of Dr. Wood, Tne
Guide to Nature loses one of its best friends,
perhaps its very best for this department.
He was an enthusiastic coworker and
adviser in the establishment of this maga-
zine. He made many valuable sugges-
tions and was to be a regular staff writer,
also an advertiser. Few fanciers had great-
er experience and knowledge of pet stock
and all nature. He was a naturalist who
could see nature study in a pet cat or mouse
as well as in a wild animal. He was an in-
tense specialist in his own department, but
had a kindly cooperating interest in all
others. A notification of his death reached
our office a few days after the receipt of
the manuscript of this article, and a letter
telling of others of the series in prepara-
tion.— Editor.)

NATURE

When one considers the primary ob-
jects of a fancy and is obliged to con-
sider the factors of economy, time, space
and labor, desiring to reach a given ob-
jective point in the fancy with the least
possible expenditure of the aforemen-
tioned quartette of factors, he will find in
the mouse fancy the ne plus ultra of his
ambition. The primary object of a fancy
be it dogs, cats, rabbits or mice, is the
production of a strain as near as possible
to a recognized ideal for that fancy,
known as a standard. The reward for
this effort, since little effort is without
expectation of reward, is the coveted
blue of the specialty show and recogni-
tion as an authority among the foremost
in the fancy. In reality "it matters lit-

176

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

tie what one fancies, but how." One of
the greatest fanciers of the day, Mr.
Exelby, won fame all. over Eurooe as an
expert grower of certain flowers; as an
example of the truth of this quotation

DR. WOOD REGARDED THIS MOUSE AS AN
IDEAL TYPE.

referred to, Mr. Exelby for diversion
took up breeding silver fawn rabbits
with which his fame has equalled that of
his exhibits of flowers.

The mouse fancy affords unequalled
facilities to the fancier as a field of un-
limited possibilities and one in which re-
sults are quickly obtained with a mini-
mum of time, space, care, and expense.

During the year 1895, a few English-
men organized what is still known as The
Mouse Club, the purpose being to intro-
duce to the public the desirability of the
colored mouse as a fancy.

At this time practically all the known
colors of fancy mice were albino, black,
fawn, chocolate and the last three more
or less broken with white. The results
of the work of this club are evident in
the great popularity of this fancy in Eng-
land and the wide range of colors to
which these fanciers breed this attractive
little rodent, a list of which colors and
markings would fill a quarter page. Some
of the rare varieties are, however, worthy
of soecial notice to illustrate the wonder-
ful diversity of color obtainable. Amongf

the more delicate and rare shades we
have very pale cream, silver and its pale
chinchilla tint, blue and tan. silver grey
and tortoise-shell. It may safely be
stated that there is not a color or variety
of markings known to fur-bearing ani-
mals which has not or may not be pro-
duced in the colored mouse.

To this susceptibility to the color
breeder's art is largely due the increasing
popularity of the mouse fancy. Another
feature which adds interest to the care of
these little pets is expressed in the
phrase, "there is something doing," all
the time.

The fancier is not restricted as to the
breeding season nor obliged to wait for
months or even years to see the result
of matings, while if he has erred in
judgment in such matings the whole
season's work is not lost thereby.

For breeding mice, a pen should con-
sist of one buck and three does. Cages
should be provided six by eight by
twelve, best made of wood with sliding
bottom and window opening in front
hinged to a strip an inch and a half
wide from the floor up ; this prevents
scattering nest material out of the cage.
A tin pan for bread and a small glass
dish for water constitute the house fur-
nishiners.

One daily feeding is all that is re-
quired, and should be of bread soaked
in water to remove the yeast and then
squeezed dry as possible, a little water in

ONE OF DR. WOOD'S FAVORITE
SPECIMENS.

a cup and a teaspoonful of mixed hulled
oats and canary seed per mouse.

Few fanciers use any nest box in the
cages, as the female (doe) builds a very
compact nest out of chewed bits of
paper and grass, usually with an open-
ing in the side like the nest of the oven

DOMESTICATED NATURE.

/ /

bird. The does carry their young from
nineteen to twenty-one days and the
layette ranges from two to twelve.

Mice are not usually particularly ner-
vous, so it is possible to examine the
young when desired without fear of the
doe deserting or killing them as is com-
mon with rabbits.

At the age of three days the coat of
young mice begins to show sufficiently
so any undesired can be removed; these
will be expeditiously cared for by a
convenient house cat or relished by your
hens as would be a feast of srrasshop-
pers.

At five weeks of age young should be
weaned and again sorted out, those not
giving promise of quality being elimi-
nated.

Here let me digress to say not only
in breeding mice but in all varieties of
stock there is no cruelty in humanity
or necessary suffering associated with
the instant transit of the vital spark as
the result of a practical and unavoidable
means of keeping a fancy within reason-
able limits. I have no sympathy with
those who for sentimental reasons allow
valuable females to be ruined through
breeding too frequently and rearing
too large litters, or who "cannot destroy
a living creature," yet will give them
to thoughtless, irresponsible children to
suffer starvation and torture.

Many a would-be fancier has his as-
pirations nipped in the bud by allowing
his fancy to become a burden. Far bet-
ter, and of greater value, are two or
three choice young with strong parents
than a dozen fair specimens and the
vitality of the dam overtaxed.

Begin rightly, breed rightly, and you
will end rightly, your fancy a pleasure
and vonr stock a credit to your skill.

SOME INTERESTING OBSERVATIONS ON
FROGS.

BY G. A. HINNEN, B. S., M. D.,
CINCINNATI, O.

No class of animals has received less
attention at the hands of man than the
reptiles and amphibians, and hence, no
class is less understood nor has_ been
persecuted more severely and persistent-
ly This being so, frogs, lizards, snakes,
toads, alligators, turtles, etc., have always

proven especially interesting and have
become a hobby with me, and many a
word have I spoken in their behalf and
defense. Their economic value has nev-
er been computed, and is enormous when
one considers that a single poor, warty
toad is worth almost $20 annually to the
farmer, from the great and almost in-
conceivable number of insects he de-
stroys.* Instead of being the "nasty
slimy things" liable to "give you warts,"'
etc., they are very interesting and de-
serve far more consideration and atten-
tion than they get. But it is not my de-
sire to sing their praises nor extol their
virtues now ; this, some other time. I
merely want to record a few interesting
observations about frogs.

Among many pets I have had numer-
ous frogs, and always enjoyed seeing
them snapping up their food with almost
lightning-like rapidity. In spring, when
the first flies buzz lazily along the win-
dows, I would take a frog on my hand
and move him back and forth along the
window, and every fly that came with-
in reach was quickly gobbled up.

One time I noticed a frog in the vivar-
ium who ' seemed suddenly to have
grown very fat ; on getting a front view
of him the cause of his abnormal size
was explained promptly. He had swal-
lowed a crayfish as long as himself, and
there was not enough room for this
choice but tough morsel, so an inch
of the crustacean protruded beyond the
frog's mouth ; gradually the crayfish dis-
appeared as the anterior portions of
same were digested, and within four days
no more was visible. What makes this
so remarkable was the fact that the cray-
fish was fully four inches in length and
in perfect health ; he was swallowed head
foremost, i. e., the claws having been
seized first. Aside from apparent dis-
comfort to locomotion for three or_ four
days, the frog seemed to have enjoyed
his meal.

TUG OF WAR 'BETWEEN SNAKE AND FROG.

Another interesting episode occurred
in the same vivarium at another time.
There was a platform in it about six
inches above the water, and on this plat-
form rested a miniature tree with a rus-
tic cottage high in its branches ; this was
the snake's roost. The room was very

*A. H. Kirkland, "The Habits, Food and Economic
periment Station, Amherst, Mass.)

Values of the American Toad." (Bulletin 46. Hatch Ex-

r78

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

warm, and a garter snake made its ap-
pearance, despite the fact that it was
mid-winter. For a little time about six
or eight inches of the snake rested in the
branches ; then it dangled in mid-air, ap-
parently intending to come down to
drink or get some milk. About this time
a big fat frog had come on to the plat-
form from the water below ; in a very
few moments he had espied the snake
suspended from the tree. In a trice and
without warning he leapt into the air ;

Another rescue occurred one day
when I had placed a "newly formed
frog," i. e., one who had just completed
his metamorphosis in the aquarium from
polly-wog to big frog, out into the pond
where the veterans lived. I had turned
my head but a moment, when the little
fellow had disappeared ; knowing the dis-
tance he could have jumped in that time,
and a diligent search under the plants
not revealing his whereabouts, I turned
my attention to some big comfortable

WE THREE RISE TO ASK THAT
Note : — By the way, ever try to photograph a

his aim had been good, and an inch or
two of the snake was in the frog's mouth.
Having a good hold in the arboreal
house, the snake pulled back ; and the
frog having an equally good hold on the
snake with his little teeth, would not re-
linquish his grip, and so there he was,
dangling and kicking in mid-air. A few
inches of the snake would slip out of the
house due to the weight of the frog, and
then a renewed tug on the part of the
snake would pull the frog off the tips of
his toes, his long hind legs having in the
meantime rested on the platform below.
This novel and unusual struggle contin-
ued a few minutes until I could regain
my composure sufficiently to liberate the
poor snake and once more replace the
frog on terra firma. The snake was
twenty-four inches in length.

YOU GIVE US CAREFUL STUDY.
frog? If you have, you will appreciate the above.

looking frogs near by ; two tiny little legs
and feet protruding from the mouth of
one of these showed the possible fate of
the little one. Needless to say the big one
was made to disgorge his prey, and the
little one was given a home which was
safe from his cannabalistic relatives.
an "illuminated" frog.
But the most interesting observation
to my mind, and one I have never seen
referred to in the literature were what
we styled the "illuminated frogs.' On
dark nights we would exhibit them to
our visitors from the city. Everybody
would be told to catch fire-flies, or "light-
ning bugs," as they are designated here.
These were then fed to the frogs, who
snapped them up readily from our hands.
As is their custom they do not bite or
chew their food, so the poor hapless flies

LITERARY AXD BIOGRAPHICAL.

179

were swallowed whole and alive. In
their descent through the frogs' dark
gastro-intestinal tract, they would illum-
inate the frogs at short intervals. While
still in the frogs' heads the latters' large
ears (tympanic membranes) would look
like miniature lanterns ; and then began
the descent into the frogs' stomach.
Again and again the insect would try to
see whither it was bound and shed its
ray of light, and the frog, fat, squat, and
contented, would glow internally with
satisfaction ; the white abdomen and
green sides looked most fantastic and pic-
turesque.

Repeatedly I watched to see how long
the fire-fly would live and light up its
dreary abode, and a few figures may be
of interest. One fly turned on its phos-
phorescent lamp but two times within five
seconds ; another sixteen times in forty-
five seconds, and a third one eighteen

times in one minute. The next observa-
tion recorded twenty-six illuminations
within a space of one hundred and twen-
ty seconds, or two minutejs ; another
twenty-nine illuminations in one minute
and fifty seconds; and the longest rec-
ord consisted of forty illuminations in
two minutes and fortv-five seconds.

Appreciations.

I enclose my subscription to "The Guide
to Nature" and welcome the child to my
family circle. I hope it will be strong and
healthy and a worthy relative of its prede-
cessor, "The Observer." — Henry M. Brown.

Are we to have anything like "The Ob-
server?" If so, I am sure "The Guide" will
prove a success. I will speak of "The
Guide" to my students and will place my
copy in the Laboratory for them to use and
create a love for it. Meanwhile I wish you
all success. — Professor Alexander M. Kirsch.

ITE

AND

BIOGRAPHICAL

Lichenology for Beginners: By Frederick
Leroy Sargent. Cambridge, Massachu-
setts: Harvard Co-operative Society.

This is an excellent book not only for
the beginner, but for anyone as a convenient
handbook. And more interesting to me
than the mere fact of the lichens is the
spirit of the author.

Methods in Moss Study in Twelve Lessons:

By Charles J. Maynard, West Newton,
Massachusetts: C. J. Maynard.

This book has grown out of practical les-
sons given by the author in moss study.
While the author herein endeavors to teach
his pupils the close observation of specific
and other characters necessary for the iden-
tification of species, his aims reach higher
than this, and, as will be seen, the mere
identification of species is considered subor-
dinate to the study of the life history of
each moss, its habits and its relation to its
environment.

Directory to the Birds of Eastern North
America: Illustrated with many wood
cuts and twenty plates drawn and en-
graved by the author. By Charles J.
Maynard. West Newton, Massachusetts:
C. J. Maynard.

This manual is intended to aid students
in identifying birds in the field; hence ex-
ternal characters are chiefly used, and, as
far as possible, those only which are con-
spicuous enough to be seen by the aid of a
bird glass at a reasonable distance; while
the author has endeavored to avoid using
any characters not absolutely necessary for
identification.

Characteristic habits and the manner of
flight are mentioned; the song, and other
notes and cries are also given.

Afield with the Seasons: By James Buck-
ham. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell
& Co. 1907.

A straightforward account of experiences
such as are likely to occur to any pains-
taking observer who explores pretty thor-
oughly a somewhat restricted area. The
field is one in which it is difficult for any
writer to attain distinction.

Enlarged Edition of Webster's Internation-
al Dictionary. 25,000 added words and
phrases. "Revised Gazetteer of the
World. Revised Biographical Diction-
ary. Editor in Chief, W. T. Harris. Ph.
D., LL. D. G. & C. Merriam Co., Pub-
lishers, Springfield, Mass.

i8o

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

This well known dictionary has been so
frequently and so thoroughly revised as to
be free from phases calling for unfavor-
able criticism. It is so generally acknowl-
edged a standard as to need no eulogy
of the reviewer.

The old book keeps young. It renews
its vitality under the skillful guidance of
the publishers. It is indispensable for
school, office or study. In addition to
"spelling and defining," it is a vast store-
house of general (information. "Get the
Best" is a phrase, permissible for the pub-
lishers to freely use.

Life of the Fields, the Open Air and Nature
near Loudon. By Richard Jefferies. 3
Volumes Cloth, Gilt Top. New York:
Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., Publishers,

This is a dainty and charming set of
three books by the Englisn author who is
very dear to every naturalist. Poor, rich,
patient, happy, sorrowing, Richard Jeffer-
ies! We are glad to have these little vol-
umes in which we shall again revel in "The
Pageant of Summer," "Meadow Thoughts,"
"Woodlands," "Flocks of Birds," and many
other interesting and well written chapters.

The author does not speak didactically, —
he just gives us himself. Such as I am,
he unconsciously tells us he wants us to be.
And we are. Every bit of philosophy, of
nature and life, every little observation the
gifted author weaves into the very life of
the reader.

The publishers have done well their part
in putting into so attractive form these
classics from prose-poet (or shall we say
poet-prose) of England.

Days Off and Other Digressions:. .By Henry
Van Dvke. New York: Charles Scrib-
ner's Sons. 1908.

Professor Van Dyke is fortunate above
the common lot of nature lovers, in having
the means and the leisure to indulge his
taste in woods and rivers in a fashion im-
possible to most of his readers. His read-
ers are fortunate in that his extraordinary
skill in handling words, gives to his pages
a glamor and a charm hardly less than that
of out-door nature itself. Professor Van
Dyke is a master of literary craftsmanship.
No one else writes his particular sort of
book quite so well as he. Whenever,
therefore, he comes to printing, the book is
bound to be, of its kind, the book of the
year.

The present work Hits over a consider-
able range of topics. There are essays on
the general theory of days off; on novels;
on the art of stopping when one is through.
There are three capital short stories of
fisherman's luck, hunter's luck, and es-
pecially the luck of lovers. There are ac-
counts of delightful excursions down wild
and unfamiliar rivers in Maine, in out-of-

the-way corners of England, and— of all
places— in New Jersey. In addition, just
by way of variety, there is a most amusing
and satirical parody of the writings of the
sympathetic school of nature lovers.

Professor Van Dyke, however, is first of
all, the literary man, and next to that the
fisherman, and only after these the natural-
ist. His latest work, is in his own words,
a book of "pleasant and grateful memories,
little pictures and stories . . . opin-
ions and prejudices .... a book to
symbolize and illustrate the true inward-
ness of the day off." It does not "try to
prove anything, or convince anybody, or
convey any profitable instruction" — and it
is altogether charming.

E. T. Brewster.
Andover, Mass.

Leaf and Tendril: By John Burroughs.
Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Company.

The author records in this book some
of his sharpest observations and most
thoughtful speculations. He is at his best.
The chapters, "The Art of Seeing Things"
and "Animal and Plant Intelligence," are
especially good. Among his sharpest ob-
servations are chimneys of cicadas, twining
of plants, peculiarity of rays of light, not
honeybees that puncture grapes, the human
expressions of stone walls, the curious in
nature, song of woodcock, anger at in-
animate objects, the cow that ate a "stuffed"
calf, frost forms and nature wins on both
sides. The controversial chapter, "Gay
Plumes and Dull," contains much food for
thought even if the reader doesn't agree
with him in all points.

Here are some characteristic thoughts
from "The Divine Soil:"

"One of the hardest lessons we have to
learn in this life, and one that many per-
sons never learn, is to see the divine, the
celestial, the pure, in the common, the near
at hand — to see that heaven lies about us
here in this world."

"All that which in our limited view of
nature we call waste and delay — how can
such terms apply to the Infinite? Can we
ever speak truly of the Infinite in terms of
the finite? To be sure, we have no other
terms and can never have. Then let us
be silent and — reverent."

The Common Ohjects of the Sea-Shore, In-
cluding Hints for an Aquarium. By

Rev. J. G. Wood, M. A., F. L. S.. etc.
Author of the "Illustrated Natural His-
tory," etc. With illustrations by Sow-
erby. Fourteenth Edition. New York:
E. P. Dutton & Co.

This little English work is popularly
written and contains many good sugges-
tions. Its chief fault is an endeavor to put
too many subjects into one book. The com-
mon objects are too many to do justice to

LITERARY AND I'.K IGRAPHICAL.

181

in 200 pages, — especially so in view of the
fact that the author includes marine birds,
tides, etc.

The Game Mammals of the United Stales.

By Major R. W. Shulfeldt, Medical
Department of Army (retired), Corres-
ponding Member Zoological Society,
London, etc.

This work was completed by Doctor Shul-
feldt during the autumn of 1907, and finding
that he could make better terms for its pub-
lication in Europe than he could in America,
he sought a foreign publisher. The work

In the treatment of this subject the author
has adopted the pari scientific and part pop-
ular method. There is a general chapter on
the Mammalia; and others on classification;
geographical distribution; morphology, etc.
Complete accounts are given of ever\ game
mamma] in this country of every descrip-
tion, ranging all the way from the smallesl
squirrels to the heaviest game we have in
the land. In undertaking the work, Dr.
Shulfeldt brought to bear all his former ex-
perience as a naturalist in the field for
many years, in the Smithsonian Institution.
and the study of many private and public
collections of mammals in various parts of

Photograph by Dr. Shulfeldt.

RED SQUIRREL FROM LIFE.

Specimen illustration of forthcoming volume on "The game mammals of the
United States.

was at once accepted upon presentation,
and is now being translated by Dr. E. E.
Leonhardt into the German language. Dr.
Leonhardt is in charge of the Department
of Zoology of the Royal Zoological Museum
at Dresden, and also editor of the widely
known nature magazine "Natur und Haus."
The latter commenced the publication of
Dr. Shulfeldt's "Game Mammals" in parts
last April, printing a part in every fort-
nightly issue of the magazine. When it has
all thus appeared it will be re-issued (re-
vised) in one large royal quarto volume of
over 700 pages, and 100 half-tone engrav-
ings of the game mammals of North Amer-
ica, north of the Mexican boundary. A
specimen illustration of the work is pre-
sented with this notice.

the country- Practically his studies of the
subject began over forty years ago and
rarely has he lost sight of them.

Birdcraft: A bird book of two hundred
song,, game and water birds.) By Mabel
Osgood Wright. New York: The Mac-
millan Company.

This is the seventh edition of this manual,
(first issued eleven years ago,) of identifi-
cation and description, by this famous or-
nithologist. The original illustrations by
Louis Agassiz Fuertes, are unexcelled in
modern bird drawings. In that class they
are supreme, and need no belittling of bird
photography to make them more so.

182

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Doubtless, however, there is a needed
word of caution, rather than mere "odious
comparisons" in a part of what the author
says of bird photography:

"Now books upon nearly every phase of
bird life lie close at hand, both the result of
compilation and of rich personal experience,
while dry-plate photography has come to be
the recorder of much that words cannot
express."

"Those who use the camera must take
care that by causing its eye to intrude and
pry rather than swiftly glance and record,
they do not even do more damage in a way
than the gun that kills swiftly and is done.
To be really useful, bird photography must

he is going to tell, but tells you at once
how to make and care for a lawn. Then
follow other practical chapters on gardens,
window boxes, flowers, greenhouses, sea-
sonal work, growing plants for table dec-
orations and village improvement societies.
Mr. Rexford is an acknowledged authority
on his subject, and the publishers have
set forth that he has to say in excellent
manner.

The book, like many others of its kind,
has one great fault, in that it lays all
stress of interest in plants on aesthetics.
The whole point of view is that of decora-
tion. Not a suggestion is given of interest
in the plant itself. I wish some one would

PORCH POSTS WELL CLOTHED IN VINES

From "Four Season in the Garden" by Eben E. Rexford

penetrate the leafage that hides the nest
and brood unperceived by its object, even
as the rays of sunlight themselves pene-
trate the shade. To my thinking the latest
method of rearranging the nesting haunts
to suit the photographer and forcing the
bird to perform many domestic functions
in public, or else leave its brood, is without
excuse, and this work lacks both scientific
and artistic value."

Eben
Lip-

"Four Seasons in the Garden:" By

E. Rexford. Philadelphia: J. B.
pincott and Company.

This is a book without a preface. That
omission is characteristic. The author
starts in at once, without talk about what

write a book on the garden and tell of plant
life, as well as plant care and flower deco-
ration.

"Onr Trees and How to Know

Clarence M. Weed, D. Sc.
by Arthur I. Emerson.

Them :" By

Photographs

This book is ideal in its simplicity, con-
venience and fullness for ordinary identifi-
cation and description. A page of text
faces a page of illustration. The photo-
graphs are for the most part from wild na-
ture, and show the entire tree, leafy branch,
flowers and fruit. The whole story is
gained almost at a glance at the two pages.

The book is well printed. The cover is
especially attractive and in good taste.

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

183

Wild Bees, Wasps and Ants, and other

Stinii-iiitt- Insects. By Edward Saun-
ders, F. R. S., F. L. S., etc. With
numerous illustrations in the text, and
four colored plates by Constance A.
Saunders. London: George Routledge
& Sons, Limited, New York: E. P. But-
ton & Co.

These pages are written only for the non-
scientific, as the scientific entomologist will
be already familiar with the elementary
facts recorded; but it is hoped that they
may be of interest to lovers of nature who
wish to know a little about the insects they
see round them and how they spend their
lives.

Handbook of the Trees of the Northern
States and Canada East of the Rooky
Mountains, Photo-Descriptive: By

Romeyn Beck Hough, B. A. Author of
"American Woods." Lowville, N. Y. ;
Published by the Author.

It has been thought by the writer, and
has frequently been remarked by others,
that a series of carefully made photographic
illustrations of the fresh leaves, fruits,
leafless branchlets and typical barks of our
various trees would be appreciated alike by
the professional botanist, the less technical
nature student, the forester and the lumber-
man. My natural interest in the subject
and peculiar vocation made the task of the
preparation of such a work peculiarly in-
viting to me. I am required to be much
in the field observing the trees, making it
my personal duty to gather the woods used
in the publishing of my "American Woods" —
in order that I may be able to vouch for
authenticity — and this gives me unusual op-
portunities. I accordingly entered upon
the task with enthusiasm, providing myself
with an excellent camera, and adapting it to
the peculiar requirements of the work.

It was not until after much experiment-
ing, as to proper lighting, the elimination
of shadow, etc., that satisfactory results
were obtained. The thought of a measured
background — one ruled into square inches
for convenience — occurred as a most satis-
factory way of indicating size, which I
deemed of great importance, owing to the
great range of sizes of the objects which
I must show on plates of uniform size. It
is hoped that this feature of the work will
meet with the approval bespoken for it.

[The above is from the preface.]

The book is excellently printed on high
grade coated book paper, and is the best
book on trees that has yet come to the re-
viewer's desk. The outline maps with
shaded portion showing home of each tree
is an extremely happy idea, and tells much
in small space. The ruled backgrounds of
the leaf and fruit illustrations and the rule
placed on the trunks of trees are especially
expressive.

A.UTOBIOGBAPHICAL.

1 was born in Albany, N. Y., the son of
Franklin B. Hough and Mariah E. Kilham,
both of whom were of English extraction
and keen observers of nature. My father's
interest in nature was quite general, though
he was especially interested in mineralogy
and botany. The mineral "Houghite" was
named in compliment to him as its discov-
erer, and bears evidence of his work in that
direction. His interest in botany and the
study of forest trees awakened in him an
early realization of the fact that the course
of destruction of our American forests,
which had its origin in necessity in the
days of our forefathers, had proceeded far
enough; that the remaining forests must be
protected and the principals of forestry, as
in practice in certain countries of Europe,
must be established here in America. His
diligent efforts to arouse public sentiment
in this direction marked the commencement
of the forestry movement in this country,
the establishment of the Division of For-
estry under the U. S. Department of Agri-
culture and his appointment as our first
United States Commissioner of Forestry.

With such parentage it was only natural
that my first thoughts were turned to a
contemplation of the works of nature, and
that opportunities and assistance were ex-
tended to me during my boyhood days. I
soon became greatly interested in birds and
much of my time outside of school hours
was spent in studying them. Considerable
help and interest was given me in this by
my father's life-long friend, Professor Spen-
cer F. Baird, then Assistant Secretary in
Smithsonian Institution. I would add that
on a commission from him, too, I was sent
into Canada to gather Indian relics from
certain tribes there, for the Smithsonian
Institution.

As early as at the time of the Centennial
Exposition I had amassed such a consider-
able collection of birds that I was invited
to display it at the Centennial Exposition
under the auspices of the U. S. Bureau of
Education, to show the result of a boy's
work in natural history.

Later I commenced the study of botany,
taking to it, to use the words of my father's
prediction, "as a duck does to water," and
considerable of my elective work in college
(Cornell University) was in that direction.
This proved to be an important preparation
of what was destined to be my future oc-
cupation. I made a considerable study,
while in college, also of the birds in the
vicinity of the college town and added ma-
terially to my own and the University's col-
lections. I afterwards visited the West
coast of Florida and made a valuable collec-
tion of birds and some fishes of that re-
gion.

Having a natural inclination to the study
of medicine, I did some preliminary work
for entering the medical profession and
registered under Dr. C. Hart Merriam, as
my preceptor. Dr. Merriam, I would add,

1 84

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

was then practicing medicine in our coun-
ty (Lewis Co., N. Y.) Our common interest
in birds had brought us together in early
boyhood, and great was the delight and in-
spiration gathered by our opportunities of
comparing field experiences and specimens
collected. With me, as with him, the fas-
cination of our favorite branches of science
were too strong to enable us to be content
with the practice of medicine. He soon

ROMEYN B. HOUGH
Author of an ideal "Handbook of the Trees."

left it to accept an inviting position offered
by the U. S. Department of Agriculture,
and is now the efficient Chief of the U. S.
Biological Survey.

I put aside the medical work to devote
my thoughts to a device for sectioning and
preparing woods, in hopes of being able to
bring out a publication illustrating it by
actual specimen-sections of the woods in-
stead of pictures. It was undertaken at the
suggestion and under the inspiration of my
father, whose able counsel and assistance
were of great advantage to me. My task
required first the invention and perfection
of a section-cutter which I finally accom-
plished. In my experimenting with this
machine it was found that the transverse
sections of certain woods were, to my sur-
prise, of such ivory-like smoothness and
strength as to be suitable for cards for com-
mercial purposes. Some of them were ac-
cordingly taken out by salesmen to be tried
in the trade. The salesmen soon found the
trade almost hungry for them, and twice we
were obliged to call them in and wait until
we could catch up with the orders. The de-

mand necessitated the erection of a small
factory with its equipment, and I soon found
myself busy in the manufacture of the cards
for both the domestic and foreign trade.

This unexpected off-shoot from my original
plans caused me to lay aside for the time,
the scientific purposes for which I had de-
signed my machine. I was able, however,
finally to resume them; but alas! I was
obliged now to take up the work alone, as
my father, an able counselor, was taken
from me by death. The memory of his
pleasure in the early success of my experi-
ments and his wish that I go on with my
plans strengthened my lagging spirits, and
I did the best I could alone.

In 1888 I reached the first goal of my
ambition in bringing out the first volume of
my American Works. In this I illustrated
twenty-five kinds of native and naturalized
woods by actual specimens, each species
being shown by three sections, respectively,
transverse, radial and tangential to the
grain, both heart and sap-wood being in-
cluded when possible. In an accompanying
text I gave much information as to botanical
characters, distributions, uses, physical and
medicinal properties, etc., of the various
species considered. The wood-sections
were mounted on separable pages and these
with the text were gathered into a book-
like cover so as to be kept on a table or
shelf like an ordinary volume.

Encouraged by the reception of this pub-
lication, I have continued the series un-
til I have thus far brought out ten vol-
umes and am planning to bring out five more
(two being now in advanced preparation),
so as to cover eventually all of the import-
ant woods of the United States. A very
gratifying evidence of public recognition of
the value of this work has been the recent
award of the Elliott Cresson Gold Medal
by the Franklin Institute of the State of
Pennsylvania.

I make it my personal duty to gather the
woods used for the specimens in order
that I may be able to vouch for authentic-
ities, and while having the material in hand,
I prepare also sections for use with the
stereopticon and the microscope.

When I commenced issuing American
Woods, the art of half-tone illustration
existed only as a vision in the mind of its
inventor and was not available for my use
in photographically illustrating the leaves,
etc., of the trees. The developments in that
art of recent days have been so great that it
seemed to me that a companion work to
American Woods, giving carefully prepared
photographic illustrations of the character-
istic leaves, fruits, winter-branchlets and
barks of our various trees with photo-micro-
graphs of wood structures and maps show-
ing distributions should be issued. My
interest in the subject and unusual opportu-
nities while gathering woods in the field,
seem to indicate that I shouid bring it out.
I accordingly set about the task, but little
realizing the many vicissitudes which must

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

185

be encountered before its completion. In-
deed so numerous were they that no less
than five seasons of field work were re-
quired before I could pronounce my series
of negatives completed and was able to
bring out the Handbook of the Trees of the
Northern States and Canada, photo-descrip-
tive, which has been recently issued.

DEATH OF CAPTAIN HENRY LOMB.

Captain Henry Lomb (of the Bausch &
Lomb Optical Company) died at his home
in Rochester, N. Y., on Saturday, June 13th,
in his eightieth year.

He had been in poor health for a year,
but he had been out among his friends and
business associates within a few days of his
death, which was due to senility. There
was no organic trouble.

Henry Lomb was born November 24, 1828,
at Burghaun, in Hesse-Cassel, Germany,
where his father was a prominent lawyer
in the district. His mother died when he
was five, his father when he was nine years
of age, and he had to leave his home when
he was twelve years old to live with an
uncle. With him he remained about six
years, being apprenticed part of this time
with a cabinet maker.

In March, 1849, when about twenty years
old, he sailed from Bremerhaven for Ameri-
ca, and after a voyage of forty-two days
arrived in New York on the 1st of May. He
left the same day for Rochester, expecting
to meet friends there. Here he worked
at his trade of cabinet-maker until 1853,
when his friend, J. J. Bausch, offered him a
partnership in his optical business which
offer he gladly accepted, appreciating, how-
ever, that the advantages he could bring to
the business would be rather moderate, his
financial possessions being limited to $60.
The business was conducted as a retail op-
tical store, Mr. Bausch and Mr. Lomb mak-
ing, besides, occasional trips to the neigh-
boring towns, partly for the purpose of sell-
ing their goods and especially to make
their business better known in the sur-
rounding country.

LONG WAR CAREER.

In 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War,
he responded to the first call of President
Lincoln, and on April 23 enlisted in Company
C, Thirteenth New York State Volunteers,
for a period of two years. At the first elec-
tion of officers he was elected first sergeant,
and later during the term of service pro-
moted by the State authorities to first lieu-
tenant and then captain of the company,
serving with his regiment in the Virginia
campaign of the Army of the Potomac un-
til the expiration of its two years' time of
service. Returning with it to Rochester, he
was mustered out with his regiment May 13,
1863.

After returning from military service Mr.
Lomb resumed his previous business activi-
ties. He was married in 1865 to Miss
Emilie Klein of this city. In 1866 the firm
decided to dispose of its retail business and

give its entire time and attention to the
manufacture of optical goods. The firm at
the same time decided to make New York
city the selling place for all goods manu-
factured, and Mr. Lomb went there as man-
ager of the sales department of the business,
Mr. Bausch remaining in Rochester as man-
ager of the manufacturing department.
From June, 1866, Mr. Lomb remained in
New York until 1880, when he returned to
reside in Rochester, it having then been ar-
ranged to concentrate all departments of the
business in this city.

CAPTAIN HENRY B. LOMB.
LIVED IN ROCHESTER MANY YEARS.

He lived in Rochester since then, making
himself useful in business where best he
could and having the satisfaction of seeing
the business grow and prosper, and having
in 1903 the exceptionally great satisfaction,
granted to so comparatively few, of cele-
brating the fiftieth anniversary of forming
business connections between the two orig-
inal partners, and to have on that occasion
the great pleasure of seeing that the firm
enjoys the hearty good will of its many em-
ployees.

Outside of his business Mr .Lomb had
been mostly interested in matters of health,
education, veterans of the Civil War, Grand
Army of the Republic and associations affili-
ated with the Grand Army, the German-
American Society and some other charities.

The Union and Advertiser (Rochester;
says editorially:

In the death of Capt. Henry Lomb Roch-
ester loses one of her most valued and
beloved citizens. He was a man of the
most nobly unselfish and philanthropic im-

i86

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

pulses, and unlike many men whose im-
plses are good, he was active in good works,
and never wearied of labor in the interest of
his fellow man. He was one of the most
modest and unassuming of men, so much
so that if that had been possible his name
never would have been known in connection
with the beneficent acts with which his life
was filled. Yet with all the modesty and
self-effacement of his nature, with all the
gentleness and wide human sympathy by
which he was animated, he was a man of
rugged strength of character and indomit-
able perseverance. When he put his hand
to an undertaking he never looked back.

CORRESPONDING MEMBER NO 2006 OF

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION, AT

KYOTO, JAPAN.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF YOICHIRO HIRASE
I was born at home in a town called
Fukura, Awaji province, in September, 1859.
During my boyhood I attended a primary
school of that town, and after finishing the
whole course, I studied about a few subjects
under two or three private teachers. In
1883, I was married with Miss Yasuko Kashu
and directly took charge of the business
and agriculture, which were the occupa-
tion of my ancestors. In 1888. I removed
with my family to the city of Kyoto, and
occupied a house at the corner of the
street called Shimo-chojamachi and Karasu-
maru. I put down the old building, re-
built there a new one according to my
own taste, and I still live in that same
house. Immediately after my remov-
al I have become a member of the "Kayato
Haskubutsukwai" — an association of men
who are interested in natural science — for
I am by nature fond of natural history.
Afterwards they recommended me to a po-
sition of secretary and I am still in connec-
tion with it in the same post. When I was
a little advanced in my knowledge of the
natural science, I was acquainted with Mr.
Marshal Gaines, an American professor of
natural science in Doshisha University.
By his influence I decided to study shells.
Indeed it was just sixteen years ago when
I began to collect Japanese shells. Dr.
John Gulick was the second man whose in-
fluence was also great. Influenced by these
scholars, I gave up everything except the
study of shells. At that time everything
was new to me. I had no experience in
this work. I knew nothing about the shells.
Where are they living? How shall I col-
lect and when? How shall I make speci-

He achieved his ends by perseverance and
by a singular power of arousing the sym-
pathy and good will of others whose aid was
needful.

He was active in every movement that
had for its object the promotion of the
prosperity and happiness of the people.
To enumerate the occasions upon which his
public spirit and philanthropic impulses
have manifested themselves during his long
life in this community, would be impossible
at this time. His example will long re-
main in the minds of our people as an in-
spiration to good deeds.

S0CIA?I0N

mens? I knew nothing of these matters;
had nobody to inquire of, and no book to
see. I was then almost in confusion about
what to do.

Happily at that time from thousands of
miles away. Dr. H. A. Pilsbry of Phila-
delphia, and many other conchologists of
Europe and America helped and led me
to the right direction of the study, and my
work began to progress by and by. I often
tried myself to go out for collecting, but it
is impossible for me to go all over the
country by myself, though I did sometimes!

For the purpose of collecting shells from
four directions, I published a pamphlet
called "Guide to Shell Collectors" and dis-
tributed them to the natives of different
provinces. I suppose that I might receive
from them many interesting species. The
result, however, was not satisfactory as I
first expected. Then I sent several assis-
tants. They had to teach the natives the
way and benefit of collecting shells, as well
as they collected themselves. The natives
understood the interest of collecting very
well, and even after my assistant left
them, I have fresh supply from time to
time from over fifty collectors in differ-
ent provinces. Thus my exploration
has extended from Hokkaido in the
north to Formosa in the south, with-
out giving up even very small islands,
which are like specks in the ocean, and also
very dangerous valleys amid the shaggy
mountains cannot escape from the keen
eyed collectors. Last year I extended my
search in China and Korea. My further
plan is to extend the range of my observa-
tion to all over Asia for the comparative
study with Japanese mollusks. The spe-
cies I have collected until to-day reached
over three thousand. Among them new
species and subspecies founded by myself
and under my care are above one thousand.

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION.

187

There are also many genus, and species
that are called after my name, such as
Hiraseilla, Hirasea and Hirasei.

At the meeting of the Academy of Natural
Sciences of Philadelphia, I was appointed
a correspondent of that Academy and in
next March they asked me to send my pho-
tograph and a sketch of my life. They
were going to hang my picture on the wall

YOICHIRO HIRASE.

of the museum. I sent them with pleasure,
and regarded it a great honor.

The practice of the shell-collecting in
this country is not new. We hear of its ex-
istence in the old day. But its way was
quite different from what we see to-day,
which is a scientific way. As for the clas-
sification and their names, they studied
carefully. Many chapters are devoted to
the descriptions of shells in old day books
of natural history. Not a few of old sports
which play with shells, such as Kaiawase,
and Kaioi, are still remained. Among the
old conchological books, Mkuhachi and
Kaishi are comparatively large works,
which contain thousands of shell figures
with their descriptions. These books are
all hand-written, appearing sixty years ago.
Authors of that day even touched a little
upon the study of land shells. If the study
had not been stopped until now, the de-
velopment and progress of this study will
be very great.

Valuable specimens, however, had almost
scattered, and most of them were lost and
I know no way to regain them.

1 though but a poor and uneducated per-
son, decided to do what was the will of
the old scholars to show the nation the in-
terest of the study, as well as to introduce
Japaneses mollusks to the world, supplying
the world scattered conchologists with good
shells. And this latter is my ideal from
the first and I am glad to observe that a
part of it was already done.

My collection of shells reached over eight
thousand, including foreign species. How-
ever, I have no place, at present to put them
in order. Of course, of no use they are, if
they merely are piled up in the store.
Though there is one museum in this city,
the collection is chiefly confined to the fine
art specimens only and we can have no room
for any other specimens to arrange in that
museum. Therefore, I am intending to es-
tablish in this city an independent concho-
logical museum to meet the pressing need of
the public. This is one part of my life-
work. The other is the publication of a
complete illustrated book concerning Japan-
ese mollusks. It is almost impossible for me
to erect from the first a perfect museum,
so my plan is to find a suitable portion of
ground and erect there a small temporary
building for the use of the museum, in the
near future. By the rapid expansion, howev-
er, of the economic condition in this country,
after the late war, which caused an ad-
vance in the price of land, I am perhaps
unable to secure the ground in this year,
for the fund in preparation for the land will
not pay off at present. I have to wait for
the fair opportunity. From the lack of suffi-
cient number of subscribers to my con-
chological magazine, started from January,
1907, I suffer no small loss monthly. As we
need much more capital for the future ac-
complishment, my family are taking every
care in wasting nothing, for the accumula-
tion of money though bit by bit, for the
future need.

As for my work. I am absolutely inde-
pendent on my financial position, while I
have a worthy helper in my conchological
study whose name is Mr. N. Kato. So the
question in point is not the question of dol-
lars and cents whether I may fulfill my un-
dertakings or not There must be still more
endeavor in this respect.

In religion I was born as a Buddhist. But
a few years before my removal I had an op-
portunity of hearing about the Christianity
and I was deeply touched. After my coming
to Kyoto, I was acquainted with Professor M.
Gaines, as I said, and also with late Dr. Jos-
eph Neesima, LL. D., who is the founder of
Doshisha University. Often having heard
from them about Christian faith, T began
to see the light of Christianity. In 1889,
myself, my wife, parents, sister and brother,
all on the same day were baptised and be-
longed to "Heian Kvokwai," a Congrega-
tional church. Now I am one of the found-

i88

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

«rs of Kyoto Y. M. C. A., and last year I was
appointed one of the directors of the as-
sociation.

I have several assistants who help me
daily. They are all Christians except a
painter. As they serve their duties faith-
fully, I can manage this most intricate
work very smoothly, hoping daily the future
accomplishment. No people in this country
took so much care for such a work as I am
engaging hitherto. Things are changed re-
cently, and they began to notice every sci-
entific investigation. Often in several news-
papers of different provinces and cities, ar-
ticles concerning my work appeared. In
one of the largest and most influential pa-
pers, the Asahi, I was put among the famous
hundred men for whom the editor gave
watch of praise in daily paper, introducing
their achievements to the public. On the
paper of April 8th, an article concerning
myself with my picture appeared with much
praise. This is unfit to me to put, such
as I am among the prominent hundred of
Japan. I am rather ashamed of it, for I
have nothing in me that deserve such a
praise. But to my own thinking, this proves
the fact that the people have become inter-
ested with the scientific observation.

WATCHING FERNS DEVELOP.

REPORT OF CHAPTER NO. 58/, CONCORD A,

NEW HAMPSHIRE.

MRS. ELEEN S. EAMPREY. PRESIDENT.

MY FERN BED UP TO DATE.

(MAY II.)

"Have ye watched that ball unfolding
Each closely nestling curl,

Its fair and feathery leaflets

Their spreading forms unfurl?"

The Osmunda Claytoniana or interrupted
fern is seventeen inches in height with the
coils unfolded. The rachis is a beautiful
green and the fronds just on the point of
release from their cramped quarters. I
mark it as the most interesting and con-
spicuous of the Osmundas. Next in beauty
are the coils of the royal. They are deli-
cate, color a beautiful brown and gold.
They are five inches from the ground. The
rachis has a pretty purple tint. All these
foreshadow the beauty of the fern later,
and entitle it truly to its name, royal. The
Osmunda cinnamomea has conspicuous
coils covered with "wool." It is only five
inches or less from the ground and it will
be days before we see fronds, a contrast
to the Claytoniana beside it. The heavy,
brown spore plume of the ostrich fern has
a circle of green fronds eighteen inches in
height. The coils are coarse and heavy,
some just ready to unfold. The Nephro-
dium marginale have similar coils, but are
a rich brown and chaffy conspicuous as
they still hug the earth.

One can hardly mistake the lady fern as
the old bracts on the rachis distinguish it
from the others. Its coils are also of good

thickness. I have several roots of red and
green growing side by side, so it cannot be
the soil that causes the difference of color.
The Nephrodium spinulosum have a chaffy
stem and heavy coils. The beech ferns are
up and uncurled but not yet developed into
the graceful fronds that flourish under the
syringa bush. The delicate oak fern looks
like the tangled foretop of a social dame,
for the fronds are all kinks and coils that
later have the beautiful gold green leaves
that peep from a sloping board that pro-
tects it from the merciless drip of the
eaves. The Woodsia ilvensis coils are not
unrolled; another Woodsia (obtusa) has a
few small fronds. The coils of the silvery
spleenwort are coarse, smooth, brown and
not unrolled. The little polypody, the old
green shoots, the coils not conspicuous.

The Dicksonia (hay fern) is not above
ground but when it appears it will be as
individuals — one frond in a place; but so
close are they that we think a whole rank
of the white plume of Henry of Navarre are
near as the tip unrolls last and gives the
bed a curious and beautiful appearance of
waving plumes. The fronds of the fragile
Cystopteris are a few inches high. The
beautiful fruiting fronds of the sensitive
fern have dropped their brown heads and
look delicate beside the stiff brown plumes of
the ostrich ferns which last year stood five
and one-half feet in their stockings. The
sensitive is marked by a red rachis and a red
tinge to the fronds. The Nephrodium Nove-
boracense (New York fern), fronds well
above ground: the narrow leaves at the
lower part distinguish it; they are less and
less almost to the ground. Nephrodium
Thelypteris, the leaves stop half way down
the rachis, ending in leaves equal to the
ones above and a long, naked stem. The
Pteris aquilina are not up yet. These are
scattered about the grounds like bungalows
in the country, while the others are in the
limits of the city's bed or streets, for there
is the Lady Fern Street, the Dicksonia
Alley, the Ostrich Court, the Public Square
of Osmundas, Beech, Boottii and others.
But the silvery spleenwort has the place of
honor near a historic white rose and the
haunt of the humming bird. The broad
beech fern is not up. The cinnamon
fronds in woolly clumps dot thickly the
near by park. The lady fern, red and
green, and Noveboracense are under the
thorny cedar trees while the Pteris aquilina
(brake) near masses of dark blue violets
are not up and I hope no reader will covet
them for greens, whose beauty has saved
them from the edge of the scythe, lo, these
many years.

The Sachs Tablets

A PLANT FOOD AND STIHULANT

Apply to the roots of the plants in any form you wish and the
plants will grow and thrive. The plants may be grown in earth
and the solution applied as a fertilizer and stimulant, or the plants
may be grown, for novelty and experiment, on crushed stone,
pebbles, bits of brick, sponge, sawdust, or between two sheets of
glass and the growth watched.

The Sachs tablets grew these luxuriant and thrifty plants from
less than a tablespoonful of sawdust in each eggshell.

Sections of roots or root hairs may be taken at any stage for
careful observation, free from all soil.

Excellent for experimental work. Efficient with "house plants."
Just the thing to awaken a dormant plant.

Box containing 30 tablets (sufficient for 15 pints of solution) mailed
postpaid with full directions for 10c.

Prices in bulk as follows:

500 Tablets, $1.25 ; 1000 Tablets, $2.00; 2000 Tablets, $3.50; Additional 1000, $1.25.

Less than 500 tablets not supplied in bulk.

These tablets and the directions with them will guide you into most interesting

fields in PLANT LIFE.

ADDREss!Thc Guide tQ Nature> Stamford, Conn.

-*tVA^

PUBLISHERS NOTICES

The Guide to Nature

AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY MAGAZINE FOR ADULTS. DEVOTED TO COMMON-
PLACE NATURE WITH UNCOMMON INTEREST.

PUBLISHED BY THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION. OFFICE: 113 GROVE ST., STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT.

Subscription, $1.50 Per Year. Single Copy, 15 Cents.
Entered as second-class matter, April 6, 1908, at the Post Office at Stamford, Conn., under the act of March 3, 1879.

ENLARGING AND IMPROVING.

The Guide to Nature grows steadily
—in circulation, advertisements, inter-
est, illustrations, size and general ap-
pearance.

With no little pride do we call atten-
tion to the new cover design. It was
drawn by Walworth Stilson, whose dain-
ty and expressive handling of pencil,
pen and brush in beautiful portrayal of
nature reminds one in many respects of
that master naturalist-artist, the lament-
ed William Hamilton Gibson.

We have added eight pages, and have
made still more room for reading matter
by setting several department pages in
"8 point" instead of "10 point" type as
heretofore.

In new features we have in this num-
ber an excellent article by Miss Char-
lotte M. Hoak, our Los Angeles mana-
ger, on "Interesting; Desert Forms of
Plant Life." This is of especial interest
to naturalist-tourists in the southwestern
part of our country.

That interest in the magazine is stead-
ily increasing was shown in part by let-
ters from twenty-five subscribers pub-
lished in the August number.

At last we have for the adult a nature
magazine that is really worth while —
not only for what it now is but for what
it promises to be.

We are grateful to all patrons who
in this, the first of our "four great
special numbers," have enabled us to
take this long step in advance. The in-
dications are that all future issues will
have a similar, perhaps even a greater
value and effectiveness.

AN IMPROVED PLANISPHERE.

Star gazers will find a most ingenious
and helpful aid in their observation of the
stellar worlds in the Barritt-Serviss Star
and Planet Finder. It is a revolving plan-
isphere map showing only the stars that are
plainly visible to the naked eye, and, in
addition, introduces the Sun, Moon and
planets by a system of needle-pointed thumb
tack discs which are entered upon the plane
of the ecliptic by a conveniently arranged
table accompanying the chart and covering
a period of twenty years — one year to a
page. The ecliptic is plainly shown upon
the map by a red line divided into 360
degrees and numbered every fifteen degrees.
The Book of Tables tells upon what date
and degree to enter the disc when, by setting
the day of the month on the margin of the
revolving map opposite the desired hour of
observation, the Stars and Planets on view
at that hour will show in an opening in the
top of the map. When properly placed the
time of the rising or setting of the sun,
moon or any planet or star can be very
closely approximated. It is a most decided
advance and improvement upon any map of
the heavens for popular use, requiring no
technical knowledge, and is receiving the
highest endorsement of professional as-
tronomers, navigators and laymen as it does
away with the necessity of working out the
positions of the planets from the sideral
time as given in the Nautical Almanac.

The planets Venus and Jupiter are the
most beautiful stars in the heavens — and
Mars and Saturn when in opposition exceed
in brilliancy the first magnitude stars —
Venus and Jupiter always exciting comment
by their splendor, especially the former,
which is now very beautiful in the morning
sky. Heretofore the layman has had no
means of distinguishing these wanderers of
the sky, but with this apparatus he can
easily do so.

It is 15x15 inches square, strong and
durably put together, and with fair usage
should last a life time.

ii ADVERTISEMENT.

A BI-MONTHLY MAQAZIKE

Edited by Frank M. Chapman.

CONTAINS:

Descriptions of experiences with living birds in their haunts,
and helpful articles on how to study birds.

Photographs of birds from nature, and two or more colored
plates in each number. (During 1908 the flycatchers of North
America will be figured in color.)

Migration tables, showing when birds may be expected at
many places throughout the country.

A list of prominent ornithologists who will help you in your
study of birds.

Bird Censuses by numerous observers.

Reviews of books and of magazine articles relating to birds.

Editorials on current questions in bird study.

An Audubon Department, with all the news concerning
bird protection.

A School Department designed especially for Teachers and
Students, and Teachers' Leaflets, with colored plates of birds.

Annual Subscription, $1.00

Single Numbers, 20 Cents

S.

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

Publishers for the Audubon Societies

Crescent and Multerry Street?, - - - - Harrisburg, Pa.

66 Fifth Avenue, New York City

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Wonderful, indeed, is the world of beauty about us,
More wonderful still is the world of beauty within us."

The Guide to Nature,

EDUCATION AND RECREATION

Vol. I

SEPTEMBER, 1908

No. 6

OUTDOOR WoRLD

Interesting Forms of Desert Plant Life

BY CHARLOTTE M. HOAK, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

O the lovers of the unique
and wonderful in nature
the great Colorado desert
or "The Land Beyond," is
a veritable land of enchant-
ment— a land of strange
anomalies, of stones that
float, of wood that sinks,
bare twigs that blossom, of burning heat,
of shifting sands and magic illusions.

No factor of all its varied life is more
interesting than the innumerable types
of desert flora. Here, in this land of
little rain, a fierce struggle for existence
Sfoes on continually. The methods em-
ployed by the different plants in their
efforts to extract a scanty sustenance
from the parched soil, the care with
which they husband with utmost fru-

gality their precious hoards of water and
the means they employ to defend them-
selves against the savage animals, as
hard put by thirst and famine as them-
selves, offer the most interesting field
for study and investigation to the nature
lover. As these desert forms are ob-
served day after day new secrets of na-
ture are revealed.

We marvel at the wonderful powers
of endurance and resistance displayed by
each plant which maintains for any
length of time a footing in this desert
country. Flow truly is each one fitted
for a contest that besets no other form
of plant life, and Nature has called into
play her most far-sighted cunning in
equipping her less favored children for
their fierce struggle with the elements.

Copyright 1008 by The Agassiz Association, Stamford, Conn.

xg2

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Examine the root systems first. Deep
rooting is common to many of the plants
that are near enough water to reach it
in that way. Sometimes you happen
on a ledge that has been laid bare by
the action of the weather and are sur-

THE BARREL CACTUS.

prised to find massive networks of roots
supporting a comparatively small growth
above ground. This deep rooting sys-
tem is characteristic of the mesquite. A
bit of holly no more than eighteen inches

high will often be attached to a set of
roots as many feet long. Other plants,
like the wild gourd, have storage reser-
voirs in the form of thickened roots, and
it is no uncommon sight to see this plant
green and flourishing long after every-
thing else has succumbed to the burning
heat. Deep rooting is by no means the
rule with desert plants. In some places
no amount of delving downward would
reach water. The ground is as dry as a
proverbial powder house year in and
year out with the exception of brief
periods that bring occasional wettings
to the upper layers. Hence many plants
like the "cat's claw" acacia and the chol-
la cactus have what is called a double
rooting system. The surface roots then
perform the important function of gath-
ering the little moisture that does come
their way.

( )nce above ground every care is ex-
ercised to guard against unnecessary
evaporation. The geometrical form as-
sumed by the characteristic desert plants
presents the very least surface possi-
ble. Nearly ' everything is round or
globular. There are few, if any, wide
spreading, leafy trees in this sun parched
country. Again most desert plants do
away with leaves as much as they can ;
in fact, some dispense with them alto-
gether. The cactus has thorns ; the aca-
cia has the phyllodia which stands ver-
tically ; others again have leaves at the
brief blossom period, but discard them
afterwards to stand like bare, thorny
poles the remainder of the year. It has
been estimated that the ordinary cactus
exposes only one-thirteenth of its sur-
face, while the coffee, another tropical
plant, about seven hundred times as
much surface in proportion. If, how-
ever, plants do see fit to keep their leaves
they shell-lac them over with a shiny,
resinous varnish like the creosote bush
or cover themselves with hair like the
"old man" cactus. The long seasons of
drought compel each plant to resort to
safe "methods of conserving their water
supplies. Each plant maintains some
kind of a storage reservoir. If not a
deep or thickened root system, then the
thickened stem and leaf. The average
cactus is with its thickened stem and
leaves over ninety-five per cent, water.

INTERESTING FORMS OF DESERT PLANT LIFE.

193

So full of water is one of these caeti ert. Only animals driven by a com-

that it is commonly called "the desert pelling desperation of hunger and thirst

water barrel." have courage to run the gauntlet of

I laving provided themselves with their formidable armor. Harpoons,

A VERITABLE VEGETABLE PORCUPINE— THE "NIPPLE CACTUS.

water and food enough to sustain life
it next behooves each one to protect well
its precious hoard. And how well pro-

thorns, barbs, prickles and spines by the
thousands lacerate and sting unmerci-
fullv whatever invader makes bold

tected are these fierce plants of the des- enough to despoil their treasure. But

194

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

all does not typify a keen, hard put
struggle for existence. Blossom time
comes to the desert and then wealth of
bloom rivals the most beautiful culti-

YUCCA IN BLOOM.

vated gardens in magnificence and va-
riety.

One can hardly imagine a plant more
beautiful than the stately Yucca alifolia
when it puts forth its long blossom

stalk, varying in height from ten to
thirty feet, and hangs aloft myriads of
pendulous, waxen lily bells beautiful be-
yond description. The poetic Spanish
Californians were keenly alive to their
exquisite beauty. Their brown robed
friars saw them afar off and likened
them to a host of warriors marshalled
on the plain, or to great white candles
set in magnificent array upon a golden,
sun-burnished altar. The traces of their
fancies still linger in the local names of
"Spanish bayonet" and "Our Lord's
candlestick."

Another striking plant is the occotilla.
Botanists know it as Fouquiera splen-
dent, but it has a host of local aopella-
tions, such as "vine cactus," "candle
wood, "lacob's staff" and "devil's fish
pole." In the main these local terms
are easy to account for. In the first its
brilliant cacti-like blossoms and thorny
stems resemble that family very closely.
The name "candle bush" or "candle
wood" is applied because its stems, liter-
ally soaked in resin, will burn for hours
like a flaming torch. A staff it has
proven to many a weary traveller, and
you can scarcely imagine a twig more
fittingly designed to be a "devil's fish
in )le." But after all the crowning glory
of this thorn of thorns are the splendid
snikes of graceful, fiery, fuchsia-like
blossoms. On the rough brown hills
they gleam afar like thousands of flam-
ing torches.

Every shrub and bush has its brief per-
iod of luxuriant bloom. Softest pastel
shades suffuse their delicate tints in the
most barren canons and in very truth
the "desert blossoms as a rose." ( )f
these numerous small trees and bushes
none is more beautiful than the "palo
verde," with its lace-like film of leaves
and golden shower of blossoms.

The cacti by many are considered the
glory of the desert. The blossoms dis-
play nearly every color, tint and shade
known to the plant world, but the vivid
scarlets, deep crimsons, glowing purples
and warm yellows are H-"3 «<!iiaJ shades
displayed. Satiny pinks, soft lilacs and
creamy whites are by no means uncom-
mon among these gforgeous flowers
which vie in coloring with the richest
colored orchids. How wonderfully

INTERESTING FORMS OK DESERT PLANT LIKE.

195

YUCCA WHIPPLEI.
A section taken from a stalk of six thousand blossoms.

beautiful are these rich blooms against
their natural backgrounds of somber
greys and browns.

One of the most picturesque foliage
plants of the more desolate portions of
the Colorado desert is the native Califor-
nia palm, Washingtonia fflifera. A typi-

cal desert sentinel, it lifts its head aloft
into the burning heat, a type of fearless
endurance. Imagine, if you can, a

whole colony set in magnificent array as
one comes upon them in the "Canon of
One Thousand Palms."

Almost as high as their wonderful

CACTUS BLOOMS.

196

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

-.V-

THE GIANT CACTUS— A BEAUTIFUL
PLANT.

beauty stands the remarkable utility
of these plants of the desert. Forced by
stern necessity, the desert dwellers have
learned to put to some use everything
which the barren soil produces. Food,
fibre, materials for houses and medicines,
all come from the seemingly scanty store-
house.

The mesquite has been called the
mother tree of the desert. It supplies
building material, firewood, dye, pitch-

ing gum, basket twigs and, last of all,
food. In fact it is to the people of the
desert what the bamboo is to the people
of the Orient. The rich and nutritious
beans it bears are eaten raw and cooked
in their green state by the Indians.
These long pods enclose a seed rich in
oil, and when thoroughly dry the Indian
women grind them into flour in their
primitive mills of flat stones. This
flour is made into mush, hard bread or
fermented into a kind of beer. Even
the dry pods themselves are sweet and
contain much food value.

Another food plant very highly prized
is the mescal or Mexican maguey, an
agave which is a close relative of the
century plant. The time for blossoming
draws near and the Indians far and near
hasten to the slopes where the mescal
plants are most numerous. They gather
in the huge buds, in appearance much
like gigantic asparagus tips. The whole

P %L. 4t

'■%£

^a^aii

CHOLLA CACTUS.

INTERESTING FORMS OF DESERT PLANT LIFE.

19:

THE NATIVE CALIFORNIA PALM.

harvest is brought to the baking pits and
a "mescal bake" ensues much after the
fashion of a "down east clambake." Af-
ter three days the big baking is finished
and then the mescal heads are raked
out of their covering of leaves and hot
stones, soft, sweet and deliciouslv. some-
thing like a sweet apple.

The Indians have learned another use
of this plant, which is often called the
"thread and needle plant." Each one of
the thick, succulent leaves terminates in
a sharp, spike-like thorn. This thorn is
firmly fastened to a stout, thread-like
fibre which runs the whole length of the
leaf, often three or four feet. When the
fibre is stripped from the leaf the thorn
remains attached, a thread and needle
ready for use. With such needles the
Indians do much of their crude sewing.

There is still another use to which the
mescal is put. From it an exceedingly
intoxicating drink is distilled. It is vil-
lianous in its effects, often inciting its
devotees to commit the most atrocious
deeds.

The cacti have more uses perhaps than

any other family of the desert plants.
They furnish a wide range of fruits and
material for sweetmeats and the green,
succulent leaves are used for vegetables.
Material for the framework of houses is
furnished by the skeletons of the larger
varietics. Several varieties are used to
make fences and hedges. In early days
the mission fathers defended themselves
from the attacks of hostile Indians by
putting up impenetrable barriers of the
ordinary tuna. In Mexico the organ
cactus is still used to make fences.
Pieces the desired length are cut off and
placed in the ground, and when they
take root and grow they form an admir-
able guard against the invasion of either
man or animal. The thorns serve as
needles and pins and those of the "bis-
naga" are used as toothpicks. It is
said that certain species furnish the In-
dians with hairbrushes.

The yuccas furnish both food and fibre.
Young shoots are cooked like cabbage.
The fruit is dried and ground into a

THE TREE YUCCA.

198

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

meal. The tree yucca (Yucca arbores-
cens), the most weird and spectral of all
the desert trees, yields an excellent,
corky fibre as well as meal from its
fruit. This spongy fibre serves as stor-
age tissue for this tree, whose strange
habits and appearance would furnish
material enough for a long article.

The native desert palm is almost wor-
shipped by the Coahuila Indians. And
little wonder, for from it they obtain
food, fibre, shade and material for their
rude, thatched huts. These Indians
have many rights and superstitions con-
nected with this palm. When a child is
born its parents plant a palm. The tree
becomes the special property of this child
and as soon as he gets old enough to un-
derstand he is given full charge of it,
cultivating it and worshipping it through-
out his lifetime. When he dies the tree
is cut down and burned to ashes.

We are apt to think that the more con-
spicuous plants, especially fitted to en-
dure the hardships of desert life, are the
only ones that can exist under such try-
ing conditions ; but this is not so. The

ordinary annuals have their oart in the
desert blossom time. A sjudden rain
comes, and like magic the sandy plains
and barren canons become transformed
by gorgeous, wind-blown tapestries of
poppies, lupines, primroses, violets and
verbenas. Here, too, we find the an-
nuals "making the most of" the brief
■span of life allotted them. Maturity fol-
lows closely on the heels of vouth. Every
flower seems to join in the mad rush
to bloom and ripen seed. Three or four
weeks and the transient glory fades,
and what was a riotous tangle of blos-
soms lapses back into sun-baked desert
again.

If one would study a new side of
plant life, let him follow in the wake
of spring in the desert. The habits
of many of the well-known species, as
well as those of the unique species which
belong to the arid sections alone, will
afford ample material for years of orig-
inal investigation, and as one studies, a
side of nature undreamed of before will
become revealed.

SUGGESTIONS FOR TREE STUDY.

199

SUGGESTIONS FOB TREE STUDY.

BY E. EARL DU BOIS, OGDENSBURG, NEW
YORK.

In the whole realm of nature study
there is to me no subject so fascinating
and of so much real worth as the study of
trees and their relations with their sur-
roundings. They combine the useful
with the beautiful, and can be studied
from both the aesthetic and economic
standpoints. As living things, they as-
similate food through their roots, carry
it up and down through their cellular
structure, and build it up into woody
fibre, and all the time breathe through
their leaves and give off water vapor —
three life processes which are parallel to
those of men and animals. Trees are
everywhere common. They may be
studied in any place, at any season of
the year and during all stages of devel-
opment. They will become the friends
and companions of man; or, if he de-
mands it, give up their lives to serve
him.

The writer has been a life-long student
of trees, and some of his observations
may be of interest to others who desire
to become more familiar with this inter-
esting branch of nature.

To get the most out of the study of
trees, they must be regarded as individ-
uals ; particular trees being selected and
every change in their growth and devel-
opment carefully noted, from season to
season and from year to year. It is
not enough to know every kind of tree
by its name, valuable as this information
is ; it is not enough to wander through
the forest and admire the trees for their
beauty of form and foliage ; the vital
processes of their life, the changes which
are constantly going on in and around
them, and their stru^Pfles for existence
against environmental conditions must
be known. They will then become re-
lated directly to our own lives, and that
delightful sense of ownership in and
regard for the trees will be realized.

At each returning springtime, I would
select several trees of different species
for study during the year, as well as
continue to watch for any changes that
may be going on in those that have been
studied during orevious years. Some
of these can usuallv be selected in our

own gardens or, at least, near to our
homes ; but in order to get a sufficient
number of species it is usually necessary
to mark trees in some field or forest
where they can be seen at least once each
week during the springtime, and occas-
ionally during the remainder of the year.
Several species should be selected in one
family to show likenesses and differ-
ences ; for example, two or three kinds
of maples should be observed ; and, on
the other hand, widely different species
should be noted, to show how each keeps
its individuality and how each species
responds to different conditions.

The study of a group of trees can be
begun at any season, but winter is the
best time. The naked forms can then
be seen, their manner of branching, the
angles made by the branches, the ar-
rangement of the buds, the form of bud
scale and leaf scar and the "annual ring''
markings of the different years' growth
can be more easily seen than in summer
and at a time when most nature-study
subjects are inaccessible. It is well for
the beginner to keep a note-book. As
spring approaches, mark a few small
branches on each tree, note changes from
week to week as the buds swell, which
develop leaves and which flowers ; where
each are located, and many other things
which will suggest themselves to the
student.

To illustrate what can be done by
marking branches, I will give one exper-
iment. Mark a branch on some tree or
bush. In early spring cut away all the
large buds which were formed the pre-
vious year, then the buds on the two-
year-old part of the branch will begin
to grow after being dormant for a sea-
son, and carry on the life of the branch.
This illustrates the remarkable provis-
ion of nature for the tree's welfare in
case the outer branches bearing the
new buds are destroyed by storms or
the buds eaten by birds.

In some such way an endless number
of experiments can be made and many
interesting observations carried on.
They may be made for pure pleasure, or
as a stepping stone to scientific research.

The phenomena of nature move in a
continuous procession, forward and up-
ward. We may look first at the seed,

200

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

A GRAND OLD OAK.

Well worth the careful study of tree lovers. How picturesque and sturdy.

changes of such an oak.

Consider the time and

SEEING BY AID OF THE LENS.

201

watch its development into the little
plant and its gradual growth into the

giant tree.

or we

may start with the
swelling bud in springtime, watch it
throw aside its winter coat, and soon
become the mature leafy branch or the
beautiful flower. In either case we have
seen the growth of a tree or a branch.

we have seen the transformation of the
inert matter of the soil, with the sun-
light energy, into a living organism, and
we are studying nature. The man who
has studied the life of a tree has a new
friend on earth and lias a new insight
into the heart of things.

YAID
THE LENS

THE 1V0>DERF[TL AND BEAUTIFl'L
DIATOMS.

That all waters which be upon the
earth teem with animal and vegetable
life even more abundantly than the earth
bears its burden of living creatures, has
been so often said that the remark has
become hackneyed to a tenuity that is
nearly unable to support its own weight.
Vet the assertion is strictly true, and no
one is more familiar with the fact than
the microscopist. The seas of the world
are crowded with beings from "levia-
than" down to creatures so minute, that
the highest powers of the microscope are
required to make them only imperfectly
visible. The fresh waters are no excep-
tion. Every drop that comes from the
public reservoir into the writer's house,
brings, with it an average of five living
animals, all minute to the point of invis-
ibility, and all harmless, yet they are
present. Vegetable life is no less abund-
ant. Setting aside all thought of "mi-
crobes," bacilli and bacteria, other mi-
nute plants thrive, flourish, act their
part, and die within the waters in even
greater numbers than on the land, and
these numbers are often so enormous
that the mass becomes visible to the
naked eye.

A diatom is a plant enclosed in a case
of silica, upon whose surface nature has
lavished some of her most exquisite spec-

imens of minute carving, elevated lines,
delicate dots, whose character is even
now not clearly understood, apertures,
circular and hexagonal, and so small that
the optical difficulties involved in their
demonstrations are almost insuperable,
and have occasioned man}- a word}' war
among microscopists. These siliceous
cases being indestructible even by boil-
ing mineral acids, have long served as
tests for the optical qualities of the best
microscope objectives, and also for the
good nature and self-control of contend-
ing microscopists.

A glance at any of the accompanying
illustrations will give an incomplete and
inadequate notion of a small varietv of
the forms, and perhaps of some of the
surface markings, although to show
these clearly demands high magnifying
power, and careful illumination of the
microscope. To exhibit variety of form
the arranged groups, Figs, i, 2, 3, are
particularly pleasing, as they are pre-
pared in an artistic way, and are well
worth extended examination. A few of
the objects in Fig. 2. especially those
in the outer circle, are not diatoms, but
have been introduced to give the picture
the desirable finish and artistic effect.
When the reader remembers that all
these objects are invisible, except under
the microscope, he may appreciate the
skill of the man that could and would

202

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

IT' Z\A

Fig. i.

pick up, one by one, the minute things,
carry them on the tip of a hair from be-
neath one microscope to a disc of glass
under another instrument, and there ar-
range them in the charming groups here
photographed. The time, the patience,
the skill required in such work are be-
yond words to describe.

Fig. 2.

( )n this page are shown diatoms ar-
ranged in artistic groups by the skill
and the indomitable patience of a pro-
fessional preparatenr of microscopical

slides.

Fig. 3.

The other illustrations (Figs 4 to 9),
have been selected to show not only va-
riety of shape, but peculiarity and dif-
ferences of sculpturing. Fig. 4 is not-
able in both these features; Fig. 8 might
be the housewife be compared to the lids
of certain kitchen utensils, with depres-
sions for the thumb and finger; Fig 9,
Heliopelta, is the '■sun-shield," the two
sets of rays being beautifully shown.

The scientific name of each diatom is
designed to describe some quality pecu-
liar to the species or to the genus, al-
though it is sometimes difficult to decide
just what its sponsor meant by his combi-
nation. Fig. 4. Coscinodiscus\ is the
"sieve-like disc" ; Fig. 5. Triceratium sex-
angidatum, is the diatom with three lit-
tle horns, as some of the species have,
and six angles; Fig. 8, is another species
of Triceratium, and apparently with
greater reason for the name.

Many years ago. Professor J. W.
Bailey, writing on this subject, said that
the mountain brooks about West Point,
had the surface of the mud "literally
covered in the first warm days of spring
with a ferruginous-colored mucous mat-
ter, about a quarter of an inch thick,
which, on examination by the microscope,
proves to be filled with millions and mil-
lions of these exquisitely beautiful sili-
ceous bodies. Every submerged stone,
twig, and spear of grass is enveloped by

SEEING BY AID OF THE LENS.

20^

them, and the waving' plume-like ap-
pearance of a filamentous body covered
in this way is often very elegant."

The brooks about West Point are no
exception. The writer has seen a sim-
ilar mass of different diatoms so densely
covering a space a hand-breadth wide,
that it was collected by the spoonful, and
on a microscopical examination proved
to be a natural culture, with absolutely
no admixture of other diatoms or of any
other microscopic object. In a past geo-
logical age (Tertiary) diatoms in the
greatest and most beautiful varieties have
so flourished, that they now form depos-
its thirty or tortv feet in thickness and

estimated that a cubic inch of a similar
deposit, contains about forty-one thous-
and millions of these organisms.

A motile microscopic object naturally
suggests animality, as motile plants seem
to he uncanny things, and not to be ac-
cepted without protest. Diatoms have
not escaped that fate, since some, not all,
are spontaneously motile, although mi-
croscopists at the present day believe that
they are plants. If a perambulating
diatom has its freedom, it will myster-
iously advance directly forward until it
meets an obstacle, when some forms will
hesitate, push, and then retreat, to ad-
vance again in another direction ; others,

^^m^

Fig. 4. Fig. 6.

DIATOMS.
Selected to show variety of form and of sculpturing

Fig. 8.

man}- miles in extent. The city of Rich-
mond has underlying it such a bed of
fossil diatoms thirty feet thick. The
artesian wells of Atlantic City, at a depth
of five hundred feet pass through a simi-
lar deposit, as the researches of Air.
Lewis Woolman have shown. Other
beds of such plants are known in Alary-
land and in Xew Jersey, while certain
deposits in California and in Xew Zea-
land, are world-famous among micro-
scopists as containing genera and species
not yet found elsewhere.

In such places these much varied
forms lived and died by the billion, for
it must be remembered, that while indi-
vidually a diatom is, in ordinal'}- circum-
stances, invisible to the naked eye, yet in
these beds of diatomaceous earth, the
number of such plants is so enormous
that their dead shells have formed a
mass which in aspect resembles grey
stone, and must be laboriously dislodged
bv the shovel and the pick. It has been

probably in some way stronger, will con-
tinue to press against the obstruction
until it is removed, when the plant se-
renely resumes its journey.

The cause of the movement is not well
understood. Alan\- theories have been
offered to explain it, but none is entirely
tenable. It is said to be due to the in-
jection and the expulsion of water; to the
movements of a thin, fluid mass on the
surface of the diatom and in rhythmical
motion ; to "the changes resulting from
the nutrition of the cell, which must nec-
essarily absorb food in a liquid condi-
tion," and perhaps to still other causes.
Some adherent forms, similar to those
referred to by Professor Bailey at West
Point, become motile when separated
from their point of attachment, a fact
that seems to militate against the theory
that nutrition is its cause, for the ad-
herent forms, as well as those that are
permanently free, must likewise absorb
liquid food. Air. Cornelius Onder-

204

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

donk, who has suggested the pres-
ence of the external fluid layer, whose
motions result in the movements of
the diatom, says that he has artistically
stained this protoplasmic coating, and
has, after its death, actually seen it curl
up and become separated from the body
•of the cell.

The structure of these remarkable

in which the valves are not in some de-
gree separated by the interposition of the
hoop."

The contents of these diatom boxes
are an exceedingly important nucleus,
the colorless protoplasm, and the yellow-
ish-brown coloring matter. Although
a diatom is a plant, a green diatom does
not exist. If the microscopist, there-

Fig. 7.

Fig. 9.

DIATOM^.
Selected to show variety of form and of markings.

Fig- 5-

plants is much like that of a pill-box, to
which it has often been compared. The
entire cell, which is referred to by mi-
croscopists as the frustule, consists of
two layers that he calls the valves, and
which imperfectly correspond to the up-
per and the lower surfaces of the box.
Delicately connected with each valve is a
band of silica called the hoop, and rough-
ly compared to the sides of the pill-box
which are attached to the lid and to the
body. We may then form a mental
picture of a diatom as a usually flat-
tened case of silica, the hoop of the valve
on one side fitting loosely into the hoot)
of the op'x isite valve, mucn as the side
of the lid slips over the side of the box.
It is known that "one of tne valves is
always older than the other: and the
hocp of the older valve partly encloses
that of the younger. As the newly
formed cell increases in length, separat-
ing the valves from one another, both
hoops increase hi breadth by additions
to their free edges, and the outer hoop
flides off the inner one. until there is
often but a small 'overlap.' As growth
and binary division are continually going
on, . . it is rare to find a specimen

fore, finds under his instrument, a motile
green object, he may he sure it is not a
diatom. Color and movement are not
distinguishing characters of microscopic
animals, but, other things being equal,
they may become distinguishing features
of a diatom.

Reproduction is accomplished by two,
some microscopists say by three distinct
methods, and is in each instance com-
plex. The one most frequently observed,
and perhaps the simplest, takes place by
the division, into two parts, of the pro-
toplasm within the frustule. Each of
these parts retains one of the old valves
on its outer surface, and each of the two
inner surfaces then secretes a new valve.
two new individuals thus being formed,
each with one parent valve and one
young valve, so that every diatom frus-
tule is usually partly youthful and partly
aged, a condition much like that obtain-
able by building a new house under an
old roof.

THE CAMERA.

205

KODAKING AQUATIC FOUL.

BY GEO. VV. KELLOGG., ROCHESTER, N. Y.

With the single exception of high-
speed work, there is little in nature pho-

tography, that cannot be done with the
regular folding kodak equipment, which
can be procured at a price within the
reach of the average amateur ; while

o 1

.\o I .

No. 3.

No. 4.

206

THE GUIDE T( ) NATURE.

No.

A NEAR .VIEW.

with the box type, and even with the
brownies, much can be accomplished
along" the same lines, and the same is
true, if any of the other hand cameras,
so called, is employed, notwithstanding
all opinions to the contrary by some pre-
sumed to be authorities ; and one of the
easiest divisions of this work is the pho-
tographing of domesticated water fowl
All of the accompanying illustrations
Avere made with a 4x5 kodak: Xo. 1, of
Canada Geese, was obtained shortly after

sunrise ; 2 and 3, Chinese Geese, were
secured at the feeding place, and just
before the arrival of breakfast, as was
also No. 4, showing the swan in the fore-
ground. All were snap-shots made at a
distance of six feet from the subjects.
Xo. 5 was a chance find. At the base
of a large elm, and partly concealed by
the tall grass, was a white duck which
absolutely refused to leave her nest,
although the camera was so set up that
the distance from the front lens to the

A GOOD SNAP SHOT.

on

THE CAMERA.

207

THE LILY AND THE FROG.
Photograph by George W. Kellogg.

duck's head was exactly 28 inches, the
distance being- measured with a tape
measure, the exposure being" made pos-
sible at that distance without the exten-
sion of the bellows beyond the six foot
mark by a fifty cent portrait attachment,
which was attached to the regular lens

like a cap ; and by using this simple
attachment the types of hand cameras
ordinarily in use can be made available
for much of the work which formerly
necessitated a camera with an extra long
draw.

A DECORATION OF PURPLE FRINGED ORCHIS.
Specimens from George Park Singer. Photograph by Edward F. Bigelow.

208

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

CALL FOR COUNSEL.

For six months The; Guide to Na-
ture lias steadily travelled onward,
and led its followers into a wilderness, of
nature not altogether unknown, yet not
previously explored by its method, nor
guided from its point of view. Now
the leader calls a halt, to consider cer-
tain matters, to look about and make
plans for the future.

To speak less figuratively, this mag-
azine has been trying to take possession
of an unoccupied field in periodical lit-
erature— the uncommon interest of com-
monplace nature. Now we ask counsel
of our readers. In what direction have
we travelled most successfully and
where have we met obstacles and faded
to overcome them ? What article or
what illustrations have best pleased you
and what do you most wish to see
treated in the future? Will every read-
er please write at once? Wre want your
immediate advice. Already some de-
partments have been dropped, and im-
portant new plans are under consider-
ation. This changing of plans is not of
trial and failure, but in the multiplicity
of good things it represents the survival
of the best.

We also ask your co-operation in
making the magazine widely known.
Tell your friends about it.

I Jut more than all, do not neglect to
write and to write at once.

TOO "GOOD" FOR US.

When you write a long, descriptive
article, with highly polished, well round-
ed and evenly balanced sentences, ex-
haustively covering your subject from
A to ampersand, and you say in your
heart, "That would grace the pages of
any large, general magazine, but I wdl
be self-sacrificing and send it to The
Guide to Nature, 'just to helo it along'
in its growing davs,"-— please do not
make "the sacrifice. We are not a gen-
eral magazine and we do not want that
kind of an article.

When von see something in nature
really new and of "uncommon interest,"
though you can describe it in five words,
please, let us beg of you, send it to us.
There are thousands of writers to one
observer, and there are a thousand per-
sons who can prepare an elaborate de-
scription for one who can see a simple
thing and describe it clearly.

Push out into the wilderness. Leave
the beaten track. Mel]) us to be really

KNOWLEDGE FOR ITS OWN SAKE.

I recently visited a technical student
of science in his laboratory.

"Are you working to ascertain new
facts or to prove some hypothesis.''" I
inquired.

"Both," he laconically replied. And
he went on to add, after a few mo-
ments of careful attention to a difficult
matter in hand, "A real scientist is as

EDITORIAL AND GENERAL

209

much interested in getting facts as in
proving a theory. Nature is of more ac-
count than one's own personality."

A little later I again inquired, "Does
your work have in contemplation any
improvement or benefit to mankind?"

"Brains, yes; stomach, no."

"So yon regard brains as of some im-
portance?"

"Yes, although most people do not.
They have reference only to pocketbook
or stomach when they inquire, 'What's
the use?' "

Again for several minutes close atten-
tion was given by us to the work in
hand. Then he paused, as if to rest,
straightened up and said. "1 hope yon
sympathize with the scientist who at a
banquet gave this toast, 'Here's to pure
science! May it never benefit any-
body.'"

( )f course he used the term benefit
in the sense of the physical anybody.

Isn't an interest in nature, in this
madly utilitarian age, of greater value,
the less its "use?"

GOD'S WOEKS.

It is really true that "The heavens
declare the glory of God ; and the firma-
ment sheweth his handywork." To one

Then, why does it not logically fol-
low in actual practice that one of the
principal equipments of a church should
be an astronomical observatory? Per-
haps it will be so in the Twenty-first
Century. The most important truths
to the human race come into actual
practice and full appreciation only after
long, long periods of time. Strange,
isn't it, that we flounder so long in pos-
itive error or in partial truth.

Strange, too, isn't it, that the church
gives so little heed to that authoritative
and valuable command to "consider the
lilies of the field."

The Great Naturalist Teacher drew
most of his lessons from birds, flowers,
wilderness, mountains, gardens and
farms. Perhaps His very best, at any
rate one that has done more to reclaim
sinful man than any other, was his
story of the farmer's wayward son who
looked after the corn and the pigs. And
yet such actually existent things, hal-
lowed and sanctified by divine authority,
are too often regarded as materialistic,
misleading or secular.

It sometimes seems to the writer that
many of those who most insist on tak-
ing the Bihle literally, themselves accept
it figuratively or not at all. Perhaps the
most marked example is the fact that in

"FOUND THE BOYS AND THE GIRLS AS HAPPY AS THEY COULD POSSIBLY BE,
AND REJOICING IN THE GREATEST OF ALL JOYS, THE JOY OF DOING."

who appreciates this fact, it seems also
true that the "declaration" and the
"showing" are better by this method
than bv anv other.

the very opening chapters of the Bible
the ideal existence of man and woman is
in a garden. Many of the best people of
the Bible were shepherds, farmers or

2IO

THE GUIDE TO NATURE

gardeners. The Principal Lover of
Nature spent much of His most sacred
time in a garden, and whenever that
Great Book wishes to enforce an im-
portant lesson, it portrays its actors near
to some form of wild nature or intensely
interested in animal or plant life, with
especial reference to plant life that is

natural world. He believes practically
in a garden, and he has successfully con-
ducted in the church grounds a veritable
Little Eden for the boys and the girls.
His example is worth imitating. It will
be imitated. The time is coming when
every church with children in the parish
will have a garden.

THE MANAGER AND THE DELVERS OF "LITTLE EDEN."
The photograph shows a liberal harvest of "good things" in vegetables and happiness.

under the care of man — in other words,
a garden.

In view of these self-evident facts,
looked at as they are and not through
the heedlessness of custom, isn't it as-
tounding that the majority of churches
take no interest in gardens?

Yet I know one rector to whom this
criticism would not apply, and who is
setting an example in the study and ap-
preciation of "God's Works" that may
well be imitated by others. I refer to
the Reverend Charles Morris Addison,
rector of St. John's Episcopal Church,
of Stamford, Connecticut. As a boy he
met the great-hearted, thoughtful, re-
ligious, studious and prayerful Louis
Agassiz. He has been an active worker
in several AA chapters. He interests
his boys and girls in God's Works as
well as in God's Words. His sermons
are permeated with the beauty, interest
and instruction to be derived from the

I recently visited this little Eden
and found the boys and the girls
as happy as they could possibly be, and
rejoicing in the greatest of all joys, the
joy of doing. I took the accompanying
photographs. Upon request the mana-
ger of the garden furnished me with the
following account :

The farm garden of St. John's Boys'
Chili was started on the 25th of May,
1907, and was continued for four
months. During that first season we
had sixteen members, and the interest
and enthusiasm shown were most en-
couraging. Each member had a plot of

ground ten feet wide

l>v

twelve in

length, on which he raised not less than
three and one-half dollars' worth of veg-
etables. In 1908 we hope for an in-
crease in our produce, as tomato plants
have been added to our list, the vege-
tables now cultivated being wax beans,
string beans, lettuce, radishes, turnips.

EDITORIAL AND GEXERAL.

21 I

carrots, beets, Swiss chard, parsley, and
tomatoes, the turnips and the carrots fol-
lowing the lettuce and the radishes. A
border of flowers ornaments both ends
of the lot.

For the use of the ground during the
entire season, each child pays twenty-
five cents, at the rate of two cents a
week in cash, or an equivalent in vege-
tables to be devoted to certain charitable
purposes. This rent, small as it is in-
spires a feeling of ownership and has
an excellent effect.

This season ( 1908) the garden opened
on the 15th of May, with twice as many
applicants as there were plats of ground.
Our lot is so small that we can have
only nineteen gardens in all, yet we have
a reserve space for flowers and for spec-
imens of such cereals as wheat, rye and
oats. The flowers are given to hospi-
tals and to other charitable organiza-
tions.

Our expenses during the first year,
chiefly for tools, plowing and fertilizing,
were forty dollars. For this season they
have been only twentv dollars.

An exhibition is held in the autumn
and prizes are given for attendance, for
general efficiency and for the best kept
garden.

It is interesting and often amusing to
observe evidences of the children's char-
acter as shown by their gardens. To
the expert a glance reveals the impetu-
ous, the untidy, the careless ; while the
methodical, the neat and even the prim
and "old-maidish" are as plainly appar-
ent.

There can no be doubt but that church
gardens are beneficial physically and
mentally, and that they may also be
made permanently valuable in a religious
way is a foregone conclusion.

HUNTING EXTINCT ANIMALS IN
ALASKA.

A zoological expedition to Alaska,
sent out last season by the Smithsonian
Institution, has brought back, besides in-
teresting information many osseous frag-
ments of extinct animals that once lived
there. The specimens show that over
the Alaskan fields at a period long before

man arrived on earth, roamed mam-
moths, seyeral kinds of buffalo, musk-
oxen, sheep, moose, caribou, horses and
bears. Reavers also built their dams
ali mg the rivers.

Ever since ( )tto von Kotzebue, nearly
a century ago, brought hack from Alaska
a few pieces of skulls and bones of
strange extinct beasts, men of science
have looked upon that region as a possi-
ble source of information concerning the
early ancestors of our northern Ameri-
can animals. Little systematic work was
done, however, until 1904, when the
Smithsonian Institution sent out its first
expedition, followed last season by a sec-
ond, which pursuing a certain itinerary,
was to search for the remains of extinct
vertebrate animals and to investigate the
causes leading to their extinction.

The party was gone for about four
months, during which nearly the entire
length of the Yukon river was covered
and several of its tributaries partly ex-
plored. Close upon fourteen hundred
miles of the distance was covered by
canoe. During the whole time search
was made along the cliffs and in the
river bars as being the places most
likely to show relics of early beasts.
Mining camps were also visited for
possible traces of significant bones.
The rapids of the Yukon having
been passed, Fort Gibbon is reached,
below which lie the now well-known
"Palisades," called in that region the
"hone-yard," as from it have been dug
broken remnants of many early beasts.

The party paddled on, however, in
search of larger game, and at the mouth
of the Nowitna river information gained
from an intelligent Indian, that he had
seen "big horns and other big bones" on
the river bars and had picked up the
"-hank hone of some large animal, lured
them into a side trip up the river.

It is a picturesque region. "( )ften the
water has cut in under the bank," says
Mr. Gilmore, the leader of the party,
"which extends out over the stream like
a great shelf. The trees growing on
these undermined banks frequently lean
far over and dip their tops in the water
before being carried away. Large blocks
of the bank, covered with bushes and
trees, cave off into the streams, where

212

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

they remain standing" half submerged
for a long time. Frequently there hangs
down from the top of these undermined
banks a mantle of moss which serves as
a curtain to hide the destruction the
waters have wrought."

The party struggled up the Nowitna
river for nine days, hunting for the
source of all the pieces of ancient bones
found washed down from somewhere
above. No settlers were met with, and
only an occasional deserted winter cabin
of a lonely trapper showed that man had
ever scrambled along the banks or pushed
a paddle in the stream. Food began to
give out. so that they were forced to turn
back before reaching the headwaters.
The side trip, however, was not without
results, for from nearly every bar
searched was taken a fragment or a com-
plete element of a skeleton representing
such extinct forms as the mammoth,
bison and horse.

It was found that the scattered re-
mains of the very early animals occur
throughout the heart of Alaska not con-
stantly covered by ice and snow, in
three quite distinct deposits : First, in
the black muck accumulated in the
gulches and valleys of the smaller
streams ; second in the fine elevated clays
of early origin, known as the Yukon silts
and Kowak clays ; and third in the more
recent deposits along the banks of

streams. These specimens have been
either washed out by the process of
erosion or else dug out by miners in
search of gold.

In connection with the "bone yard"
of the Palisades, and with Elephant Point
farther north, it has been thought that
there might be enough ivory in old im-
bedded mammoth tusks to pay for its
excavation and shipping for commercial
purposes, as is the case in some localities
of Siberia. In fact mammoth tusks for a
good many years have been an important
Siberian export. But the Alaskan re-
mains are not in as fresh a state of pre-
servation, and until a few years ago, it
is said, a man would not take a tusk as
a eift. Now thev are used to manufac-
ture curios of different sorts.

How the ancient animals died, has
been a subject of speculation. Some
have believed that they met their end on
the shores of glacial lakes, and their
bones, carried out on the ice in the spring-
break-up, were dropped here and there
as the ice melted, becoming imbedded
in the silt. Mr. Gilmore, however, be-
lieves, since the best specimens have been
found in gulches and valleys of small
streams, and are more common in muck
than in silt, that these animals became
mired in prehistoric bogs, not then froz-
en, and were afterwards separated by the
"flowing" or "creeping" of the muck.

>

fORRESPONDENCE

^ ^^ and Information

r

SUNSET OX LAKE HURON.

Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
To the Editor:

The photograph, "Sunset on Lake Hu-
ron," in the August The Guide to Na-
ture recalls the outing we once took at
Goderich, Ontario. In the following
sonnet Mrs. Ballard tells what happened
as she and our fonr-or-five-years-old lit-
tle Julia stood on the high bluff watching
the sunset.

Very truly yours,

Addison Ballard.

I Iuron's blue waters oped their trem-
bling lips,
And swallowed up the round, red

evening sun.
"Think he will rise again, my little

( me .
1 asked, as, gazing 'twixt two wandering

ships
Where he had disappeared in strange

eclipse.
My little girl stood silent as a nun.
The moment's fear gave place; sweet

faith was born ;

CORRESPONDENCE AND INFORMATION.

213

"Yes, he will come apain to-morrow
morn ;
He always comes to us with morning

light,
No matter where he falls asleep at
night ;"
And so she clapped her hands with joy,

to trace
The rosy veil upon the water's face,
Which rosier clouds, free floating far

above,
Threw down in parting token of their
iove. Julia I'. Ballard.

MOYING HUGE PALMS.

San Francisco. California.
To thk Editor :

Of die two Wine Palms of Chili that

1 recently removed from Redwood City
to Santa Cruz, 1 am sending you three
photographs under separate cover.

( hie shows the two palms as they
stood when the workmen were just start-
ing- in to excavate for the purpose of re-
moving the large palm. These palms
had only been planted about three years,
as I removed them from San Mateo to
Redwood City about three years or more
ago. The second picture shows the
smaller palm out of the ground, laying
on its side in a box for shipment. This
palm stood with the frame around it
about thirty feet high. The ball was
sixteen feet square and about six feet
deep. The third photograph shows the
larger palm just raised out of the

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THE PALMS AS THEY STOOD AT REDWOOD, CALIFORNIA, BEFORE REMOVAL TO

SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA.

214

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

ground and partially boxed. Before
shipping- we completed the boxing of the
top. This palm stood with the box a
trifle over sixty feet high. The ball was
sixteen feet square and about seven feet
deep. This, in turn, was laid on its side
by house movers. These two palms
were then taken and put on separate cars
—the larger one taking two cars — and
sent to Santa Cruz.

A temporary spur track was run from
the railroad into the lot and right into
the hole prepared to receive the palm,
so that, when the car came to rest, it
stood at an angle of about 45 degrees,
making it much easier to raise and set
the palm in place.

I am pleased to report that these
palms were planted at Santa Cruz, and
are now entirely out of danger, and do
not look as though they had been moved,
for they have both made fresh roots and
new leaves, and the larger one is now
throwing out fruit pods. The fruit is
very similar, only in bio; bunches like

bananas, to a miniature cocoanut. These
palms weighed forty and fifty tons re-
spectively when they were boxed for
shipment.

Hoping that these pictures reach you
in good condition and that this brief
history of these palms will interest you,
I am.

Yours truly,

'William J. Dinger.

NATURE INDOORS

Hackettstown, X. J.
To the Editor:

I love the daisy fields and the woods ;
1 love the birds, the brooks, the trees ;
I love the stones rich in velvet moss and
even the leaf-mould on the srround. As
the way has not opened for me to sleep
in this paradise, but only to visit it in
my waking hours, I have converted my
room into more or less of an Eden.
While it is possible to accomplish this
with a very small outlaw I must confess

SMALLER OF THE TWO PALMS BOXED FOR SHIPMENT TO SANTA CRUZ.

CORRESPONDENCE AND INFORMATION.

215

THE LARGER OF THE TWO PALMS
PARTIALLY BOXED FOR SHIPMENT.

The room is blue and white and is not
beruffled, but made up on the simple
plan of straight lines. The paper on
the sidewalls is blue, the white ceiling
paper coming- down to meet it at the
moulding. There is no border except
in the window. For this I obtained from
one of the department stores a ravishing
strip of barn swallows. I bought more
than enough for the window, and cut
out the birds for a little flock on mv
white sidewall border. These I placed in
a little overflow group on the short side
of the wall to the corner, then as they flew
along the long side of the room I placed
them more scatteringly until I fixed one
bold leader making for the next window
as if to regain his freedom. The other
two sides of the room have no birds.

Two of the window cushions are filled
with the silky down of the milk-weed
pods ; another contains the delicious hay-
scented fern, and the fourth sweet bal-
sam. I have here and there over a pic-
ture a dainty vireo nest on its branch,
and over the door some weathered
sprays of pitch pine, with the gray cones
still clinsfingf to them. The tiny home
of the redstart graces the corner over my
bed, and with a bunch of rabbit-foot

that 1 was favored by having for a back-
ground to my plan a very dainty and
rather expensively fitted room.

In having the bay window run up to
the second floor where my room is situ-
ated, I had the shape changed from the
conventional bay of the story below to a
square-cornered window to allow of a
window-seat long enough for reclining.
As I needed more book space I had a
bookcase built in at either end of the
seat. What would have been the lower
shelf in each case was changed to two
short drawers to avoid bringing the glass
doors too low. The window-seat and
bookcases are of birch and the floor of
oak with a beautiful inlaid border. The
large space between the window-seat is
a very convenient place for storing my
nature magazines, camera, etc. The lit-
tie drawers seem as if made for my bird
magazines, and among my books one will
find information on trees, flowers,
shrubs, mosses, ants, bees, and volume
after volume on birds, mv dearest hob-
by.

TO

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^

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"I HAVE CONVERTED MY ROOM INTO.
MORE OR LESS OF AN EDEN."

2l6

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

driver behind a wee picture and some
branches of black alder with its scarlet
berries above my precious books I could
almost believe myself in Nature's blessed
grasp.

Mary Pierson Allen.

NATURE AS OI'l! GREATEST EDUCATOR.

Tuskegee Institute. Ala.

To the Editor :

I had the good fortune to be born in
the southwestern part of Missouri, on a

PROFESSOR GEORGE W. CARVER.

Director Department of Agricultural Instruction
and Experiment Station, Tuskegee Normal
and Industrial Institute, Alabama.

farm, where nature had, in a most lavish
way, touched the surroundings, and
made them unusually rich in the things
that please the eye and furnish food for
thought.

The great limestone crags were full
of crinoids, brachiopods, bivalves, corals,
and other interesting formations.

The immense springs, with their never
failing streams of crystal, ice-cold water,
a veritable nectar of the gods to the
thirst\- traveler, were in evidence every-
where.

( hie of the happiest moments of my

life was when I became sole possessor of
a little piece of ground for a Mower and
vegetable garden. With what delight
and enthusiasm I watched the little
plantlets emerge from the ground, de-
spite the fact that daily pilgrimages were
made, and many of the seed uprooted to
see if they were sprouting.

Possibly the strangest thing of all was
that almost everything I touched grew,
whether I planted it out in the open
ground or put it in pots; this soon be-
came known, and sick plants were
brought by the score, and left for treat-
ment, and I often went to houses, and
prescribed for them, much as a physician
prescribes for his patients. Sometimes
a change of soil would be recommended,
more or less water, a shady spot, more
sun. pruning, etc., as the case demanded.
I do not remember of ever losing a plant
brought to my "sanitarium."

I soon earned the name of "Plant Doc-
tor."

T wondered how the roses became
double, why leaves were different, in
color, form, etc.. why the clover, and the
oxalis folded their leaves at night ami on
dark days, also what the insects were
doing in the flowers. I longed to be able
to mix flowers, as I called it, and in my
little garden the varieties were all plant-
ed together, hoping they would mix. I
was not wholly disappointed in this,
much to my delight and pleasure.

Would I ever know what the rocks
were made of, and why this soil was red,
and that one black, yellow, or mottled?
This task seemed ! Ierculean, but I said,
others have found out. why not I?

Thus as I grew older and began to
study, my love for all forms of nature
increased. Indeed animals, plants, min-
erals, and insects are my friends. Nev-
er a dav passes but that I do myself the
honor to commune with some of their
varied forms. And when tired and

weary with the duties of the day. I hie
away to the woods, and fields, if possi-
ble, stay an hour or so, and return, much
rested, after asking Mother Nature a
number of questions which she so will-
ingly answers; otherwise, how am I to
undersand : "Behold the lillies of the
field, they toil not— or "Look unto
the hills from whence cometh — ," or

CORRESPONDENCE AND INFORMATION.

21"

"Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider,
etc—."

I am an artist by taste, training, and
profession; therefore nothing' pleases me
more than to take my pencils, paint,
brushes, sketch book, pastel board, etc.,
and spend a day in the woods. 1 am
now painting a very large picture {^A
feet x 6 feet) of the exquisite Yucca
Gloriosa, with Opuntia ficus Indica clus-
tered at the base, all with scenic back-
ground ; how it thrills my soul as the
great spikes of blooms with their hun-
dreds of beautiful bell-shaped flowers
develop.

Flowers are my constant companions,
the lapel of my coat never being without
some form of decoration.

To those who already love nature, 1
need only to say to you that I hope you
will, through The Guide to Nature,
give us the value of the answers to tne
many questions asked Mother Nature.

To those wrho have not vet learned
the secret of true happiness, the joy of
coming into the closest relationship with
the Maker and Preserver of all things :
begin now to study the little things in
your own door yard, going from the
known to the nearest related unknown,
for indeed each new truth brings one
nearer to God.

Geo. W. Carver,
Director Agricultural Instruction and
Experiment Station, Tuskegee Nor-
mal and Industrial Institute.

2l8

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

DOMESTICATED NATURE

jocko and i.

Photograph by S. S. Place.

DOMESTICATED NATURE.

219

TEOPLE AND (ATS.

BY C. H. JONES, EDITOR THE CAT JOUR-
NAL, ROCHESTER, X. V.
I divide those who are interested in
cats into fonr classes, Cat Lovers, Cat
Likers. Cat Tolerators and Cat I Iaters.

opinion, both. The cat lovers, strong in
the love for the animal, move along in
the even tenor of their way and care not
at all what others may think.

The "Cat Likers" admire them when
they are in perfect condition, and in

MAID OF AVENELS KITTENS.
Sired by Sir Friar. Sire and dam owned by Mrs. D. S. Lovejoy, Elgin, 111.

The "Cat Lover" likes them in any
style, any age and in any place. A for-
lorn, starving kitten on the street, appeals
to them, and they are not satisfied until
it has been relieved from its distress.
They are fond of them all, whether long
or short-haired, "Persian," or what is
known as "common." To those who do
not like cats this individual is either
crazy or a fool, and perhaps in their

what they call "their place." They like
to see them sitting by the fireside as an
ornament. They would not pick one up
on the street or notice it in any way and
would not handle one if it were indis-
posed. If their pet is taken with any
sickness their first thought is to have it
killed so they will not be distressed by
the sight of it.

The "Cat Tolerators" are a class that

220

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

CAESAR OF KENNELWORTH.

endure them because they are so unfor-
tunate as to be related to some one who
admires them and theycannot help them-
selves, so they endure with impatient and
often expressed disgust that which they
cannot help. They will have one to rid
the house of mice in case of necessity,
but that is as near as they will ever
admit that they are of any use.

The "Cat Hater," generally claims that
dislike and hate are inherent. This dis-
like might be overcome, but the trouble
with this class of individuals is they
have so led themselves to believe that
they cannot help it that they will not
try. They hoard this thought as if it

was something to be desired. They
transmit it to their children, and encour-
age it in them. They make vicious re-
marks on the subject and if they had it
all to say no cat would be allowed to
live on earth.

For the variable emotions in the minds
of the "grown-ups" regarding animals,
and especially cats, parents are in a large
measure responsible. Most children like
anything that reminds them of a doll or
baby and are usually attracted to ani-
mals. If this, much to be desired at-
tribute, is encouraged they will become
men and women who are disposed to
have some interest in animals and who

DOMESTICATED NATURE.

221

will, as a rule, be kind and considerate
of their feelings.

That child is to be pitied who is not
allowed to have a kitten and a dog- and
who is not taught by those who have the
forming of their character to treat it
kindly and lovingly. It is a rare thing
to see an animal lover who is not kind
and careful to human beings, when help-
less either from sickness, misfortune i >r
age. The child who is taught to have
consideration for those of the animal
kingdom will be kind to their parents
when they are old and need attention
and care.

It would seem much better for the child
to have a living companion like a cat or
a dog upon which to lavish their affection

rather than to give it to a doll or a
Teddy Bear. Not that we would de-
prive them of these inanimate objects,
hut we would add to their family, living
pets.

In character there is but little differ-
ence between the long-haired or Per-
sian cats and the short-haired or do-
mestic cats. They are all cats, but one
has longer hair. The character of either
depends largely on ancestry and condi-
tion of birth, as it does with a human
being. If the parents are wild the kit-
ten is quite sure to be wild.

The Persian cats are by many called
Angoras, which is wrong, as an Angora
is something quite different. There are
probably very few if anv in this country.

FAMO.
Winner of a First, Second and Special, New York Show.

First time shown.

222

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

The Persian type is much more to be
desired. When one calls their long-
haired cat an Angora they are calling it
something that is much inferior to a
Persian.

Caesar, as shown in the illustration, is
what is known as a Silver Persian. If
we were to describe the color to one who
has never seen a silver we would sav it is

loving in disposition. He is owned by
M. Johnson, Xew York City.

The three kittens are from noted Per-
sian parentage and have their lives
yet before them. Whether they will
make a name as noted winners or find
a home with some cat lover as a pet is
yet to be seen. They were bred and are
owned by Mrs. Love joy, of Elgin, 111.

THE BUZZING SILVER.

Silver tabby shorthaired female lately imported Bred by Mrs. Collinwood, England. Owned by Mrs
J. C. Mitchelson, Tariffville, Conn. Sire, Champion James II, dam, Sally Ugly Mug.

much the color of a very light gray horse. The Buzzing Silver is a very Deauti-

The very lightest ones are called chin-
chillas and are shaded but a little from
white. To reach the standard they must
be without stripes or tabby markings.
Caesar is a noted show cat, and has sev-
eral times won the special prize for Best
Cat in the show of any color. He is
the propertv of Mrs. William Frye, of
Buffalo, N.' Y.

Famo is another noted prize winning
Persian, white, very affectionate and

fully marked shorthaired cat imported
from England by Mrs. Mitchelson of
Tariffville, Conn. While Buzzing Silver
has been in this country but a short time,
she has already won many prizes. Three
times she has won as the best short-
haired cat in the show. She would be
called a silver tabby. Tabby because
she has the stripes and silver because
the ground color or light colors are
silver.

LITERARY AND BIOGRAPHICAL.

223

■» " " " " " " " " ' ■ " " ■■ " " ■* ■■

IlTERARY

f-^ANDBIOGI

BIOGRAPHICAL

Microscopy the Construction, Theory and
Use of the Microscope. By Edmund
J. Spitta, L. R. C. P., Lond., M. R. C. S.,
Eng., F. R. M. S, President of the Que-
kett Microscopic Club, author of an At-
las of Bacteriology: With 47 Half-tone
Reproductions from Original Negatives,
and 241 Text Illustrations. New York:
E. Dutton & Company.

This book is a delight to those who, like
Prof. Douglas in the July number of "The
Guide to Nature," would restore and in-
crease interest in microscopy.

The frontispiece, a beautiful photo-micro-
graph of the proboscis of a blow-fly, is ex-
quisite in detail. The plates of diatoms and
other test objects ^°poeii our gratitude to
those workers who perfected that marvel
of lenses — the microscope objective. Some
of the best things of the book are in the
inconspicuous department "Hints" in the
last part of the volume.

The Study of Nature. By Samuel Christian
Schmucker, Ph. D., Philadelphia: J. B.
Lippincott Company (Educational Se-
ries).

This is a book of pedagogical nature
study, dealing with principles, methods and
materials.

The author is a true teacher and natural-
ist, and the book contains valuable sug-
gestions and instructions.

I received the book while sitting before a
large number of teachers at an Institute.
I handed it to a colleague instructor who is
not a naturalist He at once severely criti-
cised the first sentence — "Nature study is
the study of nature," as "Absolutely foolish
and meaningless, going around a circle and
not getting anywhere" We who are natur-
alists know what the author has in mind of
genuineness versus sham. We know that
there is a "nature study" that is fizz. Yet
some of us, who best appreciate Professor
Schmucker and know all he meant by that
trite and laconic sentence, can but regret
that he has not defined a sharp distinction
between the pedagogical "nature study" and
the strict "study of nature" or natural sci-
ence.

However, it is not so very important what
we call it nor how we define it, but rather
how we do it and how we live it. The
author does, lives and studies all right and
his wife helps him well in all — especially in
the illustrations of this book.

"American Birds Studied and Photographed
from Life." By William Lovell Finley.
Illustrated from photographs by Herman
T. Bohlman and the Author. Charles
Scribner's Sons, New York, 1907. $1.50
net.

For some years past the observation and
study of birds has been growing in popu-
larity. That this interest shows no sign
of waning is evidenced by the steady suc-
cessions of interesting and finely illustrated
books on the subject which are being pub-
lished. Another worthy book in this mer-
itorious succession is "American Birds," by
William Lovell Finley. In order not to
misunderstand the scope of the book, one
must note the sub-title, — "Studied and Pho-
tographed from Life." It is not a treatise
on the entire ornithology of America, but
a series of sketches of twenty-one repre-
sentative, well-known birds, as they were
observed and photographed by Mr. Finley
and his companion, Mr. Herman T. Bohl-
man, who does most of the photographing.
These sketches are breezy, pleasantly writ-
ten accounts of experience with the various
birds afield, well adapted to interest young
people, as well as older nature-lovers. The
127 photographs of birds from life, adult
and young, and some of nests and eggs, are
all well done, being, like all good bird-pho-
tographs, instructive as to the life of the
subjects and also suggestive of the pleasure
to be found by anyone who will go afield
with the camera in the same spirit and do
the hard, patient work required to obtain
such trophies.

Mr. Finley is personally known to the
writer of this review. A young man, resi-
dent on the Pacific Coast, he has rapidly
come to the fore, and is widely known for
the splendid and spectacular photographs
which he and Mr. Bohlman in company have
secured. He is a tireless enthusiast, and no
amount of hardship or danger deters him
from succeeding in his quest. Certainly he
has the true enthusiasm and love for Nature.
Here is what he says in his chapter on the
Warbler, — and he practices what he
preaches:

"One cannot take a camera, no matter
how expensive it is, and snap off good bird
pictures during the spare moments of a
busy day . . . but to be a successful
amateur bird-photographer one has fairly
to make a business of lying in wait for his
subjects hour after hour, day by day, and
maybe week after week. The reward of
real success comes not in mere acquaint-

224

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

anceship with some feathered bit of flying
life, but in real friendship; there cannot be
the formality of a society call, but one
should, by frequent visits, be well enough

The birds described in the book, though
studied from the Western forms, are for
the most part those widely distributed types
known all over the United States, and the

" Granny " — a portrait of -\ half-grown Barn Owl.

acquainted to drop in at any time without
interfering with the daily affairs of family
life .... We must understand that a
beast or bird is interesting for its own wild
sake."

book is interesting and instructive to dwell-
ers on the Atlantic side of the continent no
less than to those in Mr. Finley's "stamping-
grounds" of Oregon and California. This
is his first book, and, having read it with

LITERARY AND BIOGRAPHICAL.

225

interest, we shall look forward to similar
publications of his fine material dealing
with rarities and with the water-birds, of
which he has made many hue studies. He
writes, and lectures too, from the modern
humanitarian standpoint of bird protection,
and is a valued addition to these forces for
righteousness.

I 1 BRBERT K. \0B.

THE FADED FLOWER.

Oh little faded wild flower,

I have watched yon where yon grew.
And waited for the tiny buds

To spread their wings of blue;
Have wondered when the tempest beat,

And mad winds hurried by,

If such a frail, fair thing yet held

Its blue wings to the sky
And when the sun burned hotly down-
Thirst reigned on every side —
I wondered if my woodland flower

Had even this defied:
And even though the tempest beat

And though the sun looked down,
This little wand held bravely up

Its fair, frail azure crown.
But, faded on the wood path now.

Plucked by some thoughtless hand.
Thy blue lies faded and undone

Across the trodden sand
Oh, why, in this great world of ours,

With space unbounded still,
May not the wild flower live its life

Its mission to fulfill?

George KlinglE.

$&&<<<<<€<&C<KCCC<<&<CCC<<4£€^

••••••*

•..„.... — • • inn: ; *

AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION

JM8&£&8^

[From The Stamford Bulletin, Stamford,

Conn.]

DK. BIGELOW, OUR NATURALIST.

A VISIT TO THE LABORATORY ON GROVE ST.
—REMARKABLE WORK DONE UNDER RE-
STRICTED CONDITIONS — VARIOUS FORMS
OF LIFE UNDER INVESTIGATION — THE
AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION SHOULD GIVE ITS
PRESIDENT A LARGER EXPERIMENTING
FIELD.

It can be safely and sanely stated that
•one of the most remarkable nooks in onr
city to-day is to be found on Grove
street, the home of onr well-known
townsman. Dr. Edward F. Bigelow,
whose refutation as a nature student,
nature lecturer and interpreter of nature
has gone far and wide. It is by no
means strange that many peoole visit the
place, and examine with deep interest
the work that is done tinder conditions
so contracted and confined. This, how-
-ever, is explained by coming in contact
with the man, the good genius of the
place, one might almost stvle him wiz-

ard, in contemplating what he has
evolved from his congested surround-
ings.

This is exactly, however, what indi-
cates the real student. The ordinarv

man cannot accomplish much unless Ins
surroundings are put in adaptable condi-
tion to his work, but the true exponent
makes his environments bend to his pur-
pose and achieves success where others
would register failure. This is exactly
what a representative of The Bulletin
found when calling on the doctor recent-
ly at his home on Grove street.

We were informed that the o-entleman
was in the backyard, and thither re-
paired. In contact with our naturalist
he opened up a flow of enthusiastic ex-
planation that needed the closest atten-
tion to follow, and take all in as he con-
ducted us from one little shanty to an-
other explaining what he had done, and
what he hoped to do. Out of the full-
ness of the heart the mouth spake, the
recital being of absorbing interest and
embracing varied features of practical
effort. It was a definite and succinct il-
lustration of "multum in parvo" and
made one wonder how the worker had
brought together so much in a small
back-yard, for though Grove street is
a desirable residential locality, its garden
space is sadly encroached on, when a
tithe of the work is attempted that Dr.
Bisrelow has laid out and has been carrv-

22U

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

ing through. Luther Burbank, of San-
ta Rosa, Calif., the remarkable genius
of fruit and flowers, said of him, "In the
lecture by Dr. Edward F. Bigelow one
seemed to be taken right to the heart of
nature in her most charming moods.
Every listener was enthusiastic, and 1
most heartily endorse Dr. Bigelow as a
master educator in the study of nature."
Could Burbank have been with us
during the tour of the back yard, he
would doubtless have been ready with
a further endorsement. In the first lit-
tle room were pets of various kinds.
The photo-microscooic annaratus was
also close by, the instrument enabling
our friend to reproduce the fine pictures
of nature specimens and the attractive
enlargements. A glass cover is taken
from a dish on which it stands, and we
are told that certain moths are beins:
studied there.

Out of one woodp" hut into another,
and forest trees are before us, not tall
sentinels that pierce the skies, but tiny
white pines coming from seed. Rose
bushes springing forth from seed are
also here, while the mimosa or sensitive
plant is under experiment, too. Below.
on one side, in a shallow tank, on the
floor, are specimens of the various tur-
tles of the vicinity, while from an ob-
scure and hidden corner, an elongated
white thing is put into your hand, which
you are told is a turtle's ess:. Then you
are invited to examine a tiny turtle that
is produced, while down in the tank a
large snapper can be detected. As fit-
ting companions for these, large bull-
frogs are also seen, and they are cer-
tainly big fellows.

A covering is removed from some-
where else, and we are informed that a
plant is being grown here in the dark
for the purpose of investigation and ex-
periment. At the same time, the natur-
alist explains that he is not bent on devel-
oping new species, but endeavoring to
get at facts as they are, striving to ac-
quire knowledge of natural things as
they appear, and as produced around us.
A snail den will also be found in this
section of the nature laboratory, includ-
ing the edible French variety, as well as
native specimens.

Passing into the very restricted ter-

ritory of the garden proper, we find
clumps of dahlias, learning to our sur-
prise that last year there were no less
than 104 distinct species here. The seed
and bulb bill for this small garden
amounted to some $85.00 last year. A
few ears of corn will be found, too, but
they are not for the house-keeper inside,
they are devoted to experiment.

We re-enter the collection of shanties
and are introduced to one of special sig-
nificance and importance, the apiary de-
partment. Here for experiment and
study are no less than thirty-five colonies
of bees, making it probably the largest
apiarian laboratory in the world, but our
friend will be careful to explain that he
is not trying to produce new species of
honey bee. His is not the endeavor to
show how bee-keeping can be made
profitable. It is his work to furnish
data regarding' the wonderful character
and powers of these busy little creatures,
and so hives in this laboratory can be
seen which reveal these things and in-
terpret to the ordinary observer that
which imparts surprise and delight. Our
naturalist has invented two hives, one
known as the "Pearl Agnes" and the
other as "The Bigelow Educational Bee-
Hive." The latter is a very thorough
and complete instrument for the study of
the habits of the bee and is a fine ac-
quisition to any home.

From outside we were brought into
the house, and in the naturalist's study
found the same cono-ested state of affairs.
The lady of the house, who was in the
room, explained that thev were glad to
take the onnortu1^" of the absence of
the presiding genius, to accomplish
something in the way of putting matters
in order.

Dr. Bigelow a short time since was
chosen president of The Agassiz Asso-
ciation, and has entered enthusiastically
into the work. That the choice was a
wise one seems to be abundantly verified,
but in order that the best results may be
obtained, it appears imperative that fur-
ther steps be taken to provide a plant
and contributive conditions that shall en-
able him to much more widely develop
his sphere of influence and secure cor-
respondingly larger returns in the results-
achieved.

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION.

227

There has been no attempt in this no-
tice to give a comorehensive digest of
this nature laboratory. Mere allusion
to a few things has been made, leaving
description of the enterprise as a whole
practically untouched. As president of
the Agassiz Association, Dr. P.igelow re-
ceives no salary or emolument. On ap-
pliances he has invented for the prosecu-
tion of nature study he has no patent or
rovalty, hence spheres of labor of an hon-
orary kind that take much time from the
lecture field and literary work (the basis
of his livelihood) should be laid out in
a manner that will do justice to the lead-
ing worker himself and help forward
the ereat cause represented.

Stamford is honored in having' in her
midst the leader of The Agassiz Asso-
ciation, in that from one of her printing
establishments goes forth to the world
every month a bright and readable mag-
azine, the organ of the Association.
The work laid out and defined is to open
the eyes of the busy world to the beauty
and symmetry of nature around, some-
thing absolutely necessary in these days,
as a corrective and healthful stimulus in
the dull and dailv grind of things. In
our townsman. The Agassiz Association
has undoubtedly found its man. Let it
now give him a showing in a fair oppor-
tunity to labor, as becomes the great
organization which he represents.

VALUES THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION.

FROM CHARLES F. HOLDER. C. M.
NO. 204 T.

Pasadena, Caifornia.
My Dear Dr. Bigelow :

I have just returned from a trip to an
isolated island off our coast (San Clemente)
and find your letter of June 29th.

The Agassiz Association is certainly to be
congratulated in securing your interest and
leadership. To my mind there is no edu-
cational work going on in the country more
valuable and far reaching than this. If it
was not for this, a greater part of the work
of zoologists (specialists) would never reach
the public — the people. I have been famil-
iar with the work of the AA since its in-
ception, and no society has done so much
to interest the masses of the people in
nature and nature study and I should con-
sider it in the light of a public disaster if
this great work should not continue.

The study of nature in its broadest sense
is to my mind an absolute necessity; it is
a humanizer, a civilizer, a broadener and

of the greatest importance to the public.
I congratulate you on your work and can
see in it great possibilities for the Ameri-
can people. Every town and village in this
country that has a church should have an
Agassiz Chapter. The very name is an in-
spiration and a spur to higher education.
Wishing you every success, and assuring
you of my hearty co-operation in any way
you can suggest, I am.

Very truly yours,

Chas. F. Holder.

HOW TO TEACH ONE'S SELF BOTANY.

BY PROF. CHAS. E. BESSEY, LINCOLN, NEB.,
CORRESPONDING MEMBER NO. 2OO4,
OF AA.
The first requisite is a sufficient interest
on the part of the learner. If he is not in-
terested in knowing about plants, he surely
will not undertake to learn botany without
a teacher. If one has a good teacher who
is full of enthusiasm, the teacher can be
depended upon to keep up the necessary
enthusiasm, but without a teacher, the pupil
himself must bring a sufficient amount of
enthusiasm to the task. I should say then
that only persons who are already inter-
ested naturally in plants should think of
taking it up without a teacher.

In suggesting some helps to such self-
teaching, I may say that one of the first re-
quisites is to accustom one's self to seeing
things. I find that there is a great difference
in what people see. Many a time when I take
a walk with some of my literary brethren,
they profess to be much astonished at the
many things which I see while out of doors.
This is simply due to the fact that for all
my life I have been in the mood to see what
is about me out of doors. So, as I walk
along, I do not go with unseeing eyes, but
as you might say, I commission my eyes to
report to me whatever objects strike them.
So, I rarely pass by anything of interest.
This has gone so far that my wife laughs at
my ability to find all sorts of lost things in
the grass and along the paths on the prairie
or in the woodland. I am not looking for lost
pencils or pennies or even silver twenty-five
cent pieces, and yet if thev are before me
I find them, and so as I walk I see theJittle
mosses and tiny fungi as well as the big
weeds, the shrubs and the trees. Probably
the most important thing to be insisted
upon in the self-teaching of botany is just
this thing of noticing everything. Of
course we call this observation, but I
prefer to call it merely seeing things. If
you want to teach yourself to know a good
many plants keep your eyes open, even
though you are walking with a friend who
is talking to you on some entirely different
subject. I find that I can commission my
eyes to report to me whatever they see
while at the same time I keep up a lively
conversation on some entirely different sub-
ject.

228

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

It is quite advisable to make a list of the
things one sees. Get a manual of botany
which is suited to the region where you
happen to be, and note down either in the
book itself or in some handy little memo-
randum book, the names of the plants that
you find. I had a very pleasant visit from
an old gentleman a few days ago who had
been doing this thing for many years. Every
little while he finds a plant whose name he
cannot make out, as he is not yet a very ex-
pert botanist, and sends me a specimen of it

W-

K-

m'

■

and asks me to give him its name. I do so
with much pleasure, as it generally takes
but little time, and he then makes a note of
the fact that he has had such and such a
plant. Xow some people call this a pretty
poor kind of botany, but it is not. It is a
part of the whole subject of botany and a
part that lends itself most easily to this
self-teaching. Furthermore it is sometimes
said that such botany as this merely con-
sists in getting the scientific names (Latin
names) of plants, and that such a botanist
knows little more about the plants than he
did before. Yet there is much to be said in
defense of the learning of plant names.
It is a thing that we all do in one way
or another. From early childhood to old
age we always want to know the names
of things. I meet a stranger as I take a
walk, and I ask his name from the next
acquaintance I meet. I see a tree which
I do not recognize, and I ask my friend
what he calls it. I see a new animal and I
ask some one what it is. We must have
names, and certainly there is no valid ob-
jection against the learning of the scientific
names of the plants which one finds. So

let the amateur botanist learn the names if
he wishes to do so, — and I should hope that
he would wish to do so.

I have indicated above one help which
every isolated young botanist may receive,
that is, help, from some professional
botanist in his region. Practically every
college worthy of the name has a chair of
botany, and in nearly all cases these pro-
fessors are willing to help those who write
to them. Do not hesitate, therefore, to
send your specimens to some one asking
him to name it. Do not wait until you have
a great many of them, but send the speci-
mens one at a time, getting the answer on
the return postal card, which you enclose.

Let me close this note by telling of my
friend, the Rev. Mr. Blank, who formerly
lived in a border town on the Nebraska
plains. He was then, as he is now, a trav-
elling minister, located at a particular
place, but with many engagements which
cause him to ride long distances over the
prairies and plains. One January day,
nearly twenty years ago, I received a letter
from him enclosing two or three most
wretched looking remnants of grasses. He
had broken these off in a ride across the
plains and had worked them out by the
help of some manual as best he could. He
sent his fragments to me and told me that
he was beginning the study of botany, and
wanted to know whether he had identified
his grasses correctly. Thus he began the
study of botany in the field in Nebraska in
January when the blizzards are generally
driving over the plains at a most lively
rate. On looking over his specimens I
found that not quite half of them were
correctly named. Within a few days, I re-
ceived another little packet of four or five
specimens, and now the percentage of cor-
rect determinations was a little higher.
And so week by week through the long,
cold, stormy winter this travelling min-
ister botanized over the Nebraska plains,
collecting whipped out remnants of grasses,
and gradually acquiring the ability to de-
termine them with greater accuracy. Long
before the wild flowers began to appear on
the prairies, he was ready for them, and you
can be certain that when he had good fresh
whole specimens to work upon, he made his
determinations with almost absolute exact-
ness. I have always thought of my friend
as rather a remarkable example of the fact
that one can begin teaching one's self
botany at any time, and while he chose a
rather unpropitious time, he did succeed in
learning one part of the subject. I may say
that he has kept up his interest in botany
to this day, and after he became thoroughly
acquainted with all the flowering plants in
his region, he extended his studies to the
ferns, to the mosses, and the fungi, and
even has done something with the fresh
water algae. What this minister has done
anyone with proper enthusiasm can do.

Chari.KS E. Hessi:v.

BY THE BROOKSIDE.
A spring, with a well trodden path around it, at the base of a tree.

DEVOTED TO COMMONPLACE NATURE WITH UNCOMMON INTEREST.

The Sachs Tablets

A PLANT FOOD AND STIHULANT

Apply to the roots of the plants in any form you wish and the
plants will grow and thrive. The plants may be grown in earth
and the solution applied as a fertilizer and stimulant, or the plants
may be grown, for novelty and experiment, on crushed stone,
pebbles, bits of brick, sponge, sawdust, or between two sheets of
glass and the growth watched.

. "" '/''?

The Sachs tablets grew these luxuriant and thrifty plants from
less than a tablespoonful of sawdust in each eggshell.

Sections of roots or root hairs may be taken at any stage for
careful observation, free from all soil.

Excellent for experimental work. Efficient with "house plants."
Just the thing to awaken a dormant plant.

Box containing 30 tablets (sufficient for 15 pints of solution) mailed
postpaid with full directions for 10c.

Prices in bulk as follows:

500 Tablets, $1.25 ; 1000 Tablets, $2.00 ; 2000 Tablets, $3.50 ; Additional 1000, $1.25.

Less than 500 tablets not supplied in bulk.

These tablets and the directions with them will guide you into most interesting

fields in PLANT LIFE.

ADDRESS:

:The Guide to Nature, Stamford, Conn*

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Go where we please in nature, we receive in proportion
as we give. — Thomas Wentworth Higginson.

The Guide to Nature.

EDUCATION AND RECREATION

Vol. I

OCTOBER, 1908

No. 7

outdoor, world

Among the Trees in Southern California

BY JESSIE PORTER WHITAKER, PASADENA, CALIF.

E of the east, before visit-
ing- California, are apt to
think of it as a land of
orange and lemon groves,
of palms and banana trees.
All these and more burst
upon our delighted vision
when, in the gray dawn of Thanksgiving
Day. the Overland bore us from snow-
bound mountain passes into summer
land.

So soon does novelty wear off and the
unusual become the commonplace — palms
have almost ceased to interest us while
the sight of a maple tree would awaken
an outburst of enthusiasm. To a new-
comer, passing through the residential
streets of Los Angeles, the tropical
growth in even- dooryard is a striking

sight. Scarcely a place, however hum-
ble, without its palm tree, and there is
frequently a full grown date palm, its
leaves all starting from the top of the
trunk, arches in curves of wondrous
grace forming a green canopy over the
entire lawn.

To appreciate the value of the palms
for landscape gardening, visit the beauti-
ful places in Pasadena where, amid the
broad expanse of lawns against a back-
ground of the sweeping date palm, are
picturesque groups of smaller varieties.
Here are fan palms, stiff but very tropi-
cal in appearance, their great fan leaves
with ragged edges growing on straight,
saw-toothed stems from the top of the
odd looking, scaly trunks. Small speci-
mens suggest an enormous pineapple

Copyright 1908 by The Agassiz Association. Stamford. Conn.

232

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

DATE PALM AND FAN PALM WITH
IVY GERANIUM.

bursting" into foliage. It is common to
see these trunks completely covered with

the

climbing

ivy geranium, forming

great bouquets of pink and green topped
with a crown of fan leaves. The dark,
glossy green of the English ivy also is
used as a covering, and an especially
pretty effect is that of several varieties
of ferns planted in the crevices of the
scaly trunks which form a charming
background for the oraceful fronds.

The Yucca palm is a very different
species which, when planted in groups of
three to six trees, gives a tropical effect.
Its slim, smooth trunk grows straight
up to a height of twelve or fifteen feet
and then sends out long, narrow leaves
in clusters, some hanging, others brist-
ling straight up, suggesting a feather
duster or the head of a Fiji Islander.

The Neo-washingtonia Ulifera, the fan
palm most commonly seen here, is indig-

enous in the Colorado desert. It is,
therefore, a native for all those found
in California come from there and ii
must be remembered that the Colorado
desert is — a large part of it — within the
state of California. An Arabic proverb
says. "A palm, to grow well, needs to
have its head in the fire and its feet in
the water,"-— conditions nearly fulfilled
in this desert where the temperature
sometimes reaches one hundred and thir-
ty degrees Fahrenheit. When the old
leaves die and hang down, forming a
covering for the trunk, the palm is de-
scribed by the Indians as "a well dressed
tree." They are left on the young trees
because they preserve the moisture in
the trunk, but the Indians had a custom
of burning them off the old trees, be-
lieving that it made the fruit grow larger
and sweeter. Even this fiery treatment
did not render it palatable to white men.
Doctor Well wood Murray of Palm

A WELL-DRESSED PALM.

AMONG THE TREES IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

233

Springs says that the Indians had a cere-
mony of burning a palm on the death of
a relative that, with its smoke, their
prayers as incense might he wafted
heavenward.

The trees which excite most admira-
tion from newcomers in California are
the orange, lemon and grape fruit trees
— the great orchards with long, straight
rows of round, symmetrical trees, their
dark, glossy green alight with golden
glohes and waxy blossoms, often on the
selfsame tree, and the single tree in a

phrases is gained from the sight of an
olive grove side by side with a patch of
young blue gums, shimmering as with
electric gleams in the sunlight, against
the dusky green of the mountain back-
ground.

Blue gums are of the Eucalyptus tribe.
A California tree article with the Euca-
lyptus left out would be like — no, we
will not inflict the Hamlet comparison;
but this tall, straight Australian, so con-
spicuous in every Southern California!!
landscape, is too manifold in phases of

ROWS OF ORANGE TREES, OLIVE GROVES AND BLUE GUMS ON THE HILLSIDE.

dooryard, so loaded with frnit that even
the seemingly exaggerated picture pos-
tals are almost outdone.

After the first enthusiasm over these
brilliant color schemes, the traveller of
artistic taste will have time to enjoy the
softer coloring of the olive groves in the
hollows of sunny hillsides, their finely
cut, silver gray foliage ( much.handsomer
than that of the European olive), gives a
vivid meaning to the term "olive ^-reen."
Electric greens and electric blues ! A
fresh idea of the meaning- of these

interest for the limits of this article. We
seem to hear faint echoes of the editorial
cry, "Condense! Condense!" So the
tree of the ragged bark may step into
another article and give place to his
rival in the interest of tourists, the pep-
per tree.

This South American tree, so beautiful
and graceful that many streets of the
southern cities are chiefly adorned with
her sweening-, finely cut folia p-e and red
berries, preserves the vivid freshness of
her green even in dusty summer time.

234

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

PEPPER TREE.
Aralia or Japanese paper tree in foreground.

A resinous gum which, perhaps, acts as
an absorbent is tbe coat of mail for these
"bouquets of ferns and red currants."
But like many another beauty her chief
asset must offset all others, for the wood
of the pepper is brittle and useless and
the foliage too thin to afford sufficient
shade from summer sunshine. The
leaves are subject to attacks of black-
scale and a sorry sight it is to see the
rows of trees, which last winter excited
so much admiration, in summer trans-
formed to skeletons, cut back almost to
the trunk, hart* stumos of limbs with not
a leaf left of the drooping foliage in
growth so like the weeping willows that
in walking the streets one must often
• hick to avoid their contact. Next win-
ter these skeleton trees will be again
clothed with green for, like all Western-
ers, Nature here does quick, energetic
work.

Other trees much used for street orna-
mentation are the Grevillias and Acacias.
The former are a disappointment for, al-
though they put forth feathery foliage
and grow rapidly at first, they become
scraggly later and are only pretty when
in blossom. The flowers at close view
are very interesting — a mass of little yel-
low sticks with chocolate tips standing
straight up from the horizontal stem; at
a distance they give the effect of a mist
of golden clouds amongst the green foli-
age.

There are over one hundred species of
Acacia to be seen in the show places of
Redlands, Riverside and Pasadena. The
later winter months are glorified by their
brilliant blossoms varying in shape from
little gold buttons to drooping tassels and
tall, feathery plumes of bright yellow.

Some trees are interesting for shape
and mode of growth. The odd Auri-

AURICARIA— "MONKEY PUZZLER.

AMONG THE TREKS IX SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

235

CEDAR OF LEBANON!.

carias are most curious, especially the
variety called monkey puzzler. This
surely would pnzzle any creature that
tried to climb it for its long", twisted
branches, covered ^,r a sniral growth of
spiky leaves, look like stiff green ropes
surrounding the trunk in a labyrinthine
twist. The umbrella tree supports its
thick, even canopy of green with a circle
of limbs radiating regularly from the
trunk like the ribs of an umbrella. The
Norfolk pine lifts its even circles of
branches far skvward, making us smile
as we remember the little specimens of
this species, three feet or so in height,
that we cherished in our eastern con-
servatories, counting with pride each
fresh circle of green spikes on our little
"Christmas tree."

The African silver tree is a rare spe-
cies of great beauty. Its scale shaped
leaves are silverv in color and clothe the

tall trunk with a gleaming coat of mail.

A striking contrast to the foreigners
around it stands the sturdy, old live oak,
native son of the soil. When growing"
in the wild wood the oaks are pictur-
esquely draped with gray moss but the
tew left within the city are huge, broad
spreading, umbrageous trees adding
greatly to the value of a lot so fortunate
as to possess one.

The Monterey cvnress uplifts its coni-
cal spire in charming contrast with the
heavy, drooping branches of the ancient
cedar of Lebanon, the glory of Carmel-
ita. Another Biblical tree is the bay
whose faint, spicy fragrance recalls June
mornings spent in the green clad mea-
dows on Cape Ann's rocky shores where
wild rose and bayberry bushes vied with
each other in pouring forth their incense.
This Pasadena bay is no bush, however,
but a broad spreading tree.

"You know," remarked the pious old
gardener, " 'the wicked spreadeth himself
like a green bay tree'."

BAY TREE

236

THE GUIDE TO NATURE

When we first arrived in Pasadena we
noticed a tall trunk the size of a young
sapling-, base somewhat ragged. No
leaves but two or three feet at its top sur-
rounded with little stems bearing what
looked from below like upright clusters

CENTURY PLANTS TWELVE YEARS OLD

of dried dates. Could this be a date
palm? Inquiry brought no inform-
ation. Later, when we saw the
tall flower stalk in its prime of
blossom, surrounded bv its basal crown
of spik^ leaves as tall as ourselves or
taller — some of them six or seven feet, we
knew that this was the far-famed century
plant. ( )ur first glimpse had been after
the blossom had died and the leaves
dropped off when the trunk is not good
for timber or even firewood but, having
a sponge-like heart, is cut off in sections
and sold to tourists for century pin-
cushions.

"When I lived in lowy," said the same

pious gardener, "I used to wish I could
see one of them century plants in blos-
som, but I s'posed I never could without
I lived to be a hundred. Now them
plants there is twelve years old. They're
ahout done flowerin' so the leaves fall
off and they die. Ain't that the way
with us? When our work's done the
good Lord takes us home."

A WOBD FOR WEEDS.

BY DR. W. WHITMAN BAILEY, BROWN UNI-
VERSITY, PROVIDENCE, R. I.

It has ever been a vexed question how
to define a weed. Best friends have
quarreled over it. It is like the mistress
among admiring lovers. Each adores
her equally, but because neither can per-
fectly describe her charms in the terms
of the other, they resort in their dis-
agreement to personal abuse. Arbitra-
tion can no more settle the dispute than
it can many disputes that arise among
the nations — and which the dreamer ig-
nores. Lexicons disagree; the persons
most familiar with cognate facts find
themselves at variance.

Let us consider some of the variations
and accepted definitions. A weed is a
herbaceous plant growing out of place.
This at once implies that if it were in
place its weedy character would be lost.
Such, in fact, is the case. Take the
"white-weed daisy" or "ox-eye" and cul-
tivate it as a garden flower or pluck it
in the fields even for a bouquet and it is
beautiful. Out of place ; viz., in grass
fields or meadows, it is, from its abun-
dance and aggressiveness, a weed — one
of the very worst prevailing over some
parts of the Union. It is only excelled,
if indeed surpassed at all, by the omni-
present wild carrot which is not always
useless, is perennially beautiful, yet un-
deniably a weed. Rudbeckia, "black-
eved Susan" or cone-flower again is a
weed when it intrudes by the thousand
on a meadow or hayfield, but a joy for
Persephone when it clothes a whole land-
scape with richest gold.

Some weeds are well limited by the
dictionary definition, "useless plants,"
yet we can all think of examples styled
weeds that are not strictly useless. We
mav, if heroic and so minded, forswear

A WORD FOR WEEDS.

237

the weed of all, tobacco. Says Calverley
in "Fly Leaves :"

'"Cats may have had their goose

Cooked by tobacco juice,
Yet, why desire its use-
Thought fully taken ?"

Whether or not we consider it harmful,
from the view of economics we must
realize its utility and. if we see a field
of it in bloom, all its trumpets blowing,
concede its beauty. With the exception
of Indian corn and cotton, there surely
can he no handsomer crop.

Consulting another dictionary, quite
at random, we find "a weed is a trouble-
some plant." So is a potato, if we enter
upon a campaign against the ten lived
Colorado beetle. So is a raspberry, if
we get into a tangle of its prickly shoots ;
or the mountain laurel, if we attempt to
penetrate a copse of its elastic boughs.
Thistles are, to be sure, "troublesome,"
but how gorgeous, on the other hand,
they may become ! Does the lamentable
fact that opium is abused make a weed
out of a poppy? If one ranks its ex-
quisite blossoms among weeds, why not
at once enter in the same list, lilies, irises
and arethusa?

Despite the various and incongruous
views of what constitutes a weed, most
people have a good working idea of one
at its best — or worst. No one ever hesi-
tates to classify a pigweed, the "Jimson
weed" or "thorn-apple," the Amaran-
thus, most knotweeds, purslane, carpet-
weed, beggar-ticks, cocklebur and bur-
dock as weeds. Only one of them, the
thorn-apple, has any conspicuous beauty;
but this, though full of rare grace, is,
after all, coarse, ill smelling, — not of
the aristocracy of plants. Yet how very
near does it approach to even regal hon-
or; its cousin. Datura mctcUoidcs of the
far West is one of the grandest and most
fragrant of flowers.

The vast majority of weeds in this
country are of European origin. They
arrived years ago with our ancestors and
still are coming with later Jews, Gentiles
and dwellers in Mesopotamia. In some
cases, no doubt, were they brought with
deliberation, as flowers, the immigrants
feeling a prescience that all here would

be new and therefore insistent for home
faces. Thus, the little daisy-like May-
weed may have come. Others, possibly,
like tansy and cypress spurge, were
deemed medicinal and were introduced
for domestic purposes — or the home
pharmacopoeia. Many arrived with
more valuable seeds or adherent to cloth-
ing, merchandise or ballast.

Every botanist knows what fun it is
to collect on a ballast heap. Such a
place is equal with an enthusiast to a
visit to Kew or the New York or St.
Louis botanic gardens. lie is quite sure
to find some stranger, some waif, from
far off, foreign countries or distant parts
of our own.

The question of how these plants sud-
denly appear and whence they come is
one of the most interesting of the by-
problems of botany. The least careful
observer, the child even, knowjs that
many plants are provided with special
apparatus for their distribution. Bur-
dock and cocklebur, worthless weeds both,
so far as we yet know, are bristling with
hooks or grapnels that lay hold of the
fleece or fur of animals, upon articles of
commerce or even upon the apparel of
man.

Beggar-ticks make use of their re-
trorse barbs, acting in the manner of
fishhooks, easily penetrating any fabric,
but caught more firmly by any effort to
remove them. A vast number of weeds
resort to aerial navigation, a problem
they have perfectly solved. Look at the
parachutes of milkweed, the "clock" of
dandelion or the down of thistle and
hawkweed. Three or more species of
the latter, unknown in our country thirty
years ago, are now spreading over New
England and the Middle States. They
come from Europe, and no Custom
House turns them back. ( )ne, from the
intense color and beauty of its flowers,
formerly called Venus 's paint brush, is
now referred to the devil for the same
artistic uses. Another, of later arrival,
assumes the name of the old boy him-
self and is called "viny devil."

Other plants, but these are mainly
trees and shrubs, are borne by variously
contrived wings, as maple, ash, ailanthus
and linden. "Tumble-weeds" are such as
at full fruition roll up, disengage from

2 38

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

the soil and are borne by the wind over so-called Russian thistle, nearly allied to

the fields until a knoll, rock or some the perfectly harmless salt-weed that

other impediment causes their arrest, grows along our seashore.

The worst one of these, and it has ap- Given these natural means of distribu-

peared but recently in the east though tion, and there are many more contriv-

extremely common in the west, is the ances, it still remains a problem how

ONLY A WEED— MILKWEED.

A WORD R)R WEEDS.

239

some of these European weeds suddenly
appear. The degree of permanency of

some of these foreigners offers an inter-
esting study. Xot being attended by
their natural enemies, those that attack
them in their home lands, and reaching
new and favorable soil, the}- often in-
crease and multiply to an astonishing
extent, holding their own and driving
out the natives. Some cases are cited
from Maine where the orange hawkweed
has even made incursions into the for-
ests, driving out the wild flowers.

Not many years ago the prickly lettuce

made its first appearance about Provi-
dence. It now covers waste places all
about that city and suburban villages.
In a trip made to Chicago in 1900 it was
never out of sight from the car windows.
Now it is said, and this too is curious,
it has reached its acme and is slowly
decreasing.

Railway yards and ballast heaps are
always places of pious pilgrimage to the
plant lover. There he is sure to pick
up some rare or curious immigrant.
State and national governments must
keep vigilant watch for these intruders.

PoPULW^?\STRqN6MY

THE HEAVENS IN OCTOBER.

BY GARRETT P. SERVTSS, BROOKLYN, N. Y.

With the exception of Mercury, which
sets very early — too early for the hours
represented in the diagram — the only
conspicuous planet adorning the evening
sky this month is Saturn, situated in the
constellation Pisces, Saturn is well up
in the east at 9 o'clock on the 1st of Oc-
tober and at 7 o'clock on the 3rd. It
lies southeast of the Great Square of
Pegasus and very close to the equator.
It is readily distinguishable from the
stars on account of its placid unscintil-
lant light. The rings are now sufficiently
open to present a very attractive specta-
cle with a telescope, the earth being sit-
uated about six degrees and the sun
about six and a half degrees south of
the plane of the rings. It is, according-
ly, their south surface that we see. They
were a little more widely opened in Au-
gust, and they will grow gradually nar-
rower until the middle of December.
( )n October 1st the minor axis of the
rings will be about one-ninth as great as
the major axis — in other words the ap-
parent length of the rings, projecting out
east and west on each side of the globe
of the planet, will be nine times as great

as their greatest apparent breadth north
and south. In fact the rings are circles,
but being situated in the plane of Sat-
urn's equator, which is not far from co-
incidence with the plane of the earth's
equator, they present themselves always
more or less edgewise to the line of
sight, and consequently are seen in the
form of long ellipses. Recent studies of
these rings have thrown some light upon
their probable constitution. It has long
been known that they are not solid bo-
dies, but, instead, are composed of innum-
erable particles revolving independently,
yet almost in contact with one another,
around the planet, like flocks of minute
moons. Certain phenomena which they
have presented when seen exactly edge-
wise have led to the conclusion that they
are subject to the action of tidal forces
which may eventually dissipate them,
sending some clown upon the planet and
others out beyond their present limits
where they may be aggregated into larg-
er bodies, thus forming true satellites or
moons. The present known number of
Saturn's moons, all situated beyond the
outer border of the rings, is ten. Of
these four or five can easily be seen with
telescopes, and one of them, named Ti-

240

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

tan, has a diameter considerably exceed-
ing that of the planet Mercury. An-
other, Japetus, is of about the same
size as our moon. The extreme
diameter of the rings of Saturn is 168,-
ooo miles, but their thickness does not
exceed ioo miles. The mean diameter
of the ball of the planet is 73,000 miles,
about 13,500 miles less than that of Jupi-
ter, but more than nine times greater
than that of the earth. It is a curious
fact that owing to its slight density which
is less than that of water, the force of
gravitation upon the surface of Saturn
is not very greatly in excess of that upon
the earth. Accordingly if we could stand
upon Saturn we should not be crushed
down by the weight of our own bodies,
as we would be upon Jupiter. The
slightest mean density of Saturn has led
to the conclusion that most of its mass
is probably yet in a gaseous state, and it
may even give out a slight luminosity of
its own.

Mercury has already been mentioned
as an evening star setting very early, at
about the same time that Saturn rises.
It attains its greatest eastern elongation
from the sun on October 4th. Uranus is
also an evening star in the constellation
Sagittarius, setting about 10 P. M. in the
middle of the month. The other planets
are all morning stars. Venus at the be-
ginning of October is close by the Sickle
of Leo on the west, but by the end of the
month she will have passed in Virgo,
being in conjunction with Jupiter on the
night of the nth. Jupiter remains in
Leo. Mars is in Virgo, moving east-
ward, and will be overtaken by Venus at
the end of November. Neptune, very
slow in his movements, is in Gemini, and
is only visihle in the most powerful tele-
scooe.

The stellar gem of October is the bril-
liant Vega in the constellation of Lyra,
which may be seen slowly dropping down
the northwestern quarter of the sky,
preceded by Hercules and the Northern
Crown, and followed by the Northern
Cross in Cygnus. South of the North-
ern Cross, and like it immersed in the
Milky Way, glitters Altair in the con-
stellation Aquila. The Great Bear, with
the Great Dipper, is under the pole in
the north, and Cassiopeia is high in the

east, southeast of Polaris. Below Cassio-
peia, toward the south Andromeda lies
extended, her head touching the north-
east corner of the Great Square of Pega-
sus. East of Andromeda, following her
along the path of the Milky Way, ap-
pears Perseus, brandishing his diamond-
hilted sword, and carrying the Head of
Medusa, with the strange winking star
Algol in his left hand. Near the ecliptic,
below Perseus, glitter the Pleiades, just
risen, and north of the Pleiades shines
Capella, a starry jewel capable of rival-
ling Vega itself, but not possessing the
blue-white brilliance of the latter. In
the east Cetus is seen rising, and, be-
tween Cetus and Andromeda appears
Aries, the Ram, the first constellation ot
the zodiac. Low in the south, east of
the meridian, glows the lone star Fomal-
haut in the Southern Fish. The Milky
Way, now arching across the sky from
the northeast to the western horizon,
is always an object of great beauty, in
the absence of moonlight. It cannot,
however, be well seen in cities. Those
who have never seen the Milky Way on
a clear dark night in the country can
have no conception of its sublime beaut)',
and of the thoughts of immensity which
it awakens. It is very brilliant in Aquila,
Cyngus, Cassiopeia and Perseus. Above
the head of the Northern Cross the eye
readily observes a dark space in it re-
calling, to some degree, the appearance
of the celebrated '"Coal Sacks" in the
Southern Hemisphere. All along its
course the Milky Way, composed of mil-
lions of stars, too small or too remote
to be individually evident to the naked
eve, throws itself into vast loops, gar-
lands and clouts, which, in their ensem-
ble, produce a most majestic effect. A
good opera-glass reveals many fields of
stars in the Milky Way of astonishing
beauty. In the mythologies of many
nations the Milky Way has been
regarded sometimes as a mysterious
pathway among the stars trodden by
gods and spirits, and sometimes as a
veritable river in the heavens, a river
composed of some ethereal fluid as evan-
escent as vapor. But in the eyes of the
astronomer the Milky Way is the frame-
work of the universe, and all modern in-
vestigations of the constitution of the

POPULAR ASTRONOMY.

241

celestial system are based upon it. ( )ur
sun. which is but a pygmy in comparison
with the greater ones surrounding it
seems to be situated not far from the
center of the vast space which the Milky
Way encircles like a starry girdle. But
the sun is in motion across this com-
paratively open space, travelling at the

greatest of these, one within the reach
of the most modest instrument, is the
charming Albireo, or Beta Cygni in the
foot of the Northern Cross. The larger
star is yellowish white and the smaller
deep blue, and their distance apart is
about half a minute of arc, or say one-
sixtieth of the diameter of the full moon.

Oct.MoonPhases
First Qtr, Oct 3
FULL Moon, Oct 9
U&tQtr.Oct 16.
New Moon. Oct 25.

Evening SkyM ap for October

^fog/OS.

GaRR6tT(5^

FACE SOUTH AND
HOLD THE MAP OVER
YOUR HEAD-THE TOP
NORTH. AND YOU WILL SEE
THE STARS ANDPLANETS
JUST AS THEY APPEAR
INTHE HEAVENS

The Arrow Through

THE TWO STARS IN THE

BOWLOFTHEBIG DIPPER

POINTS TO THE NORTH STAR.

THE STAR AT THE END OF THE

HANDLE OFTHE LITTLE! DIPPER

SOUTH

rate of about 12 miles per second from
the south toward the north, and dragging
the earth and the other planets with it.
It is like an illuminated mote drifting
across an immense apartment which is
encircled with countless lamps. Whe-
ther it will go on as it is now going, or
will turn again, is something that lies
beyond the present range of our knowl-
edge. For the benefit of those possessing
telescopes attention may be called to a
few of the conspicuously beautiful dou-
ble stars now to be seen. One of the

i have separated this star with a power-
ful field-glass. Another beauty is the
star Gamma in Vndromeda. the last con-
spicuous star toward the northeast in the
row marking that constellation. Here
again there is a beautiful contrast of
colors between the component stars. Put
they are much nearer together than those
in Albireo. Gamma, the smallest of the
three stars in Aries, shown in our chart,
is a beautiful double, interesting as be-
ing the first double star ever discovered.
Its duplicity was discovered accidently by

242

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Robert Hooke in 1664 while he was fol-
lowing a comet with his telescope. Now
thousands of double stars are known.
The "double-double" star Epsilor in Ly-
ra the northernmost of the two little stars
making a triangle with Vega, is always
an interesting object to view with a tele-
scope capable of magnifying 150 dia-
meters. The star Gamma in Delphinus,
a Job's Coffin, which will be seen below
Cygnus and east of Aquila, is also a
beautiful double. Gamma is the eastern-
most of the four stars of Delphinus
shown on the chart.

There are many meteor showers visible
in October. Mr. Denning has identified
no less than nine. One of them, occur-

ring on the nights of the 18th to the 20th
inclusive, is usually quite bright, the
meteors moving swiftly and leaving
streaks behind them. They radiate from
a point in the feet of Gemini, the twins,
and the radiant focus is well up in the
east before midnight. When several me-
teors are seen in succession an effort
should be made to trace their paths back-
ward to a point of intersection. In this
way the "shower" to which they belong
may be determined. The study of me-
teors is one of the branches of observa-
tional astronomy which requires the use
of no instruments except a pair of quick
true eves.

DOUBLE PHOTOGRAPHS WANTED.

The Guide to Nature desires skill in the use of the camera in all lines. To
that end, a year's subscription is offered for the best double photograph received
before December 1st.

AN INTERESTING EXAMPLE OF A DOUBLE PHOTOGRAPH.

THE CAMERA.

243

THE KODAK IN NATURE.

BY GEO. W. KELLOGG, 42 BUENA PLACE,
ROCHESTER, N". Y.

A fifty cent portrait attachment will
add dollars in value to your kodak, and
both combined will furnish you an out-
fit, which, for general nature photog-
raphy is second, only, to the long" draw,
expensive equipment. The portrait at
tachment, fitted like a cap over the reg-
ular lens, so shortens the focus of the
combination, that it is possible, without
extra extension of the bellows, to pho-
tograph objects at very short range and
to get fair sized images, direct, of very

CATERPILLAR OF THE REGAL MOTH.

Citherona regalis.
Negative with Kodak and Portrait Attachment.
Stop 8, U. S. (f/11.3). Instantaneous exposure.

BARK OF THE TULIP TREE.
Kodak negative.

small objects. The portrait attachment
can be attached and detached at wili,
and the use of it will not interfere with
the working of the kodak in the ordinary
way.

During a period of four and a half
years, the kodak, with and without the

YOUNG THRUSHES.

Negative made in an ordinary room with Kodak and por-
trait attachment. Stop 4. U. S. (f-8). Shortest possible
bulb exposure. Distance from subject, 28 inches.

KINGBIRDS IN NEST.

244

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

A GOOD REFLECTION WITH KODAK.

portrait attachment, has been used on a
variety of subjects, including flowers,
plants, native trees, fungi, caterpillars,
birds and their nests, animals ; and there
is not an instance, in which a failure was
due to the inefficiency of the instrument.

Focussing- was with the scale, always ,
distances being estimated in the ordi-
nary work, and accurately measured
from the front lens to the subject when
the portrait attachment was used. With
this combination of lenses the wide open
diaphragm and the making- of snap-shots
except in cases of absolute necessity,
have been avoided. Not that the com-
bination is incapable of the work, but,
owing- to the oeneral lack ^f t^at suf-
ficient depth, which, working at close
range, can be secured, only, by stopping
down; which, however, does not imply
that very small stops must be used. By
usage stop 32 U. S. (f 22, 6) became a
standard, those on either side of it being
drawn unon as occasion recpiired ; but
seldom a larger or a smaller one.

The illustrations of the Citheronia
(caterpillar of the regal moth), king-
birds on the nest and young thrushes,
are some of the exceptions. The first
was a snap-shot, necessitated by the con-
tinual movement of the subject ; the stop
indicator pointing to the mark 8 (f 11.3).
The others were photographed in an or-
dinary room, with a sheet of cardboard
for a background, the stop indicator at
the mark, 4 (f 8), and with the shortest
possible 'bulb exposure. The other illus-
trations' were photographed in the ordi-
nary wav.

<^^

cr^iJ>

"SOME "SNAP SHOTS" IN THE PARK.

THE CAMERA.

245

PHOTOGRAPH OF FEEDING GULLS, case. It was the garbage thrown out

by K. C. wai.cott, \T.\y york CITY. upon the water from the garbage boat

The gull picture is one of a large flock that daily puts out to sea imm liar Har-

of "herring gull." The land in the back- bor. Tins photograph was taken from

PHOTOGRAPH OF FEEDING GULLS.
Off coast of Mount Desert.

ground is Mount Desert. The picture
was taken just out of Bar Harbor, and
while these gulls in large numbers often
follow a school of herring that have been
driven to the surface by larger fish, the
herring were not the attraction in this

a dory as the garbage floated out on the
tide.

These gulls breed in large numbers
about fifteen miles from Mount Desert,
on a deserted island called "Duck Is-
land."

A STUDY OF EARLY FROST IN THE LOWLANDS.
Photograph by George W. Kellogg.

246

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

S.YAID
THE LENS

EXAMINING THE STRUCTURE OF
SEEDS.

The peculiar objects shown in photo-
graph are slices, or what the microsco-
pist calls sections, of grains of Indian
corn cut across from the front edge tow-
ard the point of attachment to the cob.
The bulk of nearly every seed is formed
of what the botanist has named the albu-
men, and is there preserved for the nour-
ishment of the sprouting plant, which ab-
sorbs it, after the moisture of the earth

and the warmth of the sunlight have
brought about important chemical
changes in its composition. But as man
has discovered that the albumen of many
seeds is °ood for his own nourishment,
he grinds the grains of wheat and of
other cereals, to flour, which is there-
fore composed chiefly of this starchy al-
bumen. The grains of Indian corn are
no exception in the abundance of this
material, as the sections here shown will
readily prove, all the light-colored por-

NO. 1 CROSS SECTIONS OF GRAINS OF INDIAN CORN.

SEEING BY AID OF THE LENS.

247

Tfc**-.

^M ^B^Z\~ •

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jtjd&rl* !'*sf: -^

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■

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NO. 2. SECTION OF CORIANDER.

tion at the upper left-hand region being
composed of the albumen. The slices,
each of which has been cut from a
slightly different level, also exhibit sec-
tions of the most important part of the
seed, the germ, or embryo that, in favor-
able conditions, will grow into a plant
similar to the one that produced the seed.

The photograph shows that the em-
bryo of the Indian corn is placed at the
side of the albumen, the lower, darker
parts on the right-hand side being a sec-
tion of the germ ,with its single cotyle-
don, or the part that will develop into the
single seed-leaf, which, in the illustration,
is shown folded, as it naturally is folded,
around the narrower, central portion,
the plumule, or the first shoot of the
sprouting plant. In the Indian corn
only one leaf appears from each seed,
while in many others there are two.

In the illustration the single seed-leaf
is seen forming an irregular, inverted
U-shaped surface, beginning at the upper
right-hand part, continuing around the
upper portion, and extending down-
wards almost to its point of origin. It
has this U-shaped aspect because the
knife has cut across the folded cotyledon.
A similar appearance may be obtained
by slicing almost any thick leaf, after it
has been doubled together in a fold
parallel with its foot-stalk or stem.

VRiM

\^k

1

1

y

NO. 3. SECTION OF SEED OF
CELERY.

The elongated darker portion is the
plumule, which will shoot up and bear
the first leaves.

The part from which the roots grow
is the radicle.

Photograph 2 is a transverse section
of the spherical fruit of the aromatic
coriander, so often cultivated for ijts
spicy qualities. The oily substance
which gives the fruit its aromatic prop-
erties, is contained in little longitudinal
tubes, called vittse, and placed in the
body of the fruit. If a recently-made
section be held against the light, they
will become easily apparent, especially if
examined with a low-power pocket lens,
and will seem to be minute, circular,
light-colored spots or rings, as any other
tube would seem to be if cut across and
looked at from above. In the picture
of the coriander section they are not
clearly shown, probably because the slice
is thicker than it should be. The em-
bryo is very small, and is not visible in
the photograph, the razor having passed
through the hard albumen above it.

Photograph 3 is a similar section
through the seed-vessel and the seed it-
self of the common celery, a plant be-
longing to the same natural order (the
Umbelliferae) with the coriander. The
entire central portion is filled with the
albumen.

248

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

ACTIVITY VEESUS LLSTLESSXESS.

Life is real (sometimes) ! Life is (or
should be) earnest!

But whatever we are, although we are
lacking in many respects, the surround-
ings are right. For the artistic and the
studious spirit there is plenty of objec-
tivity— always plenty to do, to see or to
know. "Here," said Linnaeus to a pupil,
placing his hand on a bit of moss, "is
sufficient material for the study of a life-
time." Do not stand still within doors,
holding in motionless hand your palette
and brush ; do not keep in dormancy
within your heart that appreciation of
beauty which every human being posses-
ses in greater or lesser .degree. Let love
kindle that listless appreciation into ac-
tivity. Go forth into the realms of
beauty. Put yourself in touch with an
occupation which an eternity is not long
enough to exhaust.

Get up, you student. Take your net,
your collecting apparatus, your scapel
and your books and use them in nature.
Flee from the trite and the conventional.
Get into new fields. There is nothing
you have "completed." In everything
yon are only a beginner. You have not
grown old in nature knowledge. Von
are only a child in the primary. Push
on and make yourself fitted to enter a
higher grade.

Let the spirit of The; Guide to Na-
ture lead you forth into the enchanting
realms. They are over the hill "just a
little out of town." There dwell riches

free to all, the health of nature's sanato-
rium, the education that surpasses that of
the schools and, best of all, there is the

religion of the Infinite.

NATURALISTS, NOT OKMTH0L0GISTS.

Since the first announcement of The
Guide to Nature, we have had submit-
ted an unduly large proportion of articles
on birds. We have published only a few,
because there is no desire to make this
an ornithological magazine. That field
is already well cared for by "Bird-Lore"
and others. The Guide to Nature is
not to compete but to supplement and to
co-operate along general naturalists' lines.
Interesting as are birds, important as it
is to protect them, they are not the whole
of nature. "Everything is "fish' that
comes to the net of a naturalist." The
Guide to Nature is the naturalists' net,
to draw in and to make available to all
the observational "catches" of all.

"Bird-Lore" is an efficient magazine—
ideally edited, illustrated and printed.
We cordially commend it and the science
it represents to all our readers. Love,
knowledge and sympathy with birds are
valuable attainments, but an attunement
in the interests of all nature is greater.

Most bird students, even the special-
ists, have a cordial sympathy and lesser
interest in all nature. Most general na-
turalists recognize the many claims of
birds to our attention. For these reasons
The Guide to Nature is co-operating
with "Bird-Lore" and The Agassiz Asso-

EDITORIAL AND GENERAL.

249

ciation with The Audubon Society in an
attempt to stimulate both general and
special interests.

SUBMERGED SEEDS.

On the mud bottom, after the drainage
of a pond in Cold Spring" Harbor, L. L,
there grew 140 species of plants. This
suggested the question, did the seeds
drift in that spring, or was the growth
the results of seeds that had been as-
sembling for many years. In other
words, how long can seeds of common
wild plants retain their vitality in mud
and water?

To ascertain this, experiments are in
progress by keeping a series of jars of
mud and water, and opening them at long
intervals. ( )ne that has been kept
twenty-nine months has a luxuriant
growth. Another will be opened in fifty-
three months and the last of the series
will be kept ten or fifteen years.

This is an interesting experiment that
can easily be performed by any one at
little actual time employed. Just collect
the mud from ponds, put in bottles or
jars, open at regular intervals, watch and
wait.

Then report results.

STUDYING THE EGGS OF A
CECROPIA MOTH.

Near my laboratory is a luxuriant
growth of honeysuckle, that at the time
I have in mind was in full bloom.
Some visitors had been around the
laboratory in the early evening. As
ihey were passing down the wralk to-
ward the road, one of them exclaimed,
"Oh, look at those lady birds." 1 must
confess that 1 had at that time never
heard the term lady bird applied to a
moth. My first impression was that
it was a new name for some of our
well-known birds, and so 1 at once
looked at the tree tops. The visitor
exclaimed, "No not there, but on your
honeysuckle bush," and there I saw
not birds, but cecropia moths, self-
evidently the male and the female. I
placed them within a cage and therein
was laid a mass of eggs about J^-inch
in height, covering the space about as
large as that of a cent.

1 kept this mass, saw the little black
larva? hatch out and gradually turn to
a greenish color as they grew older.
Herewith is a photo-macrograph of the
egg mass, but this only faintly repre-
sents the beauty of the eggs as I saw

EGGS OF CECROPIA MOTH.
I found it convenient to put some mucilage on a strip of black cardboard and place on this the
egg mass. Then it was convenient to handle and the eggs were brought into clear view by the black
background. The eggs hatched as will be seen in the illustration.

250

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

them by the aid of a hand lens and
also projected on the ground glass of
the camera. I cordially commend the
study of eggs of insects to our readers

THE PAIR OF CECROPIA MOTHS ON
THE HONEYSUCKLE.

and hope that The Guide to Nature
may have many articles along that line
from our contributors.

BLOWING} UP A MOUNTAIN.

"What are you going to do with that
mountain ?" 1 asked.

"Blow it up," he replied, as though a
well-developed mountain was of no more
importance than a pebble in his path.

That graphically tells the story of just
how the new transcontinental is being
built. And the blowing up of "moun-
tains" in these days of powder and
dynamite is not a myth. In the moun-
tain and wilderness regions "coyote
holes" are being fired every day, and
one can sometimes hear the explosion

thirty miles away. I was present at one
of these events. Four thousand yards of
rock stood in the path of the transconti-
nental. A curve would have taken one
round the base of it. But "orders are
orders," and the "coyote" was dug. A
soft seam was found in the mountain of
rock, and the tedious task of drilling into
its heart was begun. When completed
the "coyote" was a tunnel about four
feet square running back into the rock
for fifty feet, where it terminated in a
chamber. It took half a hundred men to
carry in the explosives. One hundred
and twenty-five barrels of powder were
dumped into stacks and the sacks packed
in the chamber, and with these were three
cases of dynamite of fifty pounds each.
Electric wires and fuses were then con-
nected with the mine, and after that the
face of the tunnel was rammed solid with
rock and earth. When the time came
for the terrific explosion there was not a
soul within half a mile of the mountain.
And then a lightning flash passed
along the wire. One minute — two — three
— five oassed, while in the bowels of the
mountain the fuse was sizzling to its end.
Then there came a puff, something like
a cloud of dust rising skyward, but with-
out sound; and, before its upward belch-
ing had ceased a tongue of flame spurted
out of its crest — and after that, perhaps
two seconds later, there came the ex-
plosion. There was a rumbling and a
jarring, as if the earth were convulsed
under our feet ; volumes of dense black
smoke shot upward, shutting the moun-
tain in an impenetrable pall of gloom ;
and in an instant these rolling, twisting
volumes of black became lurid, and then
it was as if all the guns of all the navies
of the world had exploded close to our
ears. As fast as the eye could follow
a sheet of flame shot out of the sea of
smoke ; climbed higher and higher, in
lightning flashes, until the lurid tongues
licked the air a quarter of a mile above
the startled wilderness. Explosion fol-
lowed explosion, some of them coming
in hollow, reverberating booms, others
sounding as if in mid-air. The heavens
were filled with hurtling rocks ; solid
masses of granite ten feet square were
thrown a hundred feet away ; rocks
weighing a ton were hurled still farther

EDITORIAL AND GENERAL.

251

as if they were no more than stones
flung by the hand of a giant ; chunks that
would have crashed from roof to base-
ment of a sky-scraper dropped a third
and nearly a half a mile away. For three
minutes the frightful convulsion contin-
ued. Then the lurid lights died out of
the pall of smoke, and the pall itself

began to settle. And when it was all
over the granite monster that had stood
there for unnumbered centuries had, as
the engineer rather poetically expressed
it, "made way for the new transcontin-
ental."-—James Oliver Curwoocl in Put-
nam's and The Reader for October.

5f

^

i ORRESPONDENCE

1

AND

Information

%

t

CACKLING OF HENS.

Terre Haute, Indiana.
To the; Editor:

Has any satisfactory reason been

Woodrow,
Indiana State

given for the cackling of hens after
laying?

Very truly,

Walter H.
Department of Science,
Normal School.

The cackle of the hen may serve two
purposes: (1) to notify the cock that she
is ready to have his company, and (2) to
divert attention from her nest by at-
tracting it to herself.

The cock keeps at a good distance
away while the hen is on the nest, and
the cackle would serve to bring the two
together. The behavior of the jungle
fowl suggests this view. — C. O. Whit-
man'.

INDIVIDUALITY AMONG SPARROWS.

Belfast, Me.
To the; Editor:

An incident showing the difference
in intelligence among individuals of the
same species of birds came under my
notice a short time ago. I was feed-
ing, with cracker crumbs, a number of
chipping sparrows, Spizella soeialis.
Among the crumbs were a few scales
a half inch or less in diameter. One
of the birds seized one of these scales
by the edge, and after trying in vain

to break it by vigorous shaking, threw
it down and flew away in disgust.
Another bird hopped along to the re-
jected morsel, and after eyeing it a few
seconds, gave it a sharp blow in the
center with his bill, breaking it into
small fragments. He then ate it at his
leisure.

John S. Fkrnald.

CAN IT BE THE CROWS?

To the; Editor:

Our friend, the crow, may be very
black, but he is not, in one sense, as black
as he is painted. He does his own share
in destroying the enemies of the farmer
— those otherwise unfindable creatures
who contrive to curtail the corn-crops,
even in the best regulated of fields.

But to-day the question the writer
would ask concerns potatoes rather than
corn. There is no corn, or other vege-
table, planted anywhere near the potato-
held, which at the usual period of moles-
tation was attacked by the industrious
potato bug.

There is nothing in or about the field
or its locality which would seem to invite
the interest of the crows, yet even-
morning, between four and five o'clock,
for some time, our neighboring colony
of crows, numbering twenty or more,
may be seen walking up and down the
potato rows, evidently bent upon some
absorbing errand which calls them there
each morniner with the rise of the sun.

252

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

The question, what has become of the
potato-bug's ? suggests another : can it
be the crows to whom thanks are due for
the green, undamaged potato vines
growing luxuriantly though unprotected
through human agency ?

We are disposed to add a new feather
—a very white one — as a possession of
our friend the crow, and are wondering
if anywhere else he has been observed
under conditions calculated to attribute
to him equally important service of like
character.

George Klingle.

INTERESTING PHOTOGRAPH OF MOTHS.

141 Milk Street,
Boston, Massachusetts.
To the Editor:

Enclosed find photograph of telegraph
post at corner of Broadway and West-
minster Street, West Somerville, Massa-

THE GYPSY MOTHS ON A POST.

chusetts, with its swarm of brown-tail
moths, as it appeared on the morning of
July 1st.

There were myriads the evening be-
fore about the electric lamps, which ap-
peared as if they were in the midst of a
heavy snow-storm. All the surround-
ing towns were visited and they were to
be found even in Boston itself.

I understand that Mr. Forbush, in
charge of the gypsy and brown tail moth
work in this State, pronounced them

mostly males, so perhaps no great harm
will result, and a great many of them
were destroyed.

Yours truly,

H. E. Valentine.

APPRECIATION AND SUGGESTIONS.

Cincinnati, O.
To the Editor:

The September number of The
Guide to Nature has appeared. As
you so truly say, it is larger and better
than any that has preceded it. I must
reiterate that The Guide fills a long-
felt want. It tells us things or rather
facts, which one can not glean from
any other source ; no text book gives
them ; no other journal mentions them.
And so it behooves us not to criticize
The Guide, but to praise it; and this
we do unstintedly.

We, who are interested in Nature
know the wroeful lack of knowledge
extant on this, our favorite topic. Why
is this? Is the environment at fault?
No. The trouble lies in our schools
and educational institutions. It is true
that nature study is being introduced
in different cities ; but the old-time
teachers are not prepared to teach it.
They themselves had been so thor-
oughly drilled in the three R's, that
their knowledge, as a rule, does not
extend much beyond this. And as to
teaching a topic so new, so complex,
and so "utterly absurd" as nature
study, the result can be clearly fore-
seen.

Here, it seems to me, your valuable
Guide might be of inestimable service,
if you were to introduce a department
of teaching nature study, or "How to
teach Nature Study."

I have spoken to many teachers, and
they seem so helpless in trying to
teach this topic. So few have even the
first conception of animate and inani-
mate things about them. Their lack
of knowledge concerning the Rowers,
the grass, the trees, the worms, the
butterflies, is pitiful. What a pity
that the old idea is still so firmly root-
ed in the minds of most educators that
there is but one subject which will
develop the mind, viz., mathematics.

CORRESPONDENCE AND INFORMATION.

253

What a fallacy this is; how many
hours of toil ami heart-ache are occa-
sioned by this hackneyed old mon-
strosity.

Take the classes afield, lead them
along the winding brook, take them
out under the azure heavens and teach
them the wonderful stories about the
stars. Teach them to love the birds,
the dowers, the trees, the rocks, and
without any effort they unconsciously
develop a greater love for man him-
self. School days should he made
pleasant, not irksome. What a won-
derful country this would be if a book
such as Prof. Clifton F. Hodge's "Na-
ture Study and Life" were adopted as
a standard text book for all the
schools, aided by a journal such as
your Guide to Nature.

The work done now by the forestry
associations in saving forests, that of
the Audubon societies in preserving
birds, and that of the Humane socie-
ties to protect the weak and the help-
less, would all be unnecessary; and the
millions of dollars spent in saving and
preserving could be turned into other
channels, particularly educational.

May your valuable journal be a great
factor in disseminating knowledge of
things about us, and may it grow enor-
mously, and with the wish that it
become a regular visitor at each and
every school in this vast country, I
beg to remain.

Yours very sincerely,

G. A. Hinnen.

HOW TO TEACH ONE'S SELF
BOTANY

To the Editor:

What professor Bessey says, in the
September number, about the cultiva-
tion of ones power to observe is timely
and correct. What he says in regard
to learning the names of things is
equally true and valuable. The desire
to know the name of any object that
interests or even momentarily attracts
the attention, is a natural quality of
the human mind, and that name may,
in a botanical way, lead to other and
perhaps to better things. It may re-

call, even to the amateur, self-instruc-
ted botanist, the natural order to which
the specimen belongs; it may tell him
somewhat of the structure of the
flower; somewhat- of the peculiarities
of the seeds; the plant's special habi-
tat ; the character of the soil that it
most affects; and it may finally lead
his thoughts to the ends of the earth
or further. In an active mind, one
thought or suggestion generally leads
to another cognate notion, this to
something else perhaps only remotely
connected, until at last the observer,
with only the name of his plant, may,
by "the association of ideas" find him-
self in imagination exploring the plains
of Tartary, or the hollows of Death
Valley. By all means get the name,
and do it first, and do it yourself. The
isolated young student, to whom Pro-
fessor Bessey refers as needing help
from a professional botanist, really
needs no such aid. He may help him-
self, and he will, if he be wise, and he
wdll be still wiser if he will always rely
on only his own efforts. Then when
he goes astray botanically, he will re-
trace his footsteps, observe where he
left the trail, mend his ways and do
better the next time.

Botany is so interesting, it is so
helpful, so restful to the jaded man,
who may have an hour's leisure to pass
in country places or in the suburbs,
that, if I could, I would make the study
a requisite in every class in every pub-
lic school in the land, from the Kinder-
garten to the highest grade in the
High School and the Academy. The
objects for examination and for sug-
gestive thought are so abundant, so
common in every field, in every fence
corner, on every garbage dump, that to
suffer a lack of specimens is impos-
sible, lint, unless the mentality of
the pupil is greater than his physical-
ness, such efforts would be in vain ;
and no human being, unless his men-
tality is naturally somewhat devel-
oped, will even dream of teaching him-
self botany, or anything else. He will
not willingly remove his mind from
the continuous struggle for existence.

With only a passing reference to
floral beauty ; to the possible strange-

254

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

ness of structure and parts ; to regular-
ity of form or to its apparent
whimsicalities; * to the shape and the
surface aspect of leaves ; to the laugh-
able resemblance, it may be, of seed
vessels to some familiar domestic uten-
sil or object, like those of the common
wild cucumber, which, when once seen
can never be thought of without a
smile, nor without a feeling of aston-
ishment at such a freak of nature; all
these and more are waiting.'

Xo season limits the botanical stu-
dent. Professor Bessey's correspond-
ent began his investigations in a Ne-
braska winter, when blizzards are ever
ready to jump up and do things. He
was "'successful, too, but for only one
reason. He wanted to know. With
that want unsupplied, a student is suc-
cessful from the start. Enthusiasm
and a little mentality are pre-requi-
sites.

But Professor Bessey is not quite
explicit enough, I think, to be entirely
helpful to the beginner that desires to
begin, and is alone. What little bot-
any I know, and I confess that while it
is not much, I should not be willing
to part with it for much money, but
that modicum I have taught myself
by the use of a single book; the best
book on the subject ever written for
the teacher of self, although to the ad-
vanced or to the professional botanist,
it is, I have been told, open to criticism,
because it is not strictly "scientific."
Strictly scientific or not, it is, I repeat,
the best book ever written for the pur-
pose now in view. In this admirable
work, ignorant absolutely of the sub-
ject, I read "Part First, Structural
Botany; or, Organogranhv." I read it
in the "early spring, when the earth was
frozen hard as iron, but that "Part
First" seemed to be a door opening
into a region, warm, alluring, beauti-
ful. When spring came down this
way, I made acquaintance with the
"Analysis of the Natural Orders,
founded upon the most obvious
or artificial characters, designed as
a Key for the ready determination
of any plant, native, naturalized
or cultivated growing, within the
limits of his Flora," those limits being

the entire country east of the Missis-
sippi River, with the exception of the
southern portion of Florida, where,
in the Everglades, I imagine that self-
taught students of botany are scarce.

The first plant that I tried to
"analize" was the little "Whitlow
grass," (Drabo verna), and I thought,
if all flowering plants should be as
difficult as that, and make me work
so hard, that I had a rough road in
front of me. My mistake was in se-
lecting so small a flower. It was all I
could get. I found the name, and
had it correctly, too, and without hu-
man aid. The snow was still lying
in the corners of the fences, and beside
the shaded banks, but the little Draba
had struggled up, and had been cap-
tured by an ignorant youth with plenty
of enthusiastic curiosity, and a desire
to know. Do you suppose that I ever
see that delicate white blossom, almost
invisible in its minuteness, without
looking at it with a feeling of affection,
without having a mental vision of the
youth, the library, the patches of snow
abroad on the landscape, the scattered
plants ; without remembering the joy
with which I recognized that I was
right, and that Draba verna was the
name of my new friend? "If you be-
lieve that, you will believe anything."
The admirable book to which I am
referring, is Alphonso Wood's "Class-
Book of Botany," and my edition is
dated 1864. There is no better book,
I again repeat, there can be no better
book for this purpose. It is simple,
direct, interesting, helpful, and alto-
gether delightful. The Keys are the
best and simplest that I have ever
seen, and I have seen many. They
lead the student to the object by the
shortest, smoothest, most direct path.
They are said to be unscientific. I
suppose they are. I don't care tup-
pence about that. They do what they
set out to do, and they do it readily
and well. What more do you want?
You are teaching yourself, and Wood's
Class-Book will smooth many a rough
place over which you would otherwise
stumble and bruise your feet. Gray's
"Lessons in Botany and Vegetable
Physiology" is a model. It is scienti-

CORRESPONDENCE AND INFORMATION.

255

fie; it is learned: it is as near per-
fection as anything- of the kind can
be; the Keys are painfully scientific,
dealing with minute points that ter-
rify the teacher of self, and often
bother the teacher who is not self-
taught. With a professional instructor
at one's elbow. Gray is perfection, but
if you are trying to teach yourself,
when you see that "Manual" approach-
ing- you in the road, cross over to the
other side, and be spry in your move-
ments or that book will trip you up.
But with Wood's "Class-Book of Bot-
any" under your arm, you may meet
the "Manual" boldly, while you po-
litely remove your hat, and pass on
with a smile of welcome, and a feeling

of reverence for so perfect a work of
science. But let it cnil there, and cling
faster to Alphonso Wood, A. M., for
he delights to help you over the hard
places.

By all means let us teach ourselves
botany. There is no trouble about
doing that. It means a little mental
labor, but it is delightful labor, and the
result is — — !

I also know a little somewhat about
studying the trees, and 1 know the
best book in this country for that pur-
pose. But I don't want to tell every-
thing I know all at once.
Yours truly,

"Peter Peterhoff."

DOMESTICATED NATURE

"THERE'S ALWAYS"— NO, NOT ALWAYS— "ROOM FOR ONE MORE."
A doll carriage full of English rabbits taking a ride very contentedly.

256 THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

AQASSIZ ASSOCIATION

® ® ® ® ® 6$ $

Were other argument needed, I should find it in the great addition to the
enjoyment of life which results from an early acquaintance and constant inti-
macy with the wonders and beauties of external nature. For boy and man
this intimacy is a source of ever-fresh delight.— Charles William Eliot, LL.D.,
President of Harvard University.

PERSONAL

I earnestly solicit your aid in continuing and in-
creasing the work of The Agassiz Association. Those,
to whom this appeal may come, not familiar with this
work, may learn of its importance by carefully reading
the following letters from prominent educators and
naturalists. Please read also my "An Appeal for Co-
operation" on page 264.

I receive no salary for the presidency of "The
AA," nor for the editorship of The Guide to Nature.
It is a labor of love— in the interests of nature and
humanity. All gifts go directly to paying actual ex-
penses. See the advertisement of "Aiding Member-
ships." Further particulars on application.

Respectfully,

c. r i r^ Edward F. Bigelow.

htamtord, Conn. &

From David Starr Jordan, President of Leland Stanford Junior University.

California.

To the President of The Agassis Asso- its very beginning.

ciation: There is no kind of intellectual train-

Deab Sip • m& more valuable than that of learn-

I have been acquainted with the ing to see what lies about us and also

work of The Agassiz Association from what the different objects seen sig-

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION.

257

niiy. Every fact has a meaning. It
is part of the relation of cause and
effect; and the great students of na-
ture are those who have been able to
see the fact and to look behind it to
the principle or law or cause of which
it is a visible result. I regard your
Association as one of the most import-
ant educational institutions of this
country.

I congratulate you on finding in it
so valuable an opportunity, and I con-

DAVID STARR JORDAN

President Leland Stanford Junior University.
California.

"I regard your Association as one of the
most important educational institu-
tions of this country."

gratulate the boys and girls of this
country on finding so admirable a
leader.

In an address at Buffalo some years
ago, I had occasion to say:

The first relation of the child to ex-
ternal things is expressed in this:
What can I do with it? What is its
1 elation to me? The sensation goes
over into thought, the thought into
action. Thus the impression of the
object is built into the little universe
of his mind. The objects and the ac-
tion it implies are closely associated
as more objects are apprehended, more
complete relations arise, but the pri-
mal condition remains — What can I do
with it? Sensation, thought, action—
this is the natural sequence of each
completed mental process. As volition
passes over into action, so does science
into art, knowledge into power, w is-
dom into virtue.

By the study of realities, wisdom is
built up. In the relations of objects
he can touch and move, the child
comes to find the limitations of his
powers, the laws that govern pheno-
mena, and to which his actions must
be in obedience. So long as he deals
with realities, these laws stand in their
proper relation. "So simple, so nat-
ural, so true," says Agassiz. This is
the charm of dealing with Nature her-
self. She brings us back to absolute
truth so often as we wander.

So long as a child is led from one
reality to another, never lost in words
or 111 abstractions, so long this natural
relation remains. What can I do with
it? is the beginning of wisdom. "What
is it to me?" is the basis of personal
virtue.

Very truly yours,

rO«u*K, 5^i GlsZa^

2 58

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

From Prof. Marcus E.

There is no work ever undertaken
outside of the proper home circle and
the school that has had such a tremen-
dous influence on the development of
the youth at the critical period as the
AA, unless we accept the Christian
Endeavor, and I except that only be-
cause its influence is purely religious,
which is higher than anv other can be.

Jones, Salt Lake City.

1 he enthusiast devoted to the AA
often considers the influence of this
organization paramount to all others
because it has changed for good the
courses of thousands of young lives,
but we must not wholly forget the
work of loving fathers and mothers,
teachers and friends who have labori-
ously prepared the ground for the AA
and made its climax possible.

From Wm. Whitman Bailey, LL.D., Brown University, Providence.

In this material age, and among a It was shown that life had nobler aims
money-making people, a great light than simple gain. Every new Chap-
shone out to illumine the dark places. ter was a mission doing good work.

#

From Frederick LeRoy Sargent, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.

It was an important event in my life afforded for giving and receiving help
when I joined the Association, and 1 in the study of nature as of high value,
regard the oooortum'ties which it has

From Chas. F. Holder, Pasadena, Calif.

To my mind there is no educational

work going on in the country more

valuable and far reaching than this.

If it was not for this, a greater part of
the work of zoologists (specialists)
would never reach the public — the peo-
ple. 1 have been familiar with the
work of the AA since its inception, and
no society has done so much to inter-
est the masses of the people in nature
and nature study, and I should con-
sider it in the light of a. public disaster
if this great work should not continue.
The study of nature in its broadest
sense is to my mind an absolute neces-

sity; it is a humanizer, a civilizer, a
broadener and of the greatest import-
ance to the public. I can see in it great
possibilities for the American people.
Every town and village in this country
that has a church should have an
Agassiz Chapter. The very name is an
inspiration and a spur to higher edu-
cation.

From B. Kropotkin, Russia.

Is it necessary to insist on the bene-
fits of the Agassiz Association, or to
show how it ought to be extended ? . .

. . . The greatness of the idea is

too clear. The Agassiz Association
has a brilliant future.

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION.

259

BETTEB CALCULATED TO ATTAIN THIS

KM) THAN ANY OTHEE LARGE MOYE-

3IENT.

BY PROF. RALPH S. 'PARK, CORNELL
UNIVERSITY, ITHACA, X . Y.

I am in entire sympathy with the ef-
forts that you have in hand, to extend
the influence of The Agassiz Association
along the lines which you mention, and
moreover, I am gratified over the results
that you have accomplished. To interest
the youth of the country in the study of
Natural Science is an important work,
provided it is sanely done. It seems to
me that the objects and methods of The
Agassiz Association are better calculated
to attain this end than any other large
movement that has been set on foot. I
wish von every success in vour work.

SPECIAL APTITUDE FOB THE WORK.

BY WI I.I.I AM TRELEASE, DIRECTOR THE MIS-
SOURI BOTANICAL GARDENS, ST. LOUIS, MO.

I have no objection whatever to your
quoting me as being heartily in sympathy
with the type of nature work that you are
doing and the way in which you are do-
ing it. I do not know anyone else who
has just your type of aptitude for it, and
wish you all success.

A HOME POINT OF VIEW.

[From The Stamford Advocate, Stamford,
Conn.]

The new president of The /Agassiz
Association brings to his important work
a large fund of experience, great en-
thusiasm and ideas which commend
themselves as sensible and practicable.

There is no salary, and the only

remuneration is the joy of doing good,
which must be regarded as ample. Every
cent is used for the furtherance of the
work it is trying to do, in stimulating,
encouraging and leading in the study of
nature.

How Dr. Bigelow finds time, with his
experiments, his lectures, his writing and
teaching, to do the additonal work, is a
wonder to those who know him. It is
accounted for by the fact that he is an
indefatigable and enthusiastic worker,
and is doing the work he likes best.

IT KEEPS 0\E IOUNG.

BY THE REVEREND P. B. I'KAI'.onv, BLUE
RAPIDS, KANSAS.

I could assure the comparatively ma-
ture people whom yon are trying to reach
that just this sort of study, indulged in
as an avocation, has made me, at fiftv, a
younger- feeling man than 1 was at thirty-
five. I could assure them that some of
the keenest delights that have ever come
to me have come through mere soul-
contact, by way of correspondence with
men and women whom I have never
seen ; while yet a bond indissoluble has
been created through the existence and
the mutual activity of this kindred spir-
it.

The Correspondence System of Edu-
cation is a demonstrated success. The
entire plan of the AA, as 1 apprehend
it, is but an amplification of the same
idea. I am a firm believer in co-opera-
tion. It can accomplish wonders. It can
baffle the impossible. It requires onlv
money to make such plans as yours a
reality. With a wise conferential com-
bining of varied plans, all tending toward
the same end, all directed and intellioized
by a strong and wise unifying master-
hood, I am confident your ideas are capa-
able of realizing an American Academy
of Nature Study that will be at once com-
prehensive and exhaustive.

One great desideratum, it seems to
me, in the practicalizing of your plans,
is to have the strong personalitv of each
instructor, lecturer and field director po-
tentialized by giving it the broadest pos-
sible content. The possible value of this
I often feel in my professional work.
Never ambitious, ever abhorring place-
seeking, my own work has ever lain in
by-ways. I have preached, all my life,
to small congregations. Yet I have, on
occasion, in some city church, or when
preaching to union congregations or
school commencements, before large au-
diences, felt most deeply the thrill, the
uplift, the energizing that come through
the reinforcement that is engendered by
the presence and the sympathetic activity
of kindred spirits. If only you can make
the field broad enough and man that field
with personalities of sufficient capacity
for inspiring others you will do a great
work. But this will require money.

260

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Your plan seems to be the Chatauqua
Idea writ large. Adequate leadership,
able and devoted helpers, with the means
sufficient to bring- these into contact with
the masses of those that are hungering
after the food that is yet fairly within
their reach — these will mark and make
possible the realization of your plans.

The dominant marks of our Age, in
the world's broader life, are vain ambi-
tion, feverish desire, shallow attainment,
Flippant smartness, insincerity, hypocrisy.
On the other hand, the mighty impulse of
the pendulum swing back to Nature, Sin-
cerity and Truth, are already too real to
be scoffed at ; and too strong to be dis-
regarded. The time is ripe. It is the
psychological hour. The question is, —
whether we shall let this powerful drift
and trend be swung by the fakirs and
the grafters ; or whether we shall see to
it that it be led, energized, directed, glori-
fied by the personalities of men and wo-
men to whom Nature, in many of her
manifestations, is the unspeakably attrac-
tive and blessed outward form of the Al-
mighty. That's just what it is. There
are some of us, — are there not? — that
have come to know it ; and to find a
large measure of our essential peace in
this knowledge ; and in its realization of
riches in our own hearts and lives.

One feels utterly abashed, completely
overwhelmed with his own littleness
when such plans as yours are mooted and
discussed. Personally, I owe so very-
much to men and women that I have
never met that I have grown sure that
such contact, only, with the greater inti-
macies that are begotten of it, can lift
one above the shrinking lethargy that
comes with the sense of our own small-
ness and make the doing of great things
possible. The attainment of this is, I
confess, my one worldly ambition. The
moulding of other lives has become a
passion with me. And this as I under-
stand you. is the great underlying motif
of your plans.

I <l(i hope that I have said, and not
been too late in the saying, even just
one or two little things that may help a
little in the realizing of your plans. It
seems presumption in me to suggest,
even, the possibility of my being able to
be helpful, in your outlined field.

HEARTY APPROVAL OF AA METHODS.

BY FREDERICK LEROY SARGENT, SHIRLEY,

MASS.

I wish to assure you of the admiration
1 feel for your work in behalf of The
Agassiz Association, and to express my
hearty approval of the methods you pro-
pose for extending its benefits.

What you say of circular instruction
especially excites my interest. I believe
the method has great possibilities.

When I was a beginner in the study of
Natural History I wasted much time, and
met with many disappointments, for lack
of such suggestions as your circulars
would doubtless offer. I have come to
the conclusion that inasmuch as the se-
cret of thorough and profitable observa-
tion lies in the habit of asking" oneself
appropriate questions regarding the ob-
jects observed, it follows that the best
training- in the art of observing may be
gained through the use of carefully pre-
pared schedules of questions which may
be answered by examining the objects to
which they refer. I trust that such sche-
dules, prepared by experts, will abound
in your circulars.

APPROVES AA CLEARING HOUSE.

BY RICHARD C. MCGREGOR, BUREAU OF
SCIENCE, MANILA, PHILIPPINES.

Your idea of having working head-
quarters for the AA as outlined in the
second section under "Methods" in the
AA Manual appeals to me as possessing
great possibilities. The Home Office
might act as an efficient museum Clear-
ing House for the exchange and loan of
specimens among individuals. Chapters
and schools all over the world.

Specimens which are common in one
locality are rare in others. The young
AA member who lives in the Rocky
Mountains has little chance to examine
the common animals of the seashore; the
sea urchin, the sand dollar and the her-
mit crab are as strange to him as are the
dodo and the saber-toothed tiger. But
he has petrified palm, galena, horned
toads and other treasures which would
be a delight to the member who lives
near the sea. Here is where the AA
can be of great service.

Let the Home Office or Museum re-

TIIF ACASSIZ ASSOCIATION

261

ceive sets of carefully prepared speci-
mens and distribute them to chapters and
schools. For such service there need be
no charge above the cost of postage and
packing.

The AA has, as you suggest, a large
opportunity to help teachers of nature
study and as the AA becomes better
known to the teachers it becomes better
known to their classes from which we
may expect to recruit our members. So
by all means the AA should help the
teachers.

I believe that the AA should be widely
advertised in such a way as to attract the
attention of young people. There arc-
yet thousands of individuals who have
not heard of this great organization and
who need only to be set in the right path
to become efficient students of nature. To
arouse interest in nature study is doubt-
less an important function of the AA but
I feel that the directing of this immense
energy along proper lines of interest is
quite as necessary. I collected hundreds
of shells, insects and minerals in haphaz-
ard fashion long before I knew the value
of doing it in the right way.

In the old AA Handbook some things
were not sufficiently emphasized. I refer
first to the necessity of preparing data
for specimens in such a way that they
may be not only of educational value but
of scientific value as well. A starfish
in any condition is a treasure, but with
the addition of particulars as to locality,
date, etc.. it becomes a scientific specimen
of current worth.

In the second place I would emphasize
the necessity for much fuller instructions
for the collecting and preserving of speci-
mens than were given in the old AA
Handbook as I remember it. A collec-
tion of leaves from trees is interesting
and instructive, but is of little or no
scientific value unless the leaves are pre-
served on their stems and are accompan-
ied by the fruit and flower ; with the ad-
dition of certain data they become scien-
tific specimens. The trouble taken to
prepare specimens in this formal way
promotes the habit of order and gives an
added interest to the work.

While the AA member is becoming
familiar with natural history in a general
wav he can and should be of use to the

specialist. 1 will mention only one case.

Beside the large garden variety of
earth-worm, which has a wide distribu-
tion, there are a great number of small
earth-worms which are very local in their
habitat. These are found in a great vari-
ety of situations. Some live under the
bark of fallen trees, others burrow in
damp moss on the banks of forest streams
and still others live in the sandy beds of
rivers. The AA might easily amass a
splendid collection of these interesting
worms which any specialist in the group
might be glad to study and describe.

I believe the A A is destined to con-
tinue its good work of showing people,
young and old, the interest to be found
in the common things of nature and in
the study of the relations and adjust-
ments among them. An interest in the
beauty of a butterfly and its development
from the egg are followed, under guid-
ance, by a study of the dependence of the
caterpillar upon its food plant, the rela-
tion between the adult insect and the
blossoms it visits and between the egg
and the microdipterous insects which
fatten on its contents.

A real interest in any branch of nature
study becomes a source of relaxation
from work and a saving grace from the
curse of idleness. A naturalist is hap-
py in any situation. Marooned on an
island he grieves not for companions but
watches the fishes of the sea or counts
the trees of the forest.

A CORRECTIVE AND A SOLACE.

BY E. T. BREWSTER, ANDOVER, MASS.

I cannot state too strongly my belief
in the soundness and value of the ideas
for which the AA stands. For the young-
it seems now the single efficient and
wholesome corrective for the craze for
athletics which is now-a-days (I speak
as a schoolmaster) playing the mischief
with all intellectual interests among boys.
For the adult, nothing save only a love
for reading is such a solace.

All this, however, has already been
said so well by yourself and others,
that I hesitate to say it again. Let me
only assure you of my hearty sympathy
with your ideals and my sincere belief
in the principles of the AA.

262

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

OUR SCHOOL SOCIETIES.

BY H. H. BALLARD, PlTTSFlELD, MASS.

As the AA has become better known,
it has found a wide field of usefulness

HARLAN H. BALLARD.

Pittsfield, Mass.

Originator and Ex-President of The AA.

in connection with schools, both private
and public. Many teachers who have
not been able to find a place for natural
science in the ordinary curriculum, and
who have yet felt that their pupils should
not grow up strangers to the (lowers,
trees, birds, and butterflies, have been
glad to devote an hour once a fortnight
to the guidance of a meeting devoted to
these studies. In almost every school
may be found, at the least, six of the
more intelligent boys and girls who will
willingly spend an evening now and then
in united study and discussion. The
young are naturally fond of collecting.
Most school committees will cheerfully
grant the use of a room for the meetings,
and many will even provide suitable
cases for the specimens. In each of the

several hundred schools in which branch-
es of the Agassiz Association have been
organized, the resultant work of personal
observation lias had a marked tendency
to counteract the evils of rote-work and
routine. In most cases cabinets have
been secured and have been filled witii
specimens collected by the pupils them-
selves within a radius of five miles of
the school-house door. Visit such a so-
ciety and ask to be shown representa-
tions of the local fauna, flora, or miner-
alia. The young men and women will
show you collections carefully prepared
accurately labeled, diligently studied,
highly valued, and exceedingly valuable.
The Agassiz Association does not so
much care for rarities or monstrosities.
Our cabinets are neither junk-shops nor
dime-museums. Our purpose is rather
to learn about the stones by the roadside
and in the quarry; to become familiar
with the plants we pass on our way to
school, and with the insects that feed
upon and fertilize them ; to get on speak-
ing terms with, and out of all cruel re-
lations to. each warbler of the orchard
and the wildwood ; to discover what
fishes swim in our brooks, what shells
lie on our beaches and hide in our
groves, what invisible animalcules live
in our ponds and ditches, what stars
shine in our sky. It was a dream of
Louis Agassiz himself to see American
youth early led into the pleasant paths
of natural science ; to see them forsaking
all foolish and wanton sport for the sake
of a wise and loving study of the works
of God.

Every teacher has at some time felt
how delightful it would be if she could
only lead her pupils to see the inexpress-
ible beaut\' that lies hid from unwakened
eves in pebble and leaf and wing. But
many have been discouraged from mak-
ing any serious endeavor from fear of
failure. Tt is better to try and fail, than
fail for fear of trying. It must be ad-
mitted, however, that there are usually
serious hindrances in the way. First of
all. raanv teachers feel that they are al-
ready working at too high a tension.
Then others, not having enjoyed special
training in natural science, feel a modest
reluctance about attempting to train
others. In other cases it is found diffi-

T 1 1 E AG ASS I Z ASS( )CI AT I ( ) X .

263

cult to inspire and maintain among the
young- a strong and growing" interest in
these matters. The first of these objec-
tions can he met by making the associa-
tion-work an avocation instead of a vo-
cation; a calling from work, instead of
a calling to it. Take your pupils with
yon for an occasional afternoon, if yon
can get leave of absence; and, my word
for it, yon and they will fare none the
worse at the end of the term for the ex-
change of one or two grammar recita-
tions, or examinations in geography, for
a little practical knowledge of what lives
and moves and has its being out of
doors, and a few lungfuls of crisp June
or October oxygen.

Your own ignorance, if that is what
you do own on these matters will the
better enable yon to study with your pu-
pils ; and next to instruction from the
most gifted master, nothing is more in-
spiring than such friendly companion-
ship in learning. As for failing to in-
terest your pupils, remember that a taste
for the pure pleasures of natural science,
like a taste for olives, must be cultivated
by persistent tasting. After one or two
excursions, followed by a careful study
of the specimens obtained, with the per-
sonal use of microscope or blow pipe,
enthusiasm generally grows like purs-
lane. Yon will find, too, that the Asso-
ciation will be a great help to you. We
have now about fifty scientific specialists
always ready to aid the members by an-
swering their letters of inquiry, and by
determining their specimens for them,
free of cost, save postage.

A bov in a grammar school in the ut-
termost parts of Dakota becomes inter-
ested in fishes. He finds the common
varieties that he knows, and studies
them. By and by he takes in his net or
on his hook a stranger. He finds no ac-
count of him in the small zoology in the
school library. The teacher cannot help
him. He studies the fish with his eyes,
examines fins, and scales, and skeleton.
Then he prepares a description as ac-
curately as he can, perhaps aided in this
by the teacher, and sends it with a rude
sketch, it may be, to one of the gentle-
men who kindly assist our students. In
a few days he receives a letter, giving
him the name of his fish, and, what is

better, the name of a book from which
he can learn much more about fishes
than from any volume that ever before
found its way into his village. How he
is encouraged by this graceful sympathy !
He hoards his earnings till the book is
bought. He studies it by candlelight
after the chores are done. He masters
it and presents it to his little society,
where it becomes the nucleus of a scien-
tific library, which ten years from now
may require a building to protect it. By
the time this boy has finished school he
knows more about the fish in the local
waters than his parents or instructors,
and he has become fired with ambition to
go to some place where he can meet men
who know enough to teach him more.
He enters a college or higher scientific
school ,and becomes, before many years
are gone, himself a specialist, ready, nay
eager, to help other poor boys in other
isolated places. This is no fancy sketch,
but has been realized over and over
asain since the A^assiz Association was
founded in 1875.

"XO OTHER THAT APPRO ACHES IT."

BY GEORGE W. CARVER, DIRECTOR DEPT.
AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION AND EX-
PERIMENT STATION, TUSKEGEE
INSTITUTE, ALA.

As to the objects and aims set forth by
the AA, it seems to me that they are very
clear and concise, and well put. I do
not know what could be added to im-
prove them. Each one sets forth a pe-
culiar need and mission of the associa-
tion which, to my mind, is unquestion-
able. Let us hope that this will be one
institution for the training of the many.
I know of no other that approaches it.
It certainly shall have my support, as
far as I am able to render service.

In the election of Dr. Edward F. Bige-
low as president of The Agassiz Asso-
ciation, the trustees have bestowed a
well-earned honor and secured a most
enthusiastic nature lover as executive
head. — The School journal. Xew York
City.

264

CORRESPONDENCE AND INFORMATION.

AN APPEAL FOR COOPERATION

The Agassiz Association is the oldest,
largest, most extensive and most ef-
ficient organization in existence for dis-
seminating a knowledge and a love of
nature, after that knowledge has been
expressed in a plain and simple way, so
that even abstruse facts in natural science
become readily "understanded" by the
voting or non-scientific people. Obser-
vations are made interesting without be-
ing belittled or degraded by imaginary
assertions that the writer hopes may be
true, that he thinks may possibly have
occurred, and that at last he persuades
himself to accept and then asks his reader
to believe. The A.\ deals in facts, but
deals in them, not like a museum with all
specimens pinned to the wall and labelled
in Latin, or pickled in jars and again
labelled in Latin. The AA deals in facts
descrihed in a plain and simple way, but
always in facts, and it speaks only in the
observer's native tongue. Thus tar it is'
"popular science," and further than this
it does not aim to go. It uses the micro-
scope, but not to investigate the action of
the nucleus in some infinitesimal creature
visible only under a magnification of a
thousand diameters. It turns aside from
that kind of science, valuable as that is
to certain investigators. But the AA
will, under a low magnifying power, ex-
amine with the greatest delight a bit of
feather from a hummingbird's breast,
and cry aloud with joy when the brilliant
colors first salute the eye. Then by ac-
cident it is reversed under the lens, when,
lo! every trace of color has vanished.
The feather a moment before blazed in
hues that dazzled the amateur microsco-
pist's vision. Now, that same bit of tis-
sue is dull, unattractive, dead. Why?
Does the reader know ? It is a simple
fact, but a fact. The explanation is
equally simple, but does the reader know
it? The "learned scientist can explain it
in ponderous wrords that mean no more
than the simple words of the most youth-
ful member of the AA, who discovers the
fact for himself and explains the reason
in his own way. The AA is scientific,
but it is not ponderous. It is truthful,
but it is attractive, because it allows the

observer to observe in his own way and
thus to teach himself how to observe ;
because it allows the reporter to report
in his own way, and thus to learn how to
do so properly. In this sense the AA is
' popular," since while it tries to be ac-
curate, it at the same time tries to be
plain, simple and readily understood. It
aims to develop, not to repress nor to
suppress. Many a budding observer has
been both repressed and suppressed by
having his questions sneered at, and him-
self told to "clear out." Whatever may
be the shortcomings of the A A this is.
not one of them. The A A tries to be
helpful and encouraging, knowing that
appreciation and love of nature is' one of
the most consoling, the most comforting
qualities that can be fostered ivithin the
human heart and mind. Cannot the
reader help us ? Does he not sympathize
with us and with the purposes of the
AA? Will he not kindly think it over,
and then act, and act generously?

As president of "The AA" (as we
are fond of calling it ) , knowing its past
and the possibilities for the future, /
firmly believe there is no other organiza-
tion in existence whereby labor and
money will do more for the good of hu-
manity, especially of youthful humanity.
No officer has ever received a salary.
( )ur only remuneration has been the "joy
of doing a great and good work." For
more than eighteen months I have done
the work of the executive office, and for
several months that of the editorship of
the official journal, The; Guide to Na-
ture, at an already overcrowded desk in
my own home. My small back yard in
a thickly settled part of Stamford has
been for years vastly overcrowded with
my work as "Nature and Science" editor
of "St. Nicholas," and in original experi-
menting as a general naturalist. But
here, for two seasons, in addition to the
burden of the experiments, I have taken
the illustrating and the question answer-
ing of the A A. To earn a living for my-
self and family, I am necessarily away
from home for much of the time on lec-
ture tours and in school work. This
intermittent labor at the desk and in the

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION.

265

laboratory lias prevented the work of the
AA from reaching1 its highest efficiency.
1 need more room, better faeilities and an
assistant. To me there are no induce-
ments in my AA work that should not
apply to any lover of nature and of hu-
manity. I therefore appeal to you to co-
operate in this work, to aid in the erec-
tion of "The AA Home," as described
in the manual, to employ assistance and
generally to meet the expenses of the
work as outlined in the manual. A gift
may lie expended at the discretion of the
management (and I advise this) or it

may be a Special Fund to be invested
along certain limited lines, as the donor
may desire. The records of receipts and
expenses may lie examined by any contri-
butor. In the case of a Special Fund,
a report will be rendered to the contribu-
tor monthly or quarterly as he may
desire.

[/'/'// you please aid me in this great
work? If desired, I will gladly tell you
more in detail of my plans.

Yours very truly,

Edward F. Bigelow.

PHOTOOKAPH OF NEST OF MOURNING
DOVE.

This excellent photograph of nest of
mourning dove was taken by Dr. R. W.
Shufeldt. The nest is a flat structure,

loosely put together. The bird usually
builds in the lower branches of a tree,
generally within ten feet of the ground,
rarely on the ground, in the eastern
states.

NEST OF MOURNING DOVE.
Photograph by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt.

266

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

ITERARY

and BIOGRAPHICAL

The Sport of Bird Study. By Herbert K.
Job. New York: Outing Publishing Co.,
1908.

"Of making books there is no end"' may be
truthfully said of bird-books in particular,
but if, as a result, more bird-lovers are
thereby made, there is no need to call a
halt. Mr. Job has given us a companion
book to "Wild Wings" which should win
many a reader to the ranks of bird students.
Here, instead of leading us north, south and
out to sea, the author has confined himself
to the home birds of our North Eastern
States, doing for the East what Finley has
done for the far West.

The arrangement is systematic, thirteen
chapters, treating of as many major divi-
sions of our birds, beginning with the upland
game birds and ending with the thrushes,
while a final chapter disposes of the few
inland water birds.

Mr. Job writes with a more personal note
than heretofore, striving, and rightly, to
give in his text, not so much descriptions
of plumage and other hand-book facts, as
to present a series of actual experiences
and adventures which he and "Ned" en-
joyed in their sport of bird study.

Although Br. Job's book is written avowed-
ly "for young or active people," and as pe-
rusal shows, for amateur bird-students, yet
he touches upon
a number of facts
of unusual inter-
est of which we
would wish more
details. For ex-
ample, the com-
plete change in
character of nest
of the kingbird
which buiilt on
the fence-post,
and the yearly re-
turn of apparent-
ly the same pair
of bords as in the
case of the night-
hawk which was
photographed
year by year from
1900 to 1907.
Such longevity in
an individual bird
is most interest-
ing, and we wish
that the author
had emphasized
this and certain

author had emphasized this and certain
other phases of the life-histories of birds
concerning which we are woefully ignorant.
If ambitious young ornithologists could have
access to a "chapter of ignorance," it would
inspire them more than any other appeal.
In another edition of this book, the reviewer
would like to see an appendix of "one hun-
dred and one gaps in the life-histories of
our common birds!"

Mr. Job's enthusiasm is contagious, and
there are few dull pages. When a man
will work three days, "walking twenty-
four miles and riding sixteen" to photograph
a ruffed grouse on her nest, the details
are worth reading! With all his love of
birds, the author is not over sentimental
about them. His estimate of the English
sparrow is that it is a foreign pest, "which
does not deserve to be considered as a bird,
but rather as a feathered rat, a pestiferous
mongoose to destroy bird life and drive out
our beloved native birds." Again, in an
introductory chapter he argues the case
of gun versus camera sanely and well. "Of
course there's nothing wrong in shooting
lawful game in moderation, but it's simply
this, that the new way is so much better
than the old that we dont care for shooting.
Gunners can hunt only in the fall, but our
hunting lasts the whole year. Their game,

Nest and brood of Quail

"Like little brown leghorn chickens" (p. 24).

LITERARY AND BIOGRAPHICAL.

267

too, is limited to a few kinds, while we
have every sort of bird that, flies."

Mr. Job's photographs, with few excep-
tions, are excellent. Those of the flicker,
kingbird family, tree swallow, vireo and
alder flycatcher are especially good. The
labor they represent can be imagined only
by those who have worked in this field — and

Boulder Reveries. By W. s. Blatchley.

Indianapolis, Indiana: The Nature Pub-
lishing Company.

This is a diary of
recording. The book
in observations as in

reveries really worth
abounds not so much
thoughts showing the

author's true spirit of a naturalist. Here

Broad-winged Hawk. "In the act of entering the nest with a chunk of bark" (pp. 42-3).

the pleasure derived cannot be even faintly
estimated by the unfortunate who has never
seen a live bird on the ground glass of his
camera. The whippoorwills, old and young,
opposite page 106, are splendid examples
of protective coloration, while the Louisiana
water thrush, opposite page 222, is a veri-
table puzzle picture.

At the end of the book is a brief table of
classification of Orders and Families, a
short seasonal bird calendar, and an anno-
tated list of 216 species of birds which the
author has noted in Litchfield County, Con-
necticut. Although only of immediate local
interest, yet the list is useful as showing
what may be accomplished by careful ob-
servation in a circumscribed locality. Mr.
Job's book is welcome as a sane and whole-
some introduction to the study of birds
with glass and camera.

C. William Beebe.

are some specimens:

"The woods are nature's abiding places —
'God's first temples' — as Bryant called them.
There beasts and birds and bugs abound.
There the naturalist goes when he would
be alone with his thoughts — alone with God
and His handiwork; and yet alone only in
the sense that he is away from his fellow-
man. In my ramblings through these old
woods, I seek no company but my own. On
such a day as this three is a multitude; two,
a crowd. By myself I can ponder. By my-
self I can get closer to the birds, flowers
and insects. By myself I can dream dreams
of days that are gone — of days that perhaps
will be."

"I measure my years by their Aprils,
Junes and Octobers."

"I like at times to be where no

soul
ticed

knows
in the

where I
universe

am — alone
of God."

human
and unno-

268

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

The Fairy Land of Living' Things. By Rich-
ard Keaton, F. Z. S. London and New
York: Cassell & Co., Limited.

In this book, the brother of the author
(Cherry Keaton) shows a wide variety of
"odds and ends" in photographic study of
the wonderful fairyland of living things of
the country side. The author tells of the
habits, instincts and characters of the wild
creatures that are to be met with every day
in field, wood and hedgerow. He rightly
claims that by dealing with the romantic
and wonderful things in the lives and habits
of birds, beasts and insects, young minds
(and why not as well older ones, too?) are
aroused, and stimulated into observing, en-
quiring and thinking for themselves.

Some of the photographs by Cherry Kea-
ton are especially good. The studies of
dandelions "asleep" and "awake" well por-
tray the night and day attitude of these
plants.

Insect Stories. By Vernon L. Kellogg,
Professor of Entomology in Stanford
University and Author of "American
Insects," "Darwinism To-day," etc.
New York: Henry Holt and Company.

Professor Kellogg has, in this volume of
strange, true stories, succeeded in describ-
ing the habits of certain insects in so fas-
cinating a way that there are few people,
either old or young, who will not be held
by its charm. Simplicity is the keynote to
the studies and observations of the old
scientist and the little girl who figure in the
book, and their ingenuousness and the sub-
tle humor hold one's interest as much as
the marvellous doings of the little ground
folk themselves.

It is a splendid illustration of how inter-
esting a book of natural history stories may
be, while yet purified of all "nature faking"
and of all the exaltation of animal hero-
composites so popular in recent years.

[From Special Reviewer]

When this fascinating volume was
handed to me with a request for a review
it seemed, in prospect, a simple matter to
run through it, reading here a little and
there a bit — enough to get a good idea of
its handling. — Professor Kellogg's name pro-
hibited a question of its absolute accuracy,
contents, style, etc. A few moment's read-
ing, hov ever, utterly routed this method
of procedure. From the moment one gets
acquainted with Mary out collecting taran-
tula holes — which she assures you is quite
easy when you learn how — until the last
sentence is read no "skipping" is possible.
Professor Kellogg's irresistible charm of
handling simply compels a word for word
perusal in order not to miss something
good. He is amusingly careful in handling
the "Instinct or Intelligence" phase of in-
sects' acts and leaves the reader perfectly
free to exercise his own judgment unbiased.

Between the lines, however, one can easily
read his inclination to the "Intelligence"
phase of the matter.

Although the doings of these little crea-
tures were nearly all familiar from obser-
vation the stories are so interestingly told,
so true to facts and so vivid in description
that it was almost equal to actually seeing
what he so well describes.

Ably supplementing the text are the ex-
cellent and accurate illustrations — all of
which are full page half-tones. These show
at a glance that the little creatures were
very carefully studied by the artists. The
feet and legs, those parts of insects that
are usually so inaccurately drawn, are
shown in these drawings with gratifying
fidelity.

So natural is Mary that no doubt exists
in the mind of the reviewer that she is a
portrait from life, — the link that binds all
the widely varied stories into a connected
narrative. Through her quaint ideas and
questions just enough fancy is introduced
to inspire additional interest in the facts
of the stories. Before many of the stories
are read you will be equally insistent with
Mary "What can I see?" "What can I see
right away; — to-morrow?"

"Mary you can — see — to-morrow," — and I
think rapidly, — you can see — to-morrow," —
still thinking, — "ah, yes — yes you can; you
can see them to-morrow."

"But what can I see to-morrow?"

Yes, that's just the question you will ask
yourself for you will have become con-
vinced that all out-doors is simply full of
interesting things to see and determine to
go see some things for yourself — but you
will finish the book first. Before the book
is ended you will be ready to believe that if
Professor Kellogg and Mary went exploring
among the letters of the alphabet you could
confidently expect twenty-six interesting
stories.

Naturally a reviewer thinks he
done his duty unless he register
plaint. There is disappointment in
sentence which should read "End
I," instead of "For this is the

END
of this rambling, talky, little book."

Ci.k^ B. Davis.

has not
a com-
the last
of Vol.

How to Attract and Protect Wild Birds. By

Martin Hiesemann. London: Witherby
& Company, 326 High Holborn.

This is a practical guide for all who wish
to attract the birds to their doors and in-
duce them to nest in their gardens, whether
large or small. It shows that these birds
are most useful in keeping down the insect
pests which are so harmful to trees and
shrubs. In this connection also the atten-
tion of municipal and urban councils may
be drawn to the advantages which would
accrue to trees and plants from the use of
nesting boxes for birds in public parks and
open spaces. The methods described are
simple but efficient.

a

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Borden, Geo. W.
Vanderbilt, John
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If your florist does not handle it, order direct. Put up
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and when sprink-
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becomes avail-
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PUBLISHER'S NOTICES

The Guide to Nature.

EDUCATION AND RECREATION

AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY MAGAZINE FOR ADULTS. DEVOTED TO COMMON-
PLACE NATURE WITH UNCOMMON INTEREST.

PUBLISHED BY THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION. OFFICE: 113 GROVE ST., STAMFORD. CONNECTICUT

Subscription, $1.50 Per Year. Single Copy, 15 Cents.
Entered as second-class matter, April 6, 1908, at the Post Office at Stamford, Conn., under the act of March 3, 1879

Vol. I

NOVEMBER, 1908

No. 8

GOOD WOBDS THAT ARE EFFECTIVE.

New Haven, Connecticut.
Dr. Edward F. Bigelow :—

The sample copies of The Guide to
Nature have interested the writer im-
mensely. Kindly put us down for one-
year's subscription.

We will be pleased to use a half page
of advertisement in your journal for the
forthcoming six months.

Very truly yours.

The Ei.m City Nursery Company.

AN IDEAL NEW YORK HOTEL.

The readers of The Guide to Na-
ture who have occasion to visit New
York City will find the Hotel Cumber-
land at the corner of Broadway and
Fifty-fourth street a very satisfactory
city home for a day or longer.

This hotel does both a transient and a
family business and has first-class peo-
ple as patrons. Tbe rates are reason-
able. The location is central and is
rapidly becoming more so. Within ten
minutes" walk or easy access by llroad-
wav surface cars or the subway are
twenty theatres. It is near to every-
thing and yet just out of the noise and
confusion.

The rooms are good and are all practi-
cally outside rooms and every room has
a bath room and every bath room has
an outside window.

It is perhaps the only hotel in New
York City with all hard wood floors and
Oriental rugs and it has the best large
collection of rugs in the city.

The windows are fitted in summer
with fly screens.

The restaurant makes a specialty of
good food and good service at moderate
prices.

The manager of The; Guide to Na-
ture voluntarily publishes this note of
commendation simply because the hotel
deserves it. Messrs. I tarry P. Stimson
(formerly of Hotel Imperial) and R. J.
Bingham (formerly of Hotel Wood-
ward) know how to well manage a
hotel. Good work in any line is always
worth v of praise.

A GREAT OPTICAL INDUSTRY.

Recently the Royal Photographic
Society in London opened its 35th an-
nual exhibition, which occurrence always
forms one of the important events in
English photographic circles. Not only
does this exhibition brine every year

11

ADVERTISEMENTS.

something new and interesting in the
matter of pictures, but also in the vari-
ous photographic apparatus' and lenses.
Among the latter, .a very interesting his-
torical article, viz. ; the 250,000th Double
Anastigmat recently completed bv the
C. P. Goerz Optical Co., of Berlin-Fried-
enau. It constitutes an eloquent testi-
monial for the enviable reputation of
these instruments and it is not only a mat-
ter of congratulation to he Goerz' Optical
Co., but also to the entire optical indus-
try of Germany, that one quarter million
high grade precision instruments have
been placed upon the market.

THE STUDY OF HUMAN NATURE.

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A WONDERFUL PLANT LNTTGORATOR.

Especial attention is called to the ad-
vertisement, on the second cover page
of this issue, of "Bonora," the wonderful
plant food and stimulant. Tins was dis-
covered by an English chemist and has
met with the highest praise by all who
have tried it. The Conard & Jones Com-
pany, the well known nurserymen, write
of it as follows;

"We have made a careful test of 'Bon-
ora as a fertilizer for plants grown in-
doors, and we can endorse all that you
claim for it, as a quick acting, lasting
and odorless fertilizer. We can also say
it excels all other fertilizers that we have

tried. It seems to suit all kinds of plants,
but as with every other fertilizer the
user must be careful not to overdose;
some plants stand much more than
others, and it is always better to com-
mence with small doses, and increase, as
experience shows what amount each
kind of plant requires."

Eben E. Rexford thus commends it:
"I have still as good an opinion of
Bonora as I ever had. We have several
old roses in the greenhouse that we have
been using it on, and the result is sim-
ply wonderful. I have a Marchael Neil
growing in a ten-inch pot that, for a
long time, simply stood still. Last win-
ter, under the influence of Bonora, it
made a vigorous growth, and had forty
buds and blossoms at one time, and has
continued to bloom well ever since. I
have La France in the greenhouse, and
it has made almost as good a record.
At the present time it has twenty buds
and blossoms, with more coming. Ferns,
callas genistas, heliotropes and geran-
iums respond most satisfactorilv to its
influence and the best of it is— they do
not experience any relapse, as most
plants are likely to after being stimulated
to vigorous growth with ordinary fer-
tilizers. I have an Aspidistra in a
twelve-inch pot — a perfect mass of
roots, with not a particle of soil show-
ing. I have fed this with Bonora, and
it is sending up large healthy foliage, as
if it had been repotted and given fresh
soil and more root-room. '

Bonora is also strongly recommended
by John Lewis Childs. Luther Burbank
and others.

The "Guide to Nature" desires that
its readers procure some of this new pre-
paration, experiment with it and report
results. W7e have discontinued the sale
of The Sachs Tablets for use with
plants in soil Bonora is far more ad-
vantageous and beneficial. Bonora is es-
pecially good for house plants, in doors
and out of doors, for vegetables of all
kinds, etc. Try it and see how it works.

( I'KOM Tin-: NEW-YORK TRIBUNE.)

An English chemist has, after thirteen
years of incessant and toilsome study and
experiment, evolved a formula which is
in the opinion of many persons of more
intrinsic value to man than the alchem-
ist's dream — transmutation of metals —
could prove, were it ever realized ; it is
one which supplies both food and drink

ADVERTISEMENTS.

ill

to plant life, with a maximum of effect
and at a minimum of expense. Just how
much this means to mankind is shown by
Professor Robert Kennedy Duncan.
After describing the important role

GENISTA.
Without Bonora. With

Bonora.

"fixed" nitrogen plays in supporting and
moving the forces of nature, he proceeds.
"Harper's". 'The invaluable fixed nitro-
gen which we have within us, and which
we are continuously using up, we must
continually restore. In order to do this
we eat it. We eat it in the form of ani-
mal food or of certain plant products
such as wheaten bread, lint plants, and
animals, too, depend upon the soil for
every trace of nitrogen they contain, and
the soil in its turn has won it from the
reluctant air through the slow accumu-
lations of the washing rains, from the
lightning of a million strikes, or through
slew transformations by billions of nitri-
fying organisms through what, so far as
we are concerned, is infinite time. Not
only so, bat the valuable nitrogen con-
taining substances we employ in our
civilization are in the same parlous posi-
tion of depending upon the soil. Even-
cannon shot disperses in an instant the
fixed nitrogen which it required millions
of microbes centuries to accumulate. We
filch this nitrogen from the soil immense-
ly faster than it is restored by natural
process, and the land grows sick and
barren, and refuses to grow our crops."
The cure for this sick, enfeebled or
wornout land is, as Professor Duncan
shows, the returning to it in adequate de-
gree the fixed nitrogen of which it has
been so ruthlesslv robbed. Providen-

tially, as lie points out, modern science
has. within recent years, discovered a me-
thod of drawing upon that vast reservoir
ol "tree" nitrogen, our atmosphere, for
an unlimited supply. With the methods
of converting this "free" into "fixed"
nitrogen this article has naught to do;
the question here considered is as to the
means of supplying it to plant life, and
at the least expense of time, labor and
money. This, it is confidently asserted,
is accomplished by the before mention-
ed English chemist's admixture, which
has been christened "Bonora." To be-
gin with, it is not open to the objection
so often urged against commercial fer-
tilizers, ol which, it is said, (> per cent
only is plant sustenance, the balance
being ground rock, which, sooner or
later, will sterilize soil. Again, on the
score of transportation and storing
charges, Bonora, fifty pounds of which,
it is claimed, is equal to a ton of com-
mercial fertilizer, is vastly more econom-
ical— as it is also in its application.

P>onora, an odorless and stainless
compound, is all plant food — plant food
in its most concentrated form. Govern-

A PALM.
Without Bonora. W^ith Bonora.

ment analysis shows it to contain several
times more nitrogen than any other fer-
tilizer, and an abundance of phosphoric
acid and potash as well. Fifty pounds of

IV

ADVERTISEMENTS.

the powder make 1,400 gallons of fer-
tilizer when the requisite quantity of
water is added, and this saturated solu-
tion applied with hose, or sprinkler,
waters and fertilizes the plants at one
and the same time. Bonora has the add-
ed heneficent quality of both gathering
moisture from soil and atmosphere and
retaining it for the plant's use — indeed,
so great an affinity for moisture has it,
it is next to impossible to make it in
damp weather. The manager of the
Fox Hill Golf Club, at Stapleton, Staten
Island, states that he "made two applica-
tions of Bonora to 'greens' which had
been killed off by frost, and got them in
perfect shape for the metropolitan cham-
pionship in the middle of May, and that
they withstood the summer heat, and
came out of the following winter, in first
class shape."

Being instantly soluble. Bonora is im-
mediately available. It creates a vigor-
ous root action, and thus makes a strong,
healthy plant, able to carry its greatly
increased load of bloom or fruit. That
it does greatly increase crops, both as to
quantity and quality, is testified to by
Mr. Jacob H. SchifFs gardener at Sea
Bright, X. J., who has used it on palms,
primulas and glorianas ; he reports that
"the first are 70 per cent and the last
two 50 per cent improved ; that the palms
have a beautiful green foliage, ami that
the primulas and glorianas grow larger
flowers, and hold them longer."

That it causes plants to mature with
great rapidity is shown by the experi-
ment of a prominent United States offi-
cial, who tried it on melons and toma-
toes ; although he had been three weeks
behind his neighbors in planting these,
he had them on his table three days ahead
of them. Samuel T. Peters's gardener
at [slip, Long Island, too. tested it on
cauliflowers under glass, one-half only
of the bed. however, being treated with
I'm mora, and the remainder with the
other fertilizers ; the Bonora fertilized
cauliflowers were headed up and mar-
keted two weeks earlier than the first.

The Hon. Cornelius Kliss's gardener at
I Iceanic, X. J., has carried off prizes with
ferns, chrysanthemums and lettuce that
owed their triumph to Bonora. He is
quite enthusiastic, and says: "1 have
been using Bonora for the last two years,
and the longer 1 use it and the better 1
become acquainted with it the more 1 like
it. 1 grow my vegetables under glass

with this fertilizer with splendid results."
Indeed, its effect upon house plants is
said by those who have experimented
with it to be little short of marvelous.
.Mrs. T. P. Shepard, of Providence, for
example, reports that she "used it on
various greenhouse and stove plants
and found the results very pleasing; its
effect on palms was really wonderful,
giving them an appearance I had not
been able to produce with other fer-
tilizers."

Although this plant "elixir of life" has
been introduced only about a year and a
half, its use has become widely distribut-
ed. It is in use at Frederick W. Vander-
1 tilt's country seat at Hyde Park-on-the-
Iludson; by the Pennsylvania Railroad;
on the Eden Trial Grounds at North
Middleboro, Mass.; in the Capitol
grounds, at Washington; in city parks;
in palatial houses here, and, in fact, in
wherever horticultural intelligence goes
hand in hand with the love of plants
and flowers, and wherever agriculture
has learned the value of scientific, inten-
sive fanning.

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Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we
can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the
best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond. — Hypatia.

The Guide to Nature.

EDUCATION AND RECREATION

Vol. I

NOVEMBER, 1908

No. 8

ITfig OUTDOOR WoRLD

Vacation Days in Yosemite's Wonderland

BY MISS M. FLORENCE HAY, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

HEN the winter snows fal-
ling and drifting over moun-
tain bluff and valley mys-
teriously robe the

great
Yosemite in its winter garb
of frost and ice and frozen
waterfalls few visitors are
there, but when the early
spring sun melting the accumulated
snow again given more active life to the
icy falls with their fairy fretwork of
frost and hanging icicles the "madden-
ing crowd" begins its yearly pilgrimage
to this marvelous valley.

By June the snows have all receded to
the higher peaks and plateaus, the ice
cones are gone, the trees have again
shaken their mantles of frost and snow
and the valley sings of spring and birds
and running water. The wild, wonder-
ful winter with its few loving visitors
has passed. Tourists begin to come.

Hitherto many were deterred from
taking this trip but now the long, ard-
uous, winding journey over interminable,
hot, dusty foothill stage roads and rough,
winding mountain grades has been done
away with. A short, direct route places
this wonderland of magnificent scenery
within easy reach. The new Yosemite
Valley Railroad takes you up to the very
edge of the park line at El Portal, leav-
ing only a little over fourteen miles of
delightful staging to place you in the
heart of the valley. At Merced you leave
the Southern Pacific and monotonous
stretches of the great San Joaquin Val-
ley. Here the new line trends eastward
through orte of the most picturesque
canon roads in the world. The yellow
plains are soon left behind. At first the
road winds in and out among the still
rolling hills, but before long you com-
mence to climb more perceptibly. The

Copyright 1908 by The Agassiz Association, Stamford, Conn.

272

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

dry and bare hills give plaee to more rug-
ged ones covered with scrubby trees and
low chaparral. Then comes the wonder-
ful Merced River Canon with its wild
and picturesque scenery. Here for miles
you follow in the wake of the turbulent,
crystal waters, skirting the very edges
of the rugged, boulder strewn banks
which hem in their surging course. You
cross and recross their foaming cascades
and wind steadily upward through the
old historic mining district until vou

and wider ; the cliffs rise above you ;
there are cracks and crevices that seem
nests for multicolored shadows, and
above clouds white against the blue.

To your right looms up Elephant Rock
which, though minus his trunk, towers
ponderously above you, while a little
farther on to your left stands El Capi-
tan, "The Great Chieftain of the Val-
ley," straight and erect, presenting his
glistening and perpendicular walls of
solid granite to your wondering gaze and

MIRROR LAKE, YOSEMITE.
A beautiful natural mirror.

reach El Portal, the terminus of the
mad. The remainder of your journey is
taken by stage, which gives you a brief
and charming taste of staging in the
Sierras.

N> on follow the winding: and rising
mountain road to meet newer and great-
er wonders beautiful beyond description,
though rare spirits like Muir have given
picture writings that carry you into Na-
ture's realm. Always following your
magical river, the valley becomes deeper

at his great height of three thousand
and twelve feet he looks across to liridal
Veil Falls leaping, breaking, falling and
finally misting upward again with in-
numerable iridescent rainbows caught in
her spray. This is Pohono, "Spirit of
the Evil Wind," bewitching and luring
the beautiful Indian maiden to her doom.
Even to this day the Indians avoid this
mystic fall.

Xow you pause at Artist's Point, the
most macrical and entrancing of view

VACATION DAYS IN YOSEMlTES WONDERLAND.

/ 3

points. A great panorama of va'lliey
and granite walls spreads out before
you — the flowing Merced, the green
meadows, the road lost in the tangle of
trees, the bluffs of stone and in the far
distance Half Dome, high and grey and
imposing, seemingly i closed door to the
long div]> valley. You drive on only to
rind beyond the turn Cathedral Rock and
Spires, whose wonderful glacier-marked
turrets indeed suggest a giant temple
whose wonderful power of catching
lights and shadows and changing them
to the most delicate tints of violet and
amber cannot be rivaled. Then von pass
the Sentinel, truly called "The Watch
Tower of the Valley," while across The
Three Brothers look back threateningly
from their lofty elevation of three thou-
sand eight hundred and thirty feet.

Then at a sudden turn in the road
the beautiful Yosemite Falls burst upon
your view. The narrow, surging fall,
widening in its descent, drops only to be
caught in a wide crevice, bursts forth
again in a shorter leap upon a lake-like
ledge of rock and then plunges down its
last three hundred feet in a broken crys-
tal torrent of falls and a rising, shimmer-
ing billow of mist. Yosemite without the
mystic charm of moving waters? No;
the silence of the deep valley calls for
the song of the crystal streams and falls.

But now your driver passes Cam])
Ahwahnee and the Valley Hotel ami
with a flourish and snap of his long black-
whip swings his stage and four into
place before the white tents of Camp
Yosemite. The journey is over at last
and you are ready for the wonder of the
walks and trails.

From the meadows below the camp the
Merced twists and curves and disappears
in the dee]) chaparral. Then for the first
time you really feel how the massive
battlements of stone wall up the vallev
and far above you sharoly cut their sil-
houettes against the blue of the sky.
Walled in! Nothing spoils the irregular
line or the broken sweeo of the opposite
wall and the eye never tires of following
the ragged outline or measuring the steep
and perpendicular heights. Putt from
this stony fortress are avenues of escane,
onward and upward, and a wall that
seems part of your great fortress height
is on nearer approach, the opposite wall

GLACIER POINT.

Height, 3,254 feet.
From here the whole valley spreads out
at your feet, wonderful, awe inspiring.

of a smaller valley. To your left you may
followr a trail through Tenaya Canon,
or to your right, past Happy Isles and

274

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

will take you to the top. From here the
whole valley spreads out at your feet,
wonderful and awe inspiring". Across

YOSEMITE PALLS.

Entire height 2,600 feet.
Here is found the mystic charm of moving-
waters.

niav en

Vernal and Nevada Falls, you
ter the Little Yosemite.

Directly opposite your camp stands
Glacier Point, a summit of bare, upright
faces of rock rising three thousand two
hundred and fifty-four feet above you.
A zigzag trail of four and a half miles

NEVADA FALLS.
"The whole of the Merced River here
plunges down six hundred and five feet
with reverberating and mighty billows of
mist and arching rainbows."

VACATION DAYS IX YOSEM1TES VV( >NDERL VXD.

275

irregular
mountains grow-

are the beautiful Yosemite Kails and
Mirror Lake, back is the wonderful val-
ley; beyond are the wonders of Vernal
and Nevada Falls, Half Dome, North
Dome, Cloud's Rest and the
outline of snow cappe(
ing" higher and fainter until the eye tires
with striving to see what the dim dis-
tance hides.

You return once more to the valley,
and if you turn up Tenaya Canon soon
Mirror Lake breaks upon your view,
only a still pool where the river widens
and then glides on around the base of
Half Dome and joins its waters with
those of the Merced. This little glacier
basin of still water is so surrounded by
high granite walls that not a breath
stirs its polished surface and even in the
summer months the wonderful sunrise
reflected in the depths of the lake does not
come until nearly eight in the morning.
The trees and dome with their delicate
morning tints of violet, amber and
changing greens are here perfectly mir-
roied far below us.

I hit if you follow the Merced and enter
the Little Yosemite a series of magnifi-
cent views are awaiting you. Just be-
fore you leave the floor of the valley the
waters of the Merced are separated by
two densely wooded islands. These are
the Happy Isles. Here at the meeting
of the foaming waters these islands in-
vite you to their alluring shade and many
an hour may drift away before you re-
cross the natural tree bridge and begin
the climb to the higher falls.

When you have gone some five miles
from camp and are crossing a little rus-
tic bridge over the Merced one of the
most beautiful of all the falls, rightly
named Pi-wa-ack, the "Cataract of Dia-
monds," breaks upon your view. These
are Vernal Falls and the wonderful,
foaming volume of plunging water re-
minds you of Niagara and although it
is smaller than that of the eastern won-
der vet it falls nearly twice as far and in
its leap of three hundred and fifty feet
below its sheet of surging water is shat-
tered into millions of brilliants and into
billows of white, foaming spray. A mile
farther on you come to the last of the
large water falls of the Merced. As
Dr. Peck says, "The whole of the Mer-
ced River here plunges down six hundred
and five feet with reverberating and

mighty
bows."

billows of mist and arching rain-

CATHEDRAL ROCK AND SPIRES.
Their wonderful power of catching lights
and shadows and changing them to the
most delicate tints of violet and amber can-
not be rivaled.

276

THE GUIDE TO NATURE

It is with regret that you turn away
and wind up the "zigzags" at the left
hut there are still wonders beyond, i Lore
the Little Yosemite commences and
Cloud's Rest is but six miles off. For
a short distance you still follow the A I cr-
eed and then turn to the north and make
vour last, long, steep climb and Cloud's
Rest is reached. The atmosphere is
keener and colder: below you and around
you is melting snow. To the 3ast Mount
Lyell stands boldly with his snow-white
glacier clinging to his dark, steep side.
[fere the newborn Merced finds its
si turce as a trickling glacier stream
which widens and grows and then out of
treeless slopes, hidden canons and broken
rocks emerges a sharply cut, surging
mountain river. To the west is the San
[oaquin Valley with its dim yellow pat-
ches of heat, beyond the scarcely visible,
blue outline of the Coast Range Moun-
tains and nearer, below you, are stretches
of emerald green meadows, life-giving
spots in this wonderful snow-tipped

mountain wilderness. Here, too, in the
sparkling air the birds sharply cut their
black outlines against the sky and at
your feet in crevices of rocks blooms the
delicate pink Sierra primrose in its set-
ting of green.

Mere, ten thousand feet above the sea,
even Half Dome and Glacier Point seem
far below you. From this high altitude
\ 1 >u get an inspiration to explore all
your eyes fall upon and you delay your
return. To all the charms of mountain
climbing you add the delight and satis-
faction of taking time to see some of Na-
ture's grandest handiwork Small won-
der that you linger long after your com-
panions have gone! You follow spring
up to the highest Alpine meadows and
journey leisurely back to the floor of the
valley along some hidden trail to fall un-
der the charm of Indian summer which
will hold you in its spell until winteron.ee
more comes with its host of followers
and holds sway over his mighty Yosem-
ite stronghold.

EVERY CURVE IX THE ROAD IS AN INTERROGATION POINT TO THE NATURA-
LIST.
Photographed by J. R. Campbell.

Tlll{ OUTDOOR WORLD.

277

INTERESTING SUGGESTIONS AS TO
GALLS.

BY FREDERICK SCHWANKOVSKY JR.,
DETROIT, MICH.
Late in autumn if yon examine the
stems of the golden rod, you will notice
here and there a stem bearing: a huge
globular swelling- as big often as a fair
sized plum. This is a gall ami if you
cut one open you will find in the centre
of it the home of a small grub. "Ques-
tion: How did it get there and why
the swelling;?

The egg hatches and the larva eats into
the stem. .Meantime it excretes a poison
which caused the abnormal growth called
a gall. Each different kind of gall in-
sect uses a particular plant apparently
and, if the galls are placed in bottles not
tightly closed the flies or gnats will
emerge toward spring.

I went further in my investigations
than merely letting the insects peace-
fully emerge. 1 cut a gall of each sort
open from time to time and noted
what change had taken place. in the

A VARIETY OF COMMON GALLS.
A, galls on an oak twig; B, mossy gall on a brier rose; C, bud galls ( pine cone
galls) from willow; D, a peculiar gall found on a brier rose; E, globulous galls from
oak twig; F, wild blackberry galls; G, golden-rod galls.

Last fall T became much interested in
galls and when 1 rode the old horse out
through the woods I used to have an eye
out constantly for them. I collected a
number of varieties, from the golden rod
first and afterward from raspberry bush-
es, from oak trees and willows and from
the wild briar rose.

On investigation I found that the gall
is formed by the larva of gall flies or gall
gnats. The adult places the egg, by
means of her long sting like ovipositor
in the green tissue of the growing plant.

case of the golden rod -gall called Try-
peta Solidaginis of the muscid family,
and therefore a relation of the darling
little house fly, the larva is first found
small and naked, it then increases in size.
Next it pupates, that is its outer skin
dries bard and the grub lies dormant
within it. If a pupa is opened the grub
is found assuming the form of a fly with
little fleshy wings and all of the grub
color. Later still it turns dark and fin-
ally breaks the dry skin and works its
way out of the gall and after crawling

278

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

A DECORATION OF GOLDEN-ROD GALLS.

rather weakly about for a time, takes its
first awkward flight. It is a pretty brown
fly in shape similar to the house fly but
with mottled wings. 1 had never seen
one until I hatched the first one out.

The rose, raspberry and oak gall flies
are more like minute wasps and in the
case of the rose and raspberry galls which
are covered with a mossy growth a num-
ber of flies hatch from each gall. These
are all Hymenopterous or four winged
while Solidaginis is Dipterous or two
winged, and they do not pupate. 1 there-
fore worked a little scheme to observe
them. I sliced a gall carefully exposing
several little chambers each with its grub
and glued over all a thin microscopical
cover glass so that the development was
easily watched. It was most interesting1
to see those little grubs become little
wasps ; to see the eyes show up black,
then the head, then to see the wings form
and finally to let the tiny insect out into
a covered lamp chimney and feed it with
sugar solution. After they are out a few
hours they show rapid changes in the
matter of growth and the loss in the
abdomen of the grubby, squirmy look.
The ovipositor marks the females and is

like a little hair sticking out behind, very
"sting" looking. These little insects have
graceful antennae which are very motile
and altogether they are pert, lit looking
little fellows.

( )n the willows of certain varieties,
winter finds certain swollen dry buds
very like pine cones in appearance and
from these hatch a gall gnat, a dipterous
insect again, but very small with long
narrow wings, more like a mosquito.

This is no effort to describe all the
galls T have collected but I suggest that
the study of galls is exceedingly inter-
esting and very easy and they should be
collected between now and early spring.
I have placed in my collection the gall
and beside it the gall insect of each kind
I have found and consider them one of
my most interesting exhibits. They can
be arranged in "Riker" mounts too, as
1 have Solidaginis with a normal gall, an
opened gall, showing pupa, and unde-
veloped fly, and an imago or adult.

Be careful to kill or remove inmate
of exhibition galls before mounting or
you will keep discovering lively little
uninvited additions to your collection,
as I did.

PO PU I .A R A ST RO N OMV.

279

PdPUL<&R.?\STRqNoMY

THE HEAVENS I> NOVEMBER.

BY GARRETT P. SKRVISS. BROOKLYN, X.Y.

Saturn is the reigning planet in the
evening sky for November this year. He
is well situated for observation, being
near the meridian at 9 o'clock in the
middle of the month. He is in the con-
stellation Pisces, not far from the vernal
equinoctial point, and consequently close
to the equator and the ecliptic at the
same time. The minor axis of the rings
is somewhat shorter than in September
and October, and consequently they ap-
pear less widely opened. They present,
however, a very beautiful spectacle in
the telescope. It is the southern side of
the rings which is now visible, and it is
upon this side that the sun will continue
to shine until 1922, when the rings will
again be edgewise toward the ends, and
after that their northern surface will
cave into the sunshine, as well as into
visibility from the earth. At present
the apparent minor axis of the rings is
less than one tenth of the major axis,
hut this will open wider and wider, year
after year, until in 1915 the minor axis
will be half as great as the major axis,
and the outer border of the rings will
he seen hiding the north pole of the
planet at one side, and projecting out-
ward from behind the south pole on the
other side. No greater pleasure could
he recommended to an amateur astrono-
mer, possessed of a three or four-inch
telescope than that of watching the
gradual opening of Saturn's rings, at
every opportunity, during the next few
years. As they open wider the "crape"
ring, the innermost of the set, becomes
more clearly visible where it crosses the
planet like a shadowy band.

Uranus and Neptune are also even-
ing stars, the former setting and the
latter rising at about the hours for which
the chart is drawn — 9 P. M. November

1st; 7 I'. Al. Nove'mber 30th the other
planets. Venus, Mercury, Mars and
Jupiter are all in the morning sky, strung
out in a row from the constellation Leo
into Virgo. Jupiter is in the eastern end
of Leo, and rises about 2 A. M. on
November 1st, and about midnight on
November 30th. Venus comes next, in
Virgo, rising between 4 and 5 A. Al. on
the 1st. Then follows Mars a half hour
later, near the bright star Spica. Mars
and Venus will be in conjunction on the
30th. Mercury, the swift-footed, ad-
vancing westward from its conjunction
with the sun on Oct. 27th, will reach
its greatest western elongation on the
13th, when it will rise before 6 A. M., in
the eastern part of Virgo.

The Stars and Constellations.
The great attraction of the stellar
heavens in November is found by the
remarkable group of northern constella-
tions called the "Royal Family," includ-
ing Cassiopeia, the Queen, Cepheus, the
King, Andromeda, the Princess, and Per-
seus, the Rescuer, who, according to
the ancient myth, saved Andromeda
from the sea monster, when her family,
by the orders of the jealous sea nymphs,
had chained her on a rock on the sea
coast to become the prey of the monster.
This monster has sometimes been identi-
fied with the huge whale Cetus, which
is seen occupying nearly all the south-
eastern quarter of the sky. Andromeda
is recognizable by a row of three sec-
ond magnitude stars, the westernmost
of which is identical with the northeast-
ern star in the East Square of Pegasus,
which bears the name of Alpheratz.
This marks the head of the chained prin-
cess. The position of her feet is indica-
ted by the star Gamma, the easternmost
of the row. Cassiopeia, "heaven-troubled
queen," is placed between Andromeda
and the pole, and is always easily recog-
nized by the five stars forming the out-

28o

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

line of an irregular letter W. North-
west of Cassiopeia is the king, Cepheus,
whose constellation is rather incon-
spicuous. In our chart five of its prin-
cipal stars are shown. Perseus appears
east of Andromeda and Cassiopeia in the
midst of the Milky Way. His stars form
a bending bow. with a bright star in the
center. Below Perseus hangs the little
group called Medusa's Head, containing

its mysterious dark comrade is consider-
ably more than three-quarters of a mil-
lion miles in diameter. They are only
about three ant! a quarter million miles
apart, measured from center to center.
There will be an eclipse of Algol about
half after 8 o'clock P. M. on Nov. 15th.
The star Gamma, Andromeda, alreadv
mentioned, is a very beautiful double
1 triple with very powerful telescope).

Evening SkyMap for November

Nov., Moon Phases
First Qtr.No
Full Moon, Nov 8
LastQ.tr. Nov 15
New Moon. Nov 23
FirstQtr.Nov 30.

GarretT(WT

FACE50UTHAND
HOLD THE MAP OVER
YOUR HEAD -THE TOP
NORTH. AND YOU WILL SEE
YHESTARSANDPLANETS
JUST AS THEY APPEAR
INTHE HEAVENS

The Arrow Through

THE TWO STARS IN THE

OWL OF THE BIG DIPPER

POINTS TO THE NORTH STAR.

THE STAR AT THE END OF THE

HANDLE OFTHE LITTLE DIPPER

SOUTH

the wonderful variable Algol, which
runs through an astonishing series of
changes in brightness in a regularly
recurring period of two days, twenty
hours and forty-nine minutes. These
changes are believed to be due to par-
tial eclipses produced by a huge dark-
body working around Algol at close quar-
ters. Algol.it has been calculated, con-
siderably exceeds the sun in size, having
a diameter of about a million miles, wlule

South of Gamma is seen the little con-
stellation of Aries, the leader of the
Zodiacal twelve, and south of that again
is the constellation Pisces, the no less
wonderful variable Mira. This differs
entirely from Algol in its variability, its
period of change occupying about eleven
months. When brightest it is sometimes
brilliant, exceeding the second magni-
tude, while, when faintest, it is far be-
yond the range of the naked eye, sink-

POI'l'LAR ASTRONOMY.

■281

ing to the ninth magnitude. Irregular-
ities in its period render predictions of
its maxima somewhat uncertain. It
should have been at a maximum about
the middle of October, and in November
should he seen declining in brilliance.
The middle of the eastern sky is render-
ed glorious by the advance of Taurus
and Auriga, closely followed by Orion
and Gemini. The Pleiades in Taurus are
well up in the sky at the hours represent-
ed by the chart. The two first magnitude
stars. Aldebaran in Taurus, the gem of
the V-shaped cluster called the Hyades,
and Capella. further north, in Auriga,
form a good counterpart in the eastern
heavens to Yega in Lyra and Altair in
Aguila, which, at the same hour, are seen
declining in the west. Far down in the
southwest glitters the lone brilliant
Fomalhaut in the Southern Fish. The
Great Dipper is under the pole, skim-
ming the horizon in the north.

November has long been famous for
its meteors. The celebrated Leonid
meteors, thus called because they radiate
from the constellation Leo, made their
most recorded brilliant display on the
night of Nov. 13th, 1833. In 1866 and
1867 they were again abundant about
Nov. 14th. but when looked for in
November, 1899, their next calculated
period of maximum they were conspi-
cuous by absence. Calculations showed
that the great meteoric swarm had been
drawn wide from its orbit by the at-
traction of the planets Jupiter and Sa-
turn, and they will never be seen again
in similar numbers, resembling a "moun-
tain of fire." But every year from the
14th to the 16th of November more or
less of these meteors are to be seen.
Their radiant point in Leo does not rise
until about midnight, so that they can
best be seen in the early morning hours.
Those visible in the evening will be seen
rising from the eastern horizon. Re-

cent studies have shown that meteors of
different swarms are characterized by

peculiarities of movement and some-
times of color. The Leonids are re-
markable for their swiftness. The small
ones resemble streaks drawn quickly
across the background of the sky. The
moon, which is at Last Quarter on Nov.
15th, will not much interfere by its light
with the visibility of these meteors.
Those who watch them should note care-
fully their paths, and count the number
seen in a given time. From the 17th to
the 23rd of November the Andromeda
meteors are seen, thus named because
they radiate from the constellation An-
dromeda. Some of these have been sup-
posed to be fragments of the lost comet
of Biela. They made brilliant displays
in 1872, 1885, and 1893. These meteors
are characterized by their relatively slow
motion, and by the fiery trains that they
leave behind them. The moon will be
entirely out of the way on Nov. 23, so
that, as far as its light is concerned, the
opportunity will be good for seeing the
Andromeda meteors. They can be ob-
served early in the evening since An-
dromeda rises before sunset.

GLORIFYING THE COMMON PLACE.

But it is only the great poet who has
the courage and power so to see things.
It is only a Homer or a Whitman who
will pass by the pomp and circumstance
of life to glorify some mean and "vulgar"
thing. — as the parting sun will some-
times turn and speed over the shoulder
of the world an arrow dipped in gold , to
set ablaze the windows of some moun-
tain cottage, or burn a needle's eye
through the slender village spire, leav-
ing the casements of the proud palaces
in the plain all blank and undistinguish-
ed.— ECennedv in 'AYalt Whitman."

282

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

WHITE SWAN.

BY GEO. W. KELLOGG, 42 BUENA PLACE,
ROCHESTER, N. Y.

This is an illustration of early morn-
ing possibilities, with a camera, about
the feeding grounds of domesticated
waterfowl. Voluntarily they will come
near, often too near, apparently antici-

pating a breakfast concealed within the
picture machine. At no other time has
so much sociability been manifested or
the white swan seemed so agitated, ap-
parently disappointed because of an an-
ticipated morsel which has not been con-
tributed.

KODAK VIEW OF SWAN.

PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIES OF THE RED-
EYED VIKEO.

BY PAUL G. HOWES, THE MAPLEWOOD
FARM, STAMFORD, CONN.

Of all our vireos no other is so widely
distributed as this modestly colored little
songster, who makes his home in our
shade trees, or in our orchards. He
sings incessantly from early morning un-
til sunset and at times he is almost mono-
tonous to those who do not have a na-
tural love for our birds. His clear and
almost liquid "Viry,". . ."Vireo" may be
heard at times during the day when no
other bird voice breaks the monotony of
the "Zeeeeeee" of the countless numbers
of cicadas. He also continues his song"
late into the fall when most other birds
have long since stopped. One can al-
most believe that he is telling you some-
thing, then stops as if thinking it over
for a few seconds and finally ends by
asking you, "Is it not so," "You believe
me?" "Surely it is."

There has been some discussion about
the color of the eye of this bird, some
saying it is not red but brown, others
saying it is not brown but red, however
in the many birds' which I have come in
contact with the eye has been neither, or
you might say both, it being a mixture
of the two but, if anything more red than
brown.

The birds arrive from the south dur-
ing the second week in May, but do not
commence building their nest until the
latter part of that month or the first or
second week in June. It requires from

THE CAMERA.

283

THE FEMALE VIREO PLACING FOOD IN THROAT OF A NESTLING.

five to seven days to complete the nest ;
built of coarse needles on the exterior,
and lined with finer hark or pine needles
on the interior. The outside of the
nest is also ornamented with small
pieces of lichen which are fastened
on with cobwebs. The nest is
always placed in a crotch where the
limb splits and is very tightly woven into
the Y of the limb. The nests vary in
height from thirty-six inches to forty
feet above the ground and are always
pensile. It is most always at the very
tip of the branch woven into the endmost
crotch. The tree chosen for the nest is
of any kind, but there seems to be a
slight preference for maple. The full
number of eggs usually laid is four, they
are pure white with a few specks of
blackish brown mostly around the largest
end.

An egg of the Cowbird (Molothrus
ater) may often be found in the nest.
I once found a nest containing three
eggs of the cowbird and none of the
vireo. In such a case it should be made
a point to destroy one or more of the
eggs, for if all three cowbird's eggs

should hatch the vireos would have such
a hard time finding enough food for
them, that the}' would not have time to
obtain enough nourishment for them-
selves and so would likely die of hunger,
so devoted are they to their young.

It was just after returning from a
visit to Long Island in the latter part
of June, 1908, that my brother informed
me of a Red-eyed Vireo's nest that he
had found just previous to my return.
The trusting birds had chosen a white
ash tree on our lawn and had built their
nest but three feet from the ground.

Here was a chance for a study of bird
parentry not to be found every day, and
the following afternoon (June 21) found
me at work. About two o'clock that
afternoon after having watched the
brooding female for a half an hour, she
suddenly became uneasy and kept mov-
ing about in the nest, then settled down
again, in another minute she hopped out
of the nest paused on the brim for a
second, then flew in a straight line
through the shrubbery and out of sight.

At this point I ventured over to the
swinging cradle and on looking in found

284

THE GLIDE TO NATURE.

XEST AND EGGS OF THE RED-EYED VI REO.

that the first little nestling" had just split
the wall of his prison. After looking at
it for a minute 1 hacked off and had not
gone far when the female bird returned
accompanied by the male. They both
alighted on the edge of the nest and anx-
iously watched their naked and helpless
baby. Occasionally one of the old birds
would pick off a small piece of shell to
aid the young" bird in hatching".

'1 he nestling' was almost naked except-
ing tor a streak of yellowish down which
at first 1 had not noticed. The beak had
a yellow rim and the throat was also of
a yellowish hue.

Immediately alter the young bird
batched the old bird started feeding it
with small green worms. Now was my
chance to set up my camera and com-
mence getting the old birds used to mv

'They would always eye every nestling
carefully before feeding.

During the hottest part of the day the
female Vireo would sometimes come to
the nest to shade the young from the sun.

THE CAMERA.

28;

being near to their nest. This was not
long as the birds were very trusting and
soon hecame quite tame. After setting
up my camera I attached a short line to
the button on the camera then sat down
under a nearby beech tree and awaited
results. In about eighteen minutes the
female bird returned with a small green
worm, eyed her nestling for a few sec-
onds then stuffed it down the young
bird's throat and was gone. This time
to return in ten minutes, and after feed-
ing the young bird, watched it closely
'till the food disappeared down its throat
then hopped into the nest and commenced
to brood. Here I left them for the day

the young ones would hang their heads
over the v<\ii;v of the nest and in a few
seconds would go fast asleep until the
wind jarred the branch which held the
nest or some bird would call near to the
nest, then up would go all three heads,
each straining to its uttermost in hopes
of being first fed hut only to be fooled
and drop hack into the nest to continue
their sleep.

It was not until now that the male bird
who had been continually singing on the
previous days in the to]) of his nesting
tree, commenced to help his mate in the
task of feeding the young who had now
grown considerably, they being three

'Then up would go all three heads each
straining to its uttermost."

Both the Vireos at the nest.

as they were getting rather nervous at
the click of the shutter and my moving
back and forth to change the plate-hold-
ers.

( )n the morning of the twenty-second
the nest contained another nestling and
on the morning of the twenty-third, an-
other. 1 took no more photographs on
these two days, but on the afternoon of
the twenty-fourth 1 snapped a beautiful
one of the female as she alighted at the
nest to shade the young from the sun.
and another as she placed food in the
throat of a nestling.

Between the visits of the parent bird

days old. commencing to feather out and
with ravenous appetites. From this date
I took no more photographs until the
afternoon of June 2J, when I was lucky
in getting a portrait of both birds, the
male feeding the young with a large
moth, and the female standing on the
edge of the nest with a long slender
worm waiting for the male to finish.

When the birds would come to the
nest they would always light in the cen-
ter of the nesting tree and from there
work their way to the nest in a zig zag
course. When leaving the nest they
would always ho]) to a certain nearby

286

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

branch then, after cleaning their beak,
would fly in a straight line from it.

It was of much interest to watch the
methods employed by the old birds in
cleaning" the nest. As soon as an excre-
ment appeared in the nest it would be re-
moved by the next bird which came to
the nest. After feeding the young the
parent would pick up the excrement and
fly some distance with it before dislodg-
ing it from its mandibles. If there was
more than one excrement in the nest the
old bird would calmly swallow one and
fly off with the other.

Bv July second the young birds com-
menced to show signs of dissatisfaction
when I approached the nest. On the
morning of the third, one jumped out of
the nest and, although I replaced it time
and again, once it had tasted nature's
freedom the old home had attraction no
more for the restless young vireo. Next
morning, July 4, another was gone.
This one was soon followed on the morn-
ing of the fifth bv the last one of the
brood. Here ended my happy two weeks
with the vireos and as I almost daily pass
the old and dilapidated nest, pleasant
recollections never fail to enter my mind.

STUDIES OF THE GREY SQUIRRELS.

BY JOHN S. FERNAUD, BELFAST, ME.

Several of the cities and villages of
Maine have colonies of what may be
termed semi-domesticated pets, the
grey squirrels of the near-by wood-lots

having moved in and made themselves
homes among the trees of the streets.
In the summer of 1902 such a colony
emigrated to Belfast, and the descend-
ants of the original families still abide
in peace and contentment. The people
generally received them kindle from
the first, and even the mischievous
small boy soon changed from throwing
stones and shooting with air guns to
carrying supplies of peanuts and acorns
for feeding the little visitors. The
squirrels soon became very tame and
would run to and climb upon the cloth-
ing of any person showing a friend-
ly disposition. At many houses the
squirrels became dailv visitors, often
going into the various rooms in search
of their human friends.

But cats and dogs have not yet
learned to regard the squirrels as other
than their legitimate prey, and in avoid-
ing the attacks of these enemies the
little fellows often show remarkable
traits. The first pair that came to my
house were soon marked by the cats
of the neighborhood, and when the
usual hour for their morning visit ar-
rived the place was blockaded by a cor-
don of felines. One morning my
squirrel visitors failed to appear, but
the next day, as I was working at my
desk, they both came in through the
dining room, which was located just in
the rear of my study. They had run
the blockade of cats in front of the

KODAK STUDIES OF GREY SQUIRRELS.

THE CAMERA.

287

house by going around the buildings,
through a back street and the garden,
and coming in through the open win-
dow of the dining room. They kept
this up until the cats became tired of
waiting and raised the blockade.

Among the cats were two to which
my attention was especially directed
by the difference in behavior of the
squirrels towards them. These cats
were known as Fluff and Frank.
Fluff was a large, fat Angora, slow and
clumsy, but with a vigorous appetite
for squirrel meat. Frank was short-
haired, lean and active, and with an
equally vigorous longing for squirrels.
It was a common si^ht for a grey squir-
rel to be digging for buried nuts with-
in a few feet of Fluff, and when she
would make a jump for him, he sprang
nimbly to the nearest tree or fence post,
from which he read her the riot act by
a savage chattering and quick snapping
of his bushy tail. But let Frank ap-
pear in sight, and while he was yet a
long way off everv squirrel in the vi-
cinity would hie himself forthwith to
the tallest tree available, and onto the
small branches that would not bear the
weight of a cat.

That they recognize their friends
they show in many ways. I once went
out with a horse-whip to drive away a
dog that was chasing squirrels, and had
one "treed" in a small shrub in the
yard. Although every blow I struck
at the dog swished close to the little
fugitive he seemed to realize that no
harm was intended for him, and kept
quiet until the dog was driven away,
when he came down and ran up on my
shoulder. But after a dog drives a

cat away from a squirrel the little chap
shows no such confidence in his pro-
tector, but still gives him a wide berth.

But squirrels seldom fall victims to
either cats or dogs, their quickness and
ability to run up trees and out upon
branches where cats cannot follow
proving their safety. In fact I never
saw but two squirrels killed by other
animals. One became stalled in deep
snow, and the other fell while jumping
from one tree to another, and alighted
between two dogs.

But the skill with which they avoid
the camera is a puzzle to the amateurs.

While it is comparatively easy to get a
photo of a squirrel at long range, he
will depart in a most lively manner if
he sees a camera pointed at him at close
quarters. A squirrel will sit on the
window sill at my elbow and eat nuts
from mv side pocket as I operate a
typewriter, but if some one tries to
point a camera at him the place which
knew him knows him no more that day.

THE SMUGGLER'S CAVE.

BY L. J. GIIvLELAND, AYTON, ONTARIO.

The photograph of "The Smuggler's
Cave" was taken in the Gagheto Islands.
Between the years 1843 and 1850 these
islands were all activity owing to the
enormous quantities of fish taken from
the waters around the islands. Whiskey

w .*- -

1

7IH

YJ

LOOKING OUT FROM THE SMUGGLER'S
CAVE.

was smuggled in to sell to the Indians
and whites engaged in the fisheries.
The liquor was hidden in fissures and
cave-like openings in the rocks caused
by the action of the waves. As the
water receded, some of the "caves" were
left quite dry. The picture is a view
looking outward from one.

288

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

THE COKBELATION OF INTEREST AM)
OBSERVATION.

I have somewhere read of a lady who
on calling at the studio of a famous
painter (Turner, T think) thought to
criticise a great painting of a sunset on
which the master was at work.

She said, somewhat superciliously, "I
never see all those colors in nature."

The reply was, "No, madam, you
don't; hut don't you wish you could?

To those who are not naturalists, it
seems strange that we, who are, can be-
come enthusiastic over "commonplace na-
ture with uncommon interest" and revel
in it.

John Burroughs, in The "Century
Magazine," writes as follows of this art
of seeing things :

"I once spent a summer day at the
mountain home of a well-known literary
woman and editor. She lamented the
absence of birds about her hou-e. 1
named a half-dozen or more I had heard
or seen in her trees within an hour- -the
indigo-bird, the purple finch, the yellow
bird, the veery thrush, the red-eyed
vireo, the song sparrow, etc.

'Do you mean to say you have seen
or heard all these birds while sitting hen-
on my porch?' She inquired.

" '1 really have.' I said.
'I do not see them or hear them,' she
replied, 'and yet I want to very much.'

"'No/ said I; 'you only want to want
to see and hear them.'

"You must have the b<'rd in your heart
before you can hiui it in the bush."

Every naturalist, I suppose, has fre-
quently impressed upon him how many
interests in this world go to waste with
most people. Strange, isn't it, how many
trivial and artificial things gain suore-
macy in popularity? With what feeling
of pity or of kindly toleration the great
mass of mankind looks at the pursuits
of real students and lovers of nature!
They seem to regard such thing? as a
species of harmless lunacy.

I once saw a sign hanging out o/er
the street in front of a saloon. It bore
this legend which was supposed to invite
passers by to conviviality: "As we jour-
ney through life let us live by the way."
How true but how much better applied
to living in touch with nature than to
carousal and debauch with one of na-
ture's by-products.

Lack of interest causes most persons
to miss many of the best things of this
life, to fail of most satisfactory living
by the way. To many this life is a dreary
valley of Raca, of which the Psalmist,
said that he, passing through, was able to
make it a well.

Recently one of my neighbor's be-
came interested in honeybees. Every-
thing then centered in honevbees. When
he took a walk it was to examine flowers
and see what kinds the bees visited for
nectar. Likewise to members of his
family ever) thing pertaining to bees
had immediate attention.

In the latter part of October he called
excitedly to say that all the bloom of the
asters and the golden-rod on a certain

EDITORIAL AND GENERAL.

280

hillside was "covered'' with a new kind
of honeybee and "in all my life I never
saw anything- like them." Me had
caught in a bottle several of these "new
species of bee." The same day one of
his daughters who is a teacher brought
home "a new honeybee" caught on a
window pane in her schoolroom.

As our naturalist reader at once sur-
mises, they had each caught specimens
of the well known bee flies. It was
difficult, however, to convince the man
that they are not undescribed bees, will
not sting and are very plentiful in some
fourteen hundred varieties! He found it
an interest and a pleasure to learn about
their habits, structure, etc., and did so
with all the delight of original dis-
covery ; he was a veritable Columbus in
a new world where he had to "prod him-
self" to realize that it was not all a
dream and that these things had existed
all his life but that he had never be-
fore seen them.

Strange, isn't it, how many persons
are blind to the interesting things in na-
ture? It makes us feel guilty to think
that we have so much of this world's
goods, in wonder and interest, when so
many fellow beings are self-doomed to
go through the world with open eyes yet
seeing not.

What a colony of institutions could be
established for the mentally blind!

DO BLACKBIRDS DECEIVE THEMSEL-
VES?

Recently while visiting at the home of
Mr. H. E. Deats of Flemington, N. J.,
one of the AA members, my attention
was called to the large number of black-
birds that roosted in the evergreen trees
around the house. It was an interesting-
fact and a very noticeable one that when
we went out in the evening with lan-
terns, or clapped our hands, the birds
made a noise as if the entire flock had
taken to flight. One felt that the trees
were entirely filled with moving birds.
but when we stood perfectly still the
were noiseless, and we had the impres-
sion that they had flown to some other
place. A little later in the vear upon
visiting at the home of Mr. F. P. Hills,
Delaware, Ohio, the observation was re-
peated. Mr. Hill's house is in a nicely
settled part and one of the finest residen-

tial sections of the town. For several
years blackbirds in large numbers have
persistently made their home in the trees
near his residence. There are trees all
alone the street, on both sides, vet the
blackbirds persist, in spite of all sorts of
devices to frighten them away, in mak-
ing their homes in these special trees.
Mr. Hills told me that he had obtained
a special permit to shoot them, had per-
mitted boys to shoot them, had electri-
cians string electric lights along the tree
tops so that the trees could be instantly
illumined. 1 le had fired roman candles
in large numbers into the branches, and
vet in spite of all these hints, the unwel-
come guests persist in remaining.

1 repeated the experiment as made in
New Jersey. A sudden noise such as
clapping the hands, made such "a sound

of a going in the tops of the

trees" that it gave the impression that
the entire flock had been frightened and
had instantly departed for regions not
known. But the facts of the case were
that not a bird had left the tree; the sud-
den turning 011 of an electric light show-
ed that every bird had simply stood up-
right on the limb and vigorously flapped
its wine's. Xow what we want to know
is : do these birds believe this sound to be
a shield and a concealment? We are
familiar with the story of the ostrich
that, when fiercely pursued, thrusts its
head into the sand and thus cannot see
its pursuers, and so considers itself safe,
and one can but wonder whether or not
these blackbirds make these sounds in
such intensity that they cannot hear the
noise of the supposed enemy, and thus
think that they have escaped, because
they hear nothing but the rustling of
their own movements.

There are many lessons to be drawn
from the delusion of the ostrich or of
these blackbirds, but these I leave to the
reader.

Speaking of blackbirds reminds me of
an incident that I must relate. For sev-
eral years, a flock of blackbirds, in a
manner similar to that detailed above,
had made its home in two or three trees
in the yard on one of the residential
streets in Hartford, Connecticut. The
resident on whose premises these birds
were thought to tell me the story for
publication. He sent a copy of "The

290

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Hartford Courant" with two photo-
graphs that he had taken. These were
forwarded in the evening mail, and I
received them at <j.i5 the next forenoon
at my home in Stamford, Connecticut.
While I was busy reading his story,
members of my family said, "Come to
the window and see the large number
of blackbirds in our trees."
filled with a noise of their
the rustling of the leaves,
around our house that da\
the next and then departed to regions
unknown. It surely was a curious coin-
cidence. I will not claim that they came
along to verify the story of their exist-
ence ! 1 must admit it gave me a cur-
ious mental emotion to see the flock just
as I was reading about it. The next
morning's mail brought a letter from the
Hartford resident, stating that the prev-
ious evening the flock had gone off to the
southeast. It was in all probability the
same flock.

The air was

cackling and

They stayed

and part of

FROM TWO POINTS OF VIEW.

What a variety in every bit of natural
scenerv ! As a child might sit with a

kaleidoscope and turn it around and
around tirelessly for an entire evening,
accompanied with frequent exclamations
of delight, so may the true nature lover,
day after day and in unceasing delight,
travel around and around any natural
scene. I think that we naturalists often
attempt too much. Linnaeus had the
proper spirit when he said to a pupil a»
he laid his hand on a bit of moss, "Heic
is sufficient material for the study of a
life-time." And he might well have ad-
ded, "Admiration and entertainment for
a lifetime."

It is not necessary to keep going for-
ward to find ever changing scenes of
beauty. If the beautiful scene under
consideration will not turn, then get the
different points of view by rotating
yourself. One of my favorite haunts
of nature near my own home bears thus
turning-thirty-two points of the compass
every day in the year. Herewith I show
north and south points of view from the
same center. They are distinct enough
and different enough to be totally dif-
ferent scenes in two totally different
places, and varied enough to necessitate

LOOKING SOUTH.

EDITORIAL AND GENERAL

291

LOOKING NORTH.

no further travelling". Other views from
the same center, if we had space to
spare, would furnish an unlimited num-
ber of aspects — all of great interest and
attractiveness. I wish I could photo-
graph the region from at least eight
points of view and focus all their beauty
into one and make a sort of concentrated
intensified, composite photograph. But
perhaps that would be too much. Its
beauty would be too great to be endured.

And yet the scene itself is equalled by
many others, and as much variation may
be found here at different times a- in
other similar places. And then to think
that all these different localities have
their different points of view in unending
time in never repeating phases. But
stop ; the geometrical progression is too
great. One's lifetime is not long enough.

We naturalists should feel guilty
Sometimes I do. We have accumulated

more wealth than we merit. We would
gladly distribute to others, if others were
prepared to make good use of it. It
would even be enough if others could be
induced to realize that they have the
wealth, and that it is a present.

But to return from the soliloquy for a
moment. Sometime I shall photograph
a "wheel" of beauty — perhaps one bank
of the brook, perhaps the frog pond or
the knoll, as a record of my journey
through the changing scenes of the year,
perhaps of two, or even three years. —
there is no stopping.

Wouldn't you also like to go with the
"compass wheel" in its wandering down
the path of time?

You may. There is enough of this
wealth, thanks to a generous nature, to
"go around" and to give all a super-
fluity.

292

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

NATURE INTEREST OF A "BUSINESS"
MAX.

BY K. EART. DUBOIS, oOl >K X SIU ' RC,, NEW
YORK.

Dr. Bigelow has asked me to write a
brief sketch telling "how I became in-
terested in nature and why that interest
continues."

The first of these questions I cannot
answer because I cannot remember a

E. EARL DUBOIS.

time in my early life when I was not, in
some way, interested in nature. 1 was
born in that beautiful section of northern
Xew \ ork known to modern romance
as the "North Country." My home was
on a farm in a somewhat secluded spot
about ten miles from the city of Ogdens-
burg, my present home. On one side
one could see the cloud capped Adiron-
dack Mountains whose forests, lakes and
rivers are ever a delight and inspiration.
On the other side, only a few miles away,
was the Saint Lawrence River with its
picturesque islands and rapids. On our
own home farm were woods and creeks
and ponds and everything a naturalist
could wish. Not living near enough to
a city or a village to have verv much
society and having my attention turned
nature- ward, almost unconsciously, by
observing parents, 1 could scared v help
becoming a nature student and forming

in childhood a background for my life
which will never disappear.

Me fore 1 was very old I had named
almost every plant which grew within
several miles of my home and identi-
fied about one hundred species of wild
birds. As soon as the extension work
in nature study was started by Cornell
University I became interested in it and
have, ever since, received a great deal
of benefit from the study of their publi-
cations and the personal aid and ac-
quaintance of their force of teachers.
Later on in school work these tendencies
led me to specialize in botany and the
physical sciences. The impressions of
my early life thus became determining
factors in my education.

The continuance of my interest in na-
ture is a natural result of my view of
life and that view, as I have just indi-
cated, has been determined by environ-
ment and early training. There is one
object or aim in life which I believe
to be of supreme importance; that is. to
put one's life in harmony with environ-
ment, with nature, and only bv working
toward tin's ideal can we get the most
out of life and do our best work
in any special field. To put his life in
harmony with nature, a man must be
familiar with natural things, must be a
nature student and have a working
knowledge of the forces that surround
and control his life. In view of these
facts, I believe that nature study is a
practical thing, rather than an esthetic
fad; a study for the masses, rather than
for the few. When J was on my father's
farm I found in nature study an aid to
intelligent farming. When I was in
school it deepened my interest in litera-
ture and natural science subjects. Later
when I, somewhat reluctantly, took up a
business career I feared I w< >uld lose my
interest in nature but 1 have not. After
spending three years in active business I
have just as much interest in nature as
I ever had and do a great deal of nature
study work. These experiences lead me
to believe that nature study is just as
valuable to the practical man as to any
other.

And yet 1 would not place too much
emphasis on the practical side of nature
study. In even sphere of life we often

KDIToRlAL AM) GENERAL.

29-

come to knowledge through love. S<>
many people, through the appreciation
of beauty and a sense of the love and care
of the Creator as it is manifested in na-
ture, have been led to an intimate knowl-
edge of nature and an abiding trust in
the justice of her laws.

In this brief sketch I have given not
mere facts about my work as a nature
student, but have rather tried to give a
few opinions on nature study which are
the result of my own experience. 1 feel
that ray life has not only been made hap-
pier but that, in every way, 1 have been
able to do better work because I have
been and still am interested in nature.
I11 closing, if there is any message 1
w 1 tuld have some other student take from
these remarks, it is this: Go to nature,
not only for pleasure and inspiration,
but for knowledge that is of practical
value in your life work. Engraft your
life upon her all embracing strength and
go out to meet your dailv task with a
new sense of power.

for the express purpose of nature study
the members also give great encourage-
ment to out door life and fresh air.

the winter meetings are held

AN EFFICIENT NATURE CLUB.

i'.Y CHAS. E. RARNES, I! \TTI.E CREEK, MIC II.

The Nature club of Battle Creek,
Mich., which has had a continuous and
successful existence for the past eight
years, is a unique organization. Formed

1 hirim

weekly, at which papers are read and
talks given on various natural history
subjects, followed by discussions. These
meetings are very interesting and prof-
itable. Hut just as soon as the snow is
of] the- ground in the spring, then the
outings of the club begin, and no more
indoor gatherings are held. Spring,
summer and fall are spent in the open.
The members take no stock in "parlor
naturalists." Field work and study from
the great book of nature is their creed.
So much has been published in the local
papers about the outings of this club,
that people generally in this city have
caught the outing spirit, and hikes and
peclestrial trips and cross-country walks
have become popular with everybody.
The club outings are taken part in by
from a dozen to fifty members. These
are very enjoyable, especially when a
dinner is cooked over a camp fire in back
woods style. The chef of the club is
.Mr. X. Y. Green, assistant cashier of
the City bank, and a good cook he is.
The country about Battle Creek is a
paradise for nature lovers. There are
within a radius of thirty miles about the
city 435 lakes, besides the beautiful

CAMP SCENE OF BATTLE CREEK NATURE CLUB.
The big man on the right of the photograph is Mr. Charles E. Barnes, the presi-
dent of the club, and the gentleman next to him is Mr. Green, the chef.

294

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Kalamazoo river and many picturesque
creeks. The accompanying photo is the
camp scene of an outing on last Labor
Day. At a near-by lake, by the side of
a large spring of clear cold water, a
camp fire was made and a dinner cooked
for the entire party by Mr. Green. Beef-
steak, corn, bacon and potatoes were
cooked and excellent coffee made. With
this menu were served the usual acces-
sories brought to a picnic by the ladies.
The dessert consisted of a big load of

¥

water and musk melons obtained at a
nearby farm. The dinner was served to
the ladies by the gentlemen, so that the
former had nothing to do but to partake
of the novel repast, and to enjoy it, which
they did. Only those who have cooked
over a camp fire in the woods know how-
good such a meal is, and how heartily
it is relished. This outing is typical of
those taken by the club, only no mention
is made of the field work accompanying
them.

( ORRESPONDENCE

AND

Information

APPRECIATES NATURE

Apollo, Pa.

To tiik Editor:

'"Devoted to commonplace Nature" at-
tracted my attention to the first number
I saw. That is what I think is needed.
To attract the masses to an appreciation
of common natural life. It is not neces-
sary to know the botanical name of a
flower to appreciate its beauty or enjoy
its fragrance, nor to be schooled in the
scientific classification of birds and but-
terflies to know their common names and
enjoy their acquaintance. How gladly
we welcome even a slight acquaintance
in a strange city. Thus does one feel
who meets a bird or butterfly and can say,
"There goes a grosbeak, catbird or vireo,
or a monarch, an admiral or an angle
wing. In one of my daily routes while
attending a fever patient in the country a
distance of four miles, in less than two
weeks' time I noted thirty species of
birds. A farmer, an intelligent man,
who saw me with a young cedar
bird asked me if it was a native.
He was surprised at my statement
that I had seen a large flock on his farm.
"Still," he said, "I know a blackbird, a
crow or a robin and that's about all."
All along the roads every summer we see
the mangled remains of snakes, not ven-
omous but useful ones. They are killed
by the passerby as a matter of course.

He gives no thought as to their harm-
lessness nor usefulness. The old Hebrew-
notion that the serpent is responsible for
the sins of our race has much to do with
the bruising of their heads even unto this
day. Nine out of every ten persons
would spare the white cabbage butterfly
which causes the destruction of thous-
ands of dollars' worth of cabbage every
year, yet crush the life out of a salaman-
der or a harmless snake which lives on
vermin or worms and beetles. The
economy of Nature would be better fur-
thered if we interfered less with her
laws.

Very truly yours.

T. J. Henry. M. D.

A BEAR "ON A DRUNK"

Margaretville, N. J.
To The Editor: —

Farmers have considerable trouble
during the autumn months with their
cattle which devour large quantities of
apples. These apples ferment in the
stomachs of the cows and cause them to
have all the appearances of being drunk.
The animals will stagger from side to
side, hang their heads and are unable to
walk. Scarce a farmer in a section where
apples grow in the pasture fields but has
the experience some time during the fall
of one or more of his cows becoming
drunk on apples. The debauch of the

CORRESPONDENCE AND INFORMATION.

295

cows renders them useless for the re-
mainder of the season. In fact, it often
happens that they have to he fatted
and killed for heef as their milk pro-
ducing qualities are destroyed perman-
ently.

I relate the above as the introduction
to a remarkable bear capture that took
place in this section not long ago.

Colonel Willard Kittle, who lives
some distance back in the mountains.
has the reputation of being the best bear
hunter in the Catskills. Many a black
fellow has fallen before the Colonel's
gun or has been caught in his big traps
during the past twenty years. He says
that he thinks no more of killing a bear
than most hunters do of bagging a por-
cupine or a woodchuck. He does not
kill them for the sport but because he
may secure some revenue from their
pelts and from their meat, which he sells
to his neighbors when they will buy it
from him. The Colonel says there is
nothing exciting in the ordinary capture
of a bear, for the "Varmits are such a
tormented nuisance."

But the veteran bear hunter had an
experience this fall that was novel and
far out of the ordinary.

In his yard there are a number of
apple trees which were well laden this
season ,but from which the Colonel neg-
lected to gather the apples.

He was awakened from his sleep one
night by a series of grunts in his yard,
but thought nothing of the matter until
morning, when he was surprised, on
going out of doors, to behold a big black
bear under one of the apple trees, as the
Colonel says, "Stone drunk."

Bruin had been attracted by the apples
and like the fox in the fable he had eaten
more than his fill. The apples had fer-
mented in his stomach as they do in the
stomachs of the cattle and he had been
unable to get away. He made a few
feeble growls at the Colonel but could
not rise to his feet and was at the mercy
of the bear hunter.

The Colonel is not sentimental, and
did not care to waste good powder on
the drunken bear, so he went to the house
and secured the big butcher knife that
he kills hogs with in the fall and cut the
bear's throat as though Bruin had been

a common fat pig in the pen.

Ci.akkxck A. Sanford.
Editor "The Catskill Mountain News.'*

THE LITTLE WIDOW.

To THE Editor :

She is not an object of beauty. She
displays none of those radiant tints
changing with each motion ; reflecting it
would seem both rainbow and sun. She
belongs to a most respectable family in
Figeondom — the Homers. No more
stately birds step or wing anywhere in
the States than her progenitors. No
more iridescent plumage ever shone on
any of the race than that displayed by
the pair that brooded over her.

As though nature intended to invent
something new and uncanny, and so
failed to conform to general rule but
one bird occupied the nest ; occupied at-
tention that house-keeping time.

What intention of utility, or of im-

ff

"SHE IS NOT AN OBJECT OF BEAUTY."

provement on old-time specimens in
bird-life actuated nature in creating a
new model, the present does not reveal.
That there was an intention seems to be
proven by the fact that, shortly after the
advent of this youngster, new we believe
to ornithologists, another iridescent

^96

THE GLIDE TO NATURE.

little matron brooded over a similar odd-
ity in a near-by nesting-place.

To-day the little widow passes up and
down on foot amid her kind: partaking
of their feasts, hustling' out of the way
of their drooping or uplifted wingsi;
fluttering in wingless fashion to bathe
or drink beside them, but while she is
ever alert for her own safety in this
winged, restless company, none ever
seem to notiee she is there.

If any realize that she is a scion of
the old stock they utterly ignore the
knowledge. She is never wooed to take
up lodging in the dove-eotes, she cir-
culates unnoticed among her own but
her own know her not, and she drifts'
back month in and month out, toward
human companionship, and shelters quite
alone in the little box by the human
hearth-stone.

Conditions were different with her at
one time. There was one little friend
who made no delay in wooing her on
first sight. Like herself, a new though
unimproved model of his kind, he missed
not only the beauty but the utility of
plumage, and beat the air fruitlessly
with his feathcrless wings, endowed only
with downless quills : gazed with appar-
ent longing after the circling creatures
of his kind, who swept above and around
him but learned to know that for him

the joy of Might was denied.

It has not been so very long since the
two occupied the little box in company,
and the little wife carried sticks and
straws in the corner with thoughts of
house-keeping. Those were happy days
for her, even if the master of the house
• lid give her an occasional rap over the
head if she displeased him, nor did she
ever retaliate, but would stand back and
look at him like some exaggerated ques-
tion mark while many a quill stood stiff-
ly on end ; this was all.

But there have been no straws or
sticks carried to the box for many a
week. That all ended with the day when
the little mate lay bloody and dead on
the lawn, and there was a new bird-
grave under the apple tree.

Having no useable wings to carry her
where she would in hunting for her little
lover, she must have been very tired in
those first days when she was always
going ; seldom resting.

The little widow seems to possess all
the character qualities requisite for an
acceptable and adored heroine, but if
you will observe her portrait you will
discover why she is ignored by every
dove of the cotes, and why she drifts
back day by day alone to the little box
by the human hearth-stone.

Georgk Kungle.

BYAID
THE LENS

WIN OS HOOKED XOGETHEB IN FLIGHT.

Some one has said, "Mow well nature
rewards looking into even the smallest
matters !" The wing of an insect is a
small matter, so giuzy, so apparently
delicate and yet so strong; with its brac-
ing veins that run between the two thin
membranes that form the organ ; the
hairs and bristles on the two surfaces;
and perhaps most interesting of all, the

fold and the hooks which the honeybee
possesses and without which the insect
would be deprived of a good deal of its
wing power.

Bees have four wings, two on each
side. To have these two act independ-
ently of each other or even partly so
would be a waste of muscular force and
would result in a weak and uneven flight
or in none. Nature does her little things

SEEING BY AID OF THE LENS.

297

with as much care as her big things, per-
haps with more. The two wings on each
side of the bee's body must act together.
Nature might have given the bee onl)
one broad wing" on each side but she did
not. Now what can she do to make the
two act as one. when the bee so desires?
The insect must move and labor in nar-
row places. To have one wide wing
standing: stifflv out on each side would be

WING OF HONEYBEE, SHOWING KOOKS
(ON UPPER EDGE).

disastrous, for such appendages in such
narrow places would soon become torn
and ragged and such an arrangement
would in time result in undesirable modi-
fications of the bee"s structure. 1 cannot
imagine how I should go about the solv-
ing of such a problem, yet nature has
accomplished it in so simple a way that
almost anybody might have done it if
he had onl}' thought of it. But nature
has turned under the inner margin of the
front wing so as to form a permanent
fold, while on the outer edge of the
lower or hindmost wing she has placed
a series id* hooks. "As the anterior (up-
per) wing moves outward into position
for flight, its down turned plait passes
over the upper surface of the lower wing
and is caught by the upturned hooks;
and now the two wings, wedded into
one, strike the air: but at the moment
the fixing insect settles, these, by falling-
back into position, become immediately
free, since the plait simply slips from
the hooks, and the wings take up their
superposed position." Simple, isn t it 1
And isn't its simplicitv beautiful?

Another advantage in such an ar-
rangement is that since the bee's wings
move at so prodigious a rate (some-
times reaching four hundred and forty
vibrations a second) a single narrow
wing would not afford sufficient lilting
power; but when the surface is more
than doubled by hooking two together
a different result is attained, the united
wide membrane beats the air with a
musical hum, the bee soars aloft and
vanishes. It is only matter of a fold
and a row of hook's.

"How well nature rewards looking
into even the smallest matters!"

A SUV LITTLE FUNGUS.

BY MISS W

C. KNOW I. iiS, WASHINGTON,
Co.\ XI-X'TKT'T.

A never failing trout brook which
flows through shady woods and across
green meaaows has guided me to many
interesting discoveries. It did so recent-
ly. After tramping through the under-
brush one August day, I was about to
cross this little stream when the shadow
of a bird's wing in the alder thicket
startled me, and as 1 paused to watch
the play of sunlight on the yellowing
cinnamon ferns which grew along the
bank my attention was attracted by a
small orange colored club that peeped

THE FUNGUS GROWING ON AN INSECT

CHRYSALIS.
Fastened to a. white card by two threads.

298

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

from beneath a decaying' log among the
ferns at my feet.

I poked my finger dee]) into the moist
sand and pulled up a queer little fungus
growing out of the head of a small chrys-
alis. The tip of the orange club with
its white patches plainly showed, even to
tin naked eve, that the fungus had reach-

But this transformation is of course only
a poetic fancy. In reality, the larva fur-
nishes nourishment to the plant, which
the latter absorbs only for its own selfish
interests. The animal is helpless, but it
undergoes no transformation ; it dies
that the fungus may form, mature and
scatter its spores.

MAGNIFIED VIEW OF THE FRUITING END OF THE FUNGUS.

Showing spore clusters.

( d the fruiting" stage. It was evident that
a spore from some parent fungus had
entered the larva and when the mycelium
or root-like threads had filled the interior
of the chrysalis and had sapped the life

THE SPINES OF THE SEA URCHIN.

The common sea urchin is an animal
so peculiar in many respects that a des-
cription of it would probably fill the
whole magazine and be so scientific that

of its host the parasitic fungus had thrust the general reader would not care for it.
out the fruiting head in order to scatter
its spores on the wind

It is rare for one person twice in a
lifetime to chance on this shy little fun-
gus, which the scientists call Cordyceps
militaris, but it was my good fortune to
find the same species in the summer of
[903. I believe that it then had a larva
of the same kind for its habitat, which
helps prove that this little parasite has
cultivated a very selective habit. It is
truly marvelous that Mother Nature can
lodge a wind blown spore upon an un-
suspecting larva and with one of her
magic touches seem to transform a sleep-
ing moth into a brilliant yellow fungus.

The usual urchin found along the Atlan-
tic coast of the United States is nearly
hemispherical in shape and has the
mouth near the center of the lower, fiat
surface, where are also placed the many
little projections that it uses as feet and
with which it slowly crawls over the
sand in search of seaweeds, bits of dead
fish and other favorite food.

The upper surface of the animal is
covered with stiff spines almost as hard
as stone but which yet have an internal
structure that is wonderfully curious
and, under the microscope, wonderfully
beautiful. But to show- this internal ar-
rangement, the spine must be cut across

SEEING BY AID OF THE LENS

299

into slices so that they will be transpar-
ent or at least thin enough to allow the
light to pass through them.

To make slices of such hard bodies
demands a good deal of skill on the part
of the microscopist. The spine is first
cut with a hue, sharp saw into sections
as thin as possible and these slices are
then carefully and gently rubbed on a
finely grained whetstone until they are
thin enough for microscopical examina-
tion. This must be done with great care
or the hard and rather brittle -pieces will
he broken and the workman will lose
his labor for the section will then be
spoiled for any satisfactory study.

Fig's. I and 2 show sections of two

FIG. 1. TRANSVERSE SECTION OF
ECHINUS SPINE.

spines from two different species of sea
urchins. Both are greatly magnified
and both are pleasing in appearance by
reason of the regularity of the parts.
The inside parts of many things made by
nature are more interesting and attrac-
tive than the outside. It is so in the case
of the sea urchin's spines. Outwardly
they are apparently only solid, nearly
smooth rods of stone, but when the mi-
croscopist has prepared them for his fav-
orite instrument they reveal unsuspected
beauties and unsuspected points of in-
terest and of instruction.

In Fig. 3, five similar sections are
arranged in a group for comparison. The
four outer objects that resemble little

J*

J***'

■ */.*■> '

..

> V

.,'■

aF?~

FIG. 2. SECTION OF ECHINUS SPINE
FROM ANOTHER SPECTES.

cogwheels are placed there only to orna-
ment and complete the picture. They
are not sections of the urchin's spines.

BE A IT Y OF THE COMMONPLACE.

After all, the great lesson is that no
special natural sights, not Alps, Niagara,
Yosemite, or anything else, is more
grand or more beautiful than the ordin-
ary sunrise and sunset, earth and sky,
the common trees and grass. — Walt
\\ hitman.

FIG. 3. GROUPED SPECIMENS OF ECHI-
NUS SPINES.

?oo

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Domesticated

%*

NATURE

*;/

ALLIGATORS AS PETS.

BY DR. G. A. IIIWKX, CINCINNATI, 0.

Almost twelve years ago a friend of-
fered me an alligator which he had
received as a gift, but which he was
"unable to appreciate." It was a eold
day in February when 1 called to ^et
the gator; so 1 wrapped it in my book
bag. My joy knew no bounds, for 1 had
often hoped and wished for a pet alli-
gator; but joy was soon turned to sor-
row, lor father would not permit me to
keep it. Alligators had most unsavory
reputations ; they were man-eaters, etc.,
etc. So the little fellow (he was scarce-
ly ten inches long), was taken to the
University, where he was to be dissected,
and 1 could then retain the skeleton.
Arriving there, the Professor of Biology
handled the little stranger with impun-
ity, and said it would be a pity to kill
so small and inoffensive a creature.
"Take it home and make a pet of it,"
was the professor's advice, knowing how
successful I had been with snakes,
turtles, frogs and like animals. So after
promising to keep the terrible beast in
a strong enclosure lest he get out and
eat up the cat and the dogs. I was finally
allowed to keep the meek little Flori-
dian.

I he literature being very meagre as
to the food of these animals, I was at
a loss what and how to feed my new-
arrival. .Meat was fastened to a pole,
and with another pole (and they were
quite long I assure you), an effort was
made to pry open the poor beast's jaws;
all efforts proved unavailing and so we
finally stopped in despair.

Weeks went by and the mutual fear
which had been inculcated by the 'ga-
tor's hissing and our prodding, gradually
gave way to a feeling of confidence and
good fellowship. Spring with its warm

days and cool nights stirred the 'gator
to some activity, for it would bask in
the sun during the day and go into the
water at night ; but no attempt was made
at feeding and my hopes sank, fearing
the poor creature would surely starve to
death. Hut one day at the besdnnin"- of
June my wish was gratified, for gator
snapped up a big blue-bottle fly I had
thrown into his tank. Flies, spiders,
earthworms, and cockroaches were now
taken readily and 'gator began to thrive.
his lean sides began to fill and be grew
stouter and heavier.

i )n dark and cloudy days, especially
when there was a drop in the tempera-
ture his appetite diminished, but on hot
sunny days it knew no bounds. About
the middle of September he ceased eating
altogether and absolutely refused all
food until the following .May or June.
Even fish, the favorite diet, will not
tempt the 'gator during the winter
months.

For two years 'gator lived alone in
a vivarium with a number of tortoises
frogs and snakes, but one day I received
another little fellow, and the two have
lived on the best terms of friendship ever
since. The second one was about as
large as the first one had been when I
had received him, but he was not as
strong nor quite as plump.

The gathering of a pint or two of
earthworms every day soon grew to be
an enormous problem, and after three
years all my available supply .had be-
come exhausted. I was now confronted
by what seemed a most difficult problem,
viz., finding a substitute for the worms.
Fish were expensive and hard to get,
and furthermore, they could only be ob-
tained on certain days of the week; flies
were too small and it required entirely
too many, and the "chameleons" took

I)( )MESTICATED NATURE.

301

WAITING FOR FOOD.

all of those ; so after many devices I
resorted to beef hearts, the meat being
firm and fairly tough, devoid of fat, and
lends itself nicely to being cut into strips
resembling worms.

For some time the 'gators did not like
this substitute, but now take it readily
and in unlimited quantities. For variety
they get fish, frogs, rats and kittens,
whenever the latter are obtainable. As
tid bits the larger one enjoys cockroaches
and bine bottle flies.

Usually the food is taken in the water,
or carried into the water should it be
taken on land. The heal is elevated
above the water and with a few gulps
the act of swallowing is completed ; there
is no mastication at all. If the jaws
are opened and closed a number of times
during the act of swallowing, it is done
simply to readjust the food in the month,
<>r to break it into smaller bits. Occa-
sionally a long piece of meat or a fish

protrude at the angle of the month; this
is adjusted by either a vigorous shake
of the head or by the aid of the hind
foot.

Ordinarily lethargic in their move-
ments, the speed at which an alligator
can run in pursuit of prey is truly re-
markable. As a rule a 'gator rests after
taking only a few steps, but when after
food they may run a distance of fifty
or seventy feet without letting down
their body a single time, the body rising
high from the ground when the animal
walks.

The sense of smell is highly devel-
oped, in fact seems to be the most aeute
of all the senses. Recently the larger
one smelled some rats at a distance of
fully fifty feet.

The alligators have an enclosure C> by
13 ft., in the center of which there is a
pool 4 by 6V2 ft., and varying in depth
from 3 to 14 inches; this has an over-

WITH A PIECE OF MEAT IN HIS MOUTH.

3°2

THE GUIDE TO XATURE.

flow allowing a garden hose to be turned
into it ad libitum. ( )ne of the 'gators'
chief delights is to play with the stream
of water as it rushes into the pool; fre-
quently the water is allowed to fall from
some height, and then the larger 'gator
disports himself in it, allowing the
stream to run into his mouth and on his
hack. A covered portion of the enclos-
ure gives them shelter from heavy
rains and intense sunshine should they
desire it. A gateway opening into the

peacefully within short distances of each
other.

A most interesting performance is to
see them tobogganing down the stairs;
with the toes of the fore-feet fully out-
stretched, the legs slightly bent, and the
hind legs projecting backwards and
closely applied to the tail, the 'gator
slides down the stairway in most rapid
and ludicrous fashion.

They walk all about us, creeping un-
der our chairs while we are seated, and

THE PET ALLIGATORS
The larger is over four and a half feet. Raised fr

yard allows them free exit, and all day
they roam about the premises; they can
be found at any place in the yard, or
if not there will be found in the house,
where they explore all corners, climbing
on to chairs, boxes, into the dog's beds,
and constantly being on the alert to slip
into the stairway to get upstairs. When
determined to get into the house nothing
will swerve them from their purpose, for
they will scratch at the screen door per-
sistently, and if driven away again and
again, will invariably return, accom-
panying their scratchin

with grunts
until they are permitted to enter, a thing
they seem to enjoy more than any other
pleasure. They are on the best terms of
familiarity with the dogs and cat, walk-
ing about among them and often sleeping

IN THE BACK YARD
om little fellows scarcely eight inches in length.

when basking in the sun on the walks
or on the lawn, allow you to step over
them, never thinking of getting out of
your way. The larger one enjoys being
patted on the head and having his back
rubbed; the smaller one. of a surly
disposition, does not enjoy familiarity.
Again and again we have compared them
to our two dogs, the larger one being of
a friendly and lovable disposition, the
smaller one, like the small dog, surly
and ill-tempered; he hisses when pro-
voked and frequently also when not
provoked. Among themselves they get
along most harmoniously, manifesting a
certain fondness and attachment for each
other, evinced by a peculiar bellowing
and grunt of satisfaction. If alarmed
the large one utters his deep bass note-.

DOM KSTICATED NATURE.

303.

making" one stop and ponder, especially
when they are sounded suddenly and
without warning at night ; and when
this is done in the house during the
winter months, the noise is truly terrific
as it echoes back and forth.

The eyes usually lusterless and with
a small slit-like pupil during the day,
assume a far different aspect at night
when the pupil becomes round and the
whole eye sparkles with animation.

Unfortunately I can not report such
a wonderful rate of growth for my alli-
gators as does Mr. Raymond L. Ditmars
for his 'gators in the Bronx Zoo at New
York City. In the latter instance the
water of the pools is kept uniformly
heated ; this I am unable to do ; but from
careful observations my 'gators have
averaged about four inches of growth
per year, the larger one now measuring
4 ft. 6 inches.

They have been a most interesting
study and have afforded many hours of
amusement. Instead of being ferocious
and dangerous, the very opposite must
be said for them. And of all pets they
require least attention and are least
troublesome, requiring no food for fully
8V2 months of the year. If the tempera-
ture of the room and the water were
kept constantly uniform, hibernation
would not ensue and the metabolic func-
tions would continue through the winter
months. This reminds me of an inter-
esting episode which occurred a few
years ago.

One evening I received a caller in the
person of the secretary of the Ohio
Humane Society. The Society had been
notified that a family were abusing an
alligator ; in other words they were
starving the, poor beast. An officer was
dispatched on the case to make an in-
vestigation and an arrest. The people
made every effort to feed their 'gator.
but all food was refused; the officer
being convinced of this fact, felt he was
not justified in making an arrest for
cruelty. He reported the case at head-
quarters, with the result that I was
called in for expert testimony as the
Society was at a loss what to do. Need-
less to say no arrest was made and the
kind and sympathetic secretary felt
greatlv relieved.

THE QUESTION OF HYDROPHOBIA.

BY C. H. JONES, PUBLISHER Pet Dog

Journal, ROCHESTER, N. v.

Does hydrophobia exist, or is it only
a scare? We know there is something
but how much of it is real and how much
is imaginary? By a little investigation
we learn that the commonly heralded
disease known to the medical fraternity
as hydrophobia or rabies exists so very
rarely that it practically does not exist
at all.

The vivid imagination of the space
writer is largely at fault for the popular
and prevailing idea that "mad dogs" are
common, and that they are "running
down the street foaming at the mouth
and snapping at everything, and every-
body in reach."

The fact is that a dog that really has
this trouble, that is so scarce, never
foams at the mouth; he very rarely, if
ever, runs, but hides under a barn or
porch ; or in some quiet, dark place ; he
never even in the running stage of the
disease moves out of his regular way
to bite anything.

The writer one day, in Rochester, X.
Y., saw a crowd standing about the en-
trance of a large store. He stepped up,
and asked one of the bystanders the cause
of the excitement and the man replied
that there was a dog in the doorway that:
they thought was going "mad."

This was interesting, to see a real
"mad" dog was really something to be
desired, something that we had claimed
did not exist very often. In fact we
had claimed that it really existed about
as often as leprosy. We walked through
the crowd and saw a black Cocker Span-
iel crouched down in the door way look-
ing with frightened and pleading eyes
at the excited crowd. I said :
"What's the matter old man, are you
frightened?" and his stubby tail com-
menced to beat the floor and his fawning
caresses proved that he knew a friend
and was glad to see one.

A man in the crowd asked. "Isn't he
mad?"

I said, "Of course he is mad, how
could he help it surrounded by a lot of
yelling 'vaps' the way he is." and the
crowd faded away, the dog was.

3©4

THE GUIDE TO XATl'RE.

BABY FRANC'S GREGG

AND DUKE HIS
GALLERY

RIEND, AT THE PHOTOGRAPH

soon all right, found his master and
went on his way rejoicing.

Just suppose that he had been nut
in the open where he could run. The
yelling crowd would soon have started
him and for the time he would have been
unaccountable for his actions. He would
have snapped at anything or any one in
his desperate endeavor to protect him-
self from his enemies. Oct him in a cor-
ner and he would bite, run him far
enough and hard enough and yell at him
enough and he would foam at the mouth.
Have a policeman ready and he would be
shot and the ready reporter would have
all the material necessary for a half col-
umn article on the "mad dogf."

Another case and another crowd.
Passing on a wheel and seeing' a crowd,
investigation revealed a dog lying on
the path in a front yard in a convulsion,
brought on no doubt from too active
exercise on one of the early warm days in
spring. He was foaming at the mouth
and the oracle of the crowd volunteered
the information that the dog was mad
and had run so far that he had drooped
down in an exhausted condition, but he
said "A man has gone for a policeman
and he will be shot." Walking up to the
door an<l ringing the bell, 1 said to the
lady who came, "Madam, your dog is
in a fit, if you will give me a little cold
water T will wet the top of his head and

DOMESTICATED NATURE.

305

lie will he all right in a few minutes."
She replied, "Will you bring him in the
house?" 1 took him in the hath room
wet the top of his head thoroughly and
his muscles immediately relaxed, and
when he opened his eyes 1 allowed a
little of the water to trickle into his
mouth which he eagerly lapped and in
less than three minutes he became fully
conscious and licked the hand that had
helped him.

In the meantime the owner of the dog-
came around the house and came in the
hack door. He was surprised that Ins
dog was in the house and that the man
who had hold of him was alive.

He said, "I was afraid of him and
stepped over him and came in this way."

1 know a lady to whom every dog in
the world is a standing menace. ( )win<r

to her active imagination she suffers con-
stantly over something that does not
exist. She could almost have a case of
rabies from looking at a picture of a
dog chasing a woman. If she was ever
bitten she would, undoubtedly, hasten at
once to some Pasteur Institute where
she would be innoculated with the germ
of rabies and would then have it for
sure. A little hot water on the wound,
or a little disinfectant and all trouble
would be over. Treat the wound the
same as you would a scratch made in any
other way.

The following well-known medical in-
vestigators are among those who have
been searching for years for authentic
cases of rabies and have failed to find
one: Dr. Lutaud, of Paris; Dr. Bell-
Tavlor, of England; Dr. Charles W.

TOY SPANIELS, OWNED BY MRS. C. E
LAMOREE, OF ROCHESTER, N. Y.

With "Suzette" and "Blaokie,'

MISS GLADYS EVANS, of Rochester, N. Y.
Mrs. Lamoree's Toy Spaniels.

3o6

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Dulles, of Philadelphia ; Dr. E. C. Spitz-
ka, of New York ; Prof. J. W. Hern, of
Philadelphia ; Dr. Hiram Corson and Dr.
Thomas Mayo.

In New York, since 1894. there have
been gathered by the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals 1,515,-
513 dogs and cats. During which time
there have been an average of 26 men
employed daily, and each of these have
been bitten on an average of four times

a month, making in the fourteen years
about 17,000 bites on probably 100 dif-
ferent men. The bites were distributed
on hands, neck, arms, limbs, body and
face. Not a single case of hydrophobia
has resulted from these bites. The em-
ployees take the bites as a matier of
course, have them cauterized and
dressed, go about their business and
think no more of it.

JoClAT'0N

Zj\

SOME ORIGINAL OBSERVATIONS.

B\' MISS ALICE SPRINGSTEAD, KALAMAZOO,
MICH I CAN.
CORRESPONDING MEMBER NO. 2,000.
1 took a trip by water from Detroit to

THE ICHNEUMON COCOONS FROM A
TOMATO LARVA.

Sault Sainte Marie this summer. It was
so interesting to watch the gulls follow
the boat. They would show up about
mealtime. Whenever anything was
thrown over they dived after it. I was
especially interested in the way they
turned their heads from side to side
watching for food. They came very
close to the boat.

I was also interested to note the dif-
ference in the trees. Up there, there are
so many pines and spruces.

While at the Zoo I went through the
government locks in an electric launch.
They were a wonder to me — those large
freight boats being lifted up and passed
on or being lowered to the lower level
of the St. Mary's River.

While out in the country this fall in
September the boys tried to extinguish
some yellow jackets that had a nest in
an old apple tree and bothered the horses,
for the tree is used as a hitching post.
They used fire. I got a piece of the nest
with the larvae in and one bee. I put
them in a box and the next morning I
had three bees instead of one. I brought
them home and bees kept coming out.
We had a very hot spell for a few days.
I put them in a glass dish and set them
on the window sill outside so they could
get at the flowers below but they never
left the dish even when the sun became
very hot, for I forgot them for a while
and when I went to look they were all
dead. I opened a number of the cells
and found all stages of development.

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION.

307

Mom the little fat worm to the soft, fully
developed bee just before it comes out
to maturity as it comes out. I wish I
had known how to preserve them.

I also found a tomato worm covered
with little cocoons and also some of the
tiny ichneumon flies that come out of
them.

CURIOUS ROOT GROWTH.

I want to ask you about a very curious
tree 1 saw in Sugar Hill, New Hamp-
shire. It was a yellow birch and was
growing against a large boulder. At the

bottom there seemed to he two distinct
trees; as far as 1 could see there was no

over the rock, leaning against its face
and still keeping their distance apart un-
til they reached the top of the rock where
they turned towards each other, met and
formed one tree! Now they are not
twisted together and they do not singly
grow up close against each other, hut
they blend together and form one per-
fect tree! There is no sign of a crevice
between them, the trunk is round and
smooth and the bark unbroken.

Xow how is this possible? If there
are two trees in the first place, how can
they form one tree without a sign of a
crack between them; and if it should be
all one tree, why should it grow together

Photograph of the tree that probably started in leaf mold on top of the rock. The
roots have become trunk like.
Photograph by L. S. Nickerson, Sugar Hill, N. H.

connection whatever between the roots
or the two trunks which came out of the
ground at fully a yard's distance from
each other.

These two trunks, each in itself a per-
fect tree trunk with no sign of a scar
as if they had been split apart, grew up

again after having the parts so widely
separated? The tree is called "The
Struggle for Life" and is one of the
sights of the place.

Dorothy A. Baldwin,

Corresponding Member No. 2030.

3o8

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Literary

BIOGRAPHICAL

Nature Study. By

M. New York :
ner's Sons.

Frederick L. Holtz, A.
1908. Charles Scrib-

Among the many nature study publica-
tions that appear from time to time, it is
not often that we find so thoroughly satis-
factory a book as Professor Holtz's "Nature
Study." It is essentially a teacher's man-
ual but most of it will be of equal interest
to the individual student.

Professor Holtz bases his theory on two
fundamental traits of child nature, curi-
osity and social instinct; the one prompting
the child to investigate the objects and
forces with which his life comes in contact,
the other leading to a sharing of the know-
ledge thus gained with companions and
making a practical use of it in his life.
Prom this starting point the author develops
his nature study theory in a sound and
logical manner. He would teach nature
study to train the senses and to impart that
knowledge of the child's surroundings that
will be of practical value and enable him to
get the most out of life.

In the second part of the book a chapter
is devoted to each department of nature
study work, suggestive subjects and outlines
being given, but it is the third part which
we believe to be of the greatest value. It
contains a graded course for the eight
grades with suggestive work for each sea-
son of the year. Plant life, tree study, in-
sects, birds, animals, physiography and phy-
siology are all included. In fact, it might
be criticised as being too comprehensive a
course, but to the teacher who can select
the subjects suited to her class it will be
the more valuable on account of the wealth
of material it suggests.

So many of the nature study courses that
have been placed in the hands of teachers
compel the use of subjects ill-suited to the
needs of the pupils that we hope this course
prepared by Professor Holtz may become
generally known. While we might criticise
minor faults, this work remains one of the
best books of its kind in the field and we
gladly recommend it to teachers and stu-
dents who would prepare themselves for
the best kind of nature study work.

E. Earl DuBois.

Parables From Nature. By Mrs. Alfred
Gatty, Cr. 8vo; two volumes in one, pp.
558. Illustrated. New York: G. P.
Putnam's Sons.

To the amateur naturalist who is relig-
iously inclined, this beautiful book will be

a treasure, comfort and inspiration. Tak-
ing some of the simplest facts in nature, the
author weaves about each of them a charm-
ing allegory in which the birds, the insects,
the lower plants and the watery vapors are
the actors, and become the reader's teacher.
The green caterpillar on the cabbage leaf
suffers agonies of anxiety, when the dying
butterfly puts a cluster of eggs in her care,
urging her to nourish the young butterflies
with nectar and morning dew. What can
a crawling caterpillar know about butter-
flies and nectar? Her food is coarse cab-
bage. But the soaring lark teaches the un-
happy caterpillar that "all things work to-
gether for good to them that love God," and
that her lack of faith was causing her
needless trouble. The young sedge warb-
lers are worried. "Mother, why do you sing
songs about another land? Cannot we all
build nests here, and live here always? I
want no other land, no other home but this."
Then the mother changed her note and sang.
"This is not your rest. There is an Un-
known Land; where I do not know, but let
us go forth to that Unknown Land, wher-
ever it may be, in joyful trust."

The author has a pleasing fancy, and a
poetical method of treating scientific facts
that make her book a delicate and dainty
sermon of the most acceptable and encour-
aging kind, and in which she reminds Un-
less thoughtful that the laws of Nature,
which are the acted will of God, work to-
gether in all cases for a good end, for our
comfort and to increase our happiness. "It
was a blessed creed for the Student of Na-
ture, though it cost him a struggle to ad-
here to it when the lightning was flashing
around him, and the thunder roared in the
distance, when he saw from the windows
dark clouds hanging over the landscape.
But he held fast to the humility and faith
of childhood, and where his mind was un-
able to penetrate, his heart was contented
to believe. Well is it with those who in the
secrets of Nature read the wisdom of God."

The book suggests helpful thoughts, and
in this work-a-day world, where briars seem
more abundant than flowers, and thorns
more numerous than berries, where it is
not easy to keep one's faith and trust in the
unseen God who really does all things well.
it will be consoling. It should remind of
better things to come, when the heavens
are like brass, and the clouds hard to look
through, because they represent mental
troubles. The Student of Nature who be-
comes despondent, should keep Mrs. Gatty's
graceful Parables where he may reach them
at a moment's notice.

^ -^ss^-s^^ag

cSr ^%_ -s^yj^

GUIDMNATUfcfc

0' ^

Silkworm Rearing as a Popular Pursuit . . . 311

T. A. Keleher

How the Vinegaroon and the Galeodes Kill Their

Victims 319

R. Menger, M. D.

The Heavens in December 321

Garrett P. Serviss

Visiting a Fish Hatchery 324

Studying the Warbler in Winter .... 326

Edmund J. Sawyer

The Appendix 334

Dr. S. G. Shanks

A Terrestrial Alga 336

Two or More Photographs on One Plate . . 339

Wilbur F. Smith

Also Many Shorter Articles in the Departments :
Editorial and General, Correspondence and Information,
The Camera, The Agassiz Association and Literary and
Biographical.

JS'

fewM*«afe tMP.a8.qg as ra

^f

,3t

NATURE'S PLANT FOOD

ii

BONORA"

THE GREATEST DISCOVERY OF MODERN TIMES

N

'^greatest discovery

OF MODERN TIMES.

PIJRESPLOTFOO]

/^>

mm.-

TRADE MARK

*x

BONORA ChEM^uCO-

OT a stimulant but an added quality to Nature,
life of the plant, making it to plant life what
life. Discovered by an English chemist, and
sensation throughout the land. It is now being shipped
ners of the world.
Used and endors-
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authorities in
America, among
them Luther Bur-
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ford, H. B. Ful-
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Luther Burbank
of Long Island)
and many others.
Used by the gar-
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lowing prominent
people: Hon.
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Bliss, Jacob
Schiff, M. G. D.
Borden, Geo. W.
Vanderbilt, John
D. Rockefeller,
Hon. Joseph H.

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which becomes the
blood is to human
now creating great
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"BONORA" is
made of absolute-
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immediately dis-
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and when sprink-
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becomes avail-
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"BONORA" will
make your winter
plants, hothouse
plants, etc., bloom
in profusion, giv-
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color and wonder-
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its use plants are
made to grow as
if in the Tropics.

If your florist does not handle it, order direct. Put up in hand-
somely decorated cans, all sizes, as follows :
1 lb. - - - 28 gallons, post paid $ .65

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10 lbs.
50 lbs.
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Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we
can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the
best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond. — Hypatia.

The Guide to Nature

EDUCATION AND RECREATION

Vol. I

DECEMBER, 1908

No. 9

Silkworm Rearing as a Popular Pursuit

BY T. A. KELEHER, EXPERT SILK CULTURIST, WASHINGTON, D. C.

HE fascinating work of silk-
worm rearing has become a
popular pastime with some
people and many an inter-
esting hour is spent by
these amateur silk cultur-
ists in following the grad-
ual development of the "worm" from
the day it issues from the tiny
egg, watching its every movement,
its growth to maturity, the re-
markable energy it displays in the
building of its silken home, and at
length its emergence from the cocoon
as a beautiful cream-colored moth
whose sole object is to lay eggs for the
perpetuation of its snecies.

In various books, silk culture is brief-
ly mentioned, but to gain a better
knowledge of the nature and habits of
the wonderful little silk producer than
can be obtained bv the mere studv of

pictures and descriptions, one should
secure some silkworm eggs, which
when hatched out may be easily cared
for and will offer an excellent chance
to observe each day how these little
creatures pass through their different
phases of development.

The eggs may be obtained during
winter and kept in a cool dry place
until the mulberry leaves are out in
the spring. A perforated tin box makes
a good receptacle to protect eggs from
rats and mice, which are very fond of
them.

Following is a description of how
the silkworm is reared and silk is
made :

NATURE OF THE SILKWORM.

The silkworm proper, or the species
which has been under domestic culti-
vation in China for manv centuries,

Copyright 1908 by The Agassiz Association, Stamford. Conn.

312

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

.»

i

■

FIRST OR BABY AGE OF THE SILKWORM.
Silkworms in this picture are about four or five days old. Some of them are now
in molt while others are about to enter the first molt or a short period of sleep.

and in Europe since the sixth century,
and from which the ordinary silk of
commerce is produced, is the larva or
caterpillar of a medium-sized moth,
which feeds upon the leaf of the mul-
berry tree. This insect known to
science as Bouibyx mori, belongs to
the order Lepidoptera. family Bomby-
cidae, or the "Spinners," and is popu-
larly called the mulberry silkworm.

When the mulberry leaves, the fond
of the worms-to-be, begin to unfold in
the spring, the eggs may be hatched
by exposure for ten or twelve days to
a warm temperature. The larva spends
most of its time in feeding; it grows
rapidly and finally attains a length of
about 3 inches.

The larval stage lasts from about
thirty to thirty-five days. Tt is divided
into five different ages, separated by
what are called molts, at which time
the worm casts its skin. The rapid
increase in size of the insect renders
the original skin too small to allow
for its growth, and hence four molts
occur. When the full-grown worm is
ready to spin its cocoon, it crawls over
the leaves, shrinks somewhat in size,

and, according to the race of the worm,
is now white or yellow, ,and semi-trans-
parent. Climbing upon some suitable
place it commences to throw out
threads of silk at the rate of sixty-five
motions of its head per minute, or
three hundred thousand in building its
cocoon. The thread of a cocoon is
continuous and varies in length from
750 yards to 1,200 yards. Cocoons
vary also in weight from 275 to 400 to
the pound for newly spun, or from 450
to 600 to the pound for dried cocoons.
It requires three and three-quarters
pounds of cocoons to produce a pound
of reeled or raw silk, a pound of raw
silk being sufficient to make at least
10 yards of the very best silk. In from
two to three weeks the covering of
the chrysalis, which is enclosed in the
cocoon, splits, and the cream-colored
moth within secretes a liquid which
moistens the end of the cocoon and
dissolves the hard, gummy lining.
Then, in the early morning hours, the
moth, with crimped and damp wings,
emerges; a short time afterwards the
wings become unfolded and dry and the
mother moth begins laying her eggs.

SILKWORM RAISING AS A POPULAR PURSUIT.

3i;

numbering' about four hundred. The
moths live but a short time and par-
take of no food.

PROPAGATING THK WORMS.

When the worms issue from the
egg they measure one-eighth of an
inch in length. They are ready for
food at once, and finely chopped tender
mulberry leaves should be prepared for
them. During this age they require at
least six meals daily, and at the end
of the fourth or fifth clay bobinet, upon
which some finely chopped mulberry
leaves have been scattered, should be
placed over them. The baby worms
soon become aware of the presence of
fresh food and, leaving the old food,
pass through the netting to the fresh
leaves placed above. When this oc-
curs, the old netting should be re-
moved with the remains upon it.

About this time the first molt takes
place. The worms hold their heads
up, are motionless, and appear to be
asleep ; this indicates that feeding will
cease for at least from 24 to 36 hours.
During the molt the tray upon which
the worms have been kept should be

cleaned so that the little worms may
have everything in their favor after
they have molted.

\\ hen the first molt is completed the
worms begin their second age with an
increased appetite, and no food should
be given until several hours have
elapsed, allowing the little creatures
sufficient time to recover from the ef-
fects of the change. During this age
which is the shortest, lasting but four
days, six meals should be given daily,
and the worms should be transferred
twice from the old to fresh leaves.

On the fourth day the worms molt
the second time and are then in the
third age, which lasts six days. Six
meals should be given daily of coarse-
ly-cut or whole leaves. The worms
are now too large to rise through the
netting" but they may be transferred
to another tray after all have crawled
on fresh leaves, the old debris being
then cleared away.

On the sixth day of this age the
worms molt a third time and begin the
fourth age, which lasts six or seven
days. The insects now become inter-
esting objects for study, as they grow

*.i

Hi 1 Wm?S®> TkJ^ok

SILKWORMS IN THE SECOND AGE.

The worms in this age are now assuming a more whitish color and are more
easily handled. They are on a tray and have pretty well devoured all the food in sight,
the only thing that remains in the way of food being the veins of the mulberry leaves.

314

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

I' Ff ;the silk worm in its third and fourth age.

The insect at this age is extremely interesting by watching how it voraciously de-
vours its food plant. You will notice there are mulberries among the leaves. The
caterpillars will eat the berries if they cannot find any leaves.

rapidly. They now require more food
and small branches of mulberry should
be given four or five times daily. At
the end of each day branches of mul-
berry are placed over the worms, and
as soon as- the worms have all mounted
to the fresh food the branches with
the worms upon them are transferred
to an empty tray ; the tray containing
the old leaves should then be cleaned
and made ready for the next day's
transfer.

The next or final molt is the most
critical and laborious, and should there
be any disease lurking in the worms it
will surely manifest itself at this time
After the worms have undergone this
molt they are in the fifth and last age.
Fresh food should be given constant'y
during this period, for in this age ihe
worms consume more food than dur-
ing the whole of their previous exist-
ence.

PRECAUTIONS TO BE TAKEN DURING THE
LARVAL STAGE.

Do not disturb the worms while in
molt. Never allow the sun's rays to
shine upon them. Guard against the
invasion of rats and mice ; they are the

silkworms' worst enemies. Avoid
feeding" with stale, damp, or wet leaves.
Maintain if possible, an average tem-
perature of from 700 to 80° F.

PREPARATIONS FOR COCOON BUILDING.

At the end of eight days of voraci-
ous feeding after the final molt, the
worms begin to crawl over the leaves
without eating, shrink somewhat in
size, and change in color to a semi-
transparent white or yellow; they are
restless, rear their heads as if in search
of something to climb upon, and begin
to throw out threads of silk. When
these signs are noticed everything
should be prepared at once for the
spinning of the cocoons, in order that
the worms may not lose their strength
and silk in seeking for the support they
require. Branches of small twigs or
any clean, well-dried brush, free ii om
leaves, may be collected and made mto
small bunches, one end being tied and
the other allowed to spread out so that
the worms may mount and spin be-
tween the branches. Ladders such as
is shown in the accompanying photo-
graph, are sometimes used. Cornuco-
pias, sufficiently large to permit the

SILKWORM RAISING AS A POPULAR PURSUIT.

3i5

worms to move the head from one side
to the other in attaching their silken
filaments, can likewise be used. The
spinning- worms should be gently lifted
by the fingers and placed wherever
they are to spin their cocoons.

COCOON GATHERING.

The cocoons may be gathered eight

F. A higher temperature would be like-
ly to burn the silk. This is one of the
ways in which the enclosed chrysa-
lides are killed when the cocoons are
to be used for silk production.

EMERGENCE OF THE MOTHS.

Cocoons which are set aside to await
the emergence of the moths may be

FEEDING THE CATERPILLARS ON A CLOTHESHORSE.
An ordinary clotheshorse is here used by placing small racks upon each section. It
can be placed in any ordinary room while members of the family can go around on each
side of it during feeding time.

days from the time the worms begin
spinning them. Those which are to be
saved, the moths not being permitted to
emerge, should be placed in clean pans
in an oven and left there for several
hours with a temperature of about 200°

strung upon a strong sewing thread,
run through the side of the cocoon,

great care

being taken not to pierce

the enclosed chrysalis with the needle.
They ma}' then be hung in some place
that is free from rats and mice, to await

3i6

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

the forthcoming" moths

which should
appear in from two to three weeks af-
ter the cocoons have been formed.

EGG-LAYING.

The room in which moths are pro-
duced should be darkened, only suffi-
cienu light being admitted to enable
one to distinguish objects. In from
eleven to eighteen days from the spin-
ning time the moths begin to come
forth from the cocoons laid aside for
breeding purposes.

The male is more slender, and will
be observed fluttering his wings and
moving about actively, whereas the fe-
male is heavy, and she remains very
quiet. Several hours after emerging
take them gently and place them by
pairs, a male and a female together, on
small pieces of cheese cloth.

The eggs adhere to whatever the
moth deposits them on by a natural
gum, and being fastened, the worms
when hatching issue from the eggs
better.

FOOD-PLANTS.

The natural plant food of the silk-
worm is the white mulberry. There
are a number of species of the mul-
berry, but the one best adapted for the
feeding of the silkworms is the white
mulberry (Morns alba) and its varie-
ties. Osage orange, commonly called
Osage hedge plant is an excellent sub-
stitute and may be used where the
mulberry is not available.

This brief description of the method
of cultivating the silkworm is not in-
tended for those persons wishing to
engage in it for profit or on a commer-

A MODERN AND UP TO DATE COCOON CONTRIVANCE.

The worm in spinning its cocoon wishes something of this sort so man has tried
to please the little creature by furnishing it with a ladder so constructed that the insect
can ascend easily through the spaces and throw out its silken threads from one side to
the other. Within the silk network is the pod which is the cocoon of commerce.

SILKWORM RAISING AS A POPULAR PURSUIT.

317

MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY GATHERING COCOONS.
Ladders filled with newly spun cocoons are placed upon a table while one can
sit and enjoy removing the cocoons. Children seem to take great delight in assisting
in cocoon gathering. It is the winding up of the work so far as feeding the worms is
concerned. The basket contains a fine lot of firm cocoons.

cial basis, but only for those who de-
sire to take it up as a pastime, in an
experimental way. It is an unusually
interesting pursuit and, if only as an
amusement, should appeal to all nature
lovers.

In addition to what has already been
said concerning the life story of the do-
mestic silkworm of commerce, I would

suggest that students in nature work
should be provided with an educational
nature study exhibit illustrative of the
silkworm in its different stages of de-
velopment from the egg state to the moth,
including products and food plant.

The specimens should be of the very
best that can be obtained. Leaves should
be prepared so that they show up nicely

..' si:

>.

w^t-r *>.

i

MOTHS EMERGING FROM THE COCOONS IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS.
Moths are now rapidly emerging. Some have already emerged while just the heads
of others are peeping out. It takes less than a minute for the little prisoner to make
its escape, nature having provided a liquid which the moth throws against the prison
wall softening the silken threads and enabling it to come out easily.

3i8

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

COMPLETE TRANSFORMATION OF THE SILKWORM FROM EGG TO MOTH.

Caterpillars in different ages in search of food. At base of branch, silkworm spin-
ning cocoon; at top of branch, the newly finished cocoon surrounded with floss; in the
middle of branch, cocoon of commerce; to the right, the moth emerging from the cocoon
and passing up to the mulberry leaf to lay its eggs; under the mulberry leaf, cocoon

pierced by the emergence of the moth; at base of branch,
chrysalis stage; moths on right and left of branch.

cocoon cut in half showing

and, as far as possible, in their natural
position. Tn the exhibit the larvae should
be represented as ten day old, twenty day
old and thirty day old; they should be
placed separately in vials containing al-
cohol, it being the best preservative For
silkworms.

Cocoons should be well formed and, if

possible, show the differently colored
ones. They should be classed as follows :
the cocoon of commerce ; the cocoon as
pierced by the emergence of the moth ;
cocn surrounded with floss or the net-
work. A well developed chrysalis and
a perfect moth should complete the life
evele of the exhibit.

THE OUTDOOR WORLD.

319

HOW THE VINEGAROOM AND THE
GALEODES KILL THEIB VICTIMS.

BY R. .MKXGKk, M. O., SAN ANTONIO,
TEXAS.

Lately I had the pleasure of making
some nature study on two rare and ven-

^

*

1; V,' v

,? .-x

1 A * -

fa ^- — null

*

B /J-*1

>v:- 1

■I

'

A NEW TEXAS ANT KILLER
(GALEODES ARANEOIDES)

(Natural size.)

omous insects — a so-called vinegaroon
{ThcHphonus caudatus) and a very in-
teresting ant-annihilator, the Galeodes
arancoidcs (belonging to the family of
Solpugids).

It is interesting to note how these spe-
cimens came to my observation. Both
were sent to me by friends and both in-
sects were alive. The Galeodes was sent
to "The San Antonio Daily Express,"
when it was referred to me for identifi-
cation. It is a rare and, I believe, hardly
known insect in Texas and other Ameri-
can states, and its life history is but little
known and therefore the more interesting
to give it a little closer attention in The;
Guide to Nature. It was sent from a
small Texas country town near San An-
tonio and was accompanied with the fol-
lowing letter :

"I am sending you under separate co-
ver a bug that will eat the big red ants,
and I want you to find out what kind of a

bug it is. I found it in the ants' nest just
killing them and eating them about a
week ago, and I kept him in a box ever
since. I turn him loose once a day in
the ants' nest to have his meal."

I had fully identified the insect and
also prepared some photographic views
of this ant scavenger with all the "para-
phernalia" sent with it in the box men-
tioned, consisting entirely of ant rem-
nants and some earthly remnants of an
ant hole. The animal was still alive, and
the first impression it made was the re-
semblance to some tarantula spider or a
young vinegaroon, but it belongs to a
rare class of tropical insects (Solpugids)
heretofore unknown in Texas, so far as
I am aware.

These are the observations one author-
ity mentions of its life habits :

"A recent traveler in Palestine relates
that when living in tents on the plains of
the Jordan, near Jericho, each night, as
nearly as possible between 9:30 and
10:00 o'clock, several Solpugids entered
the tent room, running and racing with
great speed over everything — tables,
chairs and beds — just like mad creatures
but apparently with no definite object,
perhaps only attracted by the lights burn-
ing in the tent. When disturbed in their
diurnal hiding places they showed fight
and were extremely pugnacious, but
their being venomous is doubtful,
though the Arabs seemed to dread them
quite as much as they dreaded the scor-
pions which were also very numerous
under the large stones lying around."

In viewing the cutting apparatus of our
specimen closer it was at once apparent
how this ant killer disposes of its victims
(remnants of which and the insect it-
self are seen on the photograph in about
natural size.)

Its main characteristic anatomy are
the head and mouth parts, consisting of
a rather small head with two small glit-
tering eyes and two very large and pow-
erful cutting fangs of which the upper
fang of the falx is not movable, but the
lower one is movable by the aid of a
strong joint, and it serves to grab its vic-
tims. This lower movable joint is a reg-
ular "saw-machine," being supplied like
an ant with several protruding and blunt,
serrated teeth at its inner curved margin.

320

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

The second specimen, a vinegaroon,
was handed me by a relative and
railroader of the Southern Pacific track.
It was a fine, big and horrid looking
fellow and very lively — incarcerated in
a large, wide-mouthed bottle It was
captured alive in a Texas frontier town
where they are indigenous to certain
favorable, mostly sandy and rocky re-
gions. In Mexico and other tropical
countries they are reported very num-
erous. It is noted for its immense and
curved frontal fanes, supplied with
(several extra movable claws, and its
peculiar, vinegar-like exhalations when
annoyed. As to its poisonous character,

A VINEGAROON (THEUPHONUS
CAUDATUS) KILLING COCKROACHES.

(Natural size. )

conflicting

there exist different anc
opinions among the laity as well as pro-
fessionals, but several authentic state-
ments to the writer make them appear
very dangerous and they are certainly
very repugnant and dreaded like a rattle-
snake in regions where they abound.
Cases of death have been reported now
and then, but generally they inflict a
lacerated wound which is infected by
some peculiar, poisonous secretion,
causing local gangrene, and not seldom

g-eneral blood poisoning sets in. A case
was reported to this writer in which part
of the hand had to be amputated from
the bite of an infuriated vinegaroon.
In the inland, inhabited regions of
IVxas, they are unknown ; but in some
1 torder towns and in Mexico they in-
habit the peculiar, adobe soil and old,
abandoned buildings, and they are oc-
casionally, but rarely, carried accident-
ally to inland towns on loads of wood,
timber or charcoal, etc., similar to the
late of scorpions, tarantulas, centipedes,
etc., and then occasionally become ob-
jects of great interest to naturalists or to
the alcohol bottle of a drug store.

The vinegaroon under question was a
well preserved, unusually laree and alive
specimen, and one of those dreaded fel-
lows of the Arachnida family, nowadays
exceedingly rare in Western Texas.
When the specimen was handed to me, I
was anxious to note how they kill their
victims. A mouse or some other small
quadruped was not at hand and so several
alive cockroaches were put in the bottle
containing the prisoner. Hardly had this
been done when the roaches became ter-
ribly alarmed, running like mad around
the bottom and wall of the glass, and it
lasted but a few moments when the
vinegaroon made a sudden dash,
embraced its victim with its fearful
claws and pulled it to its mouth
parts when its body juice was ex-
tracted. After mutilating and divid-
ing parts of the roaches' anatomy, leav-
ing only two alive cockroaches (one in
its embrace), chloroform was dropped in
the bottle and its contents removed. In
this state the photograph in this issue
was prepared by the writer whilst the
animal still was alive and held its vic-
tim in firm embrace — as seen on the
photograph. When the roaches were
put in the bottle, I may add, the "flight
and fight" were witnessed by a number
of interested friends and by Mr. P. G.
Lucas of San Antonio (who is also a sub-
scriber and a great admirer of The
GnnE to Nature).

POPULAR ASTRONOMY.

321

THE HEAVENS IN DECEMBER.

BY GARRETT P. SKKYISS, BROOKLYN., N . V.

Saturn remains the only conspic-
uous planet in the evening sky, for
Neptune, which rises about six p. m.
in the middle of the month, is invisible
to the naked eye. Saturn sets about
midnight in mid-December, and all
through the early evening hours its
steady light may be seen, placidly out-
shining the fixed stars in its neighbor-
hood, although it is not as bright as it
appears when the rings are widely
opened and when their broad surfaces
add their reflection to the luminosity
of the ball of the planet. It is inter-
esting to remark, that Saturn is now
close to the Vernal Equinox and con-
sequently near one of the crossing
points of the equator and ecliptic.
The sun is at that point about the
22nd of March every year. Although
the rings are not widely opened they
can easily be seen with a small tele-
scope, say of three inches aperture, and
the spectacle that they present is one
of the most charming that the heavens
afford. Ever since their discovery the
rings of Saturn have excited the curi-
osity not only of astronomers, but of
all intelligent people. One of the best
stories about Sir William Herschel is
that of the image of Saturn and its
rings which he cut out of white paste-
board and fastened on a dark wall at
the bottom of his garden to show to
the king through his telescope, his ma-
jesty having come for a look through
the instrument on a cloudy night, and
Herschel being unwilling that he
should go away without seeing any-
thing. On account of the recent re-
markable discovery of a new ring in
the Saturnian system it may be inter-
esting to recall briefly what is known
about these wonderful objects. There

arc three principal rings, two bright
and one dusky. The latter, which is the
nearest to the planet, is usually called
the Crape Ring. It is so gauze-like in
structure that the ball of the planet
can be seen through it. The two
bright rings are unequal in brilliancy
as well as in width. The outermost,
which is called by astronomers Ring
A, is, in round numbers, 10,000 miles
broad. It is separated by a gap 1,600
miles across, called the Cassini divi-
sion, from Ring B, which is about
12,500 miles broad. The inner edge
of Ring B blends gradually into the
dusk}- Crape Ring, which is called
Ring C. This is about 10,000 miles
broad, and between its inner edge and
the equator of the planet is a space
8,000 or 9,000 miles across. Notwith-
standing their enormous size — A is
168,000 miles in diameter — the rings
are only 100 miles thick. They might
be likened to a gigantic buzz saw, only
broad and very thin, having a wide
circular opening in the centre in the
middle of which hangs the ball of the
planet, itself about 75,000 miles in dia-
meter. The outer ring, A, has a nar-
row division near its outer edge which
can be seen like a thin black line with
a powerful telescope, and in October
this year, at the Geneva Observatory,
a fourth ring was detected quite out-
side of A. This new ring resembles
the Crape Ring, being dusky and
gauze-like in appearance. This fact is
of immense importance because it
tends to support the theory that Sat-
urn's rings are gradually disintegra-
tive. It is known both from mathe-
matical reasoning, and from spectro-
sopic evidence, that the rings are not
solid bodies, but are composed of mul-
titudes of particles, revolving indepen-
dently of one another, except probably
for mutual collisions, and all travelling

322

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

the same way round the planet. It is
probable that the Crape Ring was
formed by particles escaping from
Ring B and moving in toward the
planet, while the new gauze ring is no
doubt due to particles that have moved
outward from Ring A. In the course
of ages the rings may entirely disap-
pear, a part of their substance being
precipitated upon the planet, while the
remainder will move outward to be
eventually aggregated into satellites,
of which Saturn already possesses ten.

I have already mentioned the fact
that Neptune is an evening star, rising
with the constellation Gemini about
6 o'clock in the evening. Jupiter, in
Leo, rises about midnight on the ist,
and about 10 p. m. on the 31st. The
other planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars
and Uranus are all in the morning sky.

THE STARS AND CONSTELLATIONS.

The map is set for 9 p. m. on Decem-
ber ist and 7 p. m. on December 31st.
The first object to strike the eye of the

Evening SkyMap for December

NO P*XH

Dec. Moon Phases

Full Moon, Dec. 7
Last Qtr., Dec. 15
New Moon, Dec. 23.

FlRbTQTR.DEC.50.

Garr^t;qja"Rt

BahW

FACESOUTHAND
HOLD THE MAP OVER
YOUR HEAD-THE TOP
NORTH. ANDYOUWILLSEE
THE STARS ANDPLANETS
JUST AS THEY APPEAR
IN.THE HEAVENS

The Arrow Through

THE TWO STARS IN THE

BOWL OF THE BIG DIPPER

POINTS TO THE NORTH STAR.

THE: STAR AT THE END OF THE!

HANDLE OFTHE LITTLE DIPPER.

SOUTH

Both on account of the unique and
charming spectacle which they afford
and on account of the interesting pro-
blems which they present, Saturn's
rings are well worth an effort on the
part of everybody to see them, at least
once, with a good telescope. The
heavens have nothing to show which
is at the same time more wonderful
and more beautiful.

observer who has a clear horizon are
the constellations that form the glory
of the winter skies, now rising in the
east. First comes Taurus, the Bull,
carrying the beautiful Pleiades on his
flank and the Hyades, with the red first
magnitude star Aldebaran, on his
head. Then follows the matchless
Orion, with his two great first magni-
tude stars Rigel and Betelgeuse, and

'< IPULAR ASTRONOMY.

i23

his flaming' belt, composed of three
bright second magnitude stars in a
short row. Just on the edge of the
eastern horizon the king of the stars,
Sirins, is seen blazing and flickering
with prismatic lines. Above Taurus
shines the bright Capella in Auriga, a
star fully the equal of the great brilli-
ants of Orion, and east of Capella may
be seen Gemini with its twin stars Cas-
tor and Pollnx. Near the horizon, east
of Gemini and north of Sirins shines
the first magnitude star Procyon. If,
as is usually done, we count both Cas-
tor and Pollnx as first magnitude stars,
then this remarkable group of constel-
lations contains eight stars belonging
to the first rank, and several of the
second. On a clear evening the spec-
tacle that they offer is a most impos-
ing one for any contemplative onlook-
er. All of these stars are immensely
larger than our sun, and two of them
— Rigel and Betelgeuse — are probably
thousands of times more luminous
than our great god of day. The won-
der is increased by the fact that Betel-
geuse is variable, being sometimes
twice as bright as it is other times. Its
changes are slow and irregular, and at
present it is in one of its brilliant
moods, fully equalling if not exceeding
Rigel, from which it differs in color.
Full in the south, and covering a vast
space, is the great constellation Cetus,
the Whale, whose most remarkable
star Mira, a wonderful variable, is now
sinking in brightness, and in a few
months will be invisible to the naked
eye, only to brighten again next year.
North of Cetus, and close to the mer-
idian, we see the little constellation
Aries, the leader of the zodiac. North
of Aries, stretching east and west, ap-
pear Andromeda and Perseus, the head
of the former touching the northeast-
ern corner of the great square of Pe-
gasus, nearly under which shines Sat-

urn. Between Andromeda and the
Pole star is the zigzag of Cassiopeia.
Away over in the west, sinking with a
bright part of the Milky Way, appears
the Northern Cross in Cygnus. Relow
the Cross, toward the north, glitters
the brilliant Vega in Lyra. The Great
Dipper in Ursa Major is under the pole
in the north. The Little Dipper hangs
bowl downward, its handle pinned by
the Pole Star at the upper end. Far
down in the southwest the lone Fomal-
haut, in the Southern Fish, flames up-
on the horizon, sinking from sight as
Sirins in the opposite quarter rises
higher and glows more brilliantly.

December is one of the richest
months in the number of its meteor
showers, although it possesses none
comparable with the great showers of
August and November. The brightest
occur on the nights from the ioth to
the 1 2th, inclusive, the radiant point
being near the heads of the twins
in Gemini. These meteors are swift
in their movements and have short
tracks. On the night of the 25th there
are usually to be seen meteors, radia-
ting from a point somewhat further
west, which are remarkable for their
slow deliberate motion.

There will be a central eclipse of the
sun, the third solar eclipse of the year,
on December 22-23, but it will not be
visible in the United States. The as-
tronomical winter begins on the 22nd,
when the north pole has already been
buried for nearly three months in
night.

The latest ephemeris of Morehouse's
comet, indicates that it will be in peri-
helion on Christmas day. It was at its
brightest in October when it was pass-
ing south between the Northern Cross
and Lyra. This comet is a small tele-
scopic object, whose tail has undergone
some remarkable changes, entirely in-
visible with the naked eve.

324

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

VISITING A FISH HATCHERY. York. I can think of no better place

This last summer I spent a few days for a naturalist to spend a few hours

at Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island, than in watching the work of a large

and devoted a part of my time there to fish hatchery. Having my camera with

THE LABORATORY AND FISH POOLS.

wandering around the ground and in me 1 took several photographs, origi-
the hatchery of the Forest, Fish and nally as personal souvenirs, but they
Game Commission of the state of New seem to me to have a general interest,

A SCHOOL OF TROUT ASSEMBLED FOR DINNER.

VI SITING A FISH HATCHERY.

325

"THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE" IN VYING FOR CHOPPED MEAT.

and therefore I publish them in
The Guide to Nature for the benefit
of other naturalists.

The view of the grounds with the
main building in the back ground
shows very nicely. Several very in-
teresting specimens of the lotus were
in bloom in the tubs shown at the
right in the illustration.

I attempted to take some photo-
graphs of the fish feeding. The assis-
tant very kindly brought forth a pile of
fine chopped meat, and tossed bits into
the water in the place where I could
best set the focus of my camera. It
was very interesting to watch them
when he rapped on the pan as one
might do to call chickens. They evi-
dently knew wholly by sight that there
was food in the dish for them. It was
impossible to get a photograph giving
any detail of the individual fish. It
was a wonder to me that they did not
kill each other and perhaps they did
inflict injury upon a few, for I noticed
here and there after the feeding, two
or three floating back downwards, but
the keeper informed me that they
would ''come to" a little later, that
thev were probably only momentarily
stunned.

In addition to this scries of pools
in the open ground near the main
buiidincf there was a series in a most

picturesque location farther up the
stream. These were covered with wire
netting, lifting up by a cord and pulley
arrangement so as to balance in any
position. These coverings were to pre-
vent the deprivations by the king-
fishers.

|

% - ■■ ■ /■■' \ -_:~~

•**

■

- J". " -

_

THE CURVES OF BUBBLES MADE
BY THE SWIRL OF TROUT.

326

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

A SERIES IN PICTURESQUE LOCATION FARTHER UP THE STREAM.

This station was established nearly
thirty years ago for the purpose of in-
creasing the marine fishes and other
objects of fishery, and it has been very
successful. I tesides hatching a very
large number of eggs of brook trout,
lainbow, lake trout and other fish well
known to the angler, it handles an
enormous number of smelt, tomcod,
flat-fish, cod, blue crab and lobster.
The output of the station is steadily
increasing from year to year, and it
now amounts to more than 175,000,000.

STUDYING THE WAKBLER IN

WINTER.

N

BY EDMUND J. SAWYER, I.IXCKI.A
CENTER, N. Y.

At least one article on the warbler
has already appeared in this magazine;
but as long as even a few readers remain
who have not made personal acquaint-
ance with these charming birds, ton em-

phatic an invitation to observe them can
hardly be spoken or written.

According to the popular notion, bird
study should begin when the species are
least abundant. Ordinarily this may be
taken to mean in the winter. On this
plan conditions are now ideal for the
novice who would know the warblsrs.
The myrtle warbler, also called the yel-
Iow-rumped warbler, one of the most
beautiful of the whole tribe, is the only
winter representative of this famiry.

The winter plumage of the myrtle is
fortunately much like its rich summer
dress, the chief difference being that the
upper parts are now brownish instead or
bluish gray. The crown, rump and sides
are yellow ; breast, black ; belly and
Hanks, white streaked with black ; wings
and tail, black marked with white bars
and spots respectively; head and back,
streaked with black ; cheeks, black ;
throat, white. The bird is about five and
one half inches long, the usual warbler

STUDYING WARBLERS IN WINTER.

327

size. Look for it where myrtle bushes
or barberry bushes grow. In localities
where these berries arc abundant they
almost or wholly support the birds in
winter although sumach and other wild
berries are also eaten. When to be had,
insects and their larvae vary the diet.

In northern New Jersey, yellow-rump-
ed warblers came about my window with
other small winter birds. Towards
spring, but long before the snow had
gone, I found them among the tall weeds
and in bushy growths beside the road,
their haunts thus being like those of the
j uncos' with which they associated.

MYRTLE WARBLER.
(Yellow-runiped warbler.)

Like so many other warblers, the myr-
tles range during the breeding season
from the northern edge of the United
States into Canada. Our whole group
is called American wood warblers to dis-
tinguish them from the European warb-
lers which are entirely different. The

haunts chosen by many species are de-
cidedly forest-like, although in many
instances the trees are much too scanty
to deserve that name. The Maryland
yellow-throat and the black and white
warbler here shown exemplify the vary-
ing habits of the family. The former
is a shy bird which seeks low, bushy
growths while the latter is a tree creep-
ing species of the forest.

You should have no difficulty now in
identifying the myrtle warbler. Follow
him about ; see what food he eats and
what he avoids ; note his various poses
and manner of flight and you will ever
after know at a glance a warbler of the
usual type. You will be prepared for
the coming in April and May of the rest
of the warbler family, than which few
events in the bird lover's calendar excel
in pleasure and interest.

THE ROBIN AS A NEST BUILDER.

Apropos of the paragraph copied last
week from the Lambertville Beacon, which
told of the theft of several lace collars by
robins, we may here mention the fact that
Mrs. Elmira S. Deats, who died on May 9
of this year at the home of her son, H. E.
Deats, at Flemington Junction, was a great
lover of birds — robin redbreast being, per-
haps, the subject of her especial admira-
tion. She had at times lost strips of lace
from the lawn where they had been spread,
and she knew that the robins had taken
them for nest building purposes. Realizing
that the little rascals needed something of
the nature of strings for nest building, Mrs.
Deats years ago hit upon the plan of saving
all the bits of otherwise useless cord that
came around packages from the stores.
Upon the coming of the robins in the glo-
rious springtime she would scatter quanti-
ties of the cord about the dooryard, and the
robins would immediately pounce upon it.
It was great fun to see them scrapping over
a particular piece of string, and her grand-
children found diversion in watching them
from the windows in inclement weather.
Mrs. Deats set an example in charity and
kindness that might be emulated by others;
and if birds could express gratitude in
words the robins would sing a song of joy
o'er the mound beneath which sleeps their
thoughtful benefactress. — The Democrat-
Advertiser, Flemington, N. J.

328

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

"Study nature, not books."

Write articles from your observa-
tions, not from what you have read
or some one has told von.

Are you a warm weather, fair wea-
ther naturalist ? This month and a few
following will give the answer.

house. Upon inquiry he explained:
"When it is fair weather, I don't

need to, when it rains, I can't."

And — there you are again ! What

shall the poor man do?

Which poor man ? - Which is the

man to be pitied? The householder

or the superintendent? Either. Both.

Who will solve the problem?

IF IT IS, IT ISN'T.

In a city where there is no teaching
of nature in the public schools, I re-
cently inquired of the superintendent
(who, by the way, is personally inter-
ested in nature) why he did not have
nature study taught regularly.

"Because I am a naturalist, like
you," he replied.

"What!" I exclaimed. "You don't
teach nature because you are person-
ally interested in it. How's that?"

"Well, you see, it comes about in
this way. If I require it, on certain
time and schedules, it is so perfunctory
and heartless that it isn't nature, for
it becomes sacrilegious. If I do not
require it, there is, as the slang ex-
pression puts it, 'nothin' doin'."

"Oh, I see." But I didn't at the time
— only partly. But the more I have
thought of it since, the more I appreci-
ate that superintendent as a naturalist.

If it is, it isn't ; if it i&n't, it is — and
there you are. Reminds me of the
mythical man who didn't shingle his

HE WAS SURPRISED.

In Brooklyn, New York, under the
auspices of the New York Board of
Education, I recently delivered a
course of three lectures, with the gen-
eral title of "Nature Study." The at-
tendance was fairly good, but surely
no more and perhaps not quite so great
as I had expected.

But the local superintendent was de-
lighted, for it exceeded his expectations
At the close of the third lecture he
thought to please me and to say some
encouraging words, so he told me how
pleased he had been by the size of the
audience.

"I'll confidentially confess," he said,
"that when I saw the announcement,
'Nature Study.' I was worried for fear
this center would 'go down' for three
weeks. Most persons have no interest
in bugs and snakes and I have been
surprised to observe you haven't said
much about the disagreeable things!"

I'll confess to you, fellow naturalist,
as you perhaps surmise, that I might
have said some things along the lines
of entomology and herpetology that

EDITORIAL AND GENERAL.

329

wouldn't have been wholly disagree-
able.

But the point that interested me was
his notion of what comprises "nature
study," and I have wondered as to just
how well he voiced public opinion in
his estimation of "those things."

To a real nature lover, snakes and
insects are of interest and are not dis-
agreeable. But it must be admitted
that to the "general public," they are
not attractive.

Now. the point is, who has been re-
sponsible for a certain setting aside,
notable occasionally, as conspicuous
synonyms of nature study, — nebula;,
planets, sunrises, sunsets, landscapes,
trees, mountains, rivers, indeed all that
there is beautiful and interesting in this
wonderful world — and substituted the
minutiae of the disagreeable?

"JUST SUPPOSE."

That is what I recently overheard
the children say as they were playing
in the next room at what I think was
a new kind of imaginative game.

So I will take the cue and do as they
do — "just suppose."

"Just suppose" we could show all
invalids the advantages of nature's
sanatorium

"Just suppose" that all the imagina-
tive and fictional statements about
nature have been turned into real seeing
and discovery

"Just suppose" one could go to a
news stand and pick up magazines or
newspapers telling of the real and not
of the fictitious

"Just suppose" that the money spent
on even one ball game could be applied
toward showing people a better form
of recreation in a life out of doors

"Just suppose" that we could divert
all trivial gossip about other people
into talk about the superabundance of
beauty and grace in the nature sur-
rounding us

"Just suppose" it could be proved to
the general mind that a naturalist is
one who tries in every possible way
to be benefitted by the beauty and wis-
dom of the universe

"Just suppose" we could demon-

strate the fact that a holiday or a va-
cation is better spent in the fields and
woods than in the crowded, noisy,
money wasting resorts

"Just suppose" that every preacher
should stop telling, if only for a little
while, of God in distant time, place
and words and give us a few glimpses
of his Omnipresent Works

"Just suppose" that all the discuss-
ing, theorizing and philosophizing
about systems, schedules and values of
nature study in the schoolroom have
been turned into the actual introduc-
tion of young people and nature to
each other

"Just suppose" we could induce all
people with many acres of greenhouses
and many men to attend to them, with
flowers and plants more than they can
even see, to realize that people not
wealthy would be benefitted if shown the
pleasure of growing" a plant — a simple
plant in a simple way

"Just suppose" that all the technical
scientists should stop embodying mi-
nutiae into their Reports and "Mono-
graphs of Sesquipedalian Intermin-
able Choctaw Nomenclature" and
should take a little time to tell us "com-
mon folks" in plain language about the
wonders or the interesting things that
they have discovered in nature

"Just suppose" — well, "suppose" we
did so "just suppose," what would hap-
pen then

The millenium. An earthly para-
dise. Heaven begun here below. A
strong, sane, healthy, happy humanity.

THE A A FIRST; AXD ITS SPIRIT.

Many of our readers, in their letters
reveal a misunderstanding of the rela-
tive position of The; Guide; to Nature
and The Agassiz Association. They
regard the magazine as of the chief
importance as a new and much needed
business venture or as a new move in
the advancement of nature study in
schools. Both points of view are
wrong. The AA is first of all. It is
the oldest and most efficient organiza-
tion in existence for the study of na-
ture and for fostering a love of nature.
It was organized in 1875, and incor-
porated in 1892 with an endowment of

330

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

five thousand dollars. The continu-
ance of the AA depends on the mem-
bership fees. This has been repeatedly
explained in The Guide; to Nature
and elsewhere. Full particulars are
contained in "Three Kingdoms" (mail-
ed postpaid for seventy-five cents)
and in the AA Manual (mailed for ten
cents).

The AA in its thirty years' existence
has had various methods for the inter-
change of observations, the outlining
its work, the disseminating its ideas,
etc. The Guide to Nature is only one
of many methods — the latest and per-
haps in some respects the best.

But however good this may be we
assure our friends that we do not want
their support and interest to be placed
principally and primarily there. Plac-
ing the interests of The Guide to Na-
ture before those of the AA, is collo-
quially and ludicrously expressed, by
the old story in which the tail wagged
the dog. Or, to change the figure to
one more in harmony with our work,
how absurd it would be to attempt to
care for the bloom or for the terminal
bud of a plant and make no provision
for the roots !

In a general magazine or in a book
published for profit by a business com-
pany or corporation, the interest is
chiefly in the goods supplied in ex-
change for the money. A reader sel-
dom if ever thinks of the publishers.
That general habit is one of the worst
obstacles encountered in our work.
Many of our readers insist, as with
other books or magazines, in putting
The Guide to Nature first. But the
magazine is only one of many tools.
Do not forget the personage (the AA)
that is using that tool. We plead with
you to place your interest primarily
where it should be ; that is, with the AA.
If you have a general love for nature
and of outdoor life, come with us and
be one of us. Aid this great organiza-
tion that extends around the world to
keep efficiently to its high ideals and
extensive work. It is encouraging, so
far as it goes, to receive enthusiastic
letters about Tue Guide to Nature,
promises of articles, promises of sub-
scriptions and the need of such a new
venture. But the venture isn't new.

It is a third of a century old and this
is only one of its many steps of ad-
vancement. Go to the heart of things,
get to the nucleus, — take an active in-
terest in the AA.

We are not one-hundredth part so
desirous to receive elaborately written
and illustrated articles for The Guide
to Nature, "just to help along the new
venture," as we are to start more per-
sons on the road toward the making of
original discoveries in nature.

Here is the kind of letter that we do
not want :

"Enclosed are manuscript and illustra-
tions which I prepared for one of the large
general magazines and for which I could
probably get fifty dollars or so. I am in-
terested in your new venture and to help
it along will let you have them at somewhat
of a discount from regular price."

Here is the kind of letter that we do
want :

"I have been studying

for several

years and enclose herewith an account of
some of my observations which please pub-
lish for the benefit of my fellow students
in the same subject. I desire to continue
my study of these and other departments
of nature and recognize that the AA will
help me. I enclose $ — for Member-
ship which I understand includes the vari-
ous aids by which the organization is help-
ful to its members."

It is letters of that type and spirit
that enable the AA and all its methods
to increase in value and in beneficial
results.

The AA is not money making and
I desire that none of the letters that
come to my desk shall be written in
a financial spirit. My friends, the mem-
bers of my family, the members of the
Council, the members of the AA, and
the editor, willingly and gladly devote
time and money for the good of the
cause and to encourage and stimulate
the study and a love of nature. The
president and editor, they are one and
the same, receives no salary nor any
pecuniary remuneration directly or in-
directly for the presidency of the AA
nor for the editorship of The Guide TO
Nature, and once for all let it be an
official "proclamation" that he does not
desire that letters shall come to this
desk which in spirit want to know
"How many $ $ $ $ $ $ $ in it for me?"

EDITORIAL AND GENERAL.

331

I have very few of these $ $ $ $ $
$ $; nevertheless I am willing- to de-
vote $ $ $ $ $ producing- time to this
work, and members of my family and
my scientific friends are aiding me in
this — from this same spirit. I cordial-
ly invite you to come in on the same
basis. I am willing to go with ten
million, with ten or, if others desert,

with none. But I shall go — so long as
I live.

Will you go with me?

In thorough earnestness, yours for

the love and study of nature

through the AA,

Cordially,

Edward F. Bigelov/.

(pRRESPONDENCE

AND

Information

!0C

A QUERY AS TO COLEUS LEAVES.

Tacoma Park, Washington, D. C.
To The Editor: —

It seemed a pity to lose the beautiful
large leaves that I stripped from some
coleus cuttings, so I arranged them in
two shallow boxes of sand to form a
kind of mosaic, with the stems cov-
ered, and placed them on a porch
where they got the morning sun. Af-
ter moistening the sand and sprink-
ling the leaves, I inverted over them
an old glass fish-tank. I sprinkled
the leaves daily, perhaps for two
months during which time they kept
their beautiful variegated colors, and
were evidently "very much alive." but
there was no appreciable growth above
ground.

Suddenly, one night, there was a
heavy freeze, and all the leaves wilted,
with the exception of one silver-spot-
ted leaf — I think a begonia. Pulling
some of the leaves up, I found them
richly supplied with rootlets, as much
as four inches long.

Now the question arises — and I will
try to answer it by experimenting with
a new "batch," — What would those
leaves have done had they not been frost-
ed? There seems to be no attempt to
start a new stem. Would the leaves
have continued indefinitely without
growth, the growth all going to root,
or would the plants — after having
formed a heavv root svstem, have

forced a new stem and grown a regu-
lar plant, or would they have finally
lapsed through the "statute of limita-
tions?"

I notice that these leaves continued
in service longer than similar leaves
on my growing plants. Is it because
nature recognized that it was a "Hob-
son's choice," and so kept the leaf at
work "overtime" because it was the
last and only chance?

Verv sincerely yours,

G. H. Heald.

A SHOWER OF CATERPILLARS.

Soulsbyville, Cal.
To The Editor: —

A short time ago I had the novel
experience of being out in a shower of
caterpillars. I was walking down a
railway cut, on the pursuit of entomo-
logical specimens intent, when the re-
freshing silence of the morning was
broken by the roar and shake of a
blast, set by a Japanese section gang,
a short distance back. Then, for a
few seconds, the air seemed full of fall-
ing caterpillars. I was, literally, cov-
ered with them, as was the ground
around. After alighting, they began
to climb up the sides of the cut to the
overhanging figwort bushes there, on
which, presumably, they had been
feeding until frightened by the rever-
beration of the blast, when they drop-
ped, thus causing the deluge.

!32

THE GUIDE TO XATURE.

The caterpillars were about an inch
long', covered with branching" yellow
and black spines. They had three
longitudinal yellow stripes, one on the
middle of the back and one on each
side, the remainder of the body being
purpiish black. After removing the
"shower drops" from my garments, I
gathered some to raise at home. After-
wards, the nearest identification of the
caterpillars that 1 could determine, was
that they were, probably, of the Meli-
taea butterfly family. (Melit?ea mac-
glashani. )

Yours very truly,

W. Thomas Ham.

ARTHRARI A.

Franklin, Pa.
To The Editor: —

For a number of years scientists
have known of a curious fossil found
in a hard layer of river shale, and

THE CURIOUS FOSSIL IN THE RIVER
SHALE.

which has somewhat the appearance of
a double cross ; that is, it consists of
a flattened central body, one eighth
to one fourth of an inch in thickness,
and usually about three eighths of an
inch wide, and having a thickened en-
largement at both ends, which pro-
jects on each side like the arms of a
cross, or which in some specimens
resembles an arrow head.

It has been named Arthraria ; mean-
ing a joint; but so far nothing definite
is known of its character.

While many specimens are often
found in one small piece of rock, they
are almost always quite disconnected ;
but the writer, who has for many years
been much interested in the organism,
and has examined hundreds of exam-
ples of it, recently found one attached
to what seemed to be a portion of a
stem, as shown in the illustration,
where the fossil has had the cross head
broken from one end.

It has been suggested that the sub-
ject might be a seed; but continued
study leads to the conclusion that it
is more likely to be a portion of a plant
that was capable of readily separating
into sections ; each of which was capa-
ble, under favorable conditions of con-
tinuing a separate existence.

If this is true, the scar shown on the
enlarged end of the specimen is pro-
bably the point from which either a
root or a branch was emitted.

This contribution is published to
supply additional material for the study
of this refractory fossil, and to aid, if
possible, its final determination.

W. T. Bell.

AN ASTONISHING HUNTING STORY.

Aiargaretville, New York.

To The Editor:—

Hunters in the woods have some
peculiar experiences and can often re-
late true tales that would make even
the so-called nature fakirs open their
eyes in astonishment.
" Probably one of the most unusual
experiences that has ever come to a
hunter in this section fell to the lot of
1 larry Brown, son of \V. H. Brown of
Allison & Brown of this village a few
days ago. The young man was hunt-
ing squirrels in Canada Hollow, a re-
gion some ten miles from the vdlage
and noted for hordes of gray squirrels
that inhabit it. He had been in the
woods for some time, had not seen
much game, and was becoming dis-
couraged when he heard the bark of a
gray squirrel. Thinking to be sure of
his "game, he approached very quietly

CuKREvSPONDENCE AND INFORMATION.

333

in the direction of the noise and arriv-
ing in sight of a big oak tree saw the
squirrel perched on a topmost limb
and scolding and barking hard. There
was nothing unusual in this, but as
lie was about ready to shoot, what was
the boy's surprise to see a large red
fox directly under the tree and watch-
ing the squirrel with all its attention.

The boy was so intent on the squir-
rel that he had started out to shoot
that it never occurred to him in the
excitement to shoot the fox first and
he fired at the squirrel. The animal
fell immediately. The fox never stirred
until the squirrel struck the ground
when he grabbed it and started to run.
Young Brown by this time had his
wits about him and having put another
shell in his gun fired at the fox which
dropped in its tracks with the squirrel
still in its mouth.

Whether the psychology of the story
is that like attention on the part of
both the boy and the fox led them to
fix all their minds on the squirrel and
thus be forgetful of the other or whe-
thcr there is some other explanation T
am unable to say.

Clarke A. SanEord.
Editor "The Catskill Mountain Neivs."

A DEFENSE OF ONE GROUP OF CAT
HATERS.

New York.
To The Editor: —

In an article in your September num-
ber Mr. C. H. Jones devotes a para-
graph to the "Cat Hater" which seems
rather unfair in the light of certain
known facts. I may state that while I
am not "crazy" about cats, I would claim
a place midway beween the "Cat Lovers"
and 'Takers. " But I know a number of
people and am constantly meeting others
who would be classified as "Cat Haters"
by Mr. Tones, and I wish to make the
following statements concerning them ;
statements which have long been known
to medical men, but which are still un-
explained.

With these people the feeling in re-
gard to cats is actually that of fear or
blind terror. This is congenital and not
originated by induced fear on the part of
nurses or otherwise. As infants, these

people had the same terror of a piece of
cotton or a muff. As adults, the feeling
is entirely distinct from fear of any other
thing or organism. Coexistent with it
there may lie perfect fearlessness of
dogs, rats, mice, worms, snakes and
other creatures, and 1 have known such
people to be particularly fond of watch-
ing live lions and tigers. The fear is
usually greater of a kitten, perhaps be-
cause at this age its movements are more
uncertain. But the tiniest and most
helpless kitten may cause as great a
manifestation of terror as the largest and
most aggressive 'Tommy.'

The fear cannot be put into words ex-
cept that it is an innate horror of being
approached or touched by a cat. Cats
seem to have an instinctive desire to go
to such people and I have frequently
known a cat to follow them for many
blocks. No amount of reasoning or as-
sociation with cats can overcome this
feeling, as indeed we realize must be
the case with a congenital characteristic.

Finally, and most remarkable of all,
these people have the power of knowing
when a cat enters the room while the
animal is yet invisible to them. It is Dr.
Weir Mitchell, I think, who attributes
this to an unusual sensitiveness on the
part of the person's sense of smell to
some faint odor emanating from the cat.
I know of no one of the ordinary and
senseless dislikes of mice, bats, snakes,
or other innocuous creatures, which is
congenital and which cannot be over-
come by the will of the person. With-
out exception all these seem to be in-
duced during early childhood.

This defense of at least one group of
"Cat Haters" is offered as a most in-
teresting subject, the explanation of
which may one day be forthcoming or
it may be forever buried in the dim past
history of the evolution of the human
race.

C. William BeEbe,
Curator of Ornithology,
New York Zoological Park.

TREES AND WOODPECKERS.

473 Madison Street, Brooklyn, N. Y
To The Editor:—

Are trees injured by the holes made
in the trunks by sapsuckers?

334

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Do sapsuckers ever drink water or
bathe ?

Do other woodpeckers drink water
and. bathe?

Mrs. C. S. Hartwell.

LICHENS.

By Frederick Le Roy Sargent, Cambridge.

Mass.
A leaf-forsaken twig they beautify,
And o'er a ledge's harsh and frowning face
A smiling silken mask they softly place;
Upon a barren hillside, hot and dry,
Their mimic coral-reefs contented lie;
Or close beside a dead tree's shattered base
They lay, for lachrymal, grief's choicest vase
Imploring pity from the passer-by.
Yet look not for them in the verdant field
Or blossoming copse amid the rose's court
Of beauteous pleasurelings; their livery
Is consecrate to want, 'tis of a somber sort
Befitting toil, and is the safer shield
Defending them as doth humility.

AUTUMN LEAVES.

"The leaves fell brown and dead upon the

streams
And in the many winding woodland-ways.
And the blue haze again upon the hills
And o'er the sleeping waters spread its veil
All faint and dim, and from the misty deep
Of the great stream was heard the lonely cry
Of the solitary loon that lingered still upon

its bosom."

Howard Worcester Gilbert.

The commonplace is the grandest of
all things that the exceptional in any
line is no finer, better, or more beauti-
ful than the usual, and that what is really
wanting is not that we should possess
something we have not at present, but
that our eyes should be opened to see and
our hearts to feel what we all have. —
Dr. R. H. Bucke, "Walt Whitman."

PHYSIOLOGICAL.

THE APPENDIX.

BY DR. S. G. SHANKS, ALBANY, NEW YORK.

The small intestine or principal por-
tion of the digestive tract empties into
the large intestine (colon) at a point

of this blind sac, so both may be more
or less taken together under the term,
caecal pouch. The special portion,
termed the appendix, is, in man, slen-
der and worm-like. It is usually at-
tached at the back and lower end of

KuHMi Embryo

"A/CovbkeU

7lorse

Sheef)

about four inches above the apparent the caecum. It commonly hangs down-
beginning of the latter. This pouch or ward but may lie around the caecum in
pocket, below the junction, is named any direction. It may be one to six
the caecum (blind sac). The appendix inches in length and about one quar-
is developed as the terminal portion ter of an inch in diameter. To the ex-

PHYSIOLOGICAL.

335

ploring' finger it feels soft, like the
small intestine ; but when congested or
inflamed it becomes rigid or stiff. It
is generally covered in front by some
coils of small intestine. Anatomically
its structure is like that of the large
intestine — but much more glandular.
The muscular walls of the appendix
have been seen to contract with those
of the caecum, urged by the same nerve
impulses. This contractile power ex-
plains why foreign bodies are seldom
found and also why any such bodies,
if in, might be expelled later with the
normal mucous secretions. The cavity
of the appendix almost always con-
tains (even before birth) the usual
contents of the caecum. What is the
function of the appendix? As it tends
to shrink or become closed, with age,
and appears to cause no disturbance
to the economy when removed as a
diseased organ or as a precaution
against disease, we must study its de-
velopment. Has it ever been useful
to man ?

We find the caecal pouch is largest
and best developed in herbivorous ani-
mals and birds and least developed in
the flesh eaters. In the mixed feeders
it is moderate in size. The herbivor-
ous cow, sheep and deer, with com-
plex, four-chambered stomachs, have
each a large caecal pouch. Birds have
two caecal pouches or appendices. The
small intestine enters the colon be-
tween them. In the turkey these ap-
pendices are twelve or more inches
long. In the fowl they are six to ten
inches long. The horse family have
simple stomachs and presumably less
digestive capacity than the cloven
hoofs. The caecum in the horse is
over three feet long and nearly a /foot
in diameter. The hare, rabbit and bea-
ver have very large caecal pouches. In
fact all the hoofed animals and also the
rodents have relatively large caeca, an
indication that the food is coarse and
difficult to digest. These large pouches
act to delay the food or to provide
additional secretion and a more com-
plete digestion. The carnivora, eating
more concentrated and nutritious food,
have small appendices. Leopards and
tigers have a short caecal pouch with
a nipple-like appendix. The bears,

badgers, raccoons, bats, frogs and tur-
tles have neither caecal pouch nor ap-
pendix. Our poor relations, the fruit-
eating monkeys, are provided with an
appendix several times the relative
size, compared with man. The caecal
pouch tapers into the appendix like
the human embryo form. Looking
into our own embryology, we find the
appendix very long and clearly the
tapering end of the caecal pouch. At
birth it is still long and large. The
adult form is reached at about the fifth
year. The appendix was carefully ex-
amined in a series of several hundred
autopsies. The result showed that
from fifteen years of age on, an in-
creasing percentage of appendices were
either obliterated or obstructed. At
sixty years, fifty per cent of all appen-
dices were found to be functionless.
This conclusion is forced upon us.
Man was formerly an herbivorous
creature having a long and voluminous
caecal pouch in his pendulous abdo-
men, and embryology indicates that
this time does not lie very far back
in our history. After a time culinary
skill developed and man's interest in
the delights of a varied bill of fare was
awakened. The more nutritious diet
was appreciated by his overworked
paunch. His caecum, less needed,
gradually shrunk, leaving the dwind-
ling appendix in its present form — a
slender, stunted, disappearing organ,
destined to pass away when we take
our merely necessary nutriment concen-
trated in the form of tablets and capsules.
The appendix in man secretes mucus
that may serve to moisten and assist
the onward movement of the intestinal
contents. It still has a function al-
though the work is on a small scale.

We have it on the list,

And we know it does exist,

Yet it never would be missed, by our race.

But the wise herbivorist

Has good reason to insist,

That the caecum should persist, in his case.

A few words concerning the inter-
esting and fashionable appendicitis.
What causes it ?

Small or smooth seeds and such solid
bodies, sometimes found, probably
never cause trouble. A pin or sharp

336

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

bone or fragment of glass may wound
or perforate the organ. It is believed
that many cases of appendicitis are,

Small

at first, catarrhal ; that is, the inflama-
tion is limited to the mucous lining
only. The organ being a lang, narrow,
blind sac, mechanical conditions rather

favor the stagnation of anything that
may enter from the intestine. If the
substance contains pus forming bac-
teria, an infection may follow. It has
been noted that a condition of lowered
vitality induced by an acute indiges-
tion (at the head of the list), cold
congestion or an injury like a blow or
strain, often precedes the inflammation.
Influeza, rheumatism or any other
general infection may be a cause. The
whole reparative power of the appen-
dix is low, as might be expected in a
retrogressing organ, consequent y. mi-
crobic infection frequently occurs and
>light attacks of appendicitis may be
mi ire common than is generally
known. If the catarrhal inflammation is
severe, congestion and swelling of the
mucous membrane may be sufficient
to obstruct the cavity and cut off
drainage into the caecum. Then fur-
ther exudation of serum and mucus,
with bacterial growth, will produce
pus, distention and often a compres-
sion of the blood vessels leading to
gangrene, easy perforation and blood
poisoning. A previous attack of ap-
pendicitis, causing kinks or constric-
tions or adhesions to neighboring parts,
hampering the normal contractions
and the return flow, is always attended
by a lowered resistance to infection
and a predisposition to further attacks.
There is a steadily diminishing rate of
attacks after thirty years of age.

YAID
THE LENS

A Ti:i{Ri:STHIAL ALGA.

avenue along a country road. The

trees themselves were bearing a luxu-

lt was toward the middle of a mild riant growth of Protococcus viridis, the

November that I noticed splashes of minute, single-celled plants concealing

what seemed to be a green stain, at the bark under a sheet of green, while

the bases of the maples that form an on the damp ground those splashes of

SEEING BY All) OF THE LENS.

337

color were conspicuous. Yet 1 had
passed the place perhaps a hundred
times, but until that day 1 had not seen
those verdant tinges on the earth, or
had called them "young mosses-'* and
Forgotten them.

But 1 knew at this time, that to
whatever the appearance was really
due, it was not to any earthly mo^s,
for as I lifted a dead leaf, the growths
beneath stood upright in a little mat of

tes-4

PART OF A SINGLE FILAMENT OF

ULOTHRIX FLACCIDA, SHOWING THE

MASSING OF THE CELL CONTENTS

AGAINST THE CELL WALL.

microscopic velvet that was a hint as to
the real character.

The plants growing at the roots of
the maples in patches so luxuriant
that they occupied the earth by the
square foot, are not rare, yet they can-
not be common. This, in connection
with two delightful secrets that they
later tried to reveal, makes them more
attractive than ever, and their lucky
finding becomes an event of impor-
tance, at least to the man that collect-
ed them by scraping the earth with a

penknife. They proved to be Ulothrix
fiaccida, Kg., and showed themselves
to be worthy of extended study.

They are algae. But algae thrive in
the sea, and are tossed by the waves
to the beach, where they are occasion-
ally gathered by lovers of the beauti-
ful in nature, but more frequently art'
trodden under the feet of the careless
and the ignorant. So do algae thrive
in sweet water ponds and ditches
where the water is quiet, and the sun
shines warm and unobstructed. But
while these were undoubtedly algae,
yet they were thriving on the bare
earth. A fresh- water Ulothrix with a
terrestrial habitat was worth investi-
gating.

There are two allied algal genera,
Ulothrix and Conferva. They are al-
ways difficult to separate and to iden-
tify, and are as able to make them-
selves troublesome to the microsco-
pist as are some other of nature's pro-
ductions. But this particular species
of algal Ulothrix must be absolved
from such microscopical sins, for, aside
from its terrestrial preferences, it ex-
hibits a feature so characteristic that
it becomes diagnostic, and leads the
observer at once to that resting place
which the scientific name provides, and
which affords him an opportunity to
pursue the study, with a feeling of
protection that nothing will so pleas-
antly impart as will the knowledge of
the name. It is a comfort to know
with whom one is speaking, even at a
first meeting.

The peculiarity of this peculiar
Ulothrix is that the cell-contents are
habitually, and almost constantly con-
tracted into a little hemispherical mass,
and thrust against the cell-wall where
it adheres with little change, unless
the plant is subjected to a rather pro-
longed maceration in water, and some-
times even after such treatment. In
a thread of the Ulothrix containing
seventy-five cells, seventy-two were in
this hemispherically contracted state,
and so remained at the end of several
hours' soaking. This, in connection
with the general microscopic aspect
of the plant, the size of the cells (from
7 to 9.5 microns in diameter), and its
habitat on the damp earth will, almost

338

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

at a glance through the microscope,
distinguish it from a Conferva, or from
any of its more immediate kindred.

While making a vain search for
those colorless and arborescent pro-
longations that, when present, act as
rootlets, I happily penetrated into a
secret, that for many evenings made
Ulothrix flaccida a charming guest at
the microscope table. At the lower-
most end of the thread-like filaments
which form these simple plants, and
near which the cells had become
brown, shrivelled and apparently dead,
nature was in the act of producing a
lichen. In one of the formative stages,
and an early one at that, here was a
lichen in process of development. Ti>at
grey and wrinkled object which we all
know by sight, and which seems to
ask for nothing but a sterile rock, or
a bit of dead bark in the sun, is not the
single, independent growth that it ap-
pears to be, but is a combination of
fungus and alga, a symbiosis in which
two distinct plants give and receive
a certain something, that to the one
is not necessary, but to the other is
essential, a result of this reciprocity
being that apparently half-dead thing,
which we so often reject as not worth
a moment's notice. Yet it is not half
dead ; it is doubly alive.

It was upon the beginning of such
a combination that I happened, when
I found the green stain on the ground,
and brought bits of it away in the palm
of my hand. Here were filaments that
were neither Ulothrix complete, nor
Protococcns cells unaltered, for the lat-
ter were dividing1, chanenne: and de-
veloping on the ground where the rain
had washed them from the tree-trunk
above, and where the verdant patch
was increasing with every shower.
But some of the Protococcns cells had
been caught in the embrace of a color-
less thread (hypha) of a fungus, which
had divided itself so that it might at
once touch two surfaces of the cell,
while others had twined themselves
about the Ulothrix filaments, into sev-
eral of whose cells they had penetrat-
ed, and upon whose delicate spire they
were climbing. So young was the
combination, that, mingled with the

growth, were fungous spores that were
just beginning to emit their colorless
threads, and were apparently reaching
out for the support and the nutriment
that only Ulothrix could afford. What
the lichen will become, the future alone
can tell. Nature may suppress it be-
fore it attains maturity, or some more
favored observer may solve the prob-
lem.

This was my first meeting with
Ulotlirix ilaccida, but not the last. I
next observed it on the foundation
stones of my house. It appeared be-
tween the bricks in the garden walk ;
in a broad sheet on the surface of one
of the flower beds ; on the sides of a
flower pot in the window ; on the fence
posts in the back yard, and luxuriantly
in a small aquarium on my microsco-
pe table, where it still presented the
characteristic massing of the chloro-
phyll against the cell Avail. But as an
aerial growth it finally became altered
in an astonishing way, and revealed a
part of another secret, yet with a "miss-
ing" link" that I hope to find "some-
where, somehow."

In the late summer or in the early
autumn, Ulothrix disappears from the
garden beds, and its place is taken by
a common moss. Is the alga a stage
in the development of the moss ? Do the
algal filaments originate from the Pro-
tococcns cells, which, as is well known,
have no right to separate, generic ex-
istence, but which, in this instance,
become a terrestrial Ulotlirix, and in
favorable conditions, a protonema, and
eventually a common moss? Where
the Ulothrix is the moss finally appears.
The inference is plain, if not convinc-
ing, but the succession is too constant
to be rejected as meaningless. I have
not been successful in my search for
a sight of the actual changes. The
links between the alga and the proto-
nema, and between the protonema and
the moss, are missing, yet I am per-
suaded that they exist. Perhans some
observer more favorably situated in
locality and in leisure, not to say in
perseverance, may solve the problem.
It appears that Ulothrix flaccida when
aquatic is an alga, and that when ae-
rial the alga finally becomes a moss.

Pi IIC CAMERA.

339

TWO OK MOKE PHOTOGRAPHS ON ONE
PLATE.

BY WILBUR e. SMITH, SOUTH NORWALK,
CONNECTICUT.

Making" "doubles," or two or more
exposures on the same plate, is inter-
esting, and gives play and scope to all
the ingenuity that a person can com-
mand. Such "doubles" have one great
advantage, since we can repeatedly
photograph the same object on one

plate, as I have done with my dog,
for I have him in four characteristic
positions, and so well has the duplica-
tor done its work that one can easily
believe the picture to be that of four
dogs.

The process by which this is accom-
plished is shown in the picture,
where tbe figure in the upper corner
fades out to nothing", and the light
overlaps from the next exposure, leav-
ing no dividing line. The dog on the

"MY DOG AND I."
Four photographs of one dog on one plate. Observe the excellent merging of the
four exposures into one photograph.

340

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

boy's shoulder overlaps the top ex-
posure, and exemplifies one of the
most difficult feats to accomplish with-
out having the first picture show
through and spoil the second. Did
you ever try to photograph the same
animal for four times in succession and
not have him move and spoil the pic-
ture ?

From this kind of work I have learn-
ed something that has a practical val-
ue and should appeal to every amateur
photographer. We all have found sub-
jects, one part of which was in sha-
dow, the other being in bright sun-
light, where an ordinal'} exposure
would not give the desired results, and
doubtless we have gone away hoping
to return when the light should be
right.

Look at the ravine picture in
which apparently the light was uni-
form, as to the exposure, yet the left
bank is in the shade of heavy hemlock
woods, and only by a double exposure

could I get satisfactory results.

I here put my slide before the lens
as a duplicator, and guessing at the
proper length of time, I exposed for
the sunlight. Reversing the slide, I
exposed for the shadow, giving the
left side of the picture four times the
exposure of the right. The result was
an evenly exposed plate.

The principle of the duplicator
brought thus into practical use, must
appeal to every amateur photographer.
The range is so wide, and the fun to
be had, as shown in the first pictures,
is so great that it is a wonder that more
amateurs do not take up this fascinat-
ing sport.

AN OMITTED CEED1T.

The double photograph on the bottom of
page 242 of the October number of "The
Guide to Nature" was taken by Arend Du-
bee, Beloit, Wisconsin.

DOUBLE EXPOSURE OF AN UNEVENLY LIGHTED SCENE.
By this method, the detail of the heavily shaded portion was brought out and the
-well lighted part was not over exposed.

THE CAMERA.

$4 J

•COMING THROUGH THE RYE.
Photograph by Louis P^leckenstein.

342

THE GUIDE TO NATL" RE.

A PHOTOGRAPH OF A STURGEON FROM LIFE.

A good example of "under water" photography by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt.

SHEEP. most favorable of conditions, is due

by GEO. w. kellogg, ROCHESTER, n. v. all credit for this picture. A minute

To being on a country road at the before the sheep had been let out of

right place and at the right moment, their pasture. They had raced down

to having a camera that can be put in the road to the watering place, and

action almost instantly, and to the are waiting for their owner to apply

A REMARKABLE KODAK PHOTOGRAPH.
Xote the excellent detail and depth of focus.
Photograph by George W. Kellogg.

THE CAMERA.

343

his muscular energy to the pump petition for the first places at the water-
handle in the rear. In less than a half ing tub. The negative was made with
minute the sheep were in keen com- a folding kodak on kodak film.

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344

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

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WHITE CHRYSANTHEMUMS.
Photograph by Arthur Hooper.

345

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

AQASSIZ ASSOCIATION

~M<&&&^^^

AUTUMN OBSERVATIONS.

I'.Y ELMER WALTER, CORRESPONDING
MEMBER, NO. 2002, PERU, IND.

One clay late in October I took a
walk to the woods which is all that
remains of the forest playground of
niv bovhood. A brook meanders
across one portion and during the ages
of its erosion through the clay and
boulder drift, it has formed for itself
a little ravine, flanked on both sides
by hills that afford good burrowing
places for the small animals that yet
make this their home. Beneath the
shading boughs of the trees are here
and there groups of pawpaw bushes
clumps of spice-wood, scattered wild
gooseberry bushes and blackberry
patches. Along the brookside is a
tangled thicket of young trees, vines
and weeds. On the edge of this thick-
et stands a grand old oak that has thus
far escaped the woodman's ax and de-
fied the lightning.

Jack Frost had painted the landscape
in his masterly way. Some of the
lower leaves of the beech trees were
still green, but the tops were brown
and others were decked in red and
yellow. The sunshine sifting through,
completed the color scheme and illu-
mination, ddie air was cool enough
to make the sunshine pleasant, and I
strolled about aimlessly, sometimes
lingering to eat a few ripe pawpaws,
or 10 examine some interesting plant.
I then walked to the southern border
of the woods, where a tangle of grape
vines formed canopies with one or two
hawthorn trees and where the wild
fruit was ripening under the autumn
sun. Spanish-needles reached out for
intimate greeting and the pappus of
thistles and the comose seeds of the
milkweed floating in the air, said that
summer days were o'er. Up to this
time I had been accompanied by the

dog, "Freddie." He had killed a mole
in the woods and was now searching
for rabbits. At noon while I was sit-
ting on a boulder in a sunny part of
the thicket I found that "Freddie" had
deserted and gone home. But I had
other company. There were crows,
oluejays, nuthatches, speckled and
downy woodpeckers, and toward even-
ing I saw snow-birds in a corn field —

ON THE EASTERN RIM OF THIS THICK-
ET STANDS A GRAND OLD OAK TREE."

another reminder of the approach of
winter. I had an apple and a half
do/en walnuts in my pocket. In the
dry bed of the brook where cobble-
stones were plentiful, I cracked and
ate the walnuts. Then going up the
hill I >at down and ate the apple. In

LITERARY AND BIOGRAPHICAL.

347

a depression on the hillside only a
short distance below me was a little
brush-heap half buried in fallen leaves.
I had heard a rustling' there and soon
became aware that a chipmunk (striped
ground-squirrel) had there taken re-
fuge. I threw the apple-core toward
the edge of the heap. Scarcely had it
failen when "Mr." Chipmunk appeared.
Pausing only for a brief glance at me,
he made a quick forward and down-
ward movement of the- head, which
fastened his incisors deep in the apple-
core and it was carried back into the
dark recesses of his abode.

I sat there for awhile, then moved to
another part of the woods and later
came back to the south slope of the
hill. Another ground-squirrel, ran into
a hollow stub of a limb on a log iying
at the foot of the hill. I sat down near
by and remained quiet. In a few min-
utes he poked his head out, but, see-
ing" me, soon withdrew. I noticed that
his cheeks were distended by some-
thing which he was carrying. Going
up to the log, I took a little mirror and
reflected the sunlight on him. The
hollow extended only far enough to
allow him to retreat for a few inches
or a foot, from the entrance, so he and
I were practically face to face. A
bright red berry that he had dropped
revealed what he was collecting. It
was the fruit of the dogwood tree. At
that time acorns and nuts were scarce

in this part of the woods, and the little
fellow had to gather such crops as na-
ture provided. Several dogwood trees
weil laden with the fruit were near by.
I gathered some and bit into one to
examine it. The pulp is somewhat
bitter, but is relished by bluebirds and
robins. There is a small nutty kernel
in the stony seed and this is probably
the part utilized bv the squirrel. Tak-
ing about a dozen of the berries, I
threw them into the hollow log, just
in front of him, at the same time re-
flecting in the sunlight. While I was
there he remained crouched low, his
little black eyes sparkling. I went
away for a short distance and stood
somewhat behind a tree. In a few
minutes he came out and, after looking
around for awhile, turned back and
proceeded to fill his pouches with the
berries. He took them all. I saw him
go to his den on the hillside. I went
to the dogwood tree and got another
handful of berries and put them in his
burrow, completely filling the entrance.
In another part of the woods, I found
a tree where beechnuts were plentiful-
Eating what I wanted, I gathered some
for the squirrel. When I returned to
his burrow, about an hour after I had
left it, I found that he had taken care
of all dogwood berries. I then contri-
buted a handful of beechnuts to his
winter store.

Literary

BIOGRAPHICAL

In The Open. Intimate Studies and Appre-
ciations of Nature. By Stanton Davis
Kirkham. San Francisco and New
York: Paul Elder & Company.

The author has spent the better part of
his life in the great out-of-doors. During
his wanderings on the American continent
he has made an acquaintance with practi-
cally all of the flora and the fauna from
Atlantic to Pacific, from Canada to South-
ern Mexico. His essays are those of a na-
turalist and trained observer presenting to
the reader an intimate and comprehensive
study, dealing with the habits of birds, in-

sects and the friendly animals of the forest,,
and conveying the spirit of the mountains,
the forest, the sea and the seasons, with
literary charm and rare understanding. "In
the Open" breathes the spirit of the out-of-
doors. It carries you into the cool and
shadowy heart of the forest, up snow-clad
mountain sloj.es and out upon the wind-
swept plain. Bird song, the hum of insect
life, the wild fragrance of woodland flow-
ers, and many of the elusive mysteries and
beauties of meadow and mountain are so
sympathetically interpreted as to make the
reader wish with all his heart that he., too,.
were out "in the open."

348

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Progressive Poultry Culture, by A. A. Brig-
ham. 12mo, cloth. The Torch Press,
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, $1.50 postpaid.

A good book on the many-sided topic of
poultry culture is always welcome, and the
Torch Press of Cedar Rapids, Iowa,
is to be congratulated on being the pub-
lishers of Dr. A. A. Brigham's volume, "Pro-
gressive Poultry Culture."

The work is carefully and ably done by
one of the oldest and best known specialists
in the field to-day. Dr. Brigham is an ac-
knowledged authority on the subject, not
only in this country but in both Europe
and Asia. Anything written by this skilled
poultryman and lover of pure bred fowls
is of the highest value as well as interest.
He writes from large experience gained
while resident at different times in six states
of the Union and after having been Pro-
fessor of Agriculture in Japan; hence it is
easy to realize that a book of this character
from him, must be of unusual excellence.

Gleanings from Nature. By W. S. Blatchley,
Indianapolis, Indiana: The Nature Pub-
lishing Company.

In time of publication, this book is not
new; but in the spirit of its contents, it is
ever new and refreshing. The author says
truly that he knows by experience, both on
the farm and in the school room, that the
possession of a better knowledge of nature
by country youths is one of the crying
needs of the hour. With such a knowledge
generally diffused there would be less dis-
satisfaction with country life and fewer
farmers' sons and daughters would flock
to the cities, because, as a recent writer
expresses it, "they wish to get rid of the
prosy, stunting, isolated life on the farm."
With a knowledge of some of nature's ob-
jects and a desire to ferret out for them-
selves some of her secrets, they would have
something of which to talk and think be-
side crops, stock, work, neighborhood gos-
sip and local politics, and the attractions
of the city would seldom excel those to be
found on the old homestead.

Gray's New Manual of Botany (Seventh Edi-
tion— Illustrated). A Handbook of the
Flowering Plants and Ferns of the Cen-
tral and Northeastern United States and
Adjacent Canada. Rearranged and ex-
tensively revised by Benjamin Lincoln
Robinson, Asa Gray Professor of Sys-
tematic Botany in Harvard University,
and Merritt Lyndon Fernald, Assistant
Professor of Botany in Harvard Uni-
versity. New York: Cincinnati: Chi-
cago: American Book Company.
"In bringing Dr. Asa Gray's well-known
Manual to date and into accord with modern
views of classification and nomenclature,
the present editors have found it necessary
to rearrange it throughout, rewrite con-
siderable portions, modify at least slightly,
nearly all the descriptions, and adopt cer-

tain principles of nomenclature (notably
the one relating to the first specific name)
somewhat at variance with Dr. Gray's prac-
tice. Although these changes have been
numerous and in some respects fundamen-
tal, it is believed that they are all in thor-
ough accord with the liberal spirit of pro-
gress which characterized his own success-
sive publications.

"Many of the older figures, formerly
grouped in plates, have been redrawn and
for greater convenience placed in the text,
and to these have been added a much larger
number of new ones."

American National Red Cross Text-Book
on First Aid and Relief Columns. By

Major Charles Lynch, of the Medical
Corps, U. S. A. A Manual of Instruction
for the Prevention of Accidents and
What to Do for Injuries and Emergen-
cies. Prepared for and Indorsed by
the American National Red Cross. With
a Preface by R. M. O'Reilly, Brigadier
General, Surgeon-General, U. S. A. P.
Blakiston's Son & Co., Publishers, Phil-
adelphia. 74 Illustrations. Pocket-size;
244 pages. Limp Cloth, $1.00 net.

The Red Cross is in each country an or-
ganization recognized by the respective Gov-
ernments for the purpose of rendering aid
to the medical services of armies in time
of war, and, furthermore, to mitigate the
suffering caused by great calamities, and
to devise and carry on means for preventing
the same. It has, therefore, an important
educational duty to perform.

For the purpose of further fulfilling this
duty the American National Red Cross has
issued the First Aid and Relief Column text-
book for use in schools, colleges, Y. M. C.
A's., in the family, and for service in the
training of Nurses and Red Cross Relief
Columns. Major Charles Lynch, of the Medi-
cal Corps of the United States Army, was
especially requested by the Red Cross to
prepare this text-book.

The author is a surgeon in the Army
Medical Service, and has been especially
detailed by the War Department to act as
the medium between that department and
the National Red Cross. His duties are to
study and suggest in what way the services
of the Society can be made the most avail-
able. Major Lynch was the U. S. Medical
Attache to the Japanese Army during the
Russian-Japanese War and while there had
special opportunities for observing the im-
provised materials used by them in case of
need, and their manner of rendering first-
aid which proved of such value in the pre-
serving of life during that war. He has
been engaged in organizing First Aid and
Relief Columns, lecturing before various
branches of the Y. M. C. A., and otherwise
devoting much time to this special subject.
He has, therefore, a large experience of the
necessities and practical value of such work
and of the wants of those seeking instruc-
tion.

THE

GUIDE^NATU&E

STAMFORD, CONN.

EDWARD T DIGE1PW Editor

JANUARY, 1909

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Important Announcement

GOOD NEWS

TO

All Students and Lovers of Nature

AND TO

All Interested in Education

THE ESTABLISHMENT

OF

"ARCADIA" ON UNIQUE LINES

See page 381 and following.

few SMWSS& v% *& oj ^ m <&

a

BONORA"

THE GREATEST DISCOVERY OF MODERN TIMES

NOT a stimulant but an added quality to Nature, which becomes the
life of the plant, making it to plant life what blood is to human
life. Discovered by an English chemist, and now creating great
sensation throughout the land. It is now being shipped to the remotest cor-

ners of the world.
Used and endors-
ed by the greatest
authorities in
America, among
them Luther Bur-
bank, Eben Rex-
ford, H. B. Ful-
lerton (called the
Luther Burbank
of Long Island)
and many others.
Used by the gar-
deners of the fol-
lowing prominent
people: Hon.
Gorne 1 i us N .
Bliss, Jacob
Schiff, M. G. D.
Borden, Geo. W.
Vanderbilt, John
D. Rockefeller,

Hon. Joseph H.

If your florist does not handle it, order direct. Put up
somely decorated cans, all sizes, as follows :
1 lb. - - - 28 gallons, post paid $

Ghoat, and a great
many others.

"BONORA" is
made of absolute-
ly pure chemicals,
immediately dis-
solves in water,
and when sprink-
led around the
roots of the plant
becomes avail-
able at once.
"BONORA" will
make your winter
plants, hothouse
plants, etc., bloom
in profusion, giv-
ing them healthy
color and wonder-
ful growth. By
its use plants are
made to grow as
if in the Tropics.

in hand-

5 lbs.

10 lbs.

50 lbs.

100 lbs.

200 lbs.

140

280

1120

2800

5600

BONORA CHEMICAL CO.,

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2.50

4.75

22.50

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70.00

New York.

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PUBLISHERS NOTICES

The Guide to Nature.

EDUCATION AND RECREATION

AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY MAGAZINE FOR ADULTS. DEVOTED TO COMMON-
PLACE NATURE WITH UNCOMMON INTEREST.

PUBLISHED BY THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION. OFFICE: 113 GROVE ST., STAMFORD. CONNECTICUT

Subscription, $1.50 Per Year. Single Copy, 15 Cents.
Entered as second-class matter, April 6, 1908, at the Post Office at Stamford, Conn., under the act of March 3, 1879

Vol. I

JANUARY, 1909

No. 10

THE CHRISTMAS BIBD-LOEE.

Bird-Lore for Christmas (The Mac-
millan Company, New York), covering
the months of November and December,
completes the tenth year of this fascinat-
ing and unique periodical. With a mo-
destv remarkable as it is rare, the editor
makes no claim for the great amount
of good the magazine has clone in its
chosen field, preferring "to look ahead
rather than behind.'' In addition to two
splendid four-color plates made from
Bruce Horsfall's drawings, there is an
intensely interesting article on the sea
birds which do their housekeeping and
raise their families on Bird Rock, "way
off in the middle of the stormy, fog-
bound Gnlf of St. Lawrence." Mr. E.
J. Sawyer, tells an interesting story of
"The Drumming of the Ruffed Grouse,"
and illustrates it with some remarkable
photographs of the bird goinf through
its peculiar performance. There is an
interesting sketch of a "blind" used in
the study of bird life, by the editor, a
comprehensive report of the 1908 meet-
ing of the National Association of Au-
dubon Societies including reports by field
agents and State Audubon Reports, and
a list of the members of the National
Association. Altogether, Christmas Bird-
Lore is one of the best numbers ever
issued.

A HEM A It K ABLE LESS.

Two circulars of especial interest come
to my desk. One contains a prism sec-
tion of an 8 x 10 photograph of a crowd
of people ; the other a series of attitudes
of an athlete turning somersault in mid-
air from a springboard.

The photographs were the work of the
Ic Tessar lens made by The Bausch &
Lomb Optical Company, Rochester, N.
Y.

I have never used a Tessar because I
have preferred the Protar on account
of its wider range of usefulness ; but for
specific speed and sharpness (with a
peculiarly pleasing crispness of image)
it does seem that this new Tessar is
worth careful consideration by natural-
ists. The manufacturers claim that it is
especially adapted to telephoto work. If
any of our readers have used it in nature
photography, will they please report
results ?

An Unparalleled Price for an Unparal-
leled Work.

See if you can buy an original copy of W. H.
Edward's magnificent volume set of "The Butterflies
of North America" for a cent less than the publishers'
price, $135.00 net. If you would like a copy at $75,
write and ask the editor of The Guide to Nature
about it. Hand drawn and hand colored plates.

11

ADVERTISEMENT.

WITH WHAT MADE?

No phase of The Guide to Nature
has brought more commendatory words
than have our photo-macrographs; that
is small objects like a fly's wing, the
stamens of plants, etc., photographed
under moderate magnification. It is but
justice to the C. P. Goerz American
Optical Company to state that all of these
have been made with their exquisite
gems — a three-inch and a five inch Celor.
Several scientific friends and even a
member of the Goerz office staff have
expressed surprise that we use the Celor
and not the Dagor for this scientific
work. The Celor has been preferred
because it better lights the ground glass
and, of course, has the same depths when
stopped down to same apertures as the
Dagor. These little lenses are used in
a 6l/2 by 8y2 premo of forty-eight inches
in length, front and back focus, with
about a foot more of cone extension in
front of the bellows. The apparatus was
pictured on page 21 of our first number
(April, 1908). Nothing short of an
absolutely perfect lens will produce
good lighting, flat field and sharp de-
finition in such use. The Celors have
been a delight. Nothing has come into
my laboratory that does the work so
well.

JUST THE THING TO SAVE THE PLANTS.

Any one desiring to procure an excel-
lent hand plant sprayer to spray the
leaves upon indoor plants, to keep the
insects off and otherwise keep them

healthful, should send $1.00 to The G. N.
Lenox Sprayer Company, 165 West
Twenty-third Street, New York City,
and receive one by return mail. This
sprayer will spray under and over the
leaves. Three cakes of tobacco soap to
make a spray solution will be included.

REMARKABLE BONORA.

Our readers know from former exten-
sive advertising in The Guide to Na-
ture of the extended experience with
nutritive plant tablets. Those are good
for scientific experiment, but for plants
in pots and general use with plants in
the "window garden" or in the green-
house Bonora is far better. If we
were to write pages regarding this
wonderful plant invigorator we could
not say more.

There was a full account of this
plant food in the November number
of The Guide to Nature. Bonora is
universally praised by those who have
used it. These users include leading
growers of plants such as The Conard
& Jones Company, John Lewis Childs,
Luther Burbank, Eben Rexford and
others. See the advertisement on the
second cover page of this issue. Send
for Bonora, make your plants thrive
and be happy.

Nature and Science
FOR YOUNG FOLKS

(A Department of
The St. Nicholas Magazine

PUBLISHED BY

THE CENTURY COMPANY

New York City)

Edited by

EDWARD F. BIGELOW

The publishers in their announcements
for 1909 refer to Nature and Science as
"that delightful and helpful department"
and state that it "promises more interest
and profit than ever."

"Nature and Science has won its pre-
sent high standing by accuracy in por-
traying nature from the standpoint of
the child. The editor has secured the
co-operation of nearly all the best natural-
ists, scientists and nature artists in the
country. The text and illustrations are
directly from nature — not from books —
and are absolutely true. So carefully
is every statement weighed, questioned,
and criticized, that every parent, every
teacher, every child has imDlicit confi-
dence that a statement in Nature and
Science can be absolutely relied on. And
it's interesting."

There is an estate on which we pay no tax and which is not susceptible of improvement.
It is of indefinite extent and is to be reached by taking the road to the nearest woods and
fields. While this is quite as valuable as any property we may possess, as a matter of fact
few assert their title to it.

Nature is in herself a perpetual invitation to come into the open. The woods are an
unfailing resource; the mountains and the sea, companionable. To count among one's friends,
the birds and flowers and trees is surely worth while; for to come upon a new flower is then
in the nature of an agreeable event, and a chance meeting with a bird may lend a pleasant
flavor to the day. — "In the 0/>r>/," by Stanton Davis Kirkham.

The Guide to Nature.

EDUCATION AND RECREATION

Vol. I

JANUARY, 1909

No. 10

The " Chestnut ■ Worm" and Its Enemies.

BY FRED. E. BROOKS, MORGANTOWN, W. VA.

Photographs by the Author

\NY persons are intimately-
acquainted with the plump,
white worm that inhabits
the meat of the chestnut
and yet have never met the
very stately and dignified
beetle that is the parent of
the worm. Since the coy ways of the
young creatures often beguile the lov-
er of good nuts into the closest con-
tact with them it is but seemly and
proper that he should know the head
of the family and his somewhat timid
wife. He ought to have a look at
the old lady's methods of housekeep-
ing and learn something of the family
associates. Let me warn him, how-
ever, that in seeking an introduction
he should not thrust his presence up-
on the old folks too suddenly for they
dislike meeting strangers and will
tumble over in a dead faint if his call

is not orderly and well conducted. If
such a mishap should occur the enter-
tainment which they give only to priv-
ileged callers will be withheld.

There are two species of the worms
that are commonly found in chestnuts.
One has been called the "greater
chestnut-weevil," and the other the
"lesser chestnut-weevil." The habits
of the two species are very similar
and there is scarcely any difference
in the appearance of the worms except
that, when full grown, one is nearly
twice the size of the other. It is of
the larger weevil, the one known tech-
nically as Balaninus proboscideus, that
I write.

My accpiaintance with this insect
was acquired in the hilly region of
central West Virginia, where the
American sweet chestnut grows in
luxuriance, and the notes given may

Copyright 1908 by The Agassiz Association. Stamford. Conn.

352

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

apply more particularly to the species
as it occurs in that locality than in
places farther to the north or to the
south.

During the first two weeks of Au-
gust, when chestnut-burrs arc about
half-grown, there will suddenly ap-

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-NICE, FRESH CHES-EE-NUTS,
TEN-AH CENTS AH GLASS.

ONLY

pear upon chestnut-trees large numbers
of long-snouted, grotesque-looking
beetles. The beetles are beautifully
mottled with two shades of brown and
are, exclusive of the snout, about half
an inch in length. The snout of the
female is longer than the rest of the
body and that of the male considera-
bly shorter. A few bright warm days
following a shower or rainy period,
at the season of the year mentioned, is
sure to bring the beetles out. After
August 15th, an examination of bear-
ing trees, in localities where the chest-
nut abounds, is almost sure to reveal
a good number of the beetles. They
continue on the trees until late in Oc-

tober but gradually decrease in num-
bers after the last of August. The
beetles are so curious in appearance
and so interesting in their actions that
anyone who spends a little time in
watching them will feel well repaid
for his trouble.

In ten days or two weeks after their
first appearance on the trees the fe-
males begin to lay their eggs. When
an egg is to be laid she selects a place
on the side or end of the burr — she
is not particular as to the exact loca-
tion— and after many high stems and
much shifting of her long legs, she
gets a foothold among the spines. She
then raises her body to the full length
of her legs, draws her snout down-
ward and backward until it extends in
a rigid line from the front end of her
bod}- to the husk of the burr beneath.
The only mouth which the insect has
is located out on the end of this snout.
The other end of the snout is attached
to the front part of the head and the
head, which is round like a ball, fits
into a concavity in the front end of the
thorax, the two forming a sort of ball-
and-socket joint. The mouth is made
up in part of a strong, sharp set of
jaws and when the beetle has taken
the position described she begins to
rotate the snout by turning the head
in the joint at the thorax. At each
turn the snout and head revolve about
half way around. The steady, rotary
motion is keot in with very little rest
and meanwhile all the pressure possible
is brought to bear on the snout. This
forces it gradually into the husk until
a puncture is made which extends
through the husk, the silken lining of
its inner surface, the shell of the nut
and its lining to the kernel of the nut
which, at this time, is just beginning
to form. When the kernel is reached
the beetle deliberately withdraws her
snout from the puncture, reverses
ends as though she were hung on a
pivot, and protects a long, tube-like ovi-
positor from her anal extremity. This
ovioositor is a flexible, two-jointed ar-
rangement which telescooes together
and is withdrawn into the body when not
in use. It is about as long as the snout
but the observer does not get to see its
full length for when only a fourth of

THE "CHESTNUT-WORM" AND ITS ENEMIES.

353

it is in sight the beetle begins to move
it about over the surface of the husk
in search of the hole which she lias
made. When the opening is found the
point of the abdomen is quickly pressed
to the entrance and then the ovipositor
is extended to its full length and an egg
passed down and deposited just at tin-
inner lining of the shell of the nut.
When the egg is laid the beetle with-
draws her ovipositor into her body and
crawls away.

From the small, white egg, (here
hatches in about ten days the familiar
chestnut-worm. The worm at first is
very small but it grows rapidly, for all
about it is an abundance of rich food.
When full-grown it escapes from the
nut through a large, round hole which
it eats in the she'll. When it has left
the nut it never enters another, but works
its way into the ground. There, a few
inches below the surface, it hollows out
a cell in the earth in which it passes
the winter and the spring following. It
remains a worm, of the same size and
appearance as when it left the nut, until
July of the following summer. At that
time it changes within its cell to a curi-
ous-looking pupa. In the pupa stage
it remains for two or three weeks and
then within the space of a day trans-
forms to a beetle. Soon after this last

THREE FEMALE WEEVILS ON YOUNG
CHESTNUT-BURRS DURING THE EGG-
LAYING SEASON.

change it crawls forth from the ground
and flies to the branches of a chestnut-
tree and the life-cycle is complete.

THE MALE WEEVIL. THE SNOUT IS

ONLY HALF AS LONG AS THAT OF

THE FEMALE.

A FEMALE WEEVIL MAKING HER EGG
PUNCTURE IN A YOUNG BURR.

354

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

-CHESTNUT- WORMS."

It is an interesting' fact that about one
worm in every ten that live to become
beetles remains unchanged throughout
the following summer and does not de-
velop into an adult until the second year
after it leaves the nut. When July of
the second year comes these hold-over
worms change to pupse and in due time
issue from the ground along with the
other beetles which have developed from
the worms of the previous season's
brood. This curious phenomenon is evi-
dently a provision of nature to prevent
the species from dying out if for a single
year there should happen to be an entire
failure of the chestnut crop.

PUP^E OF "CHESTNUT-WORMS."
The worms pass through this stage in chang-
ing to beetles.

The career of the chestnut weevil is
not one of undisturbed tranquility for
the different stages of its life are beset
with dangers. Among its enemies there
are three belonging to the animal king-
dom which I wish to mention : a two-
legged enemy which is jealous of the
food it eats, a four-legged enemy which
eats it, and a six-legged enemy which
uses it as food for its young.

The biped is man himself, and as he,,
from the weevil's standpoint, is the least
of the three, I will dismiss him with the
statement that with all his improved
methods of combating insect pests he

',■ ~ :

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'

i*_JtS*-''~'fc>

CELLS IN THE EARTH IX WHICH THE WORMS SPEND ABOUT NINE MONTHS

OF THE YEAR.
The figure on the left shows a cell occupied by the cocoon of a parasite that has

killed the worm.

THE "CHESTNUT-WORM" AND ITS ENEMIES.

355

has so far discovered nothing that will
prevent nuts from becoming wormy.
The quadruped is a small mammal
known as the short-tailed shrew. This
little mammal is not very well known
to people in general, not nearly so well
known as it should be ; for it is very
abundant in the country and is of much
economic importance. The hexapod is
a little, wasp-like insect that does not
yet have an English name but which is
dignified with the scientific name Urosei-
galphus armatus.

The short-tailed shrew is about the
size of the common house mouse. It
has a pointed nose, short tail, and is
pig-like in build. The eyes are very
small and the ears short. The body is

during the fall, winter and spring
months the shrews feast upon the
worms. If in the fall or winter any one
will take the trouble to dig into the
surface of the ground beneath the
branches of bearing chestnut-trees, es-
pecially if the trees are in the woods,
he will find, just beneath the leaf-mold,
a net-work of burrows and run-ways
that are used by the shrews. If he is
in doubt as to what animals are keeping
these burrows worn smooth by constant
use let him set some mouse-traps, baited
with meat, in a few of them. His catch
will probably consist of a few white-
footed mice, an occasional pine mouse
and possibly a long-tailed shrew or two
but the short-tailed shrews which he

ADULT PARASITE OF THE "CHESTNUT-
WORM."

The larva of this little wasp kills the worm
after it enters the ground.

covered with a thick coat of velvety fur
of a glossy slate-color. It lives for the
greater part of its life under-ground
and feeds on grubs, beetles, snails or
flesh of almost any kind that may come
in its way. It has a ravenous appetite
and day and night, winter and summer,
it is busy searching for food. The ten-
der, juicy chestnut-worms are exactly
to its liking. I have frequently fed
shrews in captivity on these worms and
have been surprised at the number they
would eat.

It happens that the hibernating quar-
ters of the chestnut-worms are directly
in the hunting-grounds of the shrew and

COCOON OF THE PARASITE.

Three of these cocoons have the heads
of "chestnut-worms" adhering to them.
The head is all that is left of the worm
after the parasite is through with it.

takes will most likely greatly out-number
all the others combined. A look at the
burrows will convince anyone that the
worm that would seek hibernating quar-
ters in such a place must take its life in
its hands. About the only worms that
escape are those that make their cells
in gravelly soil where the shrew finds
it hard digging or in crevices between
stones and roots. There is perhaps no
other agency that does so much to re-
duce the numbers of weevils, and thus
prevent all the chestnuts from becoming
wormy, as this little friend of the nut-
grower, the short-tailed shrew.

At about the time the adult weevils

356

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

appear on the chestnut-trees and begin
to lay their egg's, there also appears the
little, wasp-like parasite which has been
mentioned. It is an active creature, hav-
and a loner hair-like

ing f< iur

wings

wasp which works its way up to the
surface of the ground and is soon on the
chestnut-trees busily engaged in looking
for weevil punctures in which to lay its

pcrcrc

THE SHORT-TAILED SHREW.
An enemy of the chestnut weevil.

SNAP-SHOT OF SHREW IN CAPTIVITY.
Feeding on "chestnut-worms."

stinger, or ovipositor, which it carries
projecting straight behind. If caught,
it will emit a strong, disagreeable odor
that will cling to the hand after repeated
washings.

This little wasp searches about over
the burrs until it finds a puncture in
which one of the beetles has deposited
its egg. Into this puncture it inserts
its ovipositor which is just long enough
to reach the egg of the weevil. Here,
near the weevil's egg it lays its own egg
and then flies away. I have frequently
seen these wasps laying their e^s in the
weevil punctures but, in spite of careful
search, I have never been able to find a
single egg. The egg must be very small
and no one knows exactly where it is
deposited or how it looks. It is known,
however, that when the little grub
hatches from the egg it lives internally
on the chestnut-worm. No apparent in-
jury is done to the worm until the next
summer at just about the time it would
change to a pupa. Then the parasitic
grub kills its host, emerges from its
body and constructs a gauze-like cocoon
in the cell prepared by the chestnut-worm
for its own puparium. From this cocoon
there emerges in a short time the adult

BIRD NESTS IN MAIL BOX.

A remarkable story of bird intelligence
is told by Henry Babb of Bowdoinham,
whose mail box is on the R. F. D. route.
One side of this box is broken, and some
time ago, Mr. Babb found a bird had built
her nest in the box, going in through the
hole made by the broken place. The bird
set up housekeeping in this novel home,
and now there are five young birds and the
mother. Several times the mail carriers
have tried to drive the bird away, and at
first they took out the nest and threw it
away, but every time the bird returned, and,
after the young ones came, they gave up
trying to dislodge them. Last week Mr.
Babb found the signal set on the box and
looked for mail, but found none in the box.
This happened a number of times, so often
that he decided that someone had tampered
with the box. So he asked the neighbors
to watch out. One day, when a neighbor,
George Hackett, drove by, he saw a bird
flying from the box with something in its
mouth. He followed the bird to a tree
some distance away, and there the bird
stopped, and, after dropping the article she
carried, flew away. Mr. Hackett went un-
der the tree and found four letters ad-
dressed to Mr. Babb. Each one had been
brought apparently by this unusual mes-
senger. Just why the same tree was selec-
ted every time seems strange. One theory
advanced to account for the removal of the
letters is that their presence in the box
interfered with the domestic arrangements
of the feathered lodger, who took this way
to get rid of them. — From newspaper.

THE PLANT WORLD LNDER CARE.

357

The garden, floriculture, domestic plants, suggestions for "the grounds beautiful," inexpen- ]
sive greenhouses, gardens for young folks, hobby houses in the back yard, etc.

MAMMOTH CALADIUMS.

UV DR. G. A. HINNEN, CINCINNATI, OHIO.

Our common Caladium, so-called by
nearly everybody, and mentioned as such
in the various floral catalogs, is not a
caladium, but a Colocasia, according to
Gray. Furthermore, the variety esculenta
being subordinate to the species anti-
quorum.

Jt is a native of tropical America where
it grows along ditches and marshes, at-
taining a height of two to three feet ; the
latter figure seeming to be the maximum,
for the various authorities are agreed up-

on this point. Gray speaks of the leaves
being "two to three feet long when full
grown." And our own local botanist,
C. G. Lh»yd, who has seen the plant in
its native home, assures me that it ap-
proximates a height of two or three feet.
I know of no example illustrating
adaptation to a changed environment,
and a response to cultivation so well as
the caladium. My caladiums are larger
than any I have ever seen, and larger
than any I have been able to find records
of. It is needless to say that I have been
exceedingly proud of them, and as I have

THE MAMMOTH CALADIUMS.

358

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

frequently been importuned to tell the
secret of their prodigious growth, will
here enumerate the facts. I always as-
sure my visitors that there is no trick,
but it is simply a question of water.
For years I have studied this plant from
every aspect, until its life history and
its wants have become absolutely famil-
iar to me. In fact, at one time I had even
commenced an elaborate chemical analy-
sis of the alkaloids contained in the sap.
To begin with, my bulbs or tubers, as
they are commonly called in the dried
state, such as you buy in the shops, are
exceptionally large, frequently measur-
ing twenty-two inches in circumference,
and they may be from twelve to four-
teen inches high. These dry or dormant
bulbs are planted in cold frames during
the latter part of March or the early
part of April, this being regulated en-
tirely by climatic conditions. Here they
arc allowed to become infused with new
life, which they do very promptly, the
delicate pink stalks shortly pushing their
way through the soil into the sunshine,
and the fine rootlets sroinsf downward

and laterally, radiating in all directions.
After remaining here for possibly four
or five weeks, or until practically all dan-
ger from frost is over, the sprouting
bulbs are transplanted to their beds in the
open air, the greatest care being exer-
cised to avoid as much injury as pos-
sible to the delicate rootlets. The whole
bulb and about an inch of the green
stalk is sunk into the ground, for bv
this time the leaves are twelve to fifteen
inches high.

Xow for the secret, if such it may
be called. The whole question is one oi
water. Caladiums revel in an abundance
of water ; at the same time they do not
relish a superabundance, for they are
not true aquatics. If the weather is ex-
tremelv hot, they are watered four or
possibly five times in the course of the
day ; if but moderately hot, twice may
suffice. The beds in which they are
planted are edged with a row of brick,
in such fashion that the bricks extend
above the ground about an inch and a
half; in this way the water as it runs
from the hose, can not run right oft* the

A CALADIUM LEAF.
Compared in size with a man's hat.

MAM M OT I I C ALA 1)1 U MS.

359

THE FLOWERS ARE SHAPED LIKE ENORMOUS JACK-IN-THE PULPITS."

top soil, but is retained and checked, ami
can only disappear by gradually soaking
into the soil.

With their enormous surface exposed
to the sun, the transpiration is exceed-
ingly great and unless watched carefully
the leaves soon show evidence of excess-
ive heat by beginning to droop. This
should be avoided, for a large and heavy
leaf seldom if ever regains its normal
position and erect attitude after it has
once drooped. A windy day also causes
rapid and excessive transpiration with
the same tendency to droop, and water
must be supplied liberally. Another
■characteristic is their tendency to break
during a wind storm, the enormous
leaves being torn into strips, and the
ponderous stalks snapping like glass.

A friend who had watched my plants
with interest for some years, thought he
could improve on my methods. Accord-
ingly he had an enormous hemispherical
pond excavated, which was lined 01 faced
with concrete, making a magnificent arti-
ficial pool. Water was conducted into this
pool through four drains, which were
embedded in the concrete. The bottom
was filled with broken pot sherds, rocks,
etc., and a goodly layer of soil over all.
While the prospect seemed good, the
caladiums did not seem to appreciate this
arrangement, evidently getting entirely
too much water, and they did not attain
to his expectations. The roots want an
abundance of water, but they will not
tolerate being bathed in it constantly.

As one hot dav succeeds another, the

interest in the development of the caladi-
ums increases proportionately, for each
new leaf vies with its fellows and is not
satisfied until it has out-stript them in the
race, and towers above them in all its
proud and stately glory. From a number
of observations taken at different inter-
vals I should say the plants average about
five inches of growth per week ; this
figure, of course, being a mere approxi-
mation, for so many factors enter in such
a study that an exact figure can not be
It may be interesting at this
short table showing the

given

point to give a
heigfht as well
the leaves.

as the size of some of

Height

Length

Width

No.

of leaf.

of leaf.

of

leaf. Dae

ft. ins.

ft. ins.

ft.

ins.

i !

7 2

3 7

2

S Aug. 17

'98

2

7 11

4 1

2

11

n

9
•->

7 1

3 6.5

2

5

**

4

7 8

4 0

2

11

"

5

8 11.5

4 0

2

11 Oct. 1

6

9 1

a a

ti

7

7 10

4 2

2

9 Sep. 23

, 08

8

8 0

4 4

2

11

9

8 8

4 0.5

2

8.5

a

10

8 10

4 1.5

2

9

a

11

8 10.5

4 1.5

2

9

12

9 1

3 10

2

9

13

9 1

3 10.5

2

rj ii •

'*

14

9 1

4 2

3

0

it

15

9 2

3 10

2

10

i%

16

9 3.5

4 0.5

2

9.5

"

17

9 5

4 4.5

2

9.5

18

9 5.5

4 1

2

8

19

9 7

4 2

2

11

20

9 9

4 3.5

2

7.5 | - '

3oo

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Can you imagine the glory of such
growth, from a dried-up bulb in spring
to an enormous height of nine feet or
more, with leaves ranging in length from
three to four feet? But alas, their glory
is but ephemeral ; it is to be short-lived,
for some night not so far off, Jack Frost
will make his rounds and get in his hor-
rid work, and on the following morning
we will be met by a sickening sight.
Where once our stately giants had tower-
ed high in the air, nodding a happy wel-
come each day, there will be nothing but
a blackened wilted mass on the ground —
to me the saddest spectacle of the entire
year.

Tenderly the blackened remains are ex-
humed, for to expose them to another
frosty night would mean death to tiie
bulbs. The leaves are cut off, and the
bulbs piled up in a heap, under shelter.
It is at tins particular time that the great-
est care must be exercised in handling
the plants, for where a delicate rootlet
has been torn from the bulb, an ave-
nue has been opened for dry rot. After
being exposed to the air for about two
weeks, as much soil is shakos from the
bulbs as will come away ; at no time are
the bulbs to be thumped to accomplish
this, for every bruise means the life of
the bulb later on. The stalks, which had
been cut back to about four feet at the
time the plants were taken from the
ground, are now reduced to about three
feet ; in other words, they are cut back
another foot. To cut them back too
deeply at first means too great a loss of
sap.

The question of storing the bulbs in
winter seems to be the most difficult
problem of all. Many are the methods I
have used, and many are the bulbs that
have been sacrificed, until the present
method of caring for them was devised.
Each bulb, which still has a goodly por-
tion of soil clinging to, and interwoven
with the rootlets, is inverted, and sus-
pended in this fashion from the ceiling
in the cellar. It must be remembered
at this point that the stalks still measure
about three feet. The suspension of the
bulbs is accomplished by using wide
bands of a heavy duck, and forming this
into a noose ; it must be wide or the
bulbs will be cut and bruised by their
long continued dormancy.

About January first, or during the
holidays, the bulbs must be inspected. A
large portion of the stalks which had
been aliowed to remain, will be found
to have undergone decomposition, and
this must all be removed ; in other words
the cleaning process must extend down
to the smaller inner healthy stalks, the
latter being arranged in a sheath-like
fashion, one closely surrounding the
other. The healthy stalks will be recog-
nized very readily by their clean pink co-
lor. The danger from loss of sap at this
time is practically nil. The bulb proper is
also included in the inspection, and the
sod remaining about the rootlets has
now become very dry ; the bulbs are
again shaken vigorously. The tempta-
tion to get rid of all of it at this time is
great, but under no pretext must this be
done, for as I have mentioned before,
each injury of this kind invites an attack
of germs and by spring the dry rot will
have eaten its way far into the very
center of the bulbs.

Generally it is not necessan to re-
peat this inspection, but one must be ever
on the alert, for no plant is so liable to
be attacked by fungus growth and de-
composition as the caladium. It ma\ be
wiser to give them another thorough
overhauling during the latter part of
February. By the middle of March or
the beginning of April, the bulbs are
in readiness to begin another cycle of
growth. Now all the rootlets are thor-
oughly removed, and the stalks are
cleansed again of any decomposition ;
where this has extended very far, there
may be no pink stalks left, and the top
of the bulb may be devoid of any evidence
of stalks, but every bit of diseased tissue
must be thoroughly removed with a
sharp knife. All evidence also of lateral
sprouts or small bulbs at the side of the
large ones must be thoroughly removed,
and now they are ready for the cold
frame.

During the summer months an effort
is made to prevent all lateral sprouts or
the formation of small bulbs; this is not
always attended by success for the small
plants appear almost as if by magic. The
height of the plants and the size of the
leaves has been mentioned, but no ref-
erence has been made to the circumfer-
ence of an individual plant when at its

MAM MOTH CALADI UMS.

361

greatest development ; this averages
about twenty-three inches.

Another feature, usually overlooked
in this plant, is the strange and magnifi-
cent flowering. The flowers are shaped
like enormous Jack-in-the-pulpits. The
color of the sheath as well as that of the
spathe is a most peculiar shade of yel-
low ; a soft shade of yellow midway be-
tween that of canary and lemon. The
odor is most peculiar and characteristic,
and can be detected several hundred
feet away. The flowers are borne on
stalks from two to three feet high. Some
of those I have preserved in formalde-
hyde measure twenty inches in length.

It has been a great surprise to me
again and again, to see how very few
people are aware of the fact that this
plant blooms ; in fact I have had my
statements to this effect questioned fre-
quently. The two flowers shown here-
with are the first ones of this season ;
they measure eighteen inches from the
calyx to the tips of the spathes. The
color is a peculiar shade of yellow, mid-
way between lemon and canary. The
odor is very pronounced and powerful,
and somewhat resembles ripe bananas.

RAISING NEW PLANTS.

BY ernl:st homing.

However superficially we study na-
ture, we cannot help but see the strug-
gle for existence that is constantly
going on with all life and yet at times we
are apt to cry "back to nature" thought-
lessly without realizing what a poor
existence it would be if we depended
upon the uncultivated prairie or virgin
forest for our existence.

When the Creator endowed man with
brains he truly gave him power over
the birds of the air and beasts of the
field.

When we look at a field of corn with
ihe ripening ears reaching out across
the rowrs or a field of cabbage with their
solid heads, we are apt to pass it by
with the thought that it is the result
of good cultivation and a generous,
rich land. But it is more than that.
It is the result of generations of
thought and study. Few would recog-

nize the ancestor of the cabbage, Brass-
ica oleracea, an insignificant weed,
which by hybridization and selection
through the centuries has been brought
to the present state ot usefulness to
man.

The Zca Mays or Indian Corn has
been cultivated so long that its origin
is lost in antiquity, and so it is with
all our flowers, fruits and vegetables.
The possibility of food supply, our
\ ery existence is owing to the tireless
brains and hands of former ages.

There is nothing more fascinating
than a knowledge of the power making
it possible to produce new forms, new
types in nature. That man can to a
certain extent guide the divine law of
evolution and divert it to the attain-
ment of his own comfort and pleasure.

All horticulturists with ambition feel
the desire to produce something that
excels, something larger and better
than has been produced before or to
get something new, but few have the
patience to accomplish. The process
is slow. It took, we might say, cen-
turies to produce the York Imperial
Apple from the wild crab, or the Jack
Rose from the wild briar, or the Early
Rose potato from the wild type of Sola-
tium tuberosum.

It was this ambition or desire that
influenced the writer to make many
experiments in hybridizing, the fail-
ures do not make interestino- reading
so need not be mentioned. Success
came witli experiments on the mallow
family.

The swamp mallow with its large
white flowers anel crimson centres are
so common in the low, wet ground in
New Jersey and other eastern states
that few could travel by train during
August without noticing them from
the car windows.

Some of them are a beautiful pink
shade of color. It w-as this that led
to an attempt to improve them by
gathering seed from the best flowers
and cultivating them with the hope
of improving them. This led to failure..
They seemed to lose the pink color and
only became coarser with good treat-
ment.

The late Thomas Meehan suggested
hybridizing with the hollyhock which

3<J2

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

is very closely related. This resulted
in failure as likewise did attempts to
cross with the rose of Sharon, Hibiscus
Syria cus.

Among" the extensive collection of
plants on the nursery was a mallow of
a very brilliant color, Hibiscus cocci-
nens. This was not hardy so far north
as Philadelphia and so of course had
to be grown in the greenhouse. The
color was so brilliant that it really
suggested itself as a likely subject to
hybridize with the common mallow,
with a view to making it hardy enough
to withstand the northern winters.
Having failed with attempting too vio-
lent a cross, such as by use of the hol-
lyhock and althaea, the pollen of a
very hardy Hibiscus, (Militants,) with
a closer botanical relationship was

used. The pollen of the latter was used
to fertilize the brilliant-colored one
with the hope that the progeny result-
ing from the cross would retain the
color and be hardy in the northern
states, or, in other words, combine the
hardiness of the pollen parent with the
brilliant color of the seed parent.
This proved a success ; the pod of seed
ripened and was sown in the open
ground. One of the seedlings bad the
dazzling, brilliant color and proved to
be quite hardy, standing out unpro-
tected. In fact, the original plant is
still growing on the nursery.

With such a plant to work with il
was possible to set to work in earnest
to improve the swamp mallow.

In iqoo the flowers of the new hy-
brid were pollenized with Hibiscus

LUXURIANT GROWTH OF MALLOWS

RAISING NEW PLANTS.

363

moscheutos. When the seedlings came
up it was noted that there was quite a
diversity in form of foliage pointing
to a successful cross, and the flower-
ing" of them was looked forward to
with that interest that can only be
aroused by promise of success after
repeated failures.

The first flower to open was a glori-
ous pink, a shade never before seen in
the swamp mallow. This was followed
by others of every shade of pink, white,
red and scarlet, some of the last being
much darker than the parent.

The gratification felt can readily be
understood after so much patient work
upon the birth of a new race of garden
plants that bid fair to be among the
most popular in the garden. From
this period on every effort was used
to improve and fix this new race. All
poor forms are eliminated as soon as
they flowered, the seed for future sow-
ings being saved from only the best
plants. Thousands of flowers were ar-
tificially pollenized each year, the pol-
len from the very best forms only be-
ing used, so that there has been a
steady improvement each succeeding
year.

Flowers are carefully watched to
note any tendency toward a double
flower or other desirable forms for the
garden, and efforts are being made to
fix those types that are especially wor-
thy.

Nature, though a liberal pay mis-
tress, is an exacting employer and only
rewards intelligent and faithful ser-
vice.

Meehans' Mallow Marvels, as this
new race of plants has been appropri-
ately named, have a very rugged con-
stitution. All the parents grow na-
turally in rather swampy or moist
ground. It is a curious fact, however,
that when brought into cultivation
they thrive better if planted where the
ground is fairly well drained, yet
where it is reasonably moist especially
during the growing season. Ground
that will grow good corn suits them to
perfection. They should have a posi-

^<~ ■--■

HI .

A MALLOW FLOWER.

tion that is open and sunny and where
the ground is deep, rich and moist.
In such a position one plant will form
a bush 6 or 8 feet high and 5 or 6 feet
through in about three years. They
usually commence flowering about
August 1 and while the individual
flowers are not very lasting, being so
large and produced in such profusion,
they truly make a glorious sight for
many weeks, as they continue in flow-
er almost until frost.

What makes them especially valu-
able for a garden plant is the fact that
they flower at a season when there is
a dearth of bloom among hardy peren-
nials. When "the frost strikes them,
of course, the stems are completely
killed. They may then be cut off with-
in four or five inches of the ground, just
sufficient left on to show where the
plants are so as not to be overlooked
when replanting the garden in early
spring.

It is a curious fact that the mallow
is one of the last of the hardy peren-
nials to make its appearance above
ground in spring. Very often they are
considered to be dead because paeonies
and other plants growing alongside of
them will very likely have tops from
8 to 10 inches before the mallows have
begun to show any signs of life. When
they do commence to grow, however,

364

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

they make rapid headway and soon
lead in height in the mixed border of
hardy plants.

The - mention of pseonies suggests
these two plants as an excellent com-
bination for planting in a bed. The
pasonies blooming in May and June
and the mallows in the fall, make a
good combination. A round bed, for
instance, with four or five mallows,
set about two feet apart, with a border
of pseonies, gives a very good effect
both spring and fall, and makes a bold
and striking clump for the lawn.

The mallows are also excellent for
planting in the mixed border. Of
course, owing to their height and size
they have to be kept well to the back,
or in the foreground of a shrubbery
border where a bold, striking plant is
wanted to relieve the monotony of the
green during the fall months; but per-
haps where they are most at home
and more appropriate than anywhere
else is in well selected positions along
streams or in the proximity of water,
where they look at home and fit in well
with the surroundings.

Domesticated

?sv /

NATURE

*//

THE BIOGRAPHY OF A CHIPMUNK.

BY T. J. HENRY, M. D., APOLLO, PA.

The chipmunk, hackey or ground-
squirrel as it is variously known
throughout the states may be so common
that it is uninteresting. It was my good
fortune to watch one from his birth to
his independency. His slowness in ma-

turing was surprising. Early in July,
1906, an old squirrel was caught and
ca^ed as a pet for the children. Shortly
afterwards she was noticed making a
nest w ith much more care than usually
exhibited by them in captivity. The
cage was simply a box with wire screen
in front and no nesting box. The nest

CHIPMUNK TWENTY-SIX DAYS OLD.
(Photograph from life.)

BOY AGED SIX WITH CHIPMUNK TEN
DAYS OLD.

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

365

was made of dried grass and paper and
the central portion was of very finely
divided pieces. On July 17, a small
squeaking sound announced the presence
of a new life. On inspection, this tiny
hit of pink squirrel life was found to he
"the size of a peanut goody" as one of
the children expressed it. In the skin
could be seen the pigmented stripes in-
dicating the position of the future black
hairs. It is remarkable that though it
squeaked when disturbed the first two
days, thereafter it remained absolutely
quiet when handled until over a month
old. ( hi July 28, eleven days old, it
measured three inches from tip to tip,
was ill shaped, hairless, blind. Its head
was larger than its body. Very slight
noticeable growth of hair started at this
time. By August 6, the hair covered
its head sufficiently to give it a velvety
appearance. Two days later it extended
over its body, giving natural color to
the squirrel. Its tail, however, was rat-
like. August 12, it measured four
inches from tip to tip and the accom-
panying picture will give a good idea
of a chipmunk twenty-six days old. Au-
gust 19 it squeaked and struggled when
taken from the nest. This was the first
sound I had heard it emit since it was
two days old. August 20, thirty-five
days old, its eyes opened for the first,
a much longer time than is required for
kittens, rabbits, &c. After August 23,
its tail became distinctly bushy. It was
shy and avoided being handled, but made
no attempt to bite. August 25 it was
found running about in its cage and
appeared almost half grown. Although
it was handled every day it became cross
during nut storing time and made at-
tacks as if to bite but never bit through
the skin, though no doubt it could have
done so had it tried. A tight, warm box
was fitted to the cage for winter and
this the two made their nest and stored
their food. Even during the coldest days
of winter, if the cage was tapped upon,
the young one would come out and take
what food was offered although there
was a plentiful supply in store. As the
<-a_,r was not kepi in the house it was
several times below zero when he res-
ponded to my call. This indicates that
they do not lie dormant as some suppose.

I have frequently seen wild ground-
squirrels out in mild days of winter.
The cage door having been left open, the
old one escaped and was not seen again.
The young one knowing no other home
permitted me to pick it up and put it
back into its cage. Several times after
this it escaped but played around the
yard until replaced. This unfortunate
squirrel fell a victim to an animal bur-
glar. In the mouth of July when one
year old a large rat attracted by the
store of nuts and grain, gnawed into
the cage and foully murdered the squir-
rel and having devoured his head, drag-
ged him out and took possession of the
nest. It may be well to state that there
are generally several young ground-
squirrels in a family. I have often seen
five or six run into the same hole.

0W3EY, THE RAILWAY POSTAL
CLERKS' MASCOT.

In the autumn of the year 1886, a
miserable little cur, cold, wet, hungry,
with his tail between his legs, slipped
into the post office at Albany, New York.
He was not observed until the time ar-
rived for sending off the mail bags,
when he was found curled up and asleep
on the pile of leather pouches. As he
so plainly was friendless and so plainly,
too. was begging to be adopted by some-
body, the clerk sympathised with him,
fed him and gave him a little kind treat-
ment. He asked for nothing more. He
was satisfied and stayed in the office un-
til he had recovered his wasted strength.
Where he had come from was not
known. Why he came into the post
office rather than into any other warm
and comfortable building was as great
a mystery. Tie soon fell into the habit
of following the pouches, for which he
seemed to have a special affection, trot-
ting behind the mail wagon to the rail-
road station. There he one day seemed
to conceive a new notion. He decided
to travel. Shooing into the mail car, un-
observed as he had been at the post
office, he went to sleep on the bags, un-
til a clerk discovered him, when his ap-
pealing looks and movements again
brought him sympathy and welcome.
He wras absent for a long time. Where

366

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

he extended his travels was not known,
but one day he sedately walked into the
office at Albany, rested for a few days,
was fed on soup and beefsteak saved for
him from the clerks' dinner, and then

FIG. 1. "OWNEY," WHO TRAVELLED

WITH MAIL BAGS IN ALL PARTS OF

THE WORLD.

vanished. As he pretty regularly re-
peated these movements, he soon became
known as a traveller and the Albany
clerks supplied him with a collar and a
tag on which they asked that his travels
be recorded. The name "Owney" was
given him probably because he appeared
to be his own owner, and independent
too after he had once "found himself."

For several years he continued to
travel from place to place, always using
the mail cars and never on any account
entering a passenger coach. For eleven
years his life was thus passed and the re-
cords show that he saw nearly all parts
of the United States, some of Mexico
and of Canada. At one time he was de-
tained in Montreal and the postmaster
there refused to release him until a board
bill of two dollars and fifty cents had
been paid. This the clerks in the Albany
office contributed and forwarded to Mon-
treal, when Owney resumed his travels.
He followed the mail pouches aboard

ocean going steamers and visited various
points in Europe and in Asia as well as
other parts of the world. On one occa-
sion, on his arrival at Washington, Post-
master General Wanamaker saw him
and had made for him a harness to
which he attached the tags and the vari-
ous medals which Owney had received
from admiring friends. Some one in
Mexico had given him a silver dollar ;
the Mikado of Japan presented him with
a silver medal bearing the Japanese na-
tional coat of arms. Finally the harness
with its weight of medals and souvenirs
became so much of a burden that it was
removed and is now preserved in a case
in the Washington post office.

In 1897 he visited Toledo, Ohio, and
was confined in the cellar of the post
office there until a photographer could
find it convenient to calj on him
for his picture. The confinement and
the delay were so irksome to Owney
that he gave vent to the expression of
his irritation and bit the hand of a clerk
who attempted to soothe and caress him.
The frightened man spread the report
that Owney was mad. This frightened
the post master, a policeman was called
and Owney 's career was ended by a
bullet.

Fig. 1 shows a portrait of the remark-
able animal ; Fig. 2, his body, with its
harness and medals, as preserved in the
National Museum at Washington, 1). C.

FIG. 2. OWNEY WITH HIS MEDALS IN
THE POSTAL MUSEUM AT WASHING-
TON.

IK >MESTICATED NATL RE.

367

ELK ON AN INDIANA FARM.

his visitors and always calls them up and

by silas G. wray, PHOTOGRAi'ii i-R, grand feeds them a little when visitors call.

JUNCTION, COLORADO.

Herewith is an illustration of a natu-

Tlie park is a beautiful place fenced
off from his other stock and in the rear

ral park owned by Air. Phillip Dewey, is quite a large hill covered with large

THE ELK ON AN INDIANA FARM.

near New Richmond, Indiana. He is a oak and maple shade trees, making a

wealthy farmer and enjoys taking care natural home for the elk.

of his herd of elk which contains some Mr. Dewey was very courteous and

very fine specimens. Mr. Dewey takes did everything possible to help get a

great pleasure in showing his pets to good photograph.

\68

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

ARCADIA.

"What's in a name?"

Everything in the name "Arcadia" im-
plies and expresses exactly what the new
nature "settlement," "colony" or "vil-
lage" purposes to do.

Arcadia is generally known as a place
where simplicity and happiness reign to-
gether in harmony with a pastoral and
natural life and where all live close to
the heart of nature. The original Ar-
cadia was pervaded by the spirit of Pan,
so named by the other gods because he
was the god of all nature and referred
to as "the child of heaven and earth."

So Pan (a synonym for Arcadia) is
thus described by Servius :

"He is a rustic god, formed in simili-
tude of nature, whence he is called Pan ;
i. e.. All; for he has horns in similitude
of the rays of the sun and the horns of
the moon ; his face is ruddy, in imitation
of the ether ; he has spotted fawn skin
upon his breast, in likeness of stars ; his
lower parts are shaggy on account of
trees, shrubs and wild' beasts ; he has
eoat's feet to denote stability of the
earth ; he has a pipe of seven reeds on
account of the harmony of heavens ; he
has a crook, that is a curved staff, on
account of the year which runs back on
itself, because he is the god of all nature."
(Anthon's Classical Dictionary.)

Could we have a better ideal than Ar-
cadia or a better spirit than that of Pan
to be its governing influence?

Then, even in the minor sense, ours
is the true Arcadia. Savs the Universal

Encyclopedia, "The Arcadians were a
simple people, inferior to most of the
other Greeks in genius and culture. . .
. . . This country was a favorite of an-
cient pastoral poets who praise the peace-
ful and happy life of the Arcadians."

Figuratively our "genius and culture"
may be less than that of "the other
Greeks." We do not purpose even to
attempt the more elaborate work of the
more technical Institutions, Laboratories
and Associations. Nevertheless, mingled
with our main purpose to popularize na-
ture and natural science in the facts al-
ready known to technical scientists, we
shall strive also to add to the sum of
human knowledge of natural facts. Our
views of nature may bristle with fewer
sesquipedalian words and we may not
generalize biological figures to the tenth
decimal place ; but we do hope that all
lovers of nature will sing the praises of
"the peaceful and happy life" of those
who shall live near to the heart of na-
ture beneath the fair skies and within
reach of the fragrant breezes of Arcadia.

The Standard Dictionary says of Ar-
cadia, "Any place where ideal rustic sim-
plicity and content prevail." The definer
must have had in mind the Arcadia of
nature.

That is to be the dominant idea of
the new nature Arcadia. With an equip-
ment of astronomical observatory, bio-
logical laboratories, greenhouse, experi-
mental rooms, houses for our pet ani-
mals, insectary, photograph gallery,
"clearing bouse," offices for correspon-

EDITORIAL AND GENERAL.

369

Hence, rooms for students, facilities for
printing and publishing, it will in
addition contain everything needed
for the guidance of those who may
need its aid. While we shall hope
to add somewhat to "professional"
knowledge, our chief exertions and
sympathies will be with the amateur
naturalist and the young scientist ;
with the boy and the girl who has
seeing eyes and the inquiring spirit ; with
the teacher of nature study who is afraid
of the "I don't know" bugbear ; with the
professional or the business man or wo-
man who seeks an hour's recreation in
garden or greenhouse or with wild
nature as a respite for tired nerves. Our
field will extend from nebulae to diatoms
and will be for people young, middle
aged or old.

Arcadia is not an entirely untried
experiment. It is a step (a long step)
forward with a greatly enlarged view
in a field in which the writer has been
working for almost a quarter of a cen-
tury. Wrth increased facilities, more
assistants, a wider horizon, we hope to
do more and better work, to be a more
efficient guide in any realm of nature or
of natural science. To that end, a cor-
dial invitation is extended to you to share
in this work and to enjoy its achieve-
ments.

The possibilities of Arcadia, the extent
of the guidance, will be what we all
working together shall make them.

GUIDANCE.

Occasionally some of our best friends
and most appreciative subscribers will
question our wisdom in selecting The
Guide to Nature as the name for this
magazine.

It has been several times suggested
that we call it "Nature." One veteran
scientist says he is too proficient to long-
er need a "Guide" but will always be in-
terested in "Nature." From personal
acquaintance with that scientist, I am
confident that he is far from maintaining
even an approach to omniscience in the
affairs of nature. What he meant to say
was that he has learned where the fields
are and how to walk in the paths of ex-
ploration. In that sense he needs no
"guide." But he and those of his kind
are exceptions differentiated from the

majority of mankind by years of techni-
cal and persistent study.

Even he now admits that this magazine
is valuable on account of the material
which it puhlishes and no one is more
ready than he to admit that there are yet
many realms of nature still unexplored.

All of us must admit that these unex-
plored realms exist and most of us will
agree that we need aid in approaching
them, especially if the help come from
those experienced in the exploration of
other and similar regions.

Every boy and girl realizes that there
is plenty to learn (and the realization
becomes more distinct with more know-
ledge) ; every teacher realizes the value
of "nature study" in the schools, but
some hesitate to begin the work because
the wealth of material is so great or
because from lack of definite "guid-
ance," they are unable to make any of
that material available. For boys and
girls this has been the dominating idea
in my work in the "Nature and Science"
department of "St. Nicholas" to show
the attractive fields and to give guidance
therein and only to such an extent as
to make the explorations profitable and
pleasurable. The same idea pervades
The Guide to Nature for older per-
sons. It is to give to him who does not
know, yet who desires to know, just
enough of suggestion to aid, to attract
and to lead onward, and yet not enough
to overwhelm with help nor to deprive
him of the charm of original discovery.
We aim to assist by suggestion and by
o-uidance rather than by definite and
positive instruction.

We desire to be a guide, a sign-
board, made attractive and pleasing by
every means within our power. The
Guide says, "Stop, Look, Listen," but
do those things for yourself. The
Guide cannot stop nor look nor listen
for you. We point out the road. You
must do the rest, if you will, if you feel
any interest in the result which can never
be any other than praiseworthy.

We want articles and illustrations of
original investigations, not of emotions
and aspirations. The first article in
this number is a good example of what
is wanted. That shows real study.

370

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

OUR CONTRIBUTORS.

In the prospectus of The Guide; to
Nature it was announced that for the
leading- articles, that is for contribu-
tions other than reports in "The Agas-
siz Association" department, and letters
in the department of "Correspondence
and Information." would be paid for
by a small amount of cash.

It was not intended that the trifling
sum should in any sense be considered
an adequate nor a just remuneration
to those competent to write an article
for this magazine, but it was stated
that the small amount would make the
editor feel freer to return those MSS
that should not come within the scope
of the magazine, or that for any rea-
son he should find to be unavailable.
The editor has now come to the con-
clusion that that announcement was
a mistake and it is hereby withdrawn.

The small amount put some of our
most acceptable contributors, as view-
ed by the less competent, in an un-
pleasant light, and the reader, who
knew how small the remuneration was,
smiled perhaps, and decided that his
own essays and observations, being
strictly original and having consider-
able value, should not appear in The
Guide, but should go where the maga-
zine is more wealthy, and the editor
more appreciative or generous, or both.
The fact, as seen from the editor's
office-window is that our best contri-
butors write solely for the good of the
cause, and if they were to receive pay-
ment in any way commensurate with
the value of their work, that would
be at least twenty times more than
The Guide to Nature could possibly
afford. Therefore let us come out
frankly yet positively and have no
"make-believe" payment. The editor
intends to be perfectly candid in the
future, and to tell any nature student
whether or not his contribution comes
within "the scope of things terres-
trial." and he will feel perfectly free to
retain or to return any contribution
on the merits of the matter, and not
on the basis of any trifling" cash re-
muneration, as an encouragement of
budding genius, or to youthful obser-
vers who are willing to try their "pren-
tice hand" on contributions for The

Guide, with more thought for the cash
than for the cause, or for the literary
merits of the article, to say nothing of
the correctness of the detailed obser-
vations.

In making this decision the editor
feels that he is occupying the fairest
and frankest position possible toward
his contributors, as well as toward
himself and other interested persons.
In the future every reader will know
that the writer did not supply his pa-
per for what he could get, but freely
gave it for the good of the cause.

If The Guide to Nature were pub-
lished for the purpose of getting money
for its editor and its other directors,
it would be as generous to its contri-
butors as should be possible, or as any
other first-class magazine, and distrib-
ute cash payments with as much satis-
faction as dividends. But we are not
laboring to gather gold. As has sev-
eral times been explained and repeated,
the entire work is a labor of love. No
officer receives one cent of pay. Each
one labors for the good of the cause.
Those who are naturalists should be
the most eager, and I believe are the
most eager, to contribute to this work
in any way within their ability. It
should be easier and a real pleasure to
any earnest naturalist to give to others
the benefit of his experience and ob-
sei vat ions.

This magazine must stand or tall on
the support or non-support of enthusi-
astic naturalists and others who realize
that naturalists are doing a commend-
able philanthropic work in pointing out
to the general public the interesting
and beautiful things in nature and that
these are a factor of importance in
benefitting and uplifting humanity,
and in making life worth living.

ABOUT THE DEYIL-FISH.

The bringing together of many in-
teresting facts hitherto known only to
a few scattered men of science about
the generally-dreaded devil-fish, has
been the result of an authoritative
study of the subject recently completed
by Dr. Theodore Gill, Associate in Zoo-
logy in the U. S. National Museum.

EDITORIAL AND GENERAL.

37i

Doctor Gill has summarized his stud-
ies in an official publication just issued
by the Smithsonian Institution, of
which the Museum is a branch.

Although the name devil-fish has of-
ten been applied to different species of
cuttle-fish, with their eight long wavy
arms, to a kind of shark, and also in
California to a gray whale, the giant
fish best known as such is technically
called the great ray.

The devil-fish, or great ray, is flat,
said to be sometimes 30 feet across,
with two great supple arms or head-fins
shaped somewhat like elephants' tusks
protruding from the front of its head.
Although many thrilling tales of ad-
venture with this fish have from time
to time found their way into print,
there is not yet on record an authori-
tative report of a devil-fish having ever
eaten a human being.

"The food of the devil-fishes," says
Doctor Gill, "so far from being large
animals and occasionally a man or so,
as has been alleged, appears to be
chiefly the small crabs, shrimps and
other crustaceans, and young or small

THE DEVIL-FISH.
From a photograph.

fishes, which swarm in certain places
near the surface of the water. Rarely
does one prey on large fishes."

The devil-fishes are inhabitants of
warm-water seas and as a rule do not
venture from the shore very far out
on the high seas. Once in a while one

is seen as far north as New York or
another in the Mediterranean. In
United States waters they have been
more frequently reported from South
Carolina and the Gulf States and from
Lower California. They often swim in
schools, or shoals, and have a curious
habit of turning somersaults near the
surface, sometimes leaping as high as
ten feet out of the water and churning
the sea into foam. If the devil-fishes
could live and move in the air, in their
mode of progression, they would pro-
bably be said to fly, for a sort of sub-
marine flight is really what is accom-
plished. It is by flaps of the long
wing-like fins that they speed them-
selves along.

A naturalist who observed devil-
fishes in action, says that he thought
no more diabolical creature could be
imagined. They resembled enormous
bats, and in following one another
around in a circle, raised the outer tip
of one of the long wing-like fins high
out of the water in a graceful curve,
the other being deeply submerged.
They might be seen now gliding down
with a flying motion of the wings ;
sweeping, gyrating upward with a
twisting vertical motion marvelous in
its perfect grace ; now they flashed
white, again black, so that one would
say they were rolling over and over,
turning somersaults.

While swimming along the two
great arms or feelers of the devil-fish
are whirled about in constant motion
like the tentacles of a squid. When
these tentacles come in contact with
anything they close upon it. It is gen-
erally believed that this clasping, al-
though at times doing considerable
harm to fishermen and their boats, is
iargtly automatic, and that upon the
whole the devil-fish is a timid, rather
than a fighting animal.

It is hard to believe, however, that
the devil-fish is always timid, when it
has been known "to weigh a ship's
anchor, and run with the vessel a
league or two, and bring her back,
against tide, to almost the same place,"
nor can the devil-fish generally be said
to be so accommodating. Neverthe-
less, running off with vessels is not
an infrequent occurrence in connection

372

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

EAGLE-RAYS IN MOTION (AFTER MANGELSDORF).

Very similar to the devil-fish, showing method of "submarine flight.

with the devil-fish. One case is on
record where a shoal of devil-fish,
sweeping hy at flood tide, approached
so near the shore as to come in contact
with a water fence, the firm posts of
which they seized and tried to tear up
till they lashed the water into a foam
with their powerful wings.

It is a peculiarity of the devil-fish
that instead of laying many thousands
or even millions of eggs, it normally
has only a single young one at birth.
It appears, however, that to properly
reproduce the species, only a single
young one is necessary. For a baby
devil-fish, sometimes being as broad
as five feet and weighing twenty
pounds or more, is well able to take
care of itself. In a number of respects
the young* fish grows up under nursing
and training remarkably like that of a
human being. It is nourished, fot
instance, from its mother's "milk."

Nor sigfht nor sound but has the fresh-
ness of novelty, and one rambler, at least,
in his maturer years is still a boy at
heart. — Abbott.

THE DEATH OF LEAVES.

It is pleasant to walk over the beds of
these fresh, crisp, and rustling leaves.
How beautifully they go to their graves !
how gently lay themselves down and turn
to mould ! — painted of a thousand hues,
and fit to make the beds of us living. So
they troop to their last resting-place,
light and frisky. They put on no weeds,
but merrily they go scampering over the
earth, selecting the spot, choosing a lot,
ordering no iron fence, whispering all
through the woods about it, — some
choosing the spot where the bodies of
men are mouldering beneath, and meet-
ing them half-way. How many flutter-
ings before they rest quietly m their
graves ! They that soared so loftily, how
contentedly they return to dust again,
and are laid low, resigned to lie and
decay at the foot of the tree, and afford
nourishment to new generations of their
kind, as well as to flutter on high. They
teach us how to die. One wonders if
the time will ever come when men, with
their boasted faith in immortality, will
lie down as gracefully and as ripe, — with
such an Indian-summer serenity will

CORRESPONDENCE AND INFORMATION.

373

shed their bodies, as they do their hair
and nails.

When the leaves fall the whole earth
is a cemetery pleasant to walk in. I love
to wander and muse over them in their
graves. Here are no lying nor vain
epitaphs. What though you own no lot
at Mount Auburn? Your lot is surely
cast somewhere in this vast cemetery,
which has been consecrated from of old.
You need attend no auction to secure a

place. There is room enough here. The
Loose-strife shall bloom and the Huckle-
berry-bird sing over your bones. The
woodman and hunter shall be your sex-
tons, and the children shall tread upon
the borders as much as they will. Let
us walk in the cemetery of the leaves,—
this is your true Greenwood Cemetery.
— lienn David Thoreau in '"Excur-

sions.

CYAID
THE LENS

WONDERFUL TOSGUES OF FLIES.

The tongue of the common fly, often
called the proboscis, is a wonderful
organ of great interest to the micros-
fond of studying the

copist who is

FIG. 1. TIP OF BLOW-FLY'S TONGUE.

little things of nature, and of more
than a great interest to the fly itself,
for it is by this tongue that the insect
gets its living. The form, and often
the structure, differs in the different
kinds of flies while the general resem-
blance remains somewhat similar in
all. Fig. i shows the highly magnified
tip of the blow-fly's tongue; Fig. 2
that of the common house fly, where
the entire length of the proboscis is
pictured with two "feelers" at the rear,
one on each side. Here the general
lesembiance in form is readily seen,
although to the microscopical anato-
mist the differences are nearly as con-
spicuous. But in Fig. 3, which shows
a part of the drone fly's tongue, while
there is some resemblance in structure,
l he shape is entirely different from that
of the other two. A long list with an
album full of pictures might be made
of these little parts of a single large
group of insects, and would prove of
much value for comparison.

In the flies which do not bite nor
pierce, the organ is composed chiefly,
as shown in the illustrations of what
seem to be nearly parallel rows of
tubes, but which, in realitv, are split
along their entire length and thus form

374

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

what may be called half-tubes. This
may be seen in Fig. i, where the two
edges of the split tube are defined by
what appears to be a saw-tooth margin,
a delicate arrangement that the micro-
scope explains.

Flies with these soft tips to their
tongues live, for the most part, on li-
quid food, although they do get a part
of their nourishment from solid ma-
terials that they scrape with their
teeth, for a fly has teeth, carrying them
at the base of the tongue, some owning
three rows, broad and flat, and each
with its free margin cut into one or
more sharp, saw-like points.

The tip of the tongue (Fig 2) has
two parts or lobes separated by a clear
space. At the rear of this space, on
both sides between the split tubes
there are. as the photograph shows, six
teeth. In Fig. 1 the teeth are visible
in three rows on each side but of a
different form. It is with these that
the fly scrapes the solid food which it
eats. The surface of some harci ob-
jects, such as loaf sugar, hard cake,
even varnished wood, sometimes shows
parallel scratches made by flies' teeth.

The fly's food must be very finely
pulverized, or preferably in solution,
so that it may pass through the split

FIG. 3. PART OF DRONE FLY'S TONGUE.

tubes and onward to the stomach. To
soften the hard food, the fly exudes a
great flood of saliva through the half-
tubes of the tongue, dissolves the sur-
face of the sugar or other substance,
or scrapes it with the teeth when the
saliva is withdrawn, carrying with it
the sugar or the minute particles.

That flies, disturbed fiom the dishes
on our own tables, may leave drops
of their saliva for us to swallow is not
a pleasing thought, but it is true. We
are just beginning to learn that they
are dirty creatures, and that the filth
which they may carry from one place
to another may become a source of
danger to us or even of death. But
this need not detract from the inter-
est in the structure of these tongues,
which are an admirable bit of Nature's
handiwork.

FIG. 2. TONGUE OF HOUSE FLY.

MAKING PHOTOMICROGRAPHS.

The Guide to Nature has extensive
facilities for making photographs of
microscopic objects. This can be done
even from temporary mountings, if the
specimen is sent in good condition.

Correspondence solicited regarding
work in special investigations.

POPULAR ASTRONOMY

375

THE HEAVENS I> JAM A I? Y.

BY GARRETT P. SERVISS, BROOKLYN, N. Y.

The keynote of astronomy in the pres-
ent year is furnished by the approaching
return of the great comet of Halley.
That comet will not be in perihelion, i. e.,
at its nearest point with regard to the
sun, until May, 19 10, but during this
year it will .come into sight, and every
observatory in the world will be busy
studying it. The preparations for this
great astronomical event have already,
for a long time, been going on, because
it is an unparalleled thing of its kind.
For this reason we give in a corner of
this month's chart a little diagram show-
ing the orbit of Halley's comet and the
position which the comet occupies at
the present moment. It is now about as
far from the sun as the planet Jupiter,
and if it were a large solid body like
Jupiter it would already be plainly visible
to the naked eye. But a comet is not a
solid body, although it is probably made
up of solid particles, and onlv when it
gets near the sun does it begin to dis-
play its characteristic features. Then
only is the wonderful tail unfolded to
amaze all beholders. The tail of a comet
is believed to consist of immeasurably
minute particles which are shot off from
the head, or nucleus, by some repellant
force emanating from the sun. Recent
investigations seem to prove that this
force is electric in its nature. It has
also been thought that the "push" of
the light waves from the sun may play
a part in the phenomenon for strange as
it may seem, it is now known that the
waves of light are able to drive before
them excessively small particles of matter
which they may encounter. The idea is
that the heat and perhaps the electro-
magnet action of the sun on the ap-
proaching comet have the effect of
releasing infinitesimal particles which

are then driven away by the flowing
light waves (which travel 185,000 miles
per second) like dust before a high wind.
The certainty that the sun exerts a re-
pellent force of some kind is sufficiently
established by the well-known fact that
the tail of a comet always points away
from the sun, changing its direction as
the head of the comet passes around the
sun so that the tail always remains on
the off side. The reason why the return
of Halley's comet excites so much atten-
tion from astronomers is because it is
absolutely the only really great comet
the period of whose revolution and the
date of whose returns are known. It
comes back once about every seventy-six
years. It was seen in the time of Sir
Isaac Newton, and then Halley, who in
this respect outstripped Newton, detected
the fact that it was a periodic comet and
predicted its return in 1758. Halley was
dead long before the comet got back, but
back it came as he had predicted. The
next return was in 1835. The present
return is the third since the days of New-
ton. Just at what moment it will be
caught sight of nobody can tell. That
fact gives special zest to the search.
There is some hope that photography
may reveal it some time this winter, for
very faint objects are frequently caught
in that way before they become apparent
to the telescope. As soon as it becomes
visible its course through the sky will
be represented on our monthly charts.
Halley's comet during some of its returns
in the past was a very startling object,
spreading terror all over the world. It
was visible at the time of the Norman
conquest of England, and it has recently
been shown that its appearance on the
present occasion will be strikingly similar,
as far as the conditions of visibility are
concerned, to that which it presented in
1066. Its period varies to the extent of
several years on account of the disturbing

;76

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

attractions of the greater planets, es-
pecially Jupiter and Saturn, near whose
orbits it passes.

Saturn is the only planet to attract at-
tention in the evening sky this month.
Mercury, which is now east of the sun,
setting before the hour for which the
chart is drawn, and being too near the
sun as yet to attract attention. Although

Geneva (Switzerland) Observatory.
There is nothing improbable, however, in
the discovery, because there is reason to
think that the rings of Saturn are grad-
ually going to pieces, and that process
would naturally produce the appearance
of faint new rings surrounding the old
ones. The other planets are all in the
morning sky just now. Venus was very

Evening SkyMap for January

Jam MOON PHASEb
FullMoon, Jan 6
Last Qtr.. Jan. 14.
NewMoon,Jan.2
Fir5tQ.tr. Jan. 28

NORTH

fACE SOUTH AND
HOLD THE MAP OVER
YOUR HEAD-THE TOP
NORTH. AND YOU WILL SEE
THESTARSANDPLANETS
JUST AS THEY APPEAR
INTHEHIAVENS

SOUTH

Saturn's rings are not to be seen without
a telescope the planet itself is always in-
teresting to look at, for it does not resem-
ble the fixed stars in appearance, and
with its steady, unflickering light may be
regarded as a typical planet. The an-
nouncement, which was mentioned last
month', that there is a new, or at least a
hitherto unnoticed ring surrounding the
bright rings of Saturn remains at present
unconfirmed. The alleged new ring has
onlv been seen bv an observer at the

brilliant there during the late fall and ear-
ly winter and drew many inquiries from
people who saw her, and, being aston-
ished by her brightness, could not imagine
what she was. One of the objects of
these monthly articles and charts is to
enable those who are not familiar with
the heavens to recognize such phenomena.
Their wonder at the beauty and grandeur
of the sky will not be diminished, while
their knowledge and satisfaction will
be largely increased.

POPULAR ASTRONOMY

377

THE STARS AND CONSTELLATIONS.

Every eye is now drawn irresistibly
to the great constellation Orion, situa-
ted about an hour east of the meridian.
The rising" of Orion is one of the most
imposing spectacles that the heavens
afford. In ancient times the appear-
ance of this constellation was always
associated with the coming of the sea-
son of storms and tempests. Ilesiod
wrote :

" then the winds war aloud.

And veil the ocean with a sable cloud."

The splendor of his two great first
magnitude stars, Rigel in the foot
and Betelgeuse in the shoulder, is
alone enough to make this constellation
a cynosure for all eyes, to say nothing
of the marvelous beauty of the three
matched stars that form the belt of the
imaginary giant. High above, toward
the West, blazes the bull, Taurus, with
the gleaming cluster of the Pleiades
shaking upon his flank and the red
Aldebaran aflame in his eye as he rush-
es down upon Orion. Lower than
Orion in the East appears the unri-
valled Sirius in the mouth of the Great
Dog, who follows after Orion. As one
looks at the brilliant "Dogstar," flash-
ing all the colors of the spectrum, one
cannot help recalling the remarkable his-
tory of that star which was worship-
peel on the banks of the Nile long
before Rome had been heard of, and
in whose honor were erected temples
whose magnificence and magnitude
produce astonishment even in this age
of architectural extravagance. Direct-
ly in the South, flowing first westward
from the foot of Orion and then turn-
ing eastward, is Eridanus, the "River."
Its stars are so arranged that they
produce unmistakably the appearance
of a stream in the sky. Away over
in the West appears Cetus, the Whale,
one of the most extensive of the con-
stellations, but containing few stars
bright enough to attract snecial at-
tention. The Great Square of Pegasus,
with Saturn below it. is half way down
the western sky. Running eastward
from the corner of the Square is the
row of second magnitude stars which
mark the figure of Andromeda. East
of Andromeda comes Perseus, and
southeast of Perseus, buried in the

Milky Way, appears Auriga, orna-
mented with the great white star Ca-
pella. Capella is directly north of
( )rion, and about half way from the
head of that constellation to the Pole
Star. Southeast of Capella come the
Twins, Gemini, with the brilliant Pro-
cyon, in Canis Minor, below them.
Still further down in the East, below
Gemini, is Cancer, the Crab, remark-
able for its glimmering cluster called
the "Manger." The Great Dipper, in
Ursa Major, stands upright on its han-
dle low down in the northeast, while
Cassiopeia, which always swings round
the pole directly opposite to the Dip-
per, is high up in the northwest, above
Andromeda.

"From all quarters," wrote the Greek
poet Aratus, whom St. Paul quoted,
"the Heavens speak to Man," and sure-
ly at no season do they speak more
plainly or more eloquently and impos-
ingly than at this season, when they
are ablaze with their brightest bril-
liants.

At the beginning of January the earth
is in perihelion, or at its point of near-
est approach to the sun. We are now
3,000,000 miles nearer the sun than we
were in July, and yet it is winter for
us, simply because the Northern hemi-
sphere now leans away from the sun,
so that its rays fall slooingly upon us
here, and are consequently spread over
so much greater an area that their
heating power is less. In the South-
ern hemisphere the case is exactly re-
versed, for there the sun's rays now
fall more perpendicularly, and a pro-
portionately greater number of them
are spread over a given area of the
earth's surface. Perpetual night now
reigns at the North Pole and perpet-
ual day at the South Pole.

How many have the gift of seeing
things? This faculty may be culti-
vated as well as the memory, and to
better advantage. That man who can
discover some original beauty and ver-
ity for himself, see it with his own
eyes and not through the eyes of an-
other, is not without resource so long
as he live. — The Ministry of Beauty,
Kirkham.

\?S

THE GUIDE TO NATURE

PHOTOGRAPHS OF TWO WATERFALLS

BY HERBERT M. FLORA, MADISON,
INDIANA.

Clifty Falls are four and one-half
miles northwest of Madison, Indiana,
where there is a splendid summer resort
frequented by thousands during the sea-
son. These falls are a most beautiful
sight, the water falling in a great broad
sheet for ninety- four feet.

Tunnel Falls are situated about three
miles northwest of Madison. These
beautiful falls are almost inaccessible
but it is estimated that the fall of the
water is between eighty and eighty-five
feet.

TUNNEL FALLS.
Eighty-two foot fall of water.

INTERESTING EXAMPLE OF EROSION.

BY GEO. W. KELLOGG.

The workings of

opposing

natural

CLIFTY FALLS.
Ninetv-four foot fall of water.

forces, destructive and constructive, are
illustrated in the picture. A small
stream, cutting its bed through lime-
stone, has bisected a subterranean pas-
sage, the conveyor of underground
drainage containing a considerable
amount of mineral matter in solution ;
and by precipitation and evaporation at
the outlet thus formed, there is being
builded from the deposits of mineral mat-
ter the mass shown herewith. The up-
per surface has the appearance of a huge
boulder, but beneath the mass is more

THE CAMERA.

379

like an immense sponge with hundreds
of pores, from which in tiny streams the
water escapes from its underground
prison. This mass is the distinguishing
feature of one of the numerous small
ravines in the vicinity of Rochester, N.
Y., and, though accessible without great
effort, being within a half mile of a trol-
ley station and but a few hundred yards
of a public highway, its visitors are few,
and its being is not generally known
even to those whose inclinations are in
the direction of the natural and scien-
tific.

THE TESSA K AM) PROTAR.

(Published to answer the inquiries as to
differences between the two lenses.)

When called upon to choose between
those two estimable lenses — the Bausch
& Lomb Zeiss Tessar and the Bausch &
Lomb Zeiss Protar — the naturalist has
before him a problem which is rather dif-
ficult of solution. Indeed the solution de-
pends upon the kind of camera in use and
the work to be done, each case having to
be considered individually.

Both series of lenses are constructed
from the famous Jena glass, and arc
made equally precise in all details. The
corrections for astigmatism, for chro-
matic and spherical aberrations are
equally perfect, and the faithfulness
with which every point is delineated
upon the negative is in all respects iden-
tical with the two series. Optical per-
fection, therefore, and mechanical work-
manship are as wonderful in one case
as the other.

Let us first consider one of the princi-
nal differences, that of convertibility.
The Tessar, both Series Ic and lib,
is an unsymmetrica! lens composed of
four elements which are divided into
two groups by the diaphragm. The
front lenses are separated by an air
space which acts as a lens, while the
rear elements are cemented. Neither of
these two dissimilar groups is optically
corrected, but the two when used in
con] unction exactly balance each other's
faults, thus producing a perfect lens.
The Tessar. therefore, must be used in
its entirety. And the components of the
two Tessars of different focal lengths
cannot be combined to produce a doub-

THE INTERESTING EROSION.
In ravine at Rochester, New York.

let. ( )n the other hand, the Protar is
so constructed that each of the doublets
is composed of two elements, either
identical or not, which may be used as
individual lenses. This construction
gives in the case of the symmetrical lens
a doublet, the focal length of which is
much shorter than either of the com-
ponents, while the single lenses may be
used as such. When the elements are
dissimilar in their focal lengths, three
lenses are in reality at command ; the
single lenses being of different focal
length give different size pictures of an
object from a given point and when
combined produce a perfect doublet.
Further, another cell may be added to
the first two, resulting in three single
lenses and three doublets, or six different
focal lengths all told.

But with this advantage there is a
disadvantage as regards speed — that is,
some of the doublets will require longer
exposures than others, while all of the
single lenses work at an aperture of
f-12.5. When the doublet is symmetri-
cal the speed attainable is f-6.3 ; when

38o

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

unsymmetrical the speed is i-y or f-7.7,
depending" upon the differences in the
focal lengths of the two parts. As op-
posed to this we have the speed of f-6.3
in all sizes of the Tessar Series lib,
and the marvelous speed of f-4.5 in all
sizes of the Series Ic. This question of
speed is of utmost importance to the
naturalist, who frequently desires to
make negatives of animals in their na-
tural habitat where the work must be
instantaneous and yet the light condi-
tions are not always the most favorable.
For such work the Tessar Ic is abso-
lutely unsurpassed.

Cameras limit the use of lenses in
two directions. First as to their size
and second as to their focal lengths.
For instance, one may desire to use the
Tessar Ic, and yet the camera which
he employs may be so small that the
front board will not contain the objec-
tive. In such cases the Tessar, Series
lib, should be employed if the convertible
lens is not wanted. Again, the Conver-
tible Protar may be desired in cases
where the bellows draw of a camera is
so short as to render useless the single-

elements. In this case a symmetrical
Protar or a Tessar would be best.

Another consideration is that of cost
and is mentioned here only to show that
the Convertible Protar, while apparently
the most expensive, is in reality the
cheapest Anastigmat, possessing such
superb qualities, that has ever been pro-
duced. When using three single ele-
ments giving six focal lengths it is but
fair to divide the total cost by six,
resulting in an average of a little over
$17.00 each for Anastigmats of the high-
est optical correction. And if another
single lens be added the result is four
single and six doublet lenses at a cost
of about $15.00 each.

It will thus be seen that but little can
be done to actually decide what lenses
the naturalist should select. He must
consider the qualities possessed bv each
objective and decide for himself upon
those which lie can omit. The Bausch
& Lomb Optical Co., of Rochester, N.
Y., will be pleased to render whatever
assistance they may be able in solving
the individual problems of those inter-
ested.

PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDY OF PLUMOSE TAILS OF CLEMATIS.

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION.

381

i<<£<&€€€€gg&€€€!U€<&€€<<^^

htrfftA

AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION

IMPORTANT GOOD NEWS

FOR

All Students and Lovers of Nature

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF

"ARCADIA"

A philanthropist (whose name is
withheld for the present by request)
is to establish "Arcadia," a nature
colony or nature university on unique
and original plans. Within an en-
closure in courtyard style, covering
more than a half acre of ground, will
be erected a series of convenient build-
ings for the work of experimenting
in growth, care and habits of plants
and animals ; for preparation of liter-
ary and illustrative material ; for im-
parting information to amateur and
professional naturalists of all ages;
for aid in " nature study " in the
schools ; for the exchange of natural
history specimens ; for publishing, etc.
In brief, it will be an institution for
creating and increasing a knowledge
and love of nature.

The building's will consist of:

1. The Home of The Agassiz Asso-
ciation— offices and exhibition,
lecture and demonstration rooms.

2. Astronomical observatory.

3. Photograph gallery with dark room

and all equipments.

4. The "AA Clearing House" for stor-

age and dissemination of nature
study material.

5. Biological laboratories.

6. Insectary with especial reference to

honeybees.

7. Greenhouse.

8. Chicken house and yard.

9. Pigeon house and flying cage.

10. Pet stock house and also other
minor buildings.

There will also be vivaria, aquaria,
plant beds, etc.

Contracts for the entire plant have
been awarded and the work is in pro-
gress and the outfit will be ready for
occupancy April 1. The buildings are
of a temporary and portable nature and
the entire outfit is tentative for a period
of two years. The giver has placed all
in the hands of Edward F. Bigelow for
the benefit of the young people he reach-
es in "Nature and Science" of "St. Ni-
cholas," of which he is editor; for doing

382

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

the work of The Agassiz Association ( in
the one building provided and known as
the "AA Home") of which he is Presi-
dent ; for pedagogical departments in
various teachers' magazines ; for articles
and illustrations for adults in The
Or ide to Nature and other magazines.

To summarize, — the publications shall
be:

For young folks— "St. Nicholas" mag-
azine.

For adults (the "general public")—
The Guide to Nature and other
publications of The Agassiz Asso-
ciation and also articles in the gen-
eral magazines.

For teachers — pedagogical depart-
ments of AA in various teachers'
magazines.

The tests for the success of this nature
institution during the two years shall be :

1. Increased interest in the various

publications.

2. Co-operation of naturalists and gen-

eral public.

No provision is made for the ex-
pens e of assistants, experiments,
photography and other operating ex-
penses.

Personal.

I appeal for assistance in expenses of
operation and in proving the apprecia-
tion of the entire plan :

i. Gifts of money or of specimens,
cabinets, etc.

2. Increased interest in "Nature and
Science" of "St. Nicholas." The
information bureau or "Because-we-
want-to-kno\v" department is free to all
young folks. Young naturalists also
write telling of observations. (Subscrip-
tions to "St. Nicholas" may be sent
direct to The Century Company, Union
Square, New York City, or to the under-

signed. Three dollars a year ; twenty-
five cents a copy. Circular upon appli-
cation.)

3. Subscriptions to The Guide to Na-
ture" (for adults). (One dollar and
fifty cents a year; fifteen cents a single
copy.)

4. Subscriptions to teachers' maga-
zines in which pedagogical articles or
departments of the AA are published.
Particulars on application.

5. Contributions of articles and photo-
graphs. Those accepted for "Nature
and Science" will be paid for.

6. Aiding Memberships in The Agas-
siz Association as follows:

Aiding Memberships.

$5.00 paid annually constitutes a person
a Sustaining Member.

$100.00 paid at one time constitutes a
Life Member.

$1,000.00 paid constitutes a person a
Patron.

$5,000.00 paid constitutes a person a
Founder.

$25,000.00 paid constitutes a person a
Benefactor.

A list of trustees and corporators is
published in the following article. We
believe that the work of this Association
is MOST IMPORTANT, in education
and recreation.

If an increased interest in my work
and that of my associates is manifested in
any or all of the above lines in the next
two vears, tin- donor of this tentative
plant proposes to erect at the end of
that time a series of large fireproof build-
ings and to more extensively equip them
for promoting a popular knowledge and
love of nature.

I make this appeal in full confidence
that any man, woman, youth, girl or
bov with any interest in professional or

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION

383

amateur nature study or natural science
will aid me in this greatest project of
extending nature interests. I appeal to
every scientific society, magazine and
newspaper to render some aid in this
great project. So far as it specifically
is concerned in its principal point of view,
The Agassiz Association, my services are
free. My income is from "St. Nicholas,"
lectures and teaching.

Edward P. Bigelow,

Stamford, Connecticut.

THE NEW A A BOA HI) OF TRUSTEES.

For almost two years the executive
office of The Agassiz Association has
been in Stamford, Connecticut, but the
headquarters of the Association have
remained in Pittsfield, Massachusetts,
where the Society was incorporated
in 1892, under the laws of that stale.

At a meeting of the Corporators and

HARLAN H. BALLARD

Pittsfield, Massachusetts.
Originator of AA and President 1ST.". 10 1907

EDWARD FULLER BIGELOW

Stamford, Connecticut.
President of AA since April, 1907.

Trustees, held in the Berkshire Athe-
naeum, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, De-
cember 15th, six new Trustees were
elected and resignations were received
from all of the <>ld Hoard except three.
The new Board consists of nine of
which five are residents of Stamford,
Connecticut. The headquarters at that
meeting were transferred to Stamford
by election of a treasurer and a secre-
tarv from the Stamford residents. The
books and seal were transferred to that
city.

An adjourned meeting of the new
Board was held at the office of the new
secretary at Stamford, December 17th.
1908. At this meeting the following-
resolution was adooted :

"Resolved, that the permanent head-
quarters of The Agassiz Association
be and ther are hereby established in
Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecti-
cut, and that the President be request-
ed to give the information to the public
press and to make such statements as
shall seem best designed to promote

3§4

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

the welfare of The Agassiz Associa-
tion and to solicit the co-operation and
financial support of all good citizens."
The question of the incorporation of
the A A under the laws of the State

HIRAM E. DEATS.
Flemington, N. J.

Business Adviser of AA.

Mr. Deats is one of our most enthusiastic
workers in advancing the interests of the
organization. He has given over Five
Thousand Dollars to advancing the work.
For over a quarter of a century he has
devoted much time, correspondence and
many specimens "for popularizing knowl-
edge and love of nature among young and
old." He is an excellent example of a
"stick-to-it," of retaining youth by con-
tinued enthusiasm, of love and sympathy
for young folks and of a positive belief in
the uplifting and educational value of
nature interests.

of Connecticut was considered and the
President was instructed to take such
Steos as may he necessary to accom-
plish that purpose.

Voted to adjourn, subject to the call
of the President.

The new Board, to he reincorporat-
ed under the laws of Connecticut, cou-
sisl s of the following":

Edward F. Bigelow (naturalist-edi-

tor-teacher ) , Stamford, Connecticut,
President.

Harlan H. Ballard (teacher, Origi-
nator, and for thirty-three years, Pre-
sident of the AA ; librarian Berkshire
Athenaeum since i883; member of vari-
ous literary and scientific societies; au-
thor of "Three Kingdoms" and several
other scientific books, "Virgil's Aeneid
Translated into English Hexameters"
and other literary works), Pittsfield,
Massachusetts ; Ex-President ; Person-
al Adviser.

Hiram E. Deats (farmer and "Foun-
der" of AA incorporation, 1892, by
gift of $5,000; Member and Secretary
of the Board of Corporators of the
Peddie Institute at Hightstown, N. J. ;
Secretary of the Hunterdon County
Historical Society. Flemington, N. I. ;
President American Philatelic Associa-
tion) Flemington, New Jersey; Business
Adviser.

Honorable Iiomer_ S. Cummings
(attorney-at-law ; Ex-mayor and pres-
ent Corporation Counsel of Stamford,
Connecticut ; President Board of
Trade; President Civic Federation and
holder of various other prominent legal
and political positions), Stamford, Con-
necticut; Secretary.

Walter D. Daskam (Ex-treasurer of
Stamford and Treasurer and Secretary
of The Stamford Trust Company).,
Stamford, Connecticut ; Treasurer.

Dr. David Starr Jordan (President
Eeland Stanford Junior University;
pupil of Eouis Agassiz ; author of "Agas-
siz at Penikese," and of a large num-
ber of scientific books; has had ex-
tensive experience as an educator ;
member of various prominent scien-
tific societies and an active worker in
the AA for many years), Eeland Stan-
ford Junior Universitv, Palo Alto,
Cab'form'a; Dean of AA Council.

Dr. Eeland O. Howard (Chief of
Bureau of Entomology of the United
States Department of Agriculture;
Permanent Secretary American Asso-
ciation for Advancement of Science;
author of various scientific books and
an active A A worker for many years'),
Washington, D. C. ; Naturalist Advis-
er.

Reverend Charles Morris Addison
(Rector St. John's Episcopal Church,

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION.

385

DAVID STARR JORDAN.

President Leland Stanford Junior University,

California.

Dean of the AA Council.

President Jordan writes: —

"I have been acquainted with the work of
The Agassiz Association from the very be-
ginning.

"There is no kind of intellectual training
more valuable than that of learning to see
what lies about us and also what the dif-
ferent objects seen signify. Every fact has
a meaning. It is part of the relation of
cause and effect; and the great students
of nature are those who have been able to
see the fact and to look behind it to the
principle or law or cause of which it is a
visible result. I regard your Association
as one of the most important educational
institutions of this country."

Stamford; has strong scientific tastes ;
condncts a vegetable and flower gar-
den for the instrnction and with the
helo of the children of his Snnday
School ; has an AA chapter in Boys'
Club and has been an active worker

in the AA for many years), Stamford,
Connecticut.

Dr. George Sherrill, (prominent phy-
sician ; member of the AA since boy-
lux )d ; has strong love of natural science
and of outdoor life), Stamford, Con-
necticut.

Dr. Howard thus expresses the need of
more observers, with the AA spirit:

"There is nothing I can tell Dr. Bigelow,
and probably nothing I can tell the people
whom he interests which is new in the way
of argument of inducement to observe
nature, but there is so much in insect life
that still remains to be known, so many
interesting facts which the observer, how-
ever placed can find out that will add to
the sum total of human knowledge, that it
is a wonder that there are not many more
entomologists than there are. I have point-
ed this out in the introduction to 'The
Insect Book,' which in fact was written not
so much to tell what is known but to
point out what is not known but which
nevertheless can be more or less easily
found out. The most unobservant of per-
sons, sitting for example on a vine-shaded

LELAND O. HOWARD, PH. D.
Washington, D. C.
Naturalist Adviser.

386

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

veranda, needs only to concentrate his at-
tention for a few minutes upon what is
going on among the insects on or about
the very vines that shade him, in order
to become interested and to desire to seek
for an explanation of the things he sees."

THE CHURCH AND NATURE STUDY.

BY REVEREND CHARLES MORRIS ADDISON.

The church is commissioned to teach
the truth of God, to help men to obey
God and to inspire them with love and
reverence for God.

It may use various means to accom-
plish these ends. Some churches prefer
to use exhortation and the prayer meet-
ing-; others think it more useful to use
the sacraments and incense ; others de-
pend upon intellectual instruction. The

REVEREND CHARLES MORRIS ADDISON
Stamford, Connecticut.

best church or the best parish is the one
which can consistently use the most
methods. Almost all try to use as many
as possible. The most progressive will
have gymnasiums and baths and manual
training classes, singing schools and
dramatic and social clubs.

Very few as yet have added nature
study. I believe in this as a most valu-
able adjunct. I deem it better and more

Christianizing for the young people than
making them sing hymns which they
don't understand or give immature re-
ligious experiences in public. Nature
, study helps towards the development of
the body in God's out of doors. Nature
study helps the rounded development of
the mind. God in nature has given us
the best graded system of instruction
which we have, adapted to the little child
picking up shells upon the seashore and
itip to Newton studying the abstract ma-
thematics of the stars.

Nature study impresses moral lessons
of utter obedience to law and helps to
watchfulness, adaptiveness and helpful-
ness. It enlarges the child's apprecia-
tion of and passion for beauty and gives
him grounds for the love of God, for
reverence and gratitude. Therefore, as
twenty years ago in Fitchburg, Massa-
chusetts, so now I welcome the work
of The Agassiz Association and claim it
as part of the church's work and am glad
to use it as one of the ways to lead
young people to God and to make them
better followers of Jesus Christ who
cared for the sparrow and noted the lily
of the field.

LETTER FROM HARLAN H. BALLARD.

(Thirty-three years President of The Agas-
siz Association.)

Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

December 15, 1908.
Edw'ard F. Bigelow, Ph. D.,

President The Agassiz Association.

Accept my congratulations upon the
reorganization of The Agassiz Associa-
tion, which you have accomplished, and
upon the bright outlook for success
which is opening before you.

Since you accepted the arduous and
somewhat thankless task of President
of the AA two years ago, I have kept
in touch with your work and I know
that nothing has been left undone which
enthusiasm and energy could do. You
have infused new life into the Associa-
tion, have broadened the scope of its
endeavor and have succeeded in arous-
insr an interest in nature, and in the
Association among men of influence and
power. The magazine. The Guide to
Nature, has been established and main-
tained by you at a very high standard.

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION.

387

HONORABLE HOMER S. CUMMINGS
Stamford, Connecticut.
Secretary of the AA.

This has been possible only at the cost
of great labor and self-sacrifice on your
part.

I am particularly gratified to learn
that through the beneficence of a true
lover of nature and of children and a
most cordial sympathizer with yourself,
you are about to have the opportunity
of trying a novel and most important
educational experiment, on a large scale,
by the establishment in a delightful local-
ity of an adequate home or headquarters
for your work.

This I understand is to be at first a
place with suitable buildings, in which
you and your assistants can carry on in-
dependent study and experiment, with
accommodations for such students: as
may visit you, and for a few laboratory
workers.

I understand, also, that you have in
mind the possibility of such future en-
largement as will tend to the realization
of our long cherished dreams, of a col-
ony or settlement of nature students, at

least during the months of summer, and
that there may be provided for their
use all the space, material and appara-
tus necessary.

Permit me to add that in the course of
m\- duty in auditing your books for the
past two years, I have observed that you
have had no compensation for either
your own services nor (in the active
work of The Guide to Nature) for
those of other members of your own
family, and I understand that it is your
purpose to continue this gratuitous ser-
vice.

The primary interest of The Agassiz
x\ssociation has always been in young
people, boys and girls ; our secondary,
though equally genuine interest, in the
advancement of science.

We have seen thousands of youths led
to a deep and abiding interest in nature ;
and we know that they have been ele-
vated and strengthened in character and
intelligence by their own endeavor.

Very many of them have developed
abilities which have secured for them
positions of responsibility, influence and
honor in the scientific and educational
world. The membership of The Agas-
siz Association has proved to be a semi-
nary or nursery of science, and from it
many a promising sapling has been
transplanted to a higher and more pro-
ductive field.

With all good wishes,

Sincerely yours,

Harlan H. Ballard.

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.

With our new organization, with the
formation of several Chapters and with
the prospects of "Arcadia," we indeed are
happy and shall strive to make 1909 the
most valuable of all in our work.

The World is certainly a great and
stately Volume of natural Things; and
may be not improperly styled the Hiero-
glyphicks of a better: But, alas! how
very few leaves of it do we seriously turn
over! This ought to be the Subject
of the Education of our Youth, who,
at Twenty, when they should be fit for
Business, know little or nothing of it.
— William Perm.

388

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Literary

t- — -andBIOGI

BIOGRAPHICAL

Stories of Rocks and Minerals. By Harold
W. Fairbanks, Ph. D., for the Grammar
Grades. Boston. Educational Publish-
ing Co.

"It is not the intention of the author to
offer this little book as a systematic treat-
ise upon minerals and rocks. Only the com-
mon ones are discussed, and in the treatment
of these the effort has been not so much to
impart information, as to arouse the inter-
est of the pupil ; to lead him to s*ee in rocks
and minerals and the changes which they
undergo illustrations of the great processes
which have shaped the
for habitation.

"Rocks and minerals
often attractive. Many
mately bound up with our every-day expe-
riences. This is not all; they have not ex-
isted eternally as they are now. They all
have had histories which are often of ex-
ceeding interest; histories which, when un-
derstood in even the most simple way, add
greatly to the intelligence and pleasure
with which we can studv them."

earth and fitted it

m
of

themselves are
them are inti-

hundred finely

illustrates
length, all

and
the

The Microscope and Its Revelations. By

Carpenter. Eighth Edition. Philadel-
phia: P. Blakiston's Son & Company.

This volume is a veritable library in it-
self with its eleven hundred and eighty-one
pages, five photographic plates of diatom
resolutions, nine colored plates of algae,
desmids, acarina, etc., nine plates in black
and white and over eight
executed cuts in the text.

This well known work
describes, at considerable
different classes of microscopical objects.
Monographic chapters on the different
species of animal and vegetable life, from
the simple cell to the higher complex or-
ganisms, make this volume a valuable and
pleasant "revelation."

There are clear and full descriptions of
instruments, accessories, illuminators, etc.,
with directions for their proper use — and
the "why" of it. Methods for the preserva-
tion and preparation of objects, for imbed-
ding and cutting sections, for staining and
mounting in balsam and fluid, in shallow
and deen cells, are given in full detail.

This book encourages the reader to look
into the microscopical world with, at least,
a pocket magnifier, and a pocket lens ought
to be carried and used by every reader of
this journal.

The ordinary lazv amateur cannot hone
to follow the studious technical man, who

has forged so far ahead in his line, but the
technical man is still far from knowing it
all. The field is very, very wide and it cries
loudly for a thousand workers to come to
the harvest.

The insect world alone, with its many
varieties of metamorphoses and develop-
mental changes, presents opportunity for
many workers. Insects have sense organs
in the antennae and legs and perhaps else-
where. Look for them. Gall insects and
their ways are still little known. Insects
parasitic on other insects need more study.
Almost every species of animal and bird
has its own parasitic insects and mites, of
which much is still unknown. These para-
sites sometimes trouble man. Plant tendrils
and other plant organs have lately been
found to possess something like sense or-
gans. The fertilization of plants is still
imperfectly known, excepting in a relative-
ly few species. The rusts and other micro-
fungi have been studied by few; yet they
are common at all seasons. The technical
man is not numerous enough to cover all
the ground and keep it for himself.

The coming amateur must, however, go
a little deeper than the old time, easy going
preparer of dry wings and legs. He must
do better and he can do better work.

Imbedding insects and developing plant
buds, cutting them into serial sections and
using the standard nuclear stains is, at
first, troublesome but not at all beyond the
ability of the average handy man. The
series of operations soon becomes, in a
measure, automatic, and as experience ri-
pens the difficulties become lighter and a
routine series of steps is soon established.
Having mastered the technic of making
sections of objects containing loose or deli-
cate internal parts, the world seems ready
to surrender her secrets. The study of
serial sections is extremely fascinating; the
wonderful cell structures and cell relations
continually incite one to go deeper into
the subject. The amateur thinks he is
barred out by natural selection; he is bar-
red onlv by an unnatural detection. The
micro-worker can find beautiful and won-
derful things in his garden. He is not
limited to davlight nor to flashlight. He
can do valuable work during his evening
or other spare hours, if his days are occu-
pied with the sterner dut^- of life. All
the stens of preparing, cutting and stain-
ing have "lie over" neriods which can be
arranged to nermit. the nersonal attention
to come at convenient times.

S. G. Shanks.

THB

STAMFORD, CONN.

EDWARD F? DIGELPW Editor

FEBRUARY, 1909

ST

IF

ST

fig

00

c.

THIS NUMBER CONTAINS
Up-to-Date Dahlias and Their Culture

Maurice Fuld

The Heavens in February .

Garrett P. Serviss

Snow Pictures of Commonplace Subjects

Geo. W. Kellogg

Interesting Forms of Insect Antennae
Experiences with Tame Chipmunks .

Frank S. Morton

" Ikey," a Remarkable Parrot

A. Louise Andrea

The Most Wonderful Plant in the World .

Page

391

399

402

406
413

416

420

Also Many Shorter Articles in the Departments :
Editorial and General, Correspondence and Information,
The Camera, The Agassiz Association and Literary and
Biographical.

~^m^m? <&«» 'M>** m &&

m

f
V&

Ik

The Sachs Tablets

A PLANT FOOD AND STIMULANT

Apply to the roots of the plants in any form you wish and the
plants will grow and thrive. The plants may be grown in earth
and the solution applied as a fertilizer and stimulant, or the plants
may be grown, for novelty and experiment, on crushed stone, pebbles,
bits of brick, sponge, sawdust, or between two sheets of glass and
the growth watched.

The Sachs tablets grew these luxuriant and thrifty plants from
less than a tablespoonful of sawdust in each eggshell.

Sections of roots or root hairs may be taken at any stage for
careful observation, free from all soil.

Excellent for experimental work. Efficient with 'house plants."
Just the thing to awaken a dormant plant.

Box containing 30 tablets (sufficient for 15 pints of solution)
mailed postpaid with full directions for 5c.

Prices in bulk as follows:

500 Tablets, $1.25 ; 1000 Tablets, $2-00; 2000 Tablets, $3.50 ; Additional 1000, $1.25.

Less than 500 tablets not supplied in bulk.
These tablets and the directions with them will guide you into most interesting

fields in PLANT LIFE.

ADDRESS

: The Guide to Nature, Stamford, Conn*

-iiVAS

'-%.

WV-*

PUBLISHERS NOTICES

k

The Guide to Nature.

EDUCATION AND RECREATION

AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY MAGAZINE FOR ADULTS. DEVOTED TO COMMON-
PLACE NATURE WITH UNCOMMON INTEREST.

PUBLISHED BY THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION. OFFICE: 113 GROVE ST., STAMFORD. CONNECTICUT

Subscription, $1.50 Per Year. Single Copy, 15 Cents.
Entered as second-class matter, April 6, 1908, at the Post Office at Stamford, Conn., under the act of March 3, 1879

Vol. I

FEBRUARY, 1909

No. 11

SILKWORM DEVELOPMENT.

To nature study workers wishing
to obtain silkworm specimens or an
exhibit illustrative of the silkworm of
commerce in its different stages of
development from the egg to the moth,
including products and food plant, in-
formation on the subject may be had
by communicating with T. A. Keleher,
P. O. Box No. 82, Washington, D. C.
J have before me one of Mr. Keleher's
silkworm exhibits and can say it is
ideally arranged and a very useful ob-
ject lesson for the use of teachers.

blanket and basket industries and will,
I trust, prove of benefit to me in my
studies. The Board seeks to better the
condition of Indians and to advance
their prosperity.

Warren K. Moorehead,

Andover, Mass.

JUST THE THING TO SAVE THE PLANTS.

Any one desiring to procure an excel-
lent hand plant sprayer to spray the
leaves upon indoor plants, to keep the
insects off and otherwise keep them

AS AN INDIAN COMMISSIONER.

I take pleasure in informing friends
that on the 10th of December President
Roosevelt appointed me a member of
the United States Board of Indian
Commissioners. This does not inter-
fere with my duties at Andover Acad-
emy, as I shall work among Indians
during vacations — chiefly in the sum-
mer.

The Hoard passes upon affairs of
the United States Indian Department
and has general control over the sup-
plies issued Indians, their education,
discusses question's of land ownership
and other matters of consequence.

The position enables me to accom-
plish much towards exl ending the

healthful, should send $1.00 to The G. N.
Lenox Sprayer Company, 165 West
Twenty-third Street, Xew York City,
and receive one by return mail. This

11

ADVERTISEMENT.

sprayer will spray under and over the
leaves. Three cakes of tobacco soap to
make a spray solution will be included.

THE GREATEST ADVANCEMENT

Optical Projection in More Than A Quarter
Century.

The New Schwen Lig-lit —

One Thousand ('simile Power.

Does not flicker. Is clear and even.

Excellent for stereopticons and photography.

Lantern slides to order and for rental.

CHAS. RESELER COMPANY.
251 Centre Street, - New York City.

Phillips Academy Andover, Massachusetts

The Department of Archceology
announces

THE STONE AGE

An archaeological encyclopedia of the implements,
ornaments, weapons, utensils, etc. of the prehistoric
tribes of the United States. More than two hundred
full-page plates and four hundred figures illustrating
over two thousand different objects

By Warren K, Moorehead, A. M.,

Curator of the Department of American Archceol
ogy, Phillips Academy.

Complete in Two Volumes of iooo Pages.

The volumes will include a large folding map of
the United States, on which numerous small outlines
of art forms will show local cultures. The degen-
erate art of the modern Indian is not treated.

Subscription, for the two volumes, $5,00.

Although the publication should be priced at
$10.00 or $12 00, the Department has decided to
issue it to subscribers at cost. Houghton, Mifflin &
Company are the publishers.

In order to cover the cost of the plates it is neces-
sary for us to procure more orders — hence this an-
nouncement. We shall be glad to have your sub-
scription. No orders are binding until the book is
out of press. Please order from

W. K. Moorehead,

Andover Mass.

Nature and Science
FOR YOUNG FOLKS

(A Department of

The St. Nicholas Magazine

PUBLISHED BY

THE CENTURY COMPANY

New York City )
Edited by

EDWARD F. BIGELOW
The publishers in their announcements
for [909 refer to Nature and Science as
"that delightful and helpful department"
and state that it "promises more interest
and profit than ever."

"Nature and Science has won its pre-
sent high standing- by accuracy in por-
traying nature from the standpoint of
the child. The editor has secured the
co-operation of nearly all the best natural-
ists, scientists and nature artists in the
country. The text and illustrations are
directly from nature — not from books —
and are absolutely true. So carefully
is every statement weighed, questioned,
and criticized, that every parent, every
teacher, every child has implicit confi-
dence that a statement in Nature and
Science can be absolutely relied on. And
it's interesting-."

PERSONAL.

I desire to continue and increase this
co-operation. Photographs, contribu-
tions, drawings and suggestions are cor-
dially solicited. Those accepted will be
paid for. Descriptive circular of Nature
and Science upon application. Corre-
spondence invited.

Edward F. BigeXow.
Stamford, Connecticut.

LIVE WILD ANIMALS

and Birds of All Kinds

Supplied for Zoological, Propa-
gating and Scientific Purposes

No Catalogues or Price Lists Issued
Write for what you want

Dr. CECIL FRENCH, Naturalist

Washington, D. C.

A PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDY OF ICE PILLAR AND ICICLES.
By George W. Kellogg, Rochester, N. Y.

There are men who have never known any friendship in Nature; others again who never
outgrow the love of birds and flowers, who preserve some youthfulness and innocence which
keeps them in touch with wild life. Over and above a healthy curiosity, or any scientific ac-
quaintance, it is the companionship of the woods and fields which counts — a real friendship
for birds and bees and flowers. Let us remember the woods in the days of our youth, that
we may have this unfailing resource in later years. " hi ///<■ Open," by Stanton Davis Kirkham.

The Guide to Nature

EDUCATION AND RECREATION

Vol. I

FEBRUARY, 1909

No. 11

OUTDOOR WoRLD

Up=to=Date Dahlias and Their Culture.

BY MAURICE FULD, BOSTON, MASS.

HE phenomenal popularity
that this grand garden
Mower is enjoying at the
present time is due mostly
to the introduction of newer
forms and colors which
appeal to all flower lovers.
The interest taken in this flower has
exceeded that of any other garden
species, and justly so, for where can
we find another kind that can he grown
with such wonderful ease and little
care, and produce fantastic blooms of
immense proportions and in such a
great abundance that you can give
away thousands of them a day and still
have your garden full of bloom.

Exhibitions which have dahlias as
their sole attraction are now a common
occurrence and it is a pleasure to the
horticulturist to note the extreme in-
terest the amateur gardener takes in
this flower, how intensely he studies

the names of varieties to familiarize
himself with this wonderful large fami-

The real lover of dahlias is one who
is not satisfied unless he grows from
three to five hundred sorts in his gar-
den and he can show you around on a
bright fall day and name you off this
wonderful collection, each one by its
given name.

Dahlia gardens are a specialty by
themselves and should be built on or-
iginal and distinct lines. To connect
or to grow dahlias in combination with
other flowers not only distracts from
the actual beauty of the dahlia but it
does not add the least grace to a group
of plants. The ideal spot for the Dahlia
Garden can easily be found.

You are not restricted to con-
ditions of soil, direction of sunlight or
conditions of weather. The illustra-
tion which accompanies this article

Copyright 1909 by The Agassiz Association. Stamford, Conn.

392

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

will give a fair idea what a wonderful
showing can be made in an ordinary
back yard and if I can awake sufficient
interest in the proprietor of a deserted
back yard to transform it into a para-
dise of bloom I am willing to write an
article on dahlias every day.

The proprietor of the garden which
is illustrated was the recipient of an
award by the Improvement Society of
his city. No other plants but dahlias
were used in the decoration of this
place and the showing made during
September and ( )ctober was gorgeous
to say the least.

During any time of the year the place
looked neat and clean and with his ex-
ample he will have instilled sufficient
love for this flower that deserted back
yards in his neighborhood will be few
to be seen.

In the culture of dahlias the first
important step to make is to select a
spot for growing them. The poorer
the soil and the lighter, the better they
will grow. Dahlias will grow as well
in a sunny position as in a shady, with
one difference. In a bright sunny spot
they will grow more dwarf, flower
earlier and more profuse. In a shady
place they will grow tall and flower
late and the flowers will be fewer.

With the spot selected it is now es-
sential to have the land carefully culti-
vated and turned over. If this can be
done in the fall previous, it is advis-
able but if only done in the spring, no
manure of any kind should be added
to the soil.

Rich or manured soil has a tendency
to produce a most luxuriant foliage
but hardly any flowers at all, there-
fore if the soil on the place is rather
rich, I would advise dressing same
with a heavy layer of fine coal ashes
and have same carefully spaded into
the surface.

The dahlias themselves should not
be planted before May 15th, no matter
how far south the garden may be situ-
ated and even by planting as late as
the first of July splendid results can
be obtained.

During the last season my own ex-
perience has been with dahlias that
those planted July 10th produced a
finer plant and a greater quantity of

blooms than those set in the ground
May 5th.

For the ordinary garden where space
is limited 2 feet of room between the
plants is all that is required. A better
appearance can be made with 3 feet of
room. It is here necessary to give a
little explanation in regard to what to
plant, either a field-grown root, a pot
root or a young plant. As a rule field
roots are the ones which are carried
over. The clump which had formed
the year previous should be carefully
split into as many parts as there are
sprouts, provided the spout is not de-
tached from the tuber.

Sometimes it is impossible to sepa-
rate every sprout and in such a case
it is well to remove with a knife all
sprouts but one. The essential point
is that never should there be more
than one distinct main stem growing.

Pot roots are roots grown from slips
during the previous season and my ex-
perience personally has been that these
roots are every particle as good as field
roots. They are nicer to handle per-
haps and easier to plant. No matter
how small the root, if a sprout has
formed the size of root has absolutely
nothing to do with the future progress
1 >f the plant.

The old root which is planted is of
no account. As soon as it is placed
in the ground it decays and the new
roots form right above it.

It does not feed the plant as a great
many growers believe. Last season
wdiile I experienced an extreme drouth.
the growth of the plants proved exclu-
sively the above statement.

Until the little fibre roots could form
and grow, the plants stood still with-
out moving one inch, which showed
that the large roots which were placed
in the ground could not feed the new-
growth made before the drouth set in.
Green plants which are often obtain-
able only, particularly with newer va-
rieties where the quantity is limited
are desirable but should be given a care-
ful treatment.

Most dahlia growers object to green
plants, for the reason that they are sub-
ject to destruction by the cutworm,
and if this is once done the plant is

UP-TO-DATE DAHLIAS AND THEIR CULTURE.

39:

IDEAL METHOD OF PLAXTIXG DAHLIAS.

It is best to have stakes and bracing supports all in readiness

putting the bulbs into the ground.

at the time ot

lost for good but the cut-worm is an
insect now-adays which can be readily
fought and kept off.

A paper collar six inches in depth
placed around the plant so it will ex-
tend fully two inches above the ground
will prevent any cut worm attacking
it. The one beautiful feature of the
green plant is that it produces the
finest specimen of blooms and it yon
wish flowers for the exhibition table
green plants are the only thing to
grow.

If you have to purchase your bulbs
it is very essential to treat the roots
immediately upon arrival. Unpack
the shipment and if possible plant each
tuber in a pot and plunge in a cold
frame, and water them so the sprouts
will develop and grow on.

If a cold frame is not hand}-, a cool
place iit the cellar or anywhere in the

house will do. Eight ,is essential.
Many bulbs which are not looked af-
ter, received earl}- in the season, will
be worthless by the time of planting.

If the growth of these new bulbs is
making rapid progress do not pinch
back but simply retard it by placing
the plants in a cool spot. Dahlia tu-
bers when placed in the ground should
he laid horizontally about three
inches below the surface and carefully
covered up. A stake should be placed
nearby and the label carrying the name
of the variety should be attached to
this stake.

There is nothing to do now except
keep out weeds until the plants make
their appearance. From the moment
they show above ground they should
be well watered at least two times a
week.

W4

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

DAHLIA SEEDLINGS.
Showing eight weeks" growth from the seed.

Also the ground near them should
be stirred up at least once a day. The
stirring" up of the soil is worth more
to dahlias than tons of fertilizer or
manure. The feeding roots of a dahlia
are very near the surface and to give
them an opportunity to breathe in the
fresh air it is one of the greatest bene-
fits to the plants.

If there is more than one shoot
appearing above the ground, from one
root, the weaker shoot should be cut
down below the surface. As soon as
the plant attains the height of one
foot its tender stalk should be care-
fully but loosely tied to the stake.
When the plant attains the height of
two feet, it is time to give it food. This
should be in the form of rotted stable
manure, placed in a circle around the
plant to the depth of full}' four inches.

It creates a double benefit. It keeps
the surface cool and moist and feeds
the newly formed roots.

From now on the plant makes rapid
progress and begins to branch. Xow
a word in regard to the shaping of the
plant.

If a dwarf, bushy growth is desired
it is now time to prune. This is done «
very simply bv pinching the crown of"1

the plant back fully two inches. The
result will be that branches will
break from every joint of leaf and
soon you will have a very bushy and
dwarf growth. For general use this
is not recommended but allow the
plant to grow its natural way, but
when the branches appear in such
quantity as to completely cover every
available space of light it is essential
to cut out sufficient to allow sunlight
to strike through the plant at all
times.

Whenever you prune, prune back to
the very joint. If you intend to grow
flowers for exhibition use, the pruning
is very distinct.

When the plant has attained a
height of eighteen inches pinch back
the crown as directed before and when
new branches appear watch them care-
fully and do not allow any subsequent
branches to grow larger than to enable
you to cut them out. The branch
appearing from the main stem should
produce nothing more than one set of
leaves at each joint and at the very
end one or two flowers at the most.

The feeding of the plants should
be begun immediately when the crown
is pinched, and just as soon as the
buds form the manure, which has been
placed on the ground previously,
should be removed and an application
of nitrate of soda dissolved in the fol-
lowing proportion : one oz. to five
gallons of water should be applied to
the plant in a circle measuring fully

A TYPICAL CLUMP OF BULBS OF FIELD
GROWN DAHLIAS.

UP-TO-DATE DAHLIAS AND THEIR CULTURE.

395

^

V *

/

s

CACTUS DAHLIA "COMET."

twelve inches away from the stem
of the plant. This application should
be repeated every three days.

The first specimen flower appearing"
on this plant will be the largest that
can ever be produced. During the
progress of plants there are a few in-
sects which attack it and no matter
what they are the following prepara-
tion will destroy and keep them off : a
weak solution of Paris green dissolved
in cool water. Apply it with a fine
syringe or whisk-broom to the foliage
and buds of the plants after sun-down
in the evening.

It is highly important that the plants
are never watered during the sunny
hours. Wherever the conditions are
such that wind is a great factor to
contend with the tying of the plants
should receive a great deal of atten-
tion. In order to make them as secure
as possible I advise having cross bars
connect a line of stakes as many as
desired and tie the branches to these
cross bars. By doing this no wind
can uproot a plant.

The dahlias will not produce the
best specimen until August, and if
buds should appear previous to that
time, it is not advisable to allow them
to open. Many varieties have a ten-
dency to produce imperfect flowers in
the beginning, and if this is noticeable
all succeeding buds should be re-
moved for at least a week or two so as to
enable the plants to gain sufficient

strength to produce perfect blossoms.

Where a dahlia garden takes up but
a limited space the flowering season
can be prolonged way into November
but while I admit that early frost
often appearing as earl}- as September
will kill enough of the plant to stop
them from further blooming this can
easily be prevented by building a pro-
visional tent over this garden. Drive
your stakes to fully two feet above the
highest plant and use in covering such
as muslin or a light canvas but have
this cover come right down to the
ground.

Once this first frost is away we
usually have splendid flowering wea-
ther until almost Thanksgiving". The
dahlia thrives especially well in loca-
tions near the seashore, for it receives
the moist, cool nights which seems to
be its greatest stimulant.

A word about cutting flowers and
keeping them. Flowers are best cut
extremely earl}' in the morning", while
the dew is still on them and placed
immediately in cool water and kept
in a cool place for at least two hours.

Such dahlias will easily keep from

PECULIAR TWISTS OF PETALS OF
CACTUS DAHLIA "LOYALTY."

396

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

PEONY FLOWERED DAHLIA "DUKE
HENRY.''

two to three days in perfect condition

hut if you should wish to send dahlia
Mowers to your friends at quite some
distance away and they should arrive
in wilted condition advise them to
place the stems of the flowers imme-
diately into boiling hot water and they
will quickly revive and be just as
fresh as they appeared the time they
left you.

The taking up of the dahlia roots
should not take place until severe frost
has killed every particle of foliage
right to the ground. When this occurs
one or two days should be given for
the sap of the plant to return to the
bulb.

Then the stalks of the plant should
be cut back to within six inches of
the ground. The roots should be care-
fully lifted as they often take up a
space of fully two feet and mure. A
fork is best used and the ground
should be loosened before you try to
lift the roots. The lifting of the roots
should take place only on a bright
sunny day and during the sunny hours
when the temperature is highest. Af-
ter the roots are lifted they are placed
up side down on the ground until the
soil around them seems to be dry.

Do not shake any soil off the roots
1ml allow any part of it to remain
around the bulb. Then before sun-
down place all your roots in a cool

dry cellar, spread them out and let
them dry thoroughly.

When this has been accomplished
which usually takes from a week to
ten days they can either be placed in
boxes or left on the floor provided this
is dry and covered up with newspa-
pers. One condition is essential and
that is the temperature should not
fall below forty and not rise above

50°.

It may be necessary from time to
time to look at the roots and see that
no decaying takes place. If any parts
show that they are decaying they
should be immediately removed and
the freshly cut parts should be well
coated with air-slaked lime. If on the
other hand the roots begin to dry it
will not do any harm, in fact it will
benefit them considerable by sprink-
ling the newspaper above them thor-
oughly with water, also to sprinkle
the floor upon which they are lying.

Towards March first the roots should
be carefully moistened so as to produce
the eyes to start. The separating of
the bulbs could take place April 15th
when they may be treated the same

SINGLE DAHLIAS.
The first type in existence.

UP-TO-DATE DAHLIAS AND THEIR CULTURE.

3^7

No. 1. Show Dahlia "W. W. Rawson."

No. 2. Show Dahlia "Governor Guild."

No. 3. Show Dahlia "Mrs. Gordon Abbott."

No. 4. Decorative Dahlia "Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish.

No. 5. Decorative Dahlia "Pireburst."

398

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

as directions given for newly received
bulbs. So much for the culture.

A selection of varieties to grow
should be carefully studied and herein
lies a great deal of the success of a
garden.

It is the pleasure of awaiting each

been found which has the fragrance
of honey and even in America we see
the first dahlia offered now of which
fragrance is claimed. The variety in
question is named "Fragrance" and is
a pure white single dahlia. The writ-
er of this article had ample proof of

READY FOR ADMIRING FRIENDS.

There is nothing in the universe that can duplicate the joy when one discovers a

new meritorious sort."

new day with a hope to see a new
flower open and see the result of the
whole year's work. There is nothing
in the universe that can duplicate the
joy when one discovers a new meri-
torious sort. The only thing that has
so far lacked in the dahlia which other
flowers possess is fragrance, but we
are not far from the time when we
have added fragrance to the dahlia.

From Mexico the announcement was
made last year that a new species has

the fragrance which was very pleasant,
distinctly resembling that of a honey-
suckle.

In order to make the dahlia culture
real interesting everyone should keep
a record of what the varieties do every
year from time to time because I have
never known that the same variety
will act alike each year. To re-read
these notes during the dull winter
months is like going over the pleasure
of gardening again and will refresh
memories.

POPULAR ASTRONOMY.

i99

THE HEAVENS IN FEBRUARY.

BY GARRETT P. SKkVISS, BROOKLYN, N. Y.

Since the most talked about subject
in astronomy, this year as well as
next, will be comets, on account of
tbe return of the great Comet of Hal-
ley, we have decided, each month, to
indicate on the chart the place of some
remarkable comet of the past, which
either reached its point of nearest ap-
proach, or presented itself under re-
markable conditions during that partic-
ular month. For this month we pre-
sent a drawing" from a contemporary
picture, a representation of the im-
mense comet of 1843, which will be
seen in the lower right-hand corner of
the chart. This comet passed round
the sun on February 2J, 1843, almost
striking the sun's globe, an occurrence
nearly unparalleled, and of extraordi-
nary interest. From the time the
comet disappeared on one side of the
sun until it reappeared upon the other
was just two hours, during which it
traveled at the rate of one million two
hundred and sixty thousand miles an
hour, 360 miles per second ! On the
chart itself will be found an outline of
the stupendous tail of this comet as it
was seen shortly after it had gone
round the sun, when its actual length
was estimated to be not less than 200,-
000,000 miles. At that time, as the
chart shows, the head was near the
star Zeta in Cetus, while the great
tail stretched away to a point midway
between Rigel and Sirius, a distance of
about 65 degrees. The comet made its
appearance very suddenly, and its enor-
mous tail seems to have been shot
forth in about twenty days from its
first beginning. It moved so straight
toward the sun that a very slight
change of direction would have suf-

ficed to precipitate it upon that body.
In fact, it must have passed through
the solar corona, that great gaseous
extension which surrounds the sun
and extends to a height of hundreds
of thousands of miles above its sur-
face. This great comet is interesting
on another account. Recently Prof.
George Forbes, of England, has
shown that, taken in connection with
the comets of 1882, 1880 and 1556, it
gives a probable clue to the existence
of another planet belonging to the so-
lar system, but situated far beyond
the orbit of Neptune. The theory of
Prof. Forbes is that the comet of 1556
was disrupted into three parts by ap-
proaching very close to this mysteri-
ous planet, and that the comets of
1843, J88o and 1882, were the remains
of the original comet. By means of
the tracks pursued by these comets
he has calculated the position of the
new planet, which he believes circles
around the sun at a mean distance one
hundred times that of the earth, or
about 9,000,000,000 miles. Its period
of revolution is put at one thousand
years. Search for this planet will be
made, and it is possible that photog-
raphy may disclose it at any time.
If it is found, in accordance with Prof.
Forbes's indications, the result will be
one of the most wonderful discoveries
ever made, more wonderful even than
that of Neptune, which was found
through the influence of its attrac-
tion upon the planet Uranus. In this
case the discovery will be due to the
effects of the unknown planet's attrac-
tion on a comet thousands of millions
of miles away. The comet of 1556
also made its appearance in the month
of February, and, like those of 1843,
1880 and 1882, went astonishingly
close to the sun. Its appearance was

4oo

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

so fearful that it has been alleged that
it was the immediate cause of the ab-
dication of the Emperor Charles \ .
It may be added that Prof. Forbes's
theoretical discover}- of a planet be-
yond Neptune was anticipated many
years ago, and that then, too, the as-
sertion of its existence was based
upon the behavior of this same curi-
ous familv of comets.

be conspicuous in the Eastern part of
the constellation Leo. He rises about
8 P. M. at the beginning' of the month,
and crosses the meridian about 2 A.
M. He is always a splendid telescopic
object, and his colored belts and rap-
idly moving moons are sources of
unending enjoyment for the observer.
Being 1300 times larger than the earth,
I u] liter is an imposing object even to

FEB..M00N Phases
Full Moon. Feb. S.
Last Qtr, Feb. 13.
NewMoon,F£3.20.
First Qtr.,Feb 26.

Evening SkyMap for February

- - NOR.TH

FACE SOUTH AND
HOLD THE MAP OVER
YOUR HEAD-THE TOP
NORTH. ANDYOUWILLSEE
THESTARSANDPLANETS
JUST AS THEY APPEAR
INTHE HEAVENS

SOUTH

This month Mercury is an evening
star, setting very early. The reader
who possesses a Planet Finder may
locate it on the chart by placing the
disk representing it at the 329 degree
mark on February 5. Saturn is also
an evening star, setting early, but to
indicate its position it is shown on
the western horizon in the chart, al-
though it sets too early for the hours
that the chart represents. Jupiter
continues throughout the month to

the naked eye. If he were as near to
us as the moon his immense globe
would till half the sky, and the little
earth would become one of his satel-
lites. Neptune, only visible in the
most powerful telescopes, is an even-
ing star, in Gemini, crossing the meri-
dian about 10 o'clock at the beginning
of the month and 8 o'clock at the end.
Venus, Mars, and Uranus are all
morning stars.

POPULAR ASTRONOMY.

401

STARS AND CONSTELLATIONS.

Orion, Canis Major, with the mag-
nificent Sirius Taurus, with the Pleia-
des and I [yades, Auriga made beau-
tiful by Capella, Gemini, with its
twins, and Canis Minor with Procyon
occupy the center of the February
evening sky, and the heavens do not
elsewhere contain a celestial spectacle
that can be compared with that which
the}- present. At this time of the year
the second brightest star in the sky,
Canopus in Argo is visible just above
the Southern horizon for observers
not farther North than Charleston, S.
C. Canopus is a star of extraordinary
brilliance and while its magnitude to
our eyes is less than that of Sirius its
real magnitude is known to be im-
mensely greater. In truth there is
reason to think that Canopus may
have no superior in the whole uni-
verse. The best estimates indicate
that it exceeds the sun not less than
10,000 times in actual brightness. Its
enormous distance alone causes it to
shine for us less brightly than Sirius.
Among objects of special interest,
which may be seen with the naked eye
and may be viewed with considerable
satisfaction with the aid of an opera or
field glass, are the Beehive Cluster in
Cancer, the Great Nebula in the Sword
of Orion, and in the very wonderful
nebula in the constellation. Anrom-
eda. The first of these objects looks
to the naked eye like a bit of star-
spangled cobweb floating in the sky.
An opera glass shows readily its com-
ponent stars. The first sight of these
stars by Galileo filled him with de-
light and amazement. It was one of
the first conquests of his telescope.
The great Orion nebula is faint to the
naked eye, but a good opera glass
shows what it is, and a telescope
makes it a wonder indeed. Its outly-
ing portions appear to involve the
whole constellation of Orion. The
Andromeda nebula is just visible to
the naked eye but quite plain with an
opera glass. The photographs now-
taken of this (object are indescribable.
They show it composed of vast whirls
of light, with apparently imbedded
masses of denser matter. A great

creation seems to be going on there.
Two very puzzling facts are known
about this nebula. In the first place
its distance is so enormous that no
measures have been made of it. It
seems to lie outside the boundary of
the visible system of stars, so that
some have supposed that it may be
another universe than ours, just visi-
ble as a luminous speck in the abyss
of space. The other singular fact,
which has an important bearing on
what has just been said, is that, unlike
the Orion nebula, the Andromeda
nebula is apparently not gaseous in
its constitution. As far as its spectrum
indicates it is composed of solid con-
stituents, or of something in a semi-
solid state, like liquid or gas under
high compression. This v. ould indi-
cate that it consists of stars, which
are so remote that no telescope can
re\eal them individually. Its vast
whirls would then seem to be aggre-
gations of stars like those that com-
pose the Milky Way. If this be, then, an-
other universe external to ours it
would seem to be constructed on a
similar plan. Andromeda sets in the
Northwest rather early at this season
and the observer should look for it as
soon after sundown as the darkness
becomes great enough. The position
of the nebula may readily be found
by remembering that it is Northeast
of the bright star in the center of the
row of three stars beginning with the
Northwestern corner of the Square of
Pegasus. Two little stars above the
one mentioned, which is Beta or
Mirach, point the way to the nebula.
The wonderful variable Algol in
Perseus will be at a minimum on Feb.
12 at 7 o'clock P. M. Observers who
have a telescope of not less than three
inches aperture should not fail to look
at the companion of Rigel, which, by
its deep blue color and its relatively
minute size forms a most charming
object. Morehouse's comet, which is
passing into the Southern hemisphere,
continues to arouse great interest
among astronomers by the strange
forms assumed by its tail as well as
by its extraordinary spectrum, show-
ing the presence of unknown sub-
stances in its composition.

4-02

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

SMMV PICTUKES OF COMMONPLACE
SUBJECTS.

BY GEO. W. KKLLOGG, ROCHESTER, N. Y.

Good snow pictures are worth the
time and trouble necessary for getting
them. The most commonplace of
subjects, decorated with snow are
often transformed into scenes of

N. Y. Ordinarily, there are other
views here, far more attractive and of
greater interest, that now, with the
snow and the lighting, are secondary.
For two days preceding there had been
a continuous storm — part snow, part
rain, no wind. Then a lowering of the
temperature at night ; a creaking of

beauty, which, under the proper light
conditions have pictorial possibilities.
But few arc the winter days, at least
in \'r\\ York slate, thai are ideal snow
picture days ; and when there are
such days the good picture conditions
are often of very brief duration.

The illustrations show portions of
a foot path, leading into the river
gorge, in one of the parks in Rochester,

the snow as footmen and vehicles
passed before dawn; a cloudless sky
—all giving promise of one of the ideal
snow picture occasions.

Mere are the operations. In the
lield. alone and working at sunrise.
Sidelighting, long shadows across the
field of view. Apparatus: Kodak, ray-
filter, tripod : all being used. Stop,
U. S. 16 (f 16). Exposures. 3 seconds.

THE CAMERA.

403

404

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

AN EXCELLENT ICE PILLAR.

For an ideal study of pillar and icicles see

frontispiece.

In two hours, field work discontinued;
wind rising; snow decorations falling:
picture possibilities vanishing; hut cam-

eras arriving.

In the dark
oper. Workin

much density,
ience.

room. A dilute devel-

j for detail without

The rest at conven-

ICICLES.

BY GEO. W. KELLOGG, ROCHESTER, N. Y.

The illustrations show a soft, readily
disintegrated bed of shale, which has
receded beneath a hard, resistant
strata of lime stone, which, like a shelf,
overhangs the base of the shale ex-
posure. From the surface drainage
above, congealing and accumulating as
it trickled from the limestone shelf, the
icicles, some being from three to four
feet in diameter, have grown until
some of them reach the talus below ;
and between the ice columns and the
rock wall there is ample space and
sufficient footing for a person to walk
through. The rock conditions here are
the same as those at Niagara, and once
concealed by the ice formations, one
can imagine himself in the Cave of the
Winds, or back of the Horseshoe Falls
in winter.

A LUCKY SNAP SHOT.

Hours of careful posing could not have produced the naturalness.

Photograph by Charles L. Beckwith.

THE CAMERA.

405

YELLOW PERCH (PERCA FLAVESCENS) .

Two-thirds natural size.
Photograph from life by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt.

MOONLIGHT OX LAKE CHAMPLAIN.
Photograph by Miss Sarah Weaver and Mrs. E. E. Trumbull, Plattsburg, New York.

A LUDICROUS ERROR.

By a curious misconstruction of a pencil
scribbled" name on the back of an electro-

type the word star-gazer read sturgeon
under the cut on page 342 of the December
number of "The Guide to Nature."

5o4

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

.YAID
THE LENS

AX INTERESTING LENS STUDY OF WING OF CORYDALIS.
Notice the peculiar bracing in the upper part. What can be the purpose of the trans-

.: lucent spots?

IWFKKST1NU FORMS OF INSECT
AXTEXNAE.

Between or in front of the eyes of
insects are two slender, club-shaped or
feathery extensions known to the scien-
tist as antennae, or possibly as feelers.
These are mainly organs of feeling"
but, in some insects, also hear the
nerves for smelling or even for hear-
ing, and it has been stated by Graber
that in Longicorn beetles these anten-

nae are used for balancing when the
insect is walking along a slender twig,
much the same as a tight rope dancer
uses a balancing pole.

These antennae are of many forms
well worth careful examination and
study. The differences in shape j.nd
structure are often cited as one of the
methods of distinguishing a moth from
a butterfly, in the moth (Fig. i) the
antennae are branching and feather-

SEEING BY AID OF THE LENS.

407

FIG. 1. FIG. 2.

MOTH ANTENNA. BUTTERFLY ANTENNA.

shaped; in the butterfly (Fig-. 2) In-
dian-club shaped. It is interesting to
examine these antennae under a me-
dium power microscope, where may be
clearly seen tiny pits, evidently the
location of certain nerve cells. These
very small pits cannot be clearly seen
in a photomicrograph, which partakes
more or less of the nature of a silhou-
ette.

Experiments have been made with
insects by removing the antennae.
This from one point of view seems to
be a cruel operation, but probabl}r does
not inflict pain in the same sense or at
least not to the same degree as with
higher forms of animal life. Those
who have experimented along this line
find that the removal is borne by dif-
ferent insects in different ways. Some
bear the loss without much appa-
rent discomfort as they may live
for months, while others die in
the course of a few days. Those that
seem to be the least injured are those
whose antennae have been removed in
hibernation. Experiments have been
made by coating the antennae with
liquid paraffine, thus excluding the air,
and the result upon the actions of the
insect is the same as if the antennae
had been removed. Probably one of
the most curious and elaborately con-
structed of all these organs, (Fig 3)
is that of the Melolontha beetle.

Under the microscope these resem-
ble a Japanese fan. Even to the naked
eye, or to the simple pocket lens, the

appearance is noteworthy. With a
higher magnifying power, each of these

leaf-like bodies exhibits a structure
which, in detail, suggests a honeycomb.
Here is a good field in which a nature
student may make careful study. Not
only are the forms interesting, but it
would be valuable to know just how
these strange forms are used. One
wdio has watched ants even casually
cannot have failed to observe that at
times they touch each other much af-
ier the manner of two human beings
who meet and shake hands, although
the results of these touchings seem to
indicate that some idea has been con-
veyed from one insect to the other.
It would be interesting, for example,
to find out to what extent insects can
smell with their antennae. Experi-
ments have shown that they are useful
as olfactory organs for a short distance,
or perhaps, as in some cases when the
male is seeking a mate, they may be
a guide for at least several rods. Some
experimenters claim that perhaps they
may serve as guides for several miles,
but it is easy to let iact merge into
fancy when 'leading with such natural
objects.

FIG. 3. ANTENNA OF MELOLONTHA
BEETLE.

4o8

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

THE DESECRATION OF NATURE.

To portray in beautiful art a dese-
cration of nature or the ravages of
vandals, reminds one of Dr. Holland's
"Canonization of the Vicious." Think
of the incongruity, the absurdity of a
poem or drawing- eulogistic of a stone
wall bearing the Salvation Army mot-
to, "Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow," flanked as the writer once
saw it, by the insistent and clamorous
command to, "Use Blank's Soap."
Both announcements may be commen-
dable in themselves but when either
defaces a bit of rustic beauty it is an
outrage to one's artistic perceptions
as well as to one's sense of the fitness
of things.

Not long ago I ordered a title page
drawing of nature to be made by a
skilled artist. I explained that the
scene should be a ravine with a forest
in the background, and that the
lettering should be in a distinct and
separate panel. The artist evidently
thought that my artistic tastes had
not been fully developed. Imagine my
feelings when he brought in the com-
pleted drawing and taking it from its
wrappings held it up at the proper
distance with an air of pride and
enthusiastically inquired, "There, how-
does that strike you?"

Tt struck severely hard — almost hard
enough to cause collapse, surely
enough to cause the artist to redraw
the illustration.

Tn the foreground, on the bank of

the ravine, he had placed a huge
boulder, and thereon had painted the
title in the style of an enthusiastic
and enterprising manufacturer of piils!

"Oh, aren't they beautiful;" "Just
lovely;" "What exquisite art;" "Did
you ever see such perfect taste;" "She's
an artist all right ;"-— these and many oth-
er similar exclamations I heard from the
young ladies as I entered the room
and saw them crowding around a long
table on which was spread out a liberal
assortment of water color drawings.
The ladies were in ecstasies as they
enthusiastically picked up one after
another of the sketches, dropping each
hastily to take another that seemed
more beautiful or calling the attention
of some one to a particular point of
excellence.

"You like nature; come and see these
drawings," was the cordial invitation.
"Don't you think these are beautiful,"
as the young ladies made room for me
at one end of the table. It must be
admitted that the first glance at the
beautiful cards and dainty timings of
the drawings spread in delicious dis-
order over the table was enough to
excuse all their intensity of enthusiasm.
The artist's specialty was rustic hill-
sides and picturesque ravines with
brook, pools and foaming waterfalls.
Tn nearly every picture was one or
more clusters of white birch trees, ami
almost every tree had several wide
bands showing where the bark had been
stripped off by the vandalism that is„

EDITORIAL AND GENERAL.

4oc>

alas, too common. I will not try to por-
tray in type my disgust, my pain, at
such art horror. I failed to do full
justice to it orally, although I tried.

And 1 brought down upon my de-
fenceless head a storm of protest, some
even indignant, because 1 didn't "ap-
preciate such beautiful things."

"But don't you always find it so in
nature?"

"I never saw a birch tree without
half the bark stripped off in just that
way?"

I imagine that they were right. If
the}- were, I pray that to such extent
at least, art may not tell the truth.

1 do not like the truth — no, oh, no;
not that kind !

PHOTOGRAPHING THROUGH A CAT'S
EYE.

That surely is a catchy title and so
thought the lady who requested me
to give a lecture on the subject. I had
previously lectured in that town,
thinking, as is always my habit, that
according- to the motto of Trni Guidi<:
to Nature "commonplace nature"
should develop "uncommon interest."
And I had also hoped that where there
is so much good material there might
be some intelligent manifestation of
interest.

But this time the request came for
"something different." "Can't you tell
us about a photograph through a cat's
eye and such things?"

"Oh, yes; that will be easy. I can
say that there is a crystalline lens in
a cat's eye, a fact that almost every-
body knows, and, as of course every-
body also knows, that a crystalline lens
will allow light to pass through it and
that such an arrangement (camera-
like) can transmit the light to a sensi-
tive plate and that a photograph, even
if a mighty poor one, will be the result.
I can say these things and for a list
of 'such things' I can call off for the
rest of the evening the names of other
animals, insects and birds that have
eyes through which light may pass.
After I have talked thus for an hour,
don't you think I would do well to
make it clear that such a lens is not
of much help in photography ; that a

better result may be obtained without
a lens — with a pin hole aperture or with
an ordinary camera from which the
lenses have been removed and the
shutter stopped down to pin hole
size? What is the use of using the
cat's eye when even the cheapest leas
of any ordinary camera will take a
much better photograph?"

"No joking," she protested. "Don't
you think it is really a good subject
and would take?"

"Yes; it would 'take,' especially the
'such things' and any similar 'stunts'
that you may have seen in the news-
papers."

"But there's much in the subject
itself; I know you can make it inter-
esting."

"Yes; I would treat the subject as
the clergyman treats his sermon, mak-
ing it firstly, secondly, thirdly and 'to
conclude.' First I would tell of the
particular cat whose eye was taken.
I well remember our old cat — very
interesting. I found her with other
kittens in the haymow and she lived
with us for more than a dozen years
— just the lovingest, laziest cat you
ever saw and a very good rat catch-
er (at times J. She was the ideal family
cat and 1 could prepare a really good
lecture that would be interesting" to
any lover of cats, telling of all her
traits and "

"No, no. That isn't what we want
— not a lecture on family cats but a
scientific lecture to tell us how you
photograph through "

"Just the thing. I am intensely in-
terested in photography. I will tell
about my Zeiss and Goerz lenses ; how
I arrange the light and background ;
how it seems sacrilegious to use sun-
light to make such photographic per-
versions and distortions as not rarely
come to me or such as I see in ribbon-
like films hung up to dry in certain
establishments that "develop" for
amateurs. The best lenses are not too*
good in photography and the art is
worth practising well "

But here the lady interrupted me.
She said I was hopelessly incorrigible
as a joker, a refutation that I have
never merited. She further explained
that she thought I did not understand

4io

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

about catchy things to please the mo-
dern audience and to arouse their in-
terest in novelties.

Possibly I didn't understand; per-
haps she didn't

:;: * * * -■'■

But I hope you, my lover of "com-
monplace nature with uncommon in-
terest/' will sympathize with the seri-
ous undercurrent that flows steadily
and continuously beneath this little
nonsense talk and which means that,
to a true lover of nature, it is distaste-
ful to exhibit any phase of nature as a
"freak" or as a specimen suitable only
for a dime museum or to degrade any
aspect of nature into a scientific
"stunt" in mental acrobatics to aston-
ish the groundlings. Photography
through a cat's eye has a certain inter-
est as a scientific experiment and
credit is due to those who in the right
spirit have done it successfully, but
my objections are to the arranging of
a lot of "such things" for the special
purpose of making eyes dilate and
mouths fly open to exclaim, "Isn't that
wonderful !"

It is wonderful ; anything, every-
thing in nature is wonderful. Even a
mouse, just an ordinary, cheese nib-
bling mouse (not one with six legs
nor with a tail a yard long!), is, as
Thoreau insisted, a miracle great
enough to stagger sextillions of infidels,
although I think that even Thoreau
was guilty of a numerical "stunt"
when he made that statement. It
would have been as impressive if he
had put the number in comprehensible
figures. If it would stagger one infidel
it would stagger an unlimited number
of others in a similar frame of mind.
Nowadays there is plenty of the as-
tounding in business, finance, travel,
mechanics, art ; and in science there
is an abundance of opportunity for
surprising yet truthful reports of
actual occurrences. The true lover of
nature seeks not the rush nor the
turmoil nor the bewildering perfor-
mances of semi-imaginary creatures,
but the calm, restful phase — the tonic,
not the temporary stimulant ; the spirit
■of truth and of sanity, never the spirit
of the sensational.

NATURE STUDY VERSUS AVORRY.

The human mind does not work to
its full capacity in all directions at
once. It always economizes gray mat-
ter— if we may use the expression —
by specializing. That which is not of
immediate interest is apt to be dis-
regarded by the mind.

There are thousands of noises which
strike the ear-drum that make no per-
ceptible effect on the consciousness.
For instance, we may be in a room for
hours and not notice the tick of the
clock. If it stops, we notice it imme-
diately.

There are thousands of impressions
made upon the retina which leave no
visible mark upon the consciousness.
As I sit writing, there are in view a
large number of objects which make as
vivid an impression on the retina as
the pencil I am using, yet they do not
come into consciousness because the
attention is not fixed on them.

The ability to feel is not fully devel-
oped in any one who sees. The sight-
less, being' under the necessity of de-
pending more upon touch sensations,
develop a keenness of touch entirely
foreign to those who see. No matter
how much one who sees may attempt
to develop the sense of touch, it is
still inferior to this sense in the blind.
This great principle of the mind is
one that can be utilized to banish
worry. Good thoughts may be made
to crowd out worry, right mental activ-
ities to supplant those that are wrong.
One who is busily engaged, giving
attention to the messages that go to
the brain through the eye and ear, has
comparatively little time to worry. Io
worry is to have eyes and see not,
to have ears and hear not, because the
mind is centered inside, on woes, sup-
posed or real. No man, while he has
a real interest in nature, can have
much time for worry.

For this reason, nature study is a
sovereign cure for the blues. Let one
form the habit, when walking, of see-
in- things, of catching the myriads of
messages nature is sending inward—
or as many of them as possible— and
my word for it. he will have no time
for worry, and once the habit of ob-

EDITORIAL AND GENERAL.

411

servation is fully fixed worry will be
effectually banished.

This is why such an organization as
the AA (The Agassiz Association) is
a eapital Don't Worry society. It has
no "Non't Worry" by-laws, no "Don't
Worry" mottoes. It says nothing
about worry. It gets its members busy
in the very natural and very agreeable
and all-absorbing work of taking a
pee]) at nature in some of her phases,
and watching the wheels go round.

How much do you think a child
worries while, with big eyes, he sits
watching the wheels go round in a

clock? You know he has no thought
for anything else. Fill the mind with
the beauties of nature, keep it full, and
worry will be banished.

W'orrv is simply a habit. But you
can not cure it by resolves. You can
not cure it by calling attention to it.
You will worry the more, in all proba-
bility. Sometimes we kill out weeds
by planting a very strong, thrifty
grass. Kill out worry by planting the
habit of observation, and carefully
nurture it until it has obtained a good
start. — Life and Health.

(ORRESPONDENCE

x

AND

Information

(ARE OF PRI3NJ0SES.

26 S. Clinton St., East Orange, N. J.
To The Editor: —

Will you or some of our AA friends
please tell me what is the best treat-
ment for the primrose as a house plant
and also what is the best book (not
too expensive) for a guide in the care
of plants in the winter?

Yours truly,

Sarah Root Adams.

SOME 0001) ORIGINAL OBSERVATIONS.

473 Madison Street,
Brooklyn, New York.
To Thk Editor: —

I have made a special study of birds
for less than two years so probably 1
should be wiser to wait and in time
answer many of my own questions.
I asked about woodpeckers bathing and
drinking as I had seen scores of flick-
ers, many sapsuckers and a good num-
ber of brown creepers and downy
woodpeckers but had never seen any
of them go near the water. Recently
I saw a brown creeper drinking, so
that partially answers my own ques-
tion.

I wonder if it is unusual for a her-

mit thrush to spend the winter in
Prospect Park, Brooklyn. I had not
seen one since November 21st and
supposed they were all gone. Fifteen
days later, on December 6th, I was
surprised to see one, and again on
December gth and 10th. On the last
date it was nearly dark and I had
given up hope of seeing him when he
came tripping along on the thin ice
till he came to an opening about a
foot across, where he stopped to drink.
He then passed along to the edge of
the ice, stepped off into the water and
took a good bath. Days passed with
no sight of him and I feared for his
safety, but on December 21st he ap-
peared again looking in his usual good
health, took a thorough bath, preened
himself well and retired. This was
about noon. At three o'clock the same
day he showed himself again, coming
within ten or twelve feet of me. I
call this the same individual because
I have seen only one at a time and
each time in nearly the same spot.

Here is a little matter I have been
puzzling over all the fall and winter.
In this same park (Prospect Park,
Brooklyn, N. Y.) is a conduit two or
three feet in diameter with a very

412

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

little water constantly flowing from it.
Around the outlet is an upright, rough.
brick wall two or three feet each way
which is weathered so it is whitish
and greenish. The grey squirrels fre-
quently come to this wall, licking the
bricks most industriously, sometimes
continuously for ten minutes or even
more, till a spot larger than a person's
hand looks bright and clean as though
thoroughly washed.

( )n December 21st, 1908, I saw at
least three English sparrows stand
close to the wall, reaching up to peck
from its perpendicular face, and occa-
sionally hover before it higher up long
enough to peck at it. Is it probable
the vegetable growth that gathers on
the wall or some chemical which is
connected with the bricks which at-
tracts them?

In September or October of 1908 1
saw a water thrush wading in some
shallow water in Prospect Park,
Brooklyn, N. Y., and in the mud close
bv. A large frog came out of the
water, creeping along stealthily as a
cat and with the same slow motions
toward the water thrush. The bird
kept stepping out of the frog's way
but did not seem at all afraid. After
some minutes the bird flew along
some feet away and very soon the
frog turned, hopped back into the
deeper water as though his game had
fled. I suppose, however, it would be
impossible for a frog to catch a bird.
Still he looked as if after game.
Yours truly,
Caroline M. HartwEel.

Will our readers please inform as to
what the squirrels and sparrows found
on the wall?

lias anyone seen a bullfrog swallow
a bird ?

I am willing to go with "The Guide to Na-
ture" for a year, and I certainly wish you
great success in the venture. — A. R. Spaid,
A. M.

YOUNG WILD DOVES ON THE NEST.

San Antonio, Texas.
To The Editor: — -

The wild dove in Texas breeds several
times during the summer months — up*
to November. Its nest is a very plain

THE WILD DOVES ON THE NEST.

and fragile affair composed of a few dry
grass or mesquite helmets. The photo-
graph shows one such nest with the
young brood about ready to escape the
nest.

Yours verv truly,

R. vIkxger] M. D.
INFORMATION.

Duluth, Minnesota.
To The Editor : —

1. Portrait Attachment: — I would
like to get the trade name and address
of the manufacturer of the fifty (50c)
cent portrait kodak attachment.

2. Sea Urchin Spines: — Has any
one mounted sections of the sea urchin
spines, such as shown in the November
issue of Tin: Guide to Nature, for
sale; or, if not the ornamental mount-
ing, can one obtain unmounted sec-
tions, prepared ready for mounting, of
different species of echinus?

3. Mounting Insect Eggs: — I wish
some one would tell the best way of
preserving eggs of moths and butter-

CORRESPONDENCE AND INFORMATION.

413

flies for microscopic study. I had
some beautiful specimens last summer
but they turned black and shriveled
up— much to my disappointment.
Yours truly,

X. B. I'r.xm: roast.

1. Address the Eastman Kodak
Company, Rochester, N. V.. referring
to The Guide to Nature, — E. F. B.

2. Sections of sea urchin spines
ought to be had from any of the large
optical establishments. They were
formerly among the very common ob-
jects for sale. Try the Bausch &
Lomb Optical Company, Rochester, N.
Y., or Williams, Brown & Earle, Phil-
adelphia, Penn. — S. G. S.

3. Eggs of moths and butterflies
should be mounted in weak formalin
(5%) or i'1 glycerine jelly. Some fer-
tile eggs make good objects after the
larvae have escaped. These may be
mounted dry in a cell. — S. G. S.

ROOTING LEAVES.

Joliet, Illinois.

To T11 r. Editor :—

If nobody else answers that query
about coleus leaves belter, you might
say that a number of leaves are known
that will produce roots in moist sand
and so remain alive for some time, but
•he majority of them appear to be un-
able to originate buds and to produce new
plants. A few leaves, such as the Byro-
phyllum and some begonias, are able to
originate buds, not only from their stems
or petioles but from the edges of the
leaves as well. One only needs to peg
down such leaves on moist sand to
get a colony of young plants.. It is
interesting to note that one of our
common plants with this habit is the
well known sundew which may be
found in almost any sphagnum bog.
Yours sincerely,

\Yii.i,.\ri> X. CluTE.

domesticated

.Jl|Jk;.s

NATURE

EXPERIENCES WITH TAME CHIPMUNKS.

BY FRANK S. MORTON, PORTLAND,
MAINE.

Probably no other of the small
mammals is so well known as the
chipmunk. He likes the edges of the
wood and the stone walls for his home
and seems to like the company of hu-
man neighbors. By his cheery and
lively ways he finds a warm place in
the hearts of all animal lovers. His
peculiar chipping sound is known to
all. He ranges all over the United
States, although he varies some in
different parts of the country. He
differs from the other native squir-
rels in having the cheek pouches in
which he carries his food. He is
continually at work filling these
pouches with food and carrying them
back to his burrow for winter use.

I have kept specimens of the chip-
munk in captivity for nearly three
years. One specimen I have is over
three years old and is as healthy and
contented as an}' wild creature 1 have
ever seen. They newer get as tame as
the grey or flying squirrel but are
— if my specimen can be taken as an
example — better able to adapt them-
selves to captivity than either of these,
not being subject to so many diseases
as the grey and being less timid than
the flying squirrel.

The one great absorbing point in
the life of the chipmunk is the hunt
for food. In captivity this mania for
storing things away is just as strong as
in the wild state. They live on nuts and
grain and are very fond of fruit and
berries. They possess a great degree
of intelligence in their hunt for food
but are limited beyond that. Every-

414

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

I WONDER WHETHER THE CHIPMUNKS REGARDED THE HAND

PET?— E. F. B.

AS THEIR

thing revolves on this search for food their method of hiding when alarmed,

and by appealing to their greed they Their first act is to crouch down per-

may be made to perform very cun- fectly still until they get their bearings

ningly, and will learn to know their and then rush away with a loud noise

EXPLORING THE "TAMED" HAND.

friends so that they will not bite and
can be handled and petted safely. A
stranger will generally be met with
the same reception however that he
would get in the woods. They are
great fighters and the point of attack
is generally the ear. A specimen
with whole ears is generally the ex-
ception.

A noticeable characteristic also is

as if they challenged anyone to fol-
low them. Tut they go only just
around the corner of the nearest object
where they lie perfectly still until they
find another move has to be made. If
you don't find them they slyly sneak
off until they are out of reach. Their
curiosity soon gets the better of them,
however, and they are out again very
soon.

DOM ESTIC ATED NAT L RE.

415

The chipmunk's hole is generally
near some tree or stump and is a long
gallery under ground with a storage
chamber for food and a winter lode-
ing. What becomes of the dirt when
he digs his hole is the great puzzle
among naturalists and many theories
have been advanced. John Burroughs
in his book on squirrels says it is
evident that he carries away the loose
soil. Dr. C. C. Abbott published in
1875 a book on nature observations in
which he devotes many pages to the
subject. In my opinion, judging from
my observations of captive specimens,

the side as he progressed. The very
latest works however still consider the
matter as unsolved and in Stone and
Cram's work on American Animals
it is stated that the authors believe it
to be a common practice for the chip-
munk to carry out the earth in its
cheek pouches, and dump it at some
distance from the hole. In May, 1907,
Mr. Ernest Seton Thompson published
an exhaustive article on the animal,
and he states that he is in ignorance
as to just how the hole is dug. He
says, "I am not aware that anyone has
watched a chipmunk actually at work

GETTING WELL ACQUAINTED.

Dr. Abbott came very near a solution burrowing," and states that all knowl-

of the matter when he claimed that the edge so far has been obtained from

creature did not take out any earth circumstantial evidence,

but pressed it in some manner against I think I am able to carry observa-

"I LOOK BEST IN PROFILE" IF YOU PLEASE.

4i6

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

tions a little farther than any yet
published as I was fortunate enough
to tame a female specimen sufficiently
to make her attempt at least to dig
a hole in my presence. This came
about by accident in the effort to make
the animal as comfortable as possible
in captivity and in thus doing a large
jardiniere of damp earth was furnished
her in which to dig. As I imagined
it would be, the earth was a great
source of comfort and immediately on
being placed in it she would begin to
dig. She made the earth fly so that I
one day placed my hands at the side
of the jar so that the earth would not
fly over the room. She began packing
the earth against my hands and was
soon half way to the bottom of the
jar. It was then that I observed that
after digging away the dirt with her
fore feet like any burrowing animal,
and throwing it under her body, she
whirled around and began tamping
and packing it away with her head,
using it as a battering ram and packing
in the earth at each side and when
possible at the top. To further try
her I placed my hands down over the
pile of earth so that they formed sort
of an outer covering to tunnels she
was digging, and she continued pack-
ing the earth against my hands so that
it formed a complete and solid tunnel,
my hands holding it in place. She
used her mouth to pick out pebbles.
A fern had been formerly growing in
the jardiniere and there were several
roots which she also tore out with
her teeth. But not a morsel of earth
did she take in her cheek pouches, but
on the contrary was continually stop-
ping and cleaning her mouth and fur.
She became utterly absorbed in the
work, so much so that I could hold
her by the hind parts while she dug
with the fore feet ! [Good, good,
good!— E. F. B.]

I have found no animal which fol-
lows out in captivity any more exactly
their wild ways than the chipmunk.
Fill his food dish with nuts and he
does not rest until it is all transferred
to his nest. Therefore I believe that
this female worked exactly as she
would have done in digging her bur-
row. My theory is that the hole is

i lug near trees or stumps where the
earth is comparatively soft and spongy
and that it is packed away in the man-
ner above described. It is true that
holes are often found in hard places
by the roadside — I found one this fall
fairly into the hard part of a country
road — but this is only one entrance
and in such cases J believe loose
places under the road are taken ad-
vantage of, and that it is the hole that
winds up the digging (all burrows
have two entrances) and not the one
where the burrow is started.

| What an astonishing and pleasur-
able experience with that digging chip-
munk ! Now we envy Mr. Morton
in that experience. A day in which
such an event occurred was really
worth living". — En. I

"IKEY," A REMARKABLE PARBOT.

BY A. LOl'ISK ANDREA, NEW YORK CITY.

As near as we can tell, this parrot
was sixty-five years old, for he was
a family possession during forty years
and came to us without any character
and reputed to be twenty-five. I le was
uncannily clever and had such a dis-
tinct individuality that he led us to
think that there must be something
in either the doctrine of metempsycho-
sis or obsession.

Perhaps his gifts received extra de-
velopment through long residence in
a college town, for the minister said
he possessed sophomoric omnisiencc.
Also the parrot knew his rights and
insisted upon their strict observance,

He had been named [key in conse-
quence of the shape of his nose and
he not only took to the name readily
but always spoke of himself as "Ikey."
lie was a large green bird, with red
markings and his active little brain
had stored away an astonishing wealth
of information, knowledge and expe-
rience.

Most assuredly Ikey could be called
a talker and not in the ordinary "par-
rot" sense — that is, using words and
sentences that sometimes fitted occa-
sion. No, for daily he used language
that proved he knew just what he was
saying and why he said it. Nor was
it all mere repetition, for very often
he came out with utterances that must

1)< )MESTICATED NATURE.

417

have been original with him. Further-
more, besides his conversational gifts
he could sing and employed his ex-
tensive repertoire with unctuous relish
—no matter what the neighbors
thought.

The bird was considered a member
of the family, practically on a par with
the rest and being much talked to—
and, incidentally, much spoiled, was
probably helped into original lines of
reasoning. Mis only punishment was
to have a large cloth thrown over his
head in the daytime. litis he loathed
with all his parrot heart for he was
so afraid he might miss something" as
he was exquisitely curious and always
wanted to know what was going on.
When covered as a punishment, he
would scold and grumble at first, and
from his language, there was no mis-
taking his displeasure. He had his
ideas of us and the}' were far from
flattering, at the same time curiously
well confined to speech more or less
permissible. After a while a subdued
voice would issue from under the cloth,
"I key be good." "Ike}' be good now."
A^ the cloth was generally adminis-
tered as a corrective of his noise, he
would be asked if he would lie quiet?
This he readily promised, but he was
unreliable and his most solemn pro-
mises were utterly worthless. The
cloth being removed he would sit
quietly until he had been forgotten,
then emit a rapid succession of
screeches so hideous that they would
make one's blood run cold.

Very frequently his remarks were
so apt — so maliciously well timed, that
it was difficult to believe that he had
not been taught his disconcerting
speeches. For instance, a young lady
staying with us had been receiving
some attention from Captain S — .
One day when the gentleman '-ailed,
Ike} had been liberated and was in
the kitchen, assiduously "jollying" the
cook. Suddenly the bird entered the
parlor, deliberately waddled up to
Edith, planted himself squarely in
front of her and asked. "1 low's the
Captain?" Nothing could ever make
Edith believe that some one of us had
not taught Ikey this question, but 1
am just as sure that none of us did.

In an_\ event though, the opportunity

for deliverance was entirely of ikey's
own selection.

Ikey dearly loved to start a dog
fighl and one afternoon was a red
letter occasion for him in this respect.
A neighbor happened to be on her
doorstep, watched the whole process
and reported the affair to us. Ikey
was in the open window when two
clogs met in the street. The animals
circled round each other in the stiff
hostile manner which strange dogs
display under such circumstances.
.Most probably they would have gone
about their respective businesses in
peace had it not been for the parrot.
Nothing escaped Ikey's attention, in-
doors or out and he joyfully seized this
chance for creating trouble. "Sic 'em,"
he yelled, and his sic began with a
long, artistic hiss. At the first call
the dogs looked up in surprise. At
the next "sic 'cm," the brutes con
eluded that the superior mentality of
some human being was urging them
on. .So they promptly joined in
frenzied battle while high above their
noise floated Ikey's piercing encour-
agement. Other dogs hurried up to
investigate and participate until the
roadway was full of dogs snarling,
snapping and waging delightful con-
flict.

Attracted by the din, the housemaid
ran to the window, then hearing Ikey's
joyous yells at the fighting animals
she popped the cloth over his cage,
utterly extinguishing the bird's delight.
That time though. Ikey did not scold
but for two hours after there came from
the gloom of his cage the most ecstatic
chuckles. Verily fond memories were
wi >rking !

Towards dusk, Ikey always wanted
his cover put on for the night; the
day's activities had doubtless tired
him. If neglected in this regard he
would make his wants known. His
call would Moat through the house, in
sweetest flutelike tones, — "Mother-
Mother!" Mother would respond and
the parrot would murmur drowsily-
"Poor Ikey. Ikey's so sleepy." Then
he would be hushed until next morn-
ing, absorbing energy for another day
of activity, eloquence and crime.

4i8

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Ikey's greatest horror was his bath.
This ceremony was performed by
placing his cage on the ground in the
backyard and pouring water over him
with a sprinkling can. He would sit
on the bottom of his cage, huddled up
as small as possible so as to escape
am,- drop of the detestable liquid. If
anvonc appeared in the basement
doorway. Ikey would rise up with a
hopeful air. At last a friend had ap-
peared who might prove a friend in
need! "Bring a 'brella," he would
screech. "Bring a 'brella. quick!"
Well he knew the use and purpose of
umbrellas for if it were raining and
any member of the household were
preparing to go out he would advise,
"Better take a 'brella."

When desired to exhibit his powers
of speech for the benefit of visitors,
Ikey took malignant delight in being
obstinately silent. No oyster was ever
more dumb and nothing could coax
him into any sort of utterance.
Through it all his bright, round eyes
would be keenly alert, expressing the
intense gratification he felt in being
stubborn and aggravating.

In warm weather though, from his
cage in the window-sill, he would
address passers by. Our house was
opposite the medical school and the
successive classes of students soon
knew Ikey. They delighted in provok-
ing the bird and getting him to talk
back and to using his ready and com-
prehensive flow of strong language.
The boys would stand across the way
and tell Ikey uncomplimentary things
about himself. He promptly rejoined
in vigorously personal remarks, cran-
ing forward and giving as good as they
sent. . . Frequently the exchange of aca-
demic personalities became so fervent
that Ikey had to be brought back into
the room and covered up. This he
fiercely resented and let us know that
we were tyrants and most unfair; just
when it had become so interesting and
just as he was getting the best of those
fellows across the way.

All the college yells Ikey had at his
beak's end and of all his songs the old
Boola song was the bird's favorite.
Athletic days were his festive occasions
for he could join in the noise and really

be one of the gang. When the students
came down the street singing Boola,
Ikey would catch the sound before any
of us and he would become positively
hysterical in his excitement. Through
the open window, he would join in the
song, although he always sang a note
or two behind the rest. What he lacked
in time and rhythm, he more than com-
pensated for in volume of sound how-
ever, for without half trying, he could
outscreech the whole city.

The bird knew colors too and the
crimson Harvard flag would goad him
into frenzy. This was not because of
the color for he liked red dresses and
ribbons but because it was Harvard's
flag and Ikey was the staunchest par-
tisan and "rooter" that Yale ever had.
Give him a little Harvard flag and he
would tear it into shreds and trample
on them, whereas if handed the Yale
colors he would hold them in his beak,
strut jauntily back and forth on his
perch and rhapsodize about it in the
parrot's native tongue.

He liked to have his head scratched
and would often say, "Ikey's got a
headache. Po-or Ikey. Scratch Ikey's
head." He was generally accommoda-
ted but it had to be done with caution
and with a long pen or pencil for the bird
was treacherous and gladly used his
cruel beak whenever he got an oppor-
tunity. While his talents were high
his disposition was low and in addition
to his cruelty he sat for hours planning
mischief of the most impossibly ingen-
ious kinds.

Two cats and a dog were regular in-
mates of the house and sad experience
had taught them to give that horrible
bird a wide berth. When no person
was in the room Ikey would drive the
animals out by the sheer power _ of
speech — a veritable triumph of mind
over matter. Words were poured at
the animals in torrents, addressed in
turn to each by name so there should
be no possibility of mistake. At differ-
ent intervals the sounds affected the
targets at which they were aimed, the
fox-terrier being the first to yield. He
would slink from the room in honest,
abject fashion, not attempting to dis-
guise his disgust and ignominy. The

DOMESTICATED NATURE.

419

cats pretended not to notice for a time
and would feign sleep but Ikey had un-
limited patience, strennosity and will-
power. Finally Buttons would dash
away and later Gipsy would rise with
dignity and stroll off as if he had just
remembered an engagement, one which
there was plenty of time to keep how-
ever.

While speaking of the parrot's treat-
ment of animals, one incident is well
worthy of recording, incredible though
it may sound. It was one of the in-
stances which suggested metempsy-
chosis or obsession. A neighbor had
left town on a visit and placed her cat
with us for safe custody. The cat had
only come in that day, consequently
had' not acquired that prudent respect
for I kev which our own animals had
learned. The cat lay asleep near Ikey's
cage twitching her tail as if dreaming.
Ikev crept down near the bars, watch-
ing" the tail with fascinated interest
and with ulterior intent. So near and
yet so far; one felicitous movement
might bring that tail inside his bars !
I was busy sewing and at last, fearing
that the psychological moment might
come for Ikev, I ordered the cat to go

downstairs. After several commands,
the cat started from the room. Ikey
climbed up on his perch and leaned
over, watching the cat as it disappeared
down the steps. Then he crossed to
the side of the cage nearest me, looked
squarely at me and said, very distinct-
ly and deliberately, "Now yon shut up
and go down stairs too." 1 looked at
the bird in amazement and Mother,.
who was in the next room, hearing
what the parrot had said, exclaimed,
"Aha, you got your orders, didn't you?"

Needless to say, Ikey's vocabulary
of violent and inadmissible words was
acquired before he came to us and to
do him justice he was very discrimi-
nating in his choice of language, using
the verbiage of polite society with us.
But let the butcher's boy taunt him
or the students encourage him and he
would gleefully unburden himself of
the choicest epithets of a deckhand.
This was a practical instance of "like
begets like" and Ikey had the admir-
able faculty of adapting his conversa-
tion to his company — another proof
that he had a good idea of the specific
meaning and value of words.

A GOOD SUGGESTION FOR A CAGE FOR PETS.

420

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

THE MOST WONDERFUL PLAINT IN THE
WORLD.

To assert that any plant is the most
wonderful in the world is, I know, to
make a serious, weighty, grave state-
ment, and there are naturalists who
may not agree with my opinion as to
the supremacy, in that regard of this
particular plant. But I am refer-
ring to the sensitive plant ( Mimosa
pudica), and after three years of ex-
tensive experiment with it; after care-
fully watching it at all times, by day
and by night, in early spring, and in
late autumn ; after experimenting with
it bv a varietv of methods ; and after

having frequently entertained my
friends with an exhibition of its re-
markable characteristics, I am pre-
pared to assert positively and unquali-
fiedly that it impresses me more
strongly and more deeply thai; any
other plant with which I am acquaint-
ed. It makes me realize more and
more fully that Thoreau was not far
from the truth when as he walked
alone in the valley in Maine, he ad-
dres:>ed a pine on the distant moun-
tain top as if its life were closely akin
to his, and as if there were a possibili-
ty, yes, even a probability, that it was
as much entitled to immortality as are

BEFORE SHAKIXC.

THE PLANT WOULD UNDER CARE.

421

AFTER SHAKING.

certain so-called higher forms of life.

Surely the more one studies the sen-
sitive plant, the more one must realize
that it is alive, and who am I to draw
distinctions between one life and an-
other?'' Can there be more than one
kind of life? Are not all forms of life
merely the opposite of death ? If so,
why not admit or even assert that
plant life differs from ours only in
quantity. 1 his is not merely fancy.
Let us go to the plant itself. For a
few cents, seeds may be obtained from
any seed house, and the plant grown
in any bed in the garden as easily as
turnips, beets or lettuce. In fact the
■-oil requires about the same treatment
for the sensitive plant as for turnips,
and the method of sowing the seed is
practically the same as for any garden
\ egetable.

I have, however, in my third
season's experiments found it a great
advantage to have several plants
growing hi boxes or in (lower pots.
By this method one can get a side
view more readily and successfully, so

as to be enabled to study the wonder-
ful movements of the leaflets, or of the
leaf-stalk as a whole, than when the
plants are sprawling over the ground
like unsupported tomato vines.

The accompanying illustration
shows a profuse growth in a box about
eighteen inches long, ten inches wide
and five inches deep. ibis box was
set on a table in front of a white sheet
and a view taken of the plants in their
normal condition. The plate was then
changed and another view taken after
their peculiar and characteristic move-
ments had followed the intentional
disturbance. Perhaps the logical
method would have been to reverse
this process, and to take the normal
appearance first but I disturbed it by
moving it from the greenhouse plat-
form, so that all the leaflets were
closed when 1 placed it on the experi-
mental table, and I had to wait for
nearly five minutes before the- plant
lost its fear of the intruding enemy, if
1 may use the expression, and gave me
the open view that I then desired.

422

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

FOLDED LEAFLETS. OPENED LEAFLETS.
To show sensitive hairs.

I found it interesting to run a finely
pointed instrument like a pin, or the
tips of my tweezers, along the line of
the central vein of each leaflet and
to see all the leaflets close. This sug-
gested that I should try to bring about
the movement without actually touch-
ing the central vein ; that is, touching
only the hairs, and I found that these
appendages may act as feelers. The
next thought was to photograph the
centre of one of these leaves so as to
show the arrangement of the hairs
along the central vein, lint I found
this is no easy thing to do. It was like
photographing a living animal, the
difficulty being in catching it and in
inducing it to remain quiet long
enough to accomplish the photograph-
ic exposure. I had to resort to subter-
fuge, or, in other words, to set a trap
for the plant about the same method
that one would use in catching a wary
animal. I took two glass slips,
two inches long and one and one-

half inches wide and placing one
under a leaf, waited until it was
wide open, and then suddenly
clapped down on it the other glass
slip, thus catching it by a method simi-
lar to that old fashioned one of catch-
ing house flies between two shingles
smeared with molasses. As in catching
flies I found it difficult to be quick
enough to catch the leaf before it could
get away or, in other words, before it
started to close. After repeated trials
I succeeded and, binding the whole
together firmly, I obtained a photo-
graph which is really a silhouette, but
it shows well the hairs along the cen-
tral vein.

Then I disturbed another leaflet, and
put it before the camera after the
leaves had closed. It was evident that
these hairs do act as feelers and inform
the plant that an enemy or a disturbing
element is near by.

Slight disturbances are followed by
the closing of the leaflets only, but a
sudden jar causes the entire leaf-stalk
to bend downwards. I observed that
this bending was accomplished at one
particular part of the petiole, and I

WHERE THE SUDDEN BENDING IS
DONE.

THE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE.

423

THE BULBOUS BLOOM.

found it comparatively easy to make
the entire leaf-stalk bend by irritating
ibis special spot, and in doing so to
have no end of amusement for myself
and my visitors.

Perhaps one of the most interesting
experiments was slowly and carefully
to place one blade of sharp shears
above and the other below the tip of
a leaf, and to close them quickly with-
out any lateral movement, so as to
make it purely a cutting of the tip, and
not a jarring of the leaf. The result
was indeed surprising It seemed as
if the plant was a little sluggish of
comprehension and did not realize,
until some thirty seconds afterward,
that it had been injured. Tt reminded
me of the old story of a very long arm.
the fingers of which upon injury, did
not convey the impression through
the iine of nerves until an appreci-
able length of time had elapsed. It
seemed as if the inhumation had to
be telegraphed to some central point
and the answer to come back, "You
bad better shut up. something injuri-
ous is going on around you." Then
indeed the method of closing was
curious and totally unlike that result-

ing from a sudden jar. It seemed as
if the sensation ran slowly from the
tip up the leaf, or rather as if each
pair of leaflets in slow succession
passed the news along that, "We have
been told from headquarters that we
should shut up."

Another interesting experiment may
be performed by bringing a lighted
match near the leaflets, and watching
how rapidly the word is given out to
the plant that, 'Tt is getting a little
too warm for us here." Every expe-
rienced teacher who has observed how
slowly an idea percolates through the
mind of some children, would here be
reminded of that as something similar
takes place in this plant, when a new
idea trickles along its sensitive tract.
It seemed as if it took some time for
the sensory region to comprehend the
event, and to discover that it was real-
ly true.

The bloom of the Mimosa is won-
derfully beautiful, but it is not sensi-
tive. I have photographed two of the
dowers, one as it naturally is, the

BLOOM PRESSED BETWEEN TWO
GLASSES.

424

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

other as it appears when pressed be-
tween two slips of glass.

AY hen I spoke above about stimu-
lating a certain portion of the petiole,
and having that act followed by a fall-
ing" of the leaf and the two leaflets, I
was referring to that special portion
which botanists call the pulvinus.
This region is a thick, cylindrical swel-
ling" at the bases of the petiole and the
stalks of the leaflets. It is at or
through these pulvini that the results
of the stimulation are exhibited, for it
is at these points that the flexure takes
place. The mechanism of this is un-
derstood, but not the method by which
the transmission of the influence is
accomplished. This remains as much
of the mystery as it was when first
observed. The leaves and their parts
fall because a sudden change takes
place in the water-pressure within the
cells that form the pulvini. When the
cells on one side of the pulvinus give
off water, which passes into the spaces
between the cells, a curvature toward
this side results from the unchanged
pressure of the turgid cells of the op-
posite side. The sinking" of a leaf upon
its petiole is due to the relaxation of
the cells of the lower side of
the pulvinus. When these cells
reabsorb the water from the intercel-
lular spaces, their former size and shape
are slowly regained, and the leaf is re-
turned to its former position.

The manner by which the irritation,
or the stimulation, is conveyed from
one part to another, is not known.
Many and various theories have been
offered in explanation, but none is en-
tire!) satisfactor}'-, and none responds
properly to actual test. The stem may
be girdled, as has been clone, yet the
influence passes that part about as
successfully as it passed the region
when it was intact and uninjured, thus
proving thai the transmission Lakes
place through the wood.

Several sections of tin stem of the
same plant have been killed by the ap-
plications of bandages kept saturated
foi several minutes with boiling water.
in such a case, too, the transmission
is ma hindered, thus proving that dead
wood is no barrier.

The continuity of protoplasm is a

beautiful structure, readily visible with
the microscope, in the tissues of vari-
ous plants, the colorless protoplasm
passing through the cell wall in the
form of delicate threads and processes,
to join similar filaments on the oppo-
site side of the same cell wall. One of
my friends who had become greatly
interested in this microscopic struc-
ture, imagined there might be a con-
tinuity of protoplasm in the cells ot
Mimosa, and as at that time he had no
Mimosa within his reach, and no
means of cultivating it, he sent to
Paris for a microscopical preparation
of a section of the stem, hoping, that
by a fortunate chance, he might see
what he thought might exist. But the
dealer had thought more of the beauty
and the neatness of the section, than
of its value as a scientific object. The
consequence was that every cell was
as empty as any other vacant space,
and the preparation was valueless. Ii
those readers who have access to a
number of sensitive plants, and have
the ability to cut and prepare micro-
scopical sections, would bear this in-
ference in mind, it would be interest-
ing to know whether or not such a
continuity exists.

It is not believed nor imagined that
the motor influence is transmitted
through these continuous threads of
protoplasm, provided they are present,
but the thought is suggestive, and to
know whether or not such continuity
is present, would be an acceptable ad-
dition to our knowledge.

The motor influence may. in vigor-
ous plants, be transmitted for a dis-
tance of about seventy centimeters (or
about twenty-eight inches), at the rate
of from one-third to one inch a second.

The utilitarian purpose for which
the plant is supposed to have devel-
oped its sensitiveness to shock or to
touch, is said to be for protection, es-
peeialh from browsing animals. It
grows in great profusion in tropical
countries, especially on the plains of
"Brazil and of Venezuela, where it
forms immense patches. "A recent
writer says: "When a browsing ani-
mal approaches a clump of Mimosa
and agitates any part of it at all
strongly, the green appearance disap-

THE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE.

425

pears at once, and only an apparently
withered clump in which the hard and
prickly stems are most conspicuous
remains; the consequence being that
the animal either turns away or passes
through the clump to less bewildering
pasturage."

\ common -plant in our northern
fields, (Cassia Chamaecrista) has some
of the habits of Mimosa, although to
a much less extent and degree. It is a
sensitive plant, and will respond by the
closing of the leaflets, but it demands
rather a severe blow, or somewhat pro-
longed irritation if that is slight or de-
licate. The parts will close tightly
after repeated and rather severe shocks,
or after the stem has been carried loose-
ly in the hand for several minutes. But
(Cassia Chamaecrista) is the sensitive
plant of the northern fields and high-
lands, and deserves respectful consid-
eration on that account. It and the
Mimosa belong to the same botanical
family, the Leguminosse. Cassia nic-
titans of New England and of the west,
is similarly sensitive.

I have had great enjoyment in study-
ing the details of the pollen mass on
these globular heads. Every person
who saw the plants either in the gar-
den or in the greenhouse, exclaimed
with astonishment at their wonderful
movements, but it is a greater wonder
to me that so many intelligent obser-
vers deprive themselves of the pleasure
to be obtained by studying the sensi-
tive plant. It is not difficult to grow.
Then why not this coming year have
at least a pot or a box of earth in
which a few of them may be culti-
vated? There are many things about
the plant that are not yet known, and
you, perhaps, by persistent observation
and experiment, may be able to add to
our knowledge.

Aside from my own personal experiments
and observations, many of the scientific facts
here mentioned I have obtained from a
delightful little book, entitled "Living Plants
and Their Properties, a Collection of Es-
says," By Professors J. C. Arthur and D.
T. MacDougal. 16 mo, pp. 234. Baker and
Tavlor, New York.

• ........ — * • inn ; '••••....... • ;

AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION'

W8S£&&S@88SSSS&^^

FORMATIONS OF CHAPTERS.

The best plan we have yet discovered
is to organize local branch societies, or
"chapters" as we call them.

These chapters may consist of four or
more members and may pursue any line
or lines of scientific study they choose.
It is an excellent plan to make a careful
study of your own town until yon are
thoroughly acquainted with its plant and
animal life and the minerals it produces.

Most of the great observers made then-
observations elose by home. Gilbert
White watched the swallows that nested
under the eaves ; Darwin studied the
angle-worm in his garden ; Agassiz drew
the fishes that he caught in the neighbor-
hood brooks; Palissey found his fossils
near his own dwelling1.

So we like to set people to work just
where they are living. We like to have
them make local museums, in which they
shall have complete and well-labelled
collections of the plants and minerals to
be found within a radius of five or ten
miles from their door.

Such societies have already been form-
ed in over a thousand towns and cities
throughout the United States and Can-
ada. There are several abroad, in Eng-
land, xAmstralia, Russia, Tasmania, and
New Zealand, all united with one name
and one purpose, exchanging speci-
mens, and corresponding wdth one an-
other on matters of common interest.

The union of kindred students pro-
motes the interest of each. Every one
who finds anvthing wants some one he

426

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

can show it to. A pleasure shared is a
pleasure doubled. At the meetings every
member is sure of an attentive and
friendly audience.

Then, too. you can do many things as
a society that you could not do alone.

You can purchase good books and ap-
paratus ; start a library, build a cabinet ;
rent rooms ; engage lecturer ; take ex-
cursions.

To the student a day outdoors redeems
the whole calendar. Lungs expand, eves
brighten, pulses quicken, the step be-
comes elastic. The mind is challenged
at every step. Each pebble is a problem,
each plant a puzzle. There is food for
thought for every age and for every de-
gree of mental power.

Having now set forth the motives
which have led us to desire a union of
local societies for the personal vet united
study of nature it only remains to ex-
plain why we chose to give to our asso-
ciation the name of Agassiz.

It is not merely because he was a fam-
ous, a world-renowned scientist, although
he stands among those most highly hon-
ored ; it is not because he left the cross
of Switzerland under which he was born
for the Stars and Stripes under which
he died ; it is not because of the important
contributions he made to the sum of
human knowledge during his life of pa-
tient study; it is not alone on account of
his consecration to the cause of truth,
nor his legacy of the- remembrance of a
life consistently devoted to the advance-
ment of science; any one of these would
have justified our choice, but the name
that was adopted draws its most inspiring
power from the fact that Louis Agassiz
lived his life under the control of three
distinct and abiding convictions. He be-
lieved that he who would learn of Nature
her deepest truth, must wrest it from her
by personal encounter; he believed that
no knowledge and no habit of thought is
too good for all the people; and therefore
he freely bestowed on others the learning
which he had himself acquired, in the
only way which any knowledge can be
imparted, by teaching others how to
study, and by affording them the means
of study ; and finally, he believed in the
existence and protecting care of a divine
Creator, and he regarded this beautiful
world whose structure he knew so well.

not as a prison whose walls are closing
on their inmates with the doom of death,
hut rather as one of the chambers in a
heavenly Father's mansion, from which
death is but a door opening into larger
and brighter rooms beyond.

( )ur thought of Agassiz delights, it
is true, to contemplate him as a young
mid ardent student, bending in sleepless
interest over the fishes of Neuchatel ; we
honor Agassiz, the philanthropist, as he
toils with unflagging energy to found the
museum which shall forever lead his
countrymen to clearer views of the order
and unity of nature; but our hearts go
out most lovingly to Agassiz, the revered
and reverent teacher, as he pauses for a
moment in silent prayer before opening
his famous school in Penikese :

"When the Master in his place,
Bowed his head a little space,
And the leaves by soft airs stirred.
Lapse of wave and cry of bird.
Left the solmen hush unbroken,
Of that wordless prayer unspoken.
While its wish on earth unsaid
Rose to Heaven interpreted."

Invitation.

We invite you to join us in our de-
lightful work. Organize a Chapter in
your town. Only three besides your-
self are needed.

If this is not convenient, join us by
yourself. Full directions in Handbook.
^Ye bespeak the co-operation and as-
sistance of all parents and teachers, of
all interested in the study of nature and
natural science, useful employment,
healthful recreation, and a knowledge
of the outdoor world; we invite espe-
cially all young people, boys ami girls,
young men and women, to join our
ranks.

DESERTED BIRDS' >EST.

The Rev. P. B. Peabody.P.lue Ra-
pids, Kans., in connection with his
work on the Advisory Council of The
Agassiz Association, desires particu-
larly to urge UDOn all bird-lovers the
critical study of deserted birds' nests,
during the winter and early spring.
Of identified nests careful notes as to
location and elements of concealment
should be made ; and analysis of mate-
rial and structure should be made and
recorded. Mr. Peabody will gladly

E AGASSIZ ASS< )CIATION

427

identify any small nests that may be
mailed him; when accompanied by
reasonably full data, and by postage for
reply. Moreover, any inquiries will
be most cheerfully answered.

Bird photographers will find au-
tumn, winter and spring a golden pe-
riod for the photographing of nests
in situ. A back-ground of neutral tint
or of black or brown should be used,
where feasible; care being taken to
set it well back from the nest. AYhere
the nest and its surroundings are later-
ally deep, the lens should be well-
stopped down ; and under no circum-
stances should photographs be taken
in sunlight (wdiere avoidable), nor
should snap-shots be considered of
even potential value. The above sug-
gestions cover the more glaring com-
mon faults. In this domain, also, any
possible help or suggestion is heartily
at the service of any members of the
Agassiz Association. The two-cent
stamp is the sesame: and it will always
be adequate.

STUDYING DKAG01N FLIES.

REPORT OF* CHAPTER 1 1 AU.oWKl.i, A.
NO. 535.

The work has been in a great meas-
ure the collection and study of dragon
Hies. During the season of 1908 over
forty species were seen or captured,
bringing the number of known species
from this locality up to a little over
seventy now in all.

The exceptionally dry weather gave
destructive insects great opportunities
for injuring fruit and forest trees.
Many beech trees were entirely
stripped of leaves by caterpillars and
some trees commenced to bear leaves
again in the fall. 1 await with interest
to see what effect this will have on
the trees another season.

There were no rare birds seen dur-
ing the season.

Mattie Wadsworth, Prksident.
R. F. D„

Hallowed, Maine.

ITE

AND

BIOGRAPHICAL

With The Trees. By Maud Going. New
York: The Baker & Taylor Company.
This book contains chapters, — "When the
Sap Stirs," "Keeping Tryst with Spring,"
"The Life of the Leaves," "In a Hillside
Pasture," "The King of the Trees," and
"Seed Time and Sowing," and others of
interest. It is popularly written, and is a
pleasing accompaniment to any of the more
pretentious or systematic books pertaining
to trees.

Plant-Breeding. Comments on the Experi-
ments of Xilsson and Burbank. By
Hugo de Vries, Professor of Botany in
the University of Amsterdam. Chicago,
Illinois: The Open Court Publishing
Company.
This book is designed to show the agree-
ment between the author's theories of
mutation and the work of Luther Burbank
and other eminent horticulturists (especial-
ly Nilsson, the Swedish horticulturist) in
actual practice. It is therefore a basis for
further development of practical breeding
as well as of the doctrine of evolution.

The book contains one hundred and four-
teen illustrations. It is of general interest.

Plant Physiology. By William F. Ganong„
Ph. D., New York: Henry Holt and
Company.

Everybody likes to make experiments, es-
pecially on living things. That is why the
boy catches flies and pulls off one leg, two
lgs, three legs, and so on; he wants to see
what the fly will do under the new condi-
tions. So he pulls off a wing, or clips both
wings, to see what the fly can do with only
one wing, or with two half wings. He is-
generally msunderstood, and is called a
cruel, heartless boy, when in fact, he is not
thinking of hurting the poor fly, but is only
intent on seeing how it will act. This is
not a defense of cruelty, it is merely a de-
fense of the boy, who has no thought of
being cruel, but who is intent upon making
his little experiments.

And so, too, we all like to make experi-
ments upon anything, even upon plants,,
especially if they will respond to our at-
tentions. Who does not like to tease a
Sensitive Plant (Mimosa) to see how it will
respond when touched this way or that way.
Watch the next person that you show a

428

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Sensitive Plant: see how lie tries the effect
of a touch here, and a touch there; of a
very gentle touch, and a rude one; of a jar,
a breath, a puff or a blast of air. It is all
very interesting. And so are very many
more similar experiments and observations
>on plants when we know how to go about
them; — as how a plant bends toward the
light; how an inverted leaf will as persist-
ently turn over as will a turtle or an insect,
■only of course it doesn't do it as quickly.
Then, too, there are the movements of roots,
and tendrils "•just as though they are alive,"
as an excited student once said to me. And
there are the odd things about the growth
of plants, how they grow more rapidly in
•one part of the day, and less rapidly in the
other, and how to measure the rates of
growth. Nor must 1 forget the growth of
roots down, and of stems up, and the ways
of showing that this is not in response to
light. All these and many more things are
taken up in Professor Ganong's very inter-
esting "Laboratory Course in Plant Physio-
logy" (second edition) which has just been
brought out by Holt (New York). With half
tones of photographs, with cuts, and dia-
grams the author shows most attractively
how the apparatus is made, and how applied
to the plant to make it "act up" under such
conditions as will make it easy for us to
see it act. As one turns over the pages he
longs to have the time to try this or thai
experiment, and I venture the prediction
that in any school, and for any reader it
will always produce this effect. We should
all be boys again, watching actions of our
plants if we followed our inclinations after
reading the suggestions in Professor Ga-
nong"s book.

And it is worth our while to find out how
living plants act, for it is only through a
knowledge of this kind, that we may know
the plant in health, and this again enables
us to know the nature of disease in the
plant. This then opens the door to a vast
field of inquiry of the greatest importance to
the scientific botanist and also to the prac-
tical plants of all kinds.

Charles E. Mkssky.

The University of Nebraska.

Field, Forest. ami Wayside Flowers. By

Maud Going. New York: The Baker
and Taylor Company.

This is a popular book designed to meet
the needs of those who love to observe the
beauties and the wonders of familiar plant
life, and yet who do not wish to become
actual students. Doubtless a careful reading
of it will create a desire to do more careful
and serious work in plant study, than is
within the scope of this book.

ideal use for the amateur astronomer or for
class use. The first plate is of Ursa Major
and Ursa Minor; the last is of the stars
near the South Pole. Each of the interven-
ing eight plates shows forty-five degrees of
Right Ascension. This is an ideal arrange-
ment for the study of the stars of the zodiac
and those neighboring, north and south. The
division into maps of forty-five degrees or
three hours each is a good suggestion for
the star student, be he navigator or astron-
omer. The writer sincerely hopes there
will be an edition issued for general use.
After straining one's eyes with the micro-
scopic names on the ordinary planisphere or
turning around circular star maps to find
"which way does it go," it is indeed a plea-
sure to use this set of plates which are clear
with the names easily readable in a book
to be opened and used in a common sense
manner, right side up like any other book.

( iimmings's Nature Study For Primary

Grades. By Horace H. Cummings, B. S.,
Former Supervisor of Nature Study,
State Normal School, University of
Utah. Cloth, 12mo, 180 pages, with il-
lustrations. Price $1.00. American Book
Company, New York, Cincinnati, and
Chicago.

A helpful teacher's manual for the first
three grades. The children are interested in
the various forms of life by constant appeal
to their instinct to investigate and their love
of imitation. The outlines given, to be de-
veloped by the teacher, are based upon fa-
miliar experiences and facts, and many field
lessons are arranged for. Pupils are
encouraged to make original observations
and experiments, and to give natural prin-
ciples their practical applications. In
addition to animal and plant life, the lessons
deal with physics, physiology and hygiene.
Suggestions are given for making apparatus
and materials and for caring for a school
garden. The many illustrations are clear
and helpful. The book is the result of over
ten years' test of the lessons in the class
room, and is suitable for use in any part of
the country.

Plates of 150 Fixed Stars Used in Naviga-
tion. Compiled by Robert E. Tod, Mas-
ter Mariner. New York City.

While this is professedly, as insisted on
l)y the title, for use in navigation, it is of

Castle Stories. By Castle Girls. Tarrytown.
N. Y.: The Castle.

While this book is not within the
scope of "The Guide to Nature," I
take pleasure in calling attention to
it as a personal favor to the school and
to the young ladies who have written the
stories in the book. One of the writers.
Miss Florence Vorpe, has not only good
literary ability, but is a diligent student of
nature. We hope that she will combine her
talents of general literature and of accurate
observation and produce a nature book that
will not be mere "stories," but will be a
genuine contribution to our nature litera-
ture.

'{J** **</ <^ xJ^ ^>

'<J*

Mi

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THE

GUIDMNATUBE

STAMFORD, CONN.

EDWARD F? DIGELPW Editor

Vol. 1

MARCH, 1909

No. 12

&;^

t&S&g&S*

E

MORE GOOD NEWS!

THE SUBSCRIPTION PRICE

for

The Guide to Nature

beginning

VOLUME II, APRIL 1909

is only

i

ONE DOLLAR A YEAR

Single Copy, 10 Cents

Very Special Offer : — Additional subscriptions at same
time only 75c. This applies to back numbers or ad-
vance subcriptions to same or to other parties :: ::

(See Publisher'* Notices)

& few M^jfe <& *y m* ^ mW^

THE PHOTOGRAPHIC TIMES

NOW IN ITS FORTY-FIRST VOLUME, HAS RECENTLY CHANGED MANAGEM ENT, AND
IS NOW BEING CONDUCTED BY MR. W. I. LINCOLN ADAMS, WHO EDITED IT VERY
SUCCESSFULLY FOR MANY YEARS, UNDER A FORMER OWNERSHIP. THE THIRTY-
SIX PAGES OF ITS READING MATTER IS WRITTEN OR PREPARED ESPECIALLY FOR
THIS MAGAZINE, AND IT CONTAINS EACH MONTH ABOUT TWO JDOZEN, OR SO,
ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE VERY HIGHEST PICTORIAL
VALUE. THERE ARE DEPARTMENTS DEVOTED TO CAMERA CLUBS, REVIEWS, FOR-
EIGN DIGEST, DISCOVERIES, ITEMS OF INTEREST, AND TRADE NOTES, TO WHICH
ALL READERS ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO CONTRIBUTE. IT IS PRINTED FROM
ENTIRELY NEW TYPE ON THE BEST\OF BOOK PAPER, AND ALTOGETHER PRESENTS
AN INTERESTING AND ATTRACTIVE APPEARANCE. TH IS MAGAZI N E DOES NOT CON-
TAIN MUCH ABOUT HIGH ART, PHOTO-SECESSION, FREAK PICTURES ETC., ETC.;
BUT IT DOES CONTAIN MANY BRIGHT, CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES BY OUR BEST
PHOTOGRAPHIC WORKERS AND WRITERS, ON PRACTICAL SUBJECTS FOR BOTH
THE AMATEUR AND PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE $1.50
PER YEAR, SINGLE NUMBER 15 CENTS. ADVERTISING RATES ON APPLICATION.

The Photographic Times Publishing Association

135 W. 14.TH STREET, :: :: :: :: NEW YORK

FOR

All Students and Lovers of Nature and Outdoor Life

FOR MEN AND WOMEN :

The Guide to Nature, - - - $1.00

FOR BOYS AND GIRLS:

Nature and Science. A Department of

The St. Nicholas Magazine, - - 3.00

$4.00
Both for only $3.00 May be sent to separate addresses

"The Guide to Nature" and "Nature and Science" are edited by
Edward F. Bigelow on distinct and yet cooperating lines for adults and for
young people — for the whole family ; for the whole school.

Articles, photographs, drawings, letters, suggestions, inquiries, etc., are

desired for both magazines.

''And what a busy man you must be. Where you get all the matter, material
and subjects for the interesting articles, the delight of thousands of readers, is a mys-
tery to me. I should not think the days would be long enough for you." — F. P. Hills.
But it is done and done well in both magazines. And it is going to be done
more efficiently, more attractively, more entertainingly and more inspiringly, for
thousands more of readers, because a naturalist-philanthropist has supplied an
ideal equipment.

Address after April 1st :

EDWARD F. BIGELOW

ARCADIA SOUND BEACH, CONNECTICUT

-AlvAS"

:o

tY

m**

PUBLISHERS NOTICES

P.

The Guide to Nature.

EDUCATION AND RECREATION

AN ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY MAGAZINE FOR ADULTS. DEVOTED TO COMMON-
PLACE NATURE WITH UNCOMMON INTEREST.

PUBLISHED BY THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION. OFFICE: 113 GROVE ST., STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT

Subscription, $1.50 Per Year. Single Copy, 15 Cents.
Entered as second-class matter, April 6, 1908, at the Post Office at Stamford, Conn., under the act of March 3, 1879

Vol. I

MARCH, 1909

No. 12

SUBSCRIPTION REDUCED TO ONE
DOLLAR.

Beginning' with the next number,
The Guide to Nature will be issued
from Arcadia, Sound Beach, Connec-
ticut, at subscription of only one
($i.oo) dollar a year.

Our equipment supplied by the nat-
uralist-philanthropist, as explained in
the January number of The Guide TO
Nature, includes facilities for hand-
ling a larger edition and attending to
more extensive correspondence. It is
believed that this reduction in price of
subscription will not only increase our
income, but will also broaden and ex-
tend our work in the knowledge and
love of nature. The reduction is made,
therefore, wholly in the reasonable ex-
pectation of greater good to greater
numbers. To that end we earnestly
solicit the co-operation of every sub-
scriber to The Guide to Nature and
of every member of The Agassiz As-
sociation.

An additional subscription to Vol-

ume 1 or Volume II sent at the same
time for self or to be sent to anothei
address, will be only seventy-five (75c)
cents. Thus two years' subscription
beginning with the April, 1938, num-
ber is only one dollar and seventy-
five ($1.75) cents. Two years' sub-
scription to self and also to a friend
three dollars and twenty-five ($3.25)
cents.

At these very low rates we expect
to more than double our list. To our
staunch friends, we appeal : Do not
send less money in your renewal but
send more and extend the circulation
among your friends.

We can still supply a few complete
sets of Volume I. These, do not for-
get, are one ($1.00) dollar if ordered
alone. If ordered in addition to an-
other subscription, are only seventy-
five (75c) cents.

The advance time of all subscriptions
paid at the old rate of one dollar and
fifty ($1.50) cents a year will be in-
creased fifty (50%) per cent.

11

ADVERTISEMENT.

SUMMER SCHOOL IN CONNECTICUT.

PERSONAL.
To Our Subscribers and Members of
the AA:
I am going to try to establish a
summer school of nature in Arcadia,
Sound Beach, Connecticut, per the an-
nouncement in the advertising pages
of this number. If this attempt is
successful it will be the third I have
established in Connecticut.

After an extended experience of
several years as pupil or as lecturer
at summer schools in Kingston, Rhode
Island ; Woods Hole, Massachusetts ;
Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island ;
Cottage City, Massachusetts ; Cornell
University, Ithaca, New York, I
formed the plan of the first summer
school of nature to be held in Connec-
ticut.

In January, 1902, I went to the Con-
necticut Agricultural College at Storrs
and proposed an annual summer schorl
of nature and country life. My sug-
gestions were adopted and I was
elected Director for the first session
of 1902. That school has steadily
grown and I am informed that the
outlook for the coming session is very
favorable.

In 1903, the management of the Con-
necticut Chautauqua requested that I
establish a nature school at Forest-
ville. I accepted this offer and was
Director of the school for 1903 and
1904. In the second year, because of
the growth of the school, I engaged
Mr. 'Willard N. Clute of Joliet, Illi-
nois, as my assistant. He proved very
efficient, as would be naturally ex-
pected by any one who had known as I
had for many years his enthusiasm
and abilities as a naturalist. In 1905
I was called to Michigan for a month
in the summer schools of that state.
Mr. Clute was appointed Director of
the Forestville school and has since
filled the position most admirably.
That school is a decided success and
increases in attendance every year.

For the past three years I have been
on lecture tours during almost the
entire summer, visiting a week each
in summer schools in Georgia, Ala-
bama, West Virginia, Ohio and Indi-
ana. This year in August and Sep-
tember I am going to the South and
Middle West for a few weeks. Rut \
am reserving from the middle of June

to the middle of July to establish this
third summer school in Connecticut.
There is at present no school of popu-
lar nature on the Connecticut shore.
I believe that a state that has a larger
proportion of beach to its size than
has any other in New England should
have a beach school and it is going
to have one at the ideal place, Sound
Beach. Connecticut. This is located in
the very best of the summer resort
territory and is easily accessible from
New York and also from the near by
resorts of Rye Beach, Greenwich, Ship-
pan Point and Stamford.

The school will be established on
the unique plan of having the price
of tuition and the course of study as-
signed by the pupils. This does not
mean that the school is free nor that
there will be lack of system. It means
that vou will contribute towards the
expenses of the school, of Arcadia and
its Agassiz Association according to
your ability. It means that the woik
of the school will be adapted to your
needs. It is suggested that there be
two divisions — one for those say aoove
eighteen or twenty years of age and
one for those below. One division
will hold sessions on Monday, Wed-
nesday and Friday; the other on Tues-
day, Thursday and Saturday. There
will be an outing in the forenoon and
an indoor session in the afternoon. A
union session for all will be held on
certain evenings for illustrated lectures
or for study of the stars.

This is your school. Tell what you
desire and what you are willing to con-
tribute. I desire hearty co-opeiation
and will contribute all my time. What
vou pay will go directly to the woik
of the AA and allied interests of Ar-
cadia.

Yours fraternally in the love and
studv of nature,

Edward F. Bicki.ow.

Arcadia,

Sound Beach,
Connecticut.

I find "The Guide to Nature" a great
success. — Wilson Morse.

I could say a great deal about the inter-
est I feel in your efforts to increase the
interest in nature study, but for the pres-
ent I would suffice to say that I wish you
to consider me one of the friends of your
magazine. I want to wish you every suc-
cess.— p. j. Schwankovsky, Jr.

ADVERTISEMENTS.

Ill

THE GOEKZ DAGOR.

This is a "prize" and a joy forever.
It is beautiful and efficient. Send for
catalogue. Get a better lens on your
camera. Then go forth and capture
the scenic beaut}' of spring and send
a specimen of the photographs to The
Guide to Nature.

We desire more and better photo-
graphs.

And really. I think, some of you not
only desire but zvant them too.

GROW ROSES.

Is there any more beautiful flower
than a rose? Why do we easterners
not appreciate roses as do the people
of California? They can be grown
nearly as well here as in California,
and almost any town could have a
rose parade in June or early July as
does Pasadena on January ist.

The way to get roses in such profu-
sion is to buy them of The Conard &
Jones Company, West Grove, Penn-
sylvania, and do the actual work as
instructed in their book, "How to
Grow Roses." Invest a small amount
of money and a liberal supply of
"heart" and success will surely be
yours.

JUST THE THING TO SAVE THE PLANTS.

Any one desiring to procure an excel-
lent hand plant sprayer to spray the
leaves upon indoor plants, to keep the
insects oft and otherwise keep them

healthful, should send $1.00 to The G. N.
Lenox Sprayer Company, 165 West
Twenty-third Street, New York City,
and receive one by return mail. This
sprayer will spray under and over the
leaves. Three cakes of tobacco soap to
make a spray solution will be included.

THE NEW SCHWAN LIGHT.

This is literally a new light and not
merely another device for holding the
well known older forms of light. The
method oi illumination is on a new
principle and is a success. The light
is clear and steady and therefore ex-
cellently adapted to the projection lan-
tern or to photography. Send to Chas.
Beseler Company, 251 Centre Street,
Xew York City, for full particulars.

MA N 1 IMPROY E MEN TS.

The Arcadia equipments not only
induce the reduction in price of the
subscription to The Guide to Nature
but will enable us to produce a far
better magazine.

The work of the past year has been
done under almost incredible disad-
vantages. Arcadia includes the facili-
ties of editing, correspondence, illus-
trating, experimenting, etc. as ex-
plained in the January number.

Volume Tl will be improved in many
respects, including a new cover of neat
and unique design which will be held,
with only seasonal changes, through-
out the year. Several new features
are to be added and a general in-
creased interest in all the old ones.
Among the additions will be an Aqua-
rium Department under the auspices
of the Aquarium Society of Philadel-
phia, under competent and authorita
tive editorial supervision of that so-
ciety. No phases of nature are more
interesting than those seen in well
managed aquaria. The Guide to Na-
ture in Volume II will tell how best
to get at these interests. An illus-
trated article, "The Household Aqua-
rium," in the April number is alone
well worth the price of a year's sub-
scription.

LIVE WILD ANIMALS

and Birds of All Kinds

Supplied for Zoological, Propa-
gating *and Scientific Purposes

No Catalogues or Price Lists Issued
Write for what you want

Dr. CECIL FRENCH, Naturalist

Washington, D. C.

IV

ADVERTISEMENTS

"FIKESIDE PHOTOGBAPHY."

"Fireside Photography," the latest
in the series of photographic publica-
tions issued by the Bausch & Lomb
Optical Co., has just been received, and
we find it of unusual interest. The
book contains thirty-two pages, 6" x
g", and carries fourteen illustrations
reproduced in dual tone sepia. For
several of the studied floor plans are
given in order to assist others in ob-
taining like results in their own homes.
Aside from the pleasing execution of
the book and the attractive cover,
"Fireside Photography" is of value be-
cause of the lighting methods de-
scribed, the brief explanation of the
advantages to be gained by the use
of an Anastigmat, and the concise de-
scription of the various objectives
listed for such work.

We can recommend this publication
to our professional and amateur read-
ers. It will be sent gratis upon request
by the Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., of
Rochester, N. Y.. or it may be obtained
at your dealer's.

SPEED PHOTOGRAPHY.

The photographer, whether amateur
or professional, who does not attempt
some line of speed photography, is rap-
idly becoming the exception. For all
there is some disappointment in store
and frequently something happens to
produce features in the negative which
were entirely unexpected and which are
altogether unwelcome. The "Prism" for
February is of particular value because
of the interesting" way in which the rea-
sons for many failures are brought out,
and because of the suggestions which
are given to guide aspiring speed photog-
raphers towards success.

One of the things that may not have
occurred to you is that one must be
trained so that the muscles will respond
instantly to the brain's command to
push the button at the exact moment the
image of the moving object occupies the
space desired on the ground glass. The
lack of this quick nervous reaction ac-
counts for the misplaced object on the
plate and is the reason for missing it
altogether, as is the experience with
many beginners

Many other points of interest are taken
up, the illustrations given are worthy
examples of unusually good speed work,
so that taken all in all this issue of the

magazine should be appreciated by the
photographers generally. The February
"Prism" may be had upon request with-
out cost from your dealer, or it will be
sent to you by the Hausch & Lomb Op-
tical Co., Rochester, X. Y.

I thought "The Observer" the best maga-
zine I ever read and am pleased to know
that you are again editing a magazine for
"observers." — Mrs. Susan Tucker.

Lectures by Elliot R. Downing. Ph. 0.

Professor of Biology. The Northern State Normal School

Marquette, Mich.

The Significance of Nature Study Movement. Our Friend the

Dog — A discussion of methods and materials in nature study.
The Making of the World— An outline of evolution. Illus-
trated with stf reopticon slides. William Wordsworth, the Nat-
uralist's Poet Laureate.

PRESS COMMENTS

Professor Downing, of the Marquette Normal School, de-
livered a fine lecture at the high school last night before a
large and appreciative audience on "The Making of a World."
Mr Downing is a fine speaker, and was thoroughly conversant
with his subject. The lecture was beautifully illustrated by
stereopticon views. — Menominee (Mich,) Leader.

Members of the West Side Fortnightly Club and their
friends enjoyed an excellent lecture yesterday afternoon at
the Public Library by Dr. L. R. Downing, of the State Normal
School at Marquette. Mich. Dr. Downing is a very pleasant
speaker and interested his hearers from the very start, and
there was not a moment until the close but what was enjoyed.
— Beloit Wis. ) Free Press.

If you are planning a lecture course or in need of a single
address, correspondence is solicited.

Address :

E. R. DOWNING

1216 Presque Isle Ave., Marquette, Mich.

This small cut shows the head of
the great Imported Collie, ' Parbold
Provost," winner of special for the
best Collie dog at Madison Square
Garden, New York Show, 1909.

He is the longest headed and most
beautiful Collie living and the great-
est sire.

I have some matrons bred to this
grand dog and some splendid puppies
by him for sale at reasonable prices.

Full list and particulars cheerfully
furnished.

Apply to

WILLIAM G.

Ghambersburg,

HUNTER

Pennsylvania

15

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The bluebird comes, and with his warble drills the ice, and sets free the rivers and ponds
and frozen ground. As the sand flows down the slopes a little way, assuming the forms of
foliage when the frost comes out of the ground, so this little rill of melody flows a short way
down' the concave of the sky. -Henry David Thoreau.

The Guide tto Nature.

EDUCATION AND RECREATION JPI

Study and Photography of Snow Crystals

BY WILSON A. BENTLEY, JERICHO, VT.

1

i

Ntf*

HAD a natural (inherited)
love for nature and for
prying into nature's se-
crets, which manifested it-
self at a very early age. I
took delight in my early
"teens" in observing and
studying clouds, minerals, hoar frost
and other natural objects, but most of
all the snow crystals from cloudland.
There was something about them that
attracted me. They appealed to me
not only because of their beauty of
form but because they came from that
mysterious and then but little known
cloudland above. So much mystery
enshrouded their place of origin and
manner of growth that T wanted to
learn somewhat about them. Here was
a realm of nature awaiting investiga-
tion and sure to reward the prospector.
For some years I took delight in ob-
serving them under a microscope and
in making; hundreds of

drawings

which, as 1 afterward learned, utterly
failed to represent them correctly.

The thought occurred frequently,
"Oh ! if there were only some way to
photograph them so that others might
see and enjoy their loveliness, even as
T do when viewing them under the
microscope."

The popularization of dry plate
photography seemed to offer me my
chance. In the autumn of 1884. I pur-
chased a Bausch & Lomb microscope
with one-half inch objective and an
extension camera and by uniting them
made what is called a photo-micro-
scopic camera. In this apparatus, the
microscope objective takes the place
of the ordinary camera lens and makes
a greatly enlarged image of an object
for photographic purposes.

With what hopes and fears I made
my first attempt, using window frost
for my subject and artificial (oil) light
for illumination !

Copyright igog by The Agassiz Association. Stamford. Conn.

432

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

And was there ever disappointment
so keen as mine when I found that the

WILSON A. BENTLEY.

frost would melt far too quickly for
photographic work, even in a tempera-

ture far helow zero. It became clear
that new and untried methods must be
employed in this delicate work. 1
tried ordinary daylight for illumina-
tion but failure again resulted as too
much light (too large a stop) was used
to light the object, thus drowning out
detail and contrasts. Our efforts
seemed to spell failure. Finally, not-
ing how much sharper and plainer
delicate transparent crystals of alum,
etc., appeared when but dimly lighted
(using a small stop), we made a very
small stop, one-sixteenth of an inch,
for our microscope sub stage and ap-
plied this principle to our work.

The first trial demonstrated the suc-
cess of the method, with ordinary day-
light from snow or sky for illumina-
tion. There could hardly be pleasure
more keen than was ours when success
was at last assured. Now wre could
photograph with ease even the most
complex and beautiful specimens of
snow that the clouds might shower
down to us, those that no artist, how-
ever skillful, could hope to draw. Now
we felt that others would ere long-
share with us the delights of our beau-
tiful studv.

CURIOUS, MAT-LIKE FORMS OF SNOW CRYSTALS.

THE OUTDOOR WORLD.

433

INTRICATE DESIGNS OF FEATHERY FORM.

We soon learned by experience the
best method to pursue and to select
the more beautiful and interesting-
specimens from among less desirable
ones. The crystals were caught upon
a blackboard and removed to a glass
slide by a splint, examined under a
microscope and rejected or, if of in-
terest, pressed down flat upon the slide
with a feather, the slide with the
crystal placed upon the stage of the
microscope, centered, focussed and
photographed. Exposures varied from
fifteen to one hundred or more seconds,
according to the condition of the light
and the extension of the camera bel-
lows.

It was found necessary to hairll':
all the apijaratus with mittened hands,
and to hold the breath while observi ug
the crystals, for the slightest breath
destroys them. Our camera was
placed in a cold room, which was al-
ways kept cold, and so placed that the
objective pointed toward a window.
The room was never darkened ; all
work, even exposing the plate, was
done in the light.

The snows of each succeeding storm
were eagerly searched for interesting
specimens. How absorbing the work
was ! Whenever favorable storms

came, the pangs of hunger, the grip
of the cold, work, pleasure, everything
but the labor in hand was forgotten
or neglected. We were for the time
being in crystal land, in a wonderful
and but little explored realm of nature,
rinding therein gems of matchless
beauty.

From this time onward each suc-
ceeding winter has found us on the
watch for favorable snow falls and
delving among their crystal treasures
for new and unique forms to add to
the collection, and every favorable
snowfall brings much that is new to
interest and delight, and to augment
our photographic treasures. The cer-
tainty of always finding new forms as
each storm comes endows our study
at all times with the charm of novelty
and adds immeasurably to the fasci-
nation of our beautiful study.

How fascinating is the work may be
inferred from the fact that we have
never yet found a time during all these
twenty-four years when we con hi en-
tertain the idea of relinquishing it.
One who pursues snow study is near
to the infinite in nature, infinite num-
bers and infinite variety.

One is always hoping and expect-
ing that each coming snow fall will

434

THE GUIDE TO XATURE.

STUDIES IX CURIOUS FORMATION OF ARMS AND CENTERS.

furnish crystals of surpassing and un-
dreamed of beauty far in excess of
anything previously found. This hope
is reasonable for we may be certain
that no one has yet found the one or
the few masterpieces that each storm
affords.

As the winters came, new problems
unfolded and pressed for solution.
Moreover, our studies broadened as
time passed and the realms of frost
and ice were in turn entered with note-
book and camera. These, too, proved
to be full of interest and beauty and
of problems unsolved.

We eventually entered into a photo-
graphic and comprehensive study of
the various forms of water at hand,
the snow, frost, ice, dew, clouds, hail,
in an endeavor to solve some of the
mysteries that enshroud their life his-
tory and general relation. We wished
most of all to secure photographic
likenesses of every type of these sev-
eral forms of water and of water crys-
tals.

We have now a collection of fifteen
hundred photo-micrographs of snow
crystals, no two alike: three hundred
and fifty of frost and window ice; more
than two hundred of ice crystals and
many oi dew, clouds, hail and ice col-
umns.

Our collection of photographs of

snow crystals is doubtless the largest
and most beautiful on earth and it is
doubtful if other collections of frost
and ice equal or excel ours. Our
studies, observations and photographs
have helped to reveal several facts and
to solve some problems regarding
snow, frost and ice architecture and
their habits of growth.

( )ur data tend to confirm many of
the observations of others and perhaps
also to disprove some. The snow
crystal photographs have served to re-
veal a degree of beauty and symmetry
in the snow crystals hitherto thought
impossible and to demonstrate their
all but infinite diversity of form and
structure.

Our photographic collections of
snow, frost and ice are now compre-
hensive and serve to picture with some
fullness the many types of each though
not, of course, their individual variety
of form and structure.

Among the more important facts
and theories that our studies have
served to confirm or to render proba-
ble are the following: The clouds and
the liquid water-dust of which they are
composed do not make true crystalline
varieties of snow crystals nor form the
bulk of the snow fall. Cloud particles
coalesce only into amorphous form, to
produce granular snow or granular

HE < )UTD( )( )\i \V< )RU>.

435

coatings to the true crystals. The
hulk oi the snow Fall, consisting of

true transparent snow crystals, is
formed directly from the invisible
water vapor (individual water mole-
cules) in solution within the atmos-
phere and floating about among the
clouds, as well as below and above
them. In general the western quad-
rants only of widespread storms fur-
nish large quantities of perfect and
beautiful tabular snow crystals suit-
able For photographic purposes. As
a rule, the several cloud strata, the
low. intermediate and high, tend to
produce certain characteristic types
peculiar to themselves. The arrange-
ment of the air tubes and the shading
within the crystals, outlining various
geometrical forms, one outside the
other, shows more or less perfectly
the varied shapes that the crystals as-
sumed as development proceeded from
the center outward. Snow crystals,
differing but little or not at all from
those falling from storm clouds, some-
times form (though in small quantity)
and fall to earth from clear, cloud-
free air. Many types of snow have
their counterparts among frost and ice
crystals. Many of the irregularities of
form so characteristic of the crystals.
falling during thick and heavy snow

storms are due to crowding; i. c to
the close proximity oi two or more
crystals while in the process of devel-
opment. Crystals that develop rapidly
tend to form in an open and arbores-
cent manner; those that develop slow-
ly become close and solid.

Public recognition of my work came
slowly. \o illustrated or other kind of
articles treating of snow crystals ap-
peared until the "Popular Science
monthly" published an illustrated arti-
cle about them in 1898, twelve years
after the beginning of our studies and
photographic work. Many illustrated
articles treating of them have appeared
since then, both here and abroad.
These, and especially the writer's
"Studies of Snow Crystals during the
Winter of 1901-1902," one hundred and
fifty illustrations, published byr the
Weather Bureau have served to attract
world wide attention and admiration.
Recently the Weather Bureau has pub-
lished "Studies of Frost and Ice Crys-
tals," one hundred and seventy-five illus-
trations, and the writer hopes this latter
article, together with this little sketch of
our study, will help to call renewed
attention to the wonders and the
beauties of the crystals of frost, ice
and snow.

SPECIMENS SHOWING "DAINTY" FINE LINES.

436

THE GUIDE TO NATURE

HOW DID THIS WOOIH HUCK BITE?

BY MISS W. C. KXOWUvS, WASHINGTON,
CONNECTICUT.

If a certain woodchuck that lived in
my neighborhood could have seen his
shadow on Candlemas Day, I am sure

THE WOODCHUCK'S MOUTH THAT
NEEDED A DENTIST.

thai he would have been so badly fright-
ened at his own profile he would have
made good the proverb and forever af-
ter dodged the hunter and his gun.

This particular ground hog, when last
seen nibbling juicy roots in the pasture,
looked as if he had grown tusks. In
fact two of his incisor teeth had contin-
ued to grow so long that one of them
had curved around like a big horn and
actually pierced his upper jaw.

This woodchuck with the queer in-
cisors, when captured, was in a fair con-
dition and showed that he must have
learned to make good use of his molars
for closer examination proved that nei-
ther one of his queer horned teeth had
anything to bite against, some accident
having happened to the opposite tooth in

both the upper and under jaw. This
fact plainly showed that a woodchuck's
incisor teeth have a tendency to grow
long and like the rabbit's and the squir-
rel's throughout life must be kept their
proper length by constant gnawing of
the roots, seeds and hard substances
upon which they feed.

Since the wood chuck's incisors are
softer than the human teeth and so wear
off by constant use, one would naturally
suppose that they would look like stubs
or pegs and be of little service to the
animal ; but any country boy can testify
that the ground hog's teeth are keen
and sharp and that he can put up a good
Merit with a dog if he is cornered between
the wood lot and his burrow.

Now if you will examine a wood-
chuck's broken incisor tooth you will soon
discover the secret of his sharp bite. The
front of the long tooth is covered with
a very hard enamel while the back of the
tooth is protected by the thinnest possi-
ble covering. Of course, the hard enamel
at the front is more resisting and as the
animal gnaws his tooth wears away from
the back side and the hard enamel at the
front continues to form a sharp cutting
edge.

Nature exacts more than passing ad-
miration ; she would have worship. To
this end she importunes, with persis-
tence and unremitting patience be-
sieges us, and undertakes with every
crude semblance of a man the culture
of that germ of true life — the percep-
tion of the Beautiful. — "Where Dwell's
the Soul Serene," by Stanton Kirkham
Davis.

i:y

ON THE HEIGHTS.

EMMA 1'EIRCE. NEW YORK CITY.

On the heights come nobler thoughts,
On the heights less petty views;

They broaden our horizon line,

And lead us worthier things to choose.

Where nature spreads so boundlessly,
One cannot narrowness retain;

This reaching toward Infinity
Must be to all a lasting gain.

Then often let us seek the heights.
These clearer outlines to define;

And, widening thus our earthly ken,

Make broad the soul's horizon line.

THE OUTDOOR WORLD.

437

AN ILLUSTRATED SNAKE STORY.

BY WILBUR P. SMITH, SOUTH NORWALK,
CONNECTICUT.

Nearly every one who has passed
his life in the country can tell a good
"snake story," but if you will gather
such stories from widely separated
sections, you will rind them present-
ing a surprising similarity ; as, for
instance, the "great snake which lived
in Uncle David's hill pasture," terrify-
ing the cattle and folk alike, and was
"so big it must have escaped from some
circus," the "racer" which chased the
berry pickers out of the fields ; the
milk snake which was confidently said
to have climbed up and milked the
cows when the cows had not given the
usual amount of milk; the adder which
had so charmed the toddling child at
the doorstep that the child ' was
snatched away just in time to save his
life, and a wonderful variety of others
devoutly believed by those who tell
them because a snake was seen under
such circumstances that the mind, in-
fluenced by the inherent fear of all
snakes and by the highly colored and
impossible stories told of them, had
been unable to interpret aright what
had transpired. And so snake stories
have become a synonym of a badly
stretched or magnified truth not to be
taken seriously.

If we can cast aside our prejudice
and learn to distinguish the poisonous
from the harmless varieties, knowing
that nothing in nature is unlovely, we
will find much of interest and wonder
in these feared and despised creatures
and have stories to tell that will rival
the fantastic tales with which we are
familiar, as evidenced by what I saw
one balmy September day when cross-
ing a sphagnum meadow. I was at-
tracted by a commotion on a neigh-
boring bog where I found a milk snake
swallowing a common streaked snake.
It was the latter's struggle to escape
that attracted me. Unfortunately I
did not see the beginning for the milk
snake already had the victim's head
in his mouth and a firm grip around
the body, but I watched them closely
to see how the trick was done.

It was clever work on the part of

the milk snake and a terrible struggle
on the part of the other which caused
them to thrash around on their battle
field, but the odds were too much
againsi the striped snake and as his
body disappeared down the captor's
throat his struggles became weaker.
When the victim was half swallowed
1 carried them both in my camera case
to the orchard near by where 1 photo-
graphed them. The position of both
snakes is plainly shown in the accom-
panying photograph.

To accomplish its purpose the milk
snake had wound its body around its
victim some four inches back from the
head with a grip that could not be
loosened and thus was able to keep
that part of the body "slack" and in-
capable of resistance. At the right
moment it would let go and quicker
than the eye could follow would get
a new and lowerhold that kept the
streaked snake powerless.

My interference proved fatal to the
completion of the milk snake's meal
for he suddenly disgorged and both
snakes tried to get away. On catching
them I found that there was a differ-

MILK SNAKE SWALLOWING GARTER

SNAKE.

ence in their lengths of only one and
one-half inches in favor of the milk
snake.

One authority on reptiles to whom
I sent a copy of the picture tells me
that such conduct on the part of
snakes is more common than most
persons believe yet is seldom seen

438

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

and for this reason the photograph is
both interesting and valuable. I offer
it to the readers of The Guide to Na-
ture because it seems too good to be
locked in one's notebook and because
it is a "snake story" that with the
picture attached does not have to be
proved to be believed.

MAPLE SUGAB BOILING IN COLONIAL
TIMES.

VA REVEREND I.. S. NICKERSON, SUGAR

II I I.E. NEW HAMPSH IRE.

There are now no scenes in this
vicinity of sugar making like that
shown in the photograph. It belongs
in a generation wholly passed away.
This photograph was taken about
twenty-five years ago and was then
the last of the kind possible, for it was
the last and only boiling of this kind
in this region.

In the autumn when the leaves of
the maple ripen they store up in the
limbs and trunks a large amount of
sugar; other trees store up pitch or
starch. When the thawing and freez-

"BOILING DOWN" THE SAP.

ing of early spring come or in a warm
spell in midwinter, the sap of the tree,
carrying this stored up sugar, begins

AN ANTIQUATED SUGAR CAMP.
See Frontispiece.

TILE OUTDOOR WORLD.

439

to circulate up and down the trunk evaporating pans set in brick and all

and branches. There is on an average enclosed in a comfortable sugar house

about one pound of sugar to a sixteen is quite a different thing from this

quart pail of sap. way of our grandfathers.

]- AN ANTIQUATED METHOD OF "BOILING DOWN."

This sap was brought from the trees
to the boiling place in large, heavy,
wooden pails carried across the shoul-
ders by a fitted board (called a neck
yoke) with string and hooks at the
ends.

The first settlers made a gash in the
trees with an axe and drove in a sharp-
ened chip which led the sap out from
the tree a few inches where it dropped
into a little trough made out of one-
half of a two and a half foot cut of a
pine log. In this way much of the sap
was wasted. After a time they made
spiles out of the branches of the
sumach by burning out the pith with a
hot wire. These they fitted and drove
into small auger holes. Instead of the
troughs they used pine and cedar buck-
ets that would hold about twelve quarts
of sap.

The manner of evaporating the sap
can be readily understood by studying
the picture.

The season of sugar making usually
comes the last of March or the first
of April and lasts from one to three
weeks.

The modern methods of gathering
the sap and evaporating it in large

THE VERNAL MOMENT.

THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH.

When the first crocus thrusts its point of

gold
Up through the still snow-drifted garden

mould,
And folded green things in dim woods

unclose
Their crinkled spears, a sudden tremor goes
Into my veins and makes me kith and kin
To every wild-born thing that thrills and

blows.
Sitting beside this crumbling sea-coal fire,
Here in the city's ceaseless roar and din,
Far from the brambly paths I used to know.
Far from the rustling brooks that slip and

shine
Where the Neponset alders take their glow.
I share the tremulous sense of bud and

brier
And inarticulate ardors of the vine.

If a man loves the woods there is
in him something of their sincerity and
straightforwardness and if he love the
mountains, he retains somewhat of
their grandeur and simplicity; for we
ever seek in the world of form what
best expresses the idea within us, and
by our tastes and pursuits divulge
what manner of man we are. — "Where
Dwells the Soul Serene," by Stanton
Kirkham Davis.

440

THE GUIDE TO NATUR1

THE EFFECTS OF A\ ICE STORM.

To turn nature into a glistening; fairy

Mr. Norton took a series of several
photographs and all are good, though

land and to bend, break or gracefully we show only the two following. But,

curve the trees and shrubs are the especial
effects of an "ice storm."

Among the trees none more gracefully
take the decorations than do the white
birches.

The following photographs by Mr.
Milo Leon Norton show great scenic beau-
ty but fail t< i sh< >w detail. What a wonder-
ful photograph could have been obtained
from the detail of a section of this won-
derful scene.

to my mind, a series showing the details
with varying length of bellows would
have been better. Most of us nature stu-
dents wander around too much. We try
to compass all. It would be far better to
carefully study a small portion more in
detail. What a wonderful photograph
could have been obtained here with a
square yard of black cloth for background
and a long; focus camera.

mr

.v

BOWED DOWN WITH THE WEIGHT OF GRACE AND BEAUTY.

THE CAMERA.

441

•

COULD THERE RE ANYTHING MORE ENTRANCING THAN THIS?

PHOTOGRAPHING LIGHTNING.

BY REVEREND L. S. XICKEKSOX, SUGAR
HILL, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

I enclose two lightning photographs

on the evening of August 6th, 1907.
The conditions were most favorable.
The thunderstorm was ten or fifteen
miles to the north of me and for an

Thev were taken about eigfht o'clock hour or more continued in a favorable

THE TWO PHOTOGRAPHS OF LIGHTNING.

442

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

position for photographing. Where
I stood there was no rain at any time
that evening. Yon will take note that
i iiic of the Mashes is as though it was

a cord of three strands of which one is
black. 1 have no explanation of this
and have never seen any suggested.

AN t'XDER THE WATER PHOTOGRAPH.
A sea robin by Dr. Shufeldt.

A LITTLE FROLIC AMONG COCOANUT TREES.
Photograph by J. R. Campbell.

POPULAR ASTRONOMY.

443

PoPui&n.ftsn^oMic

THE HEAVENS IX MARCH.

BY GARRETT P. SERVISS, BROOKLYN, N. Y.

The chart, as usual, represents the
appearance of the heavens at 9 P. M.
on the first of the month, 8 P. M. on
the 15th, and 7 P. M. on the 31st.

This month Jupiter holds practically
sole possession of the evening" sky.
Saturn, it is true, may be seen very
early in the evening, low in the west,
but he is too near the sun for satisfac-
tory observation. All the other planets,
with the exception of Neptune, in
Gemini, are morning" stars. Neptune
is only visible, under any circum-
stances, with a telescope. Thus Jupi-
ter reigns without a rival. Having
passed the point of opposition to the
sun at the end of February, Jupiter
is now in the best position for observa-
tion, and can be seen during the whole
night. On the first of the month he
rises about 6 P. M. and sets about 6
A. M. Those who have telescopes
will find unceasing pleasure in watch-
ing his great colored belts and his
four principal moons, whose motions
are sufficiently rapid to be remarked
in the course of a few hours. The
eclipses of these moons by Jupiter's
shadow, and the transits of their own
shadows across the face of the great
planet, like round dots of ink, are
among the most interesting phenom-
ena that small telescopes reveal. It is
now known that Jupiter has no less
than eight moons, there being four
very minute ones in addition to the
four large ones which have been known
since the time of Galileo. The first
of the four little moons was discovered
by Prof. E. E. Barnard in 1892, and
the last just a year ago at Greenwich.
The latter has recently been photo-
graphed at Greenwich, and all doubt
as to its being a true satellite of Jupiter

has been set at rest. It is a very
extraordinary body, too small to be
accurately measured with our means,
and travelling in a very eccentric orbit,
at an enormous distance from its mas-
ter planet. This distance varies from
ten to twenty million miles! Last Au-
gust it was nearest to Jupiter ; next
September it will be at its greatest
distance, its period of revolution being
about two years and two months. An-
other extraordinary fact about this
strange little satellite is that it revolves
in a retrograde direction, that is to say,
contrary to the direction pursued by
all the other satellites of Jupiter. This
peculiarity it shares with the most dis-
tant satellite of Saturn, which is also
a recent discovery, Saturn now being
known to have ten moons. The retro-
grade motion of these two bodies has
been thought by some astronomers to
indicate that they were originally as-
teroids which have been captured by
the attraction of Jupiter in the one case
and by Saturn in the other.

THE STARS AND CONSTELLATIONS.

The western half of the heavens is
now the most brilliant. At the hours
represented by the chart Orion is seen
far west of the meridian with Capella
over his head, Taurus above him to-
ward the northwest, and Sirius follow-
ing him in the south. Procyon in Can-
is Minor, and the Twins in Gemini,
are seen a little west of the meridian.
The Milky Way seems to rise from
the middle of the southern horizon,
passing through Argo Navis, then be-
tween Sirius and Procyon, between
Orion and Gemini, between Taurus
and Capella, through Perseus and
Cassiopeia, the latter being now low
down in the northwest, and finally
dipping behind the northern horizon,
almost under the Pole Star. The Great

444

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

Dipper is well up above the pole in
the northeast, and near the horizon
in the direction indicated by the Dip-
per's handle is seen Arcturus in
Bootes, just rising". On the ecliptic,
in the eastern half of the sky, shines
Regulus in the heart of Leo. South-
west of Leo, in a relatively barren pari

less than four seconds apart, and they
present contrasted colors, the larger
being yellow and the smaller greenish.
In accordance with our intention to
present each month the story of some
remarkable comet, on account of the
interest in such bodies aroused by the
impending return of the great comet

Evening SkyMap for March

NORTH

Mar. Moon Phases
FULL MOON, Mar. 6
LASTQ'tr.,Mar,I4.
NEWM00N,Mar.2
FIRST 0YR..MAR.28

FACE SOUTH
HOLD THE MAP
YOUR HEAD -TH
NORTH, AND YOI
THESTARSAND PLANETS
JUST AS THEY APPEAR
INW HEAVENS

SOUTH

JUST AFTER THE SEPARATION

of the heavens, is seen the lone stai
Alphard in long constellation Hydra.
Between Gemini and Leo glitters the
cluster called the Manger in the con-
stellation Cancer. Among double
stars now well placed for observation
with telescopes may be mentioned Cas-
tor in Gemini, whose two stars are six
seconds apart, and easily seen with a
small telescope, and Gamma in Leo,
the second star above Regulus in the
Sickle. In this case the two stars are

of I lalley, the chart shows the position
occupied in March, 1846, by the
strange comet of Biela, which in the
preceding January had split in two.
The story of Biela's Comet is one of
the most extraordinary known in
astronomy. It was first seen in
1826. It reappeared in 1832, its period
of revolution being about six years and
nine months. It was due again in
1839, but owing to its unfavorable
position in the sky at that time was

POPULAR ASTRONOMY.

445

not observed. Its next appearance was
at the end of November, 1845. 'l was
observed during the winter, and on
January [3, [846, it was noticed at
Washington that the comet had be-
come double. At first the part that
seemed to have been thrown off was
comparatively faint, but gradually it
brightened, until in February it had
become as bright as the original mass
from which it had separated. Most
wonderful of all, there was sometimes
visible a faint misty band connecting
the two comets, although their dis-
tance apart was more than 200,000
miles. And this band or bridge, occa-
sionally oscillated, swinging one way
and then the other, as if the twro com-
ets had been attached to the ends of
a rigid bar which was swung slightly
to and fro. Each of the comets devel-
oped a tail of its own. In 1852 back-
came the twin comets, one becoming
visible nearly three weeks before the
other was seen. By this time they had
got much farther apart, their distance
from one another being now no less
than a million and a half miles. Both
passed round the sun and they disap-
peared in September. At the times
when they should have been seen when
due again in 1859 and [866 no glimpse
of them was caught, but in 1872, when
again due, instead of the comets a bril-
liant shower of meteors, believed to be
travelling in their track burst over the
earth, radiating from near the star
Gamma in Andromeda. It is generally
believed that the original comet of
Piela has been entirely disintegraded
into meteors, principally by the action
of the sun. These meteors were seen
again in 1892. The same fate is sup-
posed to await all comets that travel
regularly round the sun. It may be
one reason why all the periodical com-
ets which come back every few years
are relatively inconspicuous ; each time
that they venture near the sun forces
act upon them tending to their disin-
tegration, and thus after many returns
but a remnant of the original comet is
left. All of the great meteor showers
are known to be travelling in the
tracks of comets, and in some cases
the comets from which they have orig-
inated have not entirely disappeared,

but come back also at regular intervals.
Recent!) Mr. Denning, the well-known
English student of meteors, has pointed
out that there seems to be a small
meteor swarm following Halley's Com-
et in its orbit, indicating that that
comet, too, is slowly going to pieces.
Idie form of Halley's Comet, and the
extent of its tail have varied surpris-
ingly every time it has reappeared,
and astronomers are very curious to
see how it will look on the present
return. With its long period, about
j6 years, it has resisted longer the
forces of disintegration that have al-
most dissipated some of its compeers
which come back every six or seven
years. There are no great meteor
showers in the month of March, but
five minor showers are known, two of
which may be seen in the evening,
ddie first of these occurs during the
nights from the 5th to the 10th, radia-
ting from a point between the head of
Taurus and Auriga. They are de-
scribed as "slow and bright." The
second shower occurs on the 20th, ra-
diating from a point above Coma
Berenices. Its meteors appear as
"swift streaks." The observation of
meteors is something especially suited
to amateurs, requiring no instruments.
All that is necessary in order to give
value to the observations is to notice
carefully the apparent track of the
meteors among the stars, and their
peculiarities of appearance. These ob-
servations become very fascinating as
soon as the observer has convinced
himself that the flight of the meteors
is governed by laws as fixed as those
that prescribe the motions of the plan-
ets in their orbits.

CITY

VIOLETS.

:v KM MA I'KIKCK, XKW YORK

Violets blue look up at you
Through their grassy veils,

And far away as one can see.
Their azure beauty trails.

Blue of Heaven, blue of love,
They have their message sweet,

And breathe its dear significance
Right at our very feet.

446

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

PERSONAL.

The naturalist-philanthropist has
supplied Arcadia, the editor supplies
his time without money remuneration,
members of his family aid in this work,
eminent scientists and naturalists con-
tribute articles and photographs, ar-
tists have contributed drawings, the
price of subscription has been reduced,
—in fact, much has been done by many
gladly not only to produce an ideal
magazine but to give it the widest
possible circulation.

But there is still much, yes, even
more to do. We must give the knowl-
edge and love of nature the widest
dissemination in best possible form.
To that end you arc cordially invited
to co-operate.

Xo enterprise was ever more per-
sonal, ever freer from pecuniary mo-
tives and more in the love of a great
cause than is The Agassiz Association
and its magazine. Tiik Guide to Na-
TURE.

They will succeed, they shall achieve
their ideals, because they arc worthy.

GUIDANCE DEEDED.

1 am overwhelmed with work that
must be done for Arcadia. Much of
this has been the outcome ot sugges-
tions or requests from persons of all
ages who are interested in the project.

"I do hope you will work out this
and the other and tell us about it."
Such has been the substance of many
welcome letters. Suggestions are de-
sired ; requests are welcome. All show
real interest. If Arcadia is to be suc-
cessful, means must be provided for
doing the work. It is astonishing how
much there is in nature, even in "com-
monplace nature," on which many per-
sons seek guidance.

FEED AND CAKE FOR THE "ELEPHANT."

Next month we shall be settled in
Arcadia, as described in the January
issue of The Guide to Nature.

Perhaps the situation will be made
more impressive by a comparison. We
have had led to us a huge elephant or,
more literally, we have been led to
the "elephant" which is capable, if
properly fed and cared for, of doing a
tremendous amount of work in a great
and good cause. But the food, the
care and the money to obtain these,
have not been supplied. Must the
elephant therefore stand idle or shall
he be set to work?

Feed the elephant ! Only a small
contribution from every one interested
will provide an ample supply of nour-

EDITORIAL AM) GENERAL.

447

ishment.

ave you forgotten your

Latin? Try your skill oi) this; ''Bis
dat qui cito dot."

This is not an editorial "we'' but
a "we" which includes hundreds of
students and lovers of nature. You
are one of them. Arcadia is tor von.

SHC ESS!"

This number completes Volume 1 of
The Guide to Nature. The twelve
months have been successful — much
more successful in many respects than
was anticipated. The Prospectus and
the first numbers of The Guide to Na-
ture were issued amid some discour-
agement and misunderstanding". The
entire volume has been edited with
very restricted facilities.

But man_\' friends have given hearty
co-operation and encouragement. Chief
among these friends is the philan-
thropist-naturalist who supplies Ar-
cadia into which we shall move next
month.

The light is brightening; the out-
look is becoming more and more fa-
vorable. We are going on to greater
things in our love and study of nature.

Beginning with our next volume
several improvements will be made in
The Guide to Nature. The cover
designs will be in entirely different
style; some departments will be
changed and' several new features in-
troduced. ( >ur old and faithful friends,
and the new ones that are rushing in
with commendable and inspiring en-
thusiasm are making all this possible.

The banner "success" will be greatly
advanced during the coming year. Join
our hanny. enthusiastic comnany.

Life is worth living, and that, too, in
all intensity and zeal. Whatever may
be coming, one fact is sure. We shall
not pass through this paradise again.
Let us gather all we can as we go.
Make a real '"success" of it. "Life L
a series of pictures and the}' come our
wav but once."

"The Guide to Nature'* seems to me par-
ticularly worth while because of the excel-
lent renroducT'on of the nhotogranhs. With
the l»ra;e membershin of the AA I ho^e you
will be able to keep the good work going.—
Richard C. McGregor.

DEATH 01 IIENKY BAUSCH.

Just as we arc' going to press, there
comes to us the sad news of the death
of Henry Bausch (of the well known
firm of The Bausch & Lomb Optical
Company). Mr. Bausch died at Augus-
ta. Georgia, after a long and painful
illness, where he had gone on account
of ill health. His age was fifty years
lacking" one week. Air. liausch has ac-
complished much in the advancement of
natural science and every nature student
will be saddened to learn of the death
of so faithful a worker.

DOMESTIC Ql AIL.

A special license to keep quail and
partridge (ruffed grouse) for experi-
mental purposes having been granted
to Arcadia by the State of Connecticut.
I desire to purchase specimens and to
obtain information on the subject. I
expect to conduct a series of extensive
experiments and desire to learn what
has already been done by others. I
also want records of observations of
wild quail and partridge. Any infor-
mation pertaining to these birds that
may be sent to me will be much ap-
preciated.

DON'T HE AFRAID TO BE EGOISTIC.

There is a vast difference between
egotism and egoism. We do not seek
for personal boasting or for self-laud-
ation, but we do want personality.
We want not merely the object but
your relation to it, and what it has
meant to you.

Truly said Thoreau :

"If it were required to know the
position of the fruit dots or the charac-
ter of the indusium, nothing" could be
easier than to ascertain it ; but if it
is required that you be affected by
ferns, that they amount to anything,
signify anything, to you, that they be
another sacred scripture and revela-
lion to you, helping to redeem your
life, this end is not so easily accom-
plished."

Therefore do not be afraid to use
the first personal pronoun. You will
then be more concrete than in the
abstract third person.

This magazine is "a medium of in-

448

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

terchange of observations for all stu-
dents and lovers of nature." We want
not merely the thing but we want you
with it.

A scientist went to Woods Hole
biological laboratory for the further
study of earthworms, his specialty for
years. He expected to meet specialists
with an extensive knowledge of earth-
worms and thereby be benefitted. He
met, however, a man who had thor-
oughly studied dogfish and knew al-
most nothing of earthworms. As good
luck would have it, the two students
became chums, and each benefitted by
the other's enthusiasm. Inspiration is
always worth more than facts.

And most of our inspiration is:
"omne vivum ex vivo," which means
that we are inspired by the other fel-
low.

Spontaneous generation is not a pre-
sent day theory, but fire may still be
produced by striking flints. We want
to know what others are doing, and
even if not along the reader's imme-
diate line, the inspiration will be catch-
ing,— the spark will be seen.

SNOW A>D FROST.

Have you studied the snowflakes and
the frost forms during the past winter?
If you have, you can appreciate the
joy and enthusiasm of Air. Wilson A.
Bentley whose article with its beautiful
illustrations begins this number of The;
Guide to Nature.

The snowflakes and the frost forms
which you failed to see will never come
again. Nature never repeats. We
should read this lesson of the disap-
pearing snowflakes and frost forms and
profit by it.

But other beautiful am
things are drawing near.
them.

"The frost is coming
ground," the farmer and
rambler tell us as their feet crush the
filamentous ice beneath decaying leaves
and pulverize those frost-formed stal-
agmites that rise below the loose earth.

"But what matters that?" you in-
quire.

Really not much, indeed, unless it
gets a little of the frostiness out of you.
Thaw out! The naturalists' New

interesting
Do not lose

out

the

of the
nature

THE FROST IS COMING OUT OF THE GROUND.

EDITORIAL AND GENERAL.

44^>

Year, April [st, is almost here. Be
ready so as to lose nothing.

THESE WILL BE OTHEE 4RCADIAS.

Next month the unique Arcadia, the

means and everybod} is urged and will
be aided to make practical application
of that meaning. We hold nothing
exclusive; we disseminate in "com-
monplace nature with uncommon in-

Xalnre Institution as described in the terest." We shall be happy only when

January number of The Guide TO \.\- we are scattering abroad and broad-

ture, will be the headquarters of The cast.

Agassiz Association and of its allied To the central Arcadia send your

IX CAMP NEAR SUMMIT, PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA,
idea of Arcadia." — E. B. Beecher, Auburn, California.

"This is my

interests. This will be the "home of-
fice," the center of thought, and we
hope the inspiration, or whatever you
see fit to call it, of hundreds of other
Arcadias, branch-Arcadias, Sub-Arca-
dias, all sorts of Arcadias, and the Mec-
ca toward which their friends will jour-
ney for aid.

This central Arcadia will lead; the
others will follow, disseminate, co-op-
erate by a variety of methods in a
variety of places.

We hope and intend that an impor-
tant work of this central Arcadia shall
be to tell of the others, to assist in
their formation, to answer questions,
to be parent, friend, to many other and
similar Arcadias. Several friends have
called attention to the fact that "the
name Arcadia is good but trite."

The name is trite and commonplace.
but exoressive. Therefore it is ex-
actly right. Everybody knows what it

notion of an idea
an Arcadian year.
yours and ours : for

I Arcadia. This is.

All hail Arcadia—
ours shall be yours I

hoy large

were still

of hunting"

HIT SOMETHING.

When I was a young
flocks of passenger pigeons
in existence. I was fond
them and as a result many a pigeon
pie decorated the dinner table to my
pride and great gustatory satisfaction.
Every time I started out on such a
trip, my invalid

limiting

grandfather

told me the same story, an experience
of his boyhood, at which he always
laughed heartily, as I was expected to
do, although I felt at the time that
the story had been so often reoeated
that all its original humor had van-
ished. P)itt in later life I realized that
it was not all a joke. From the lesson
it conveyed T have since reaped much
benefit.

450

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

—didn't — get — even

The story was as follows:

"When 1 was a boy, no older than
yon, 1 went hunting pigeons as you
do, but with the old flintlock now in that
corner by the bureau. The flocks of
pigeons were larger in those days than
now. It would take a long time for a
flock to pass overhead, and there were
often so man}- as to darken the land-
scape like a cloud. One of the smaller
flocks alighted in the oak by the pas-
ture spring. I say 'smaller' but there
were enough to fill the tree so you
couldn't see anything but pigeons. I
thought what a large number I would
kill. I felt as if I wanted to shake the
aim over the whole tree and kill the
whole lot. I didn't take much aim ;
I just pointed that way and fired. I
thought the charge couldn't go amiss.
Every pigeon flew and I stood and
watched them.
—a — f — e — a — t — h — e — r !"

Here my grandfather would laugh
"heartily and, "Then," he continued, "1
went on till I saw three pigeons go
■overhead and alight on a dead branch
-of an old scrag aople tree. I tiptoed
around slowly till I got all three — in —
line. Then I took careful aim and
fired. I — got — all — three — and — I —

never — had — pigeons — that — tasted —
better !"

Mere he laughed harder than ever!

There are some of our students and
some of our would-be contributors who
should tiptoe carefully and get all three
into line and then take careful aim!

Please try to hit something. Do not
fire all over a ten mile walk and tell
about the heavens above, the earth be-
neath and the waters under the earth
—your emotions, your soliloquies, your
aspirations. Please, Oh, please hit
s< >mething.

A LABOfi OF LOVE.

The February, ig 19, issue of "The
Mineral Collector" completes the fif-
teenth volume of that interesting,
semi-technical magazine. Mr. A. C.
Hates, a well known writer on miner-
alogy, tells, in his "Sundry Notes," of
the work of Mr. Arthur Chamberlain
who for fifteen years has conducted
'The Mineral Collector" as a labor of

love. Quite rightly Mr. Mates praises
this indefatigable worker for the great
task that he has accomplished and, in
closing, says "Let us stand and drink
a silent toast to Mr. Arthur Chamber-
lain." I intend to drink the toast but
not to make it a silent one. Such faith-
ful work as Mr. Chamberlain has for
fifteen years been doing for that maga-
zine now discontinued and on the
previous "Exchanger's Monthly" and
the "Mineralogist's Monthly" deserves
our highest commendation. And that
he already has. Nothing that The
Guide to Nature can say will add to
the estimation in which he is held by
his clientele. His work has beeh not
a means to an end but an end in itself.
I ndoubtedly he will value the praise
that has been showered upon him by
his subscribers but this, however sin-
cere and enthusiastic, cannot be an
adequate reward for his labors. The
work in itself has been worth doing
but to that he has added pleasure by
utilizing his evenings and holidays in
setting the type and making up the
pages of the magazine, a combination
that can be realized and appreciated
only by those who are likewise engaged
in some missionary work for the ad-
vancement of the stud}' and the love
of nature.

The Guide To Nature, in the num-
ber closing the first volume, makes to
Mr. Chamberlain a bow of sincere
appreciation. Both magazines, his and
ours, are edited by love which Druni-
mond, as quoted by Bates, calls the
greatest thing in the world.

I have not had the pleasure of an
extended personal acquaintance with
Mr. Chamberlain but from what I have
seen of him 1 agree with the writer
who calls him "a bundle of American
energy." He has been a collector of
minerals from boyhood and always
willing and conscientious, — a com-
bination which never fails to do some-
thing. 'The Mineral Collector" has
not been a large magazine. It has
never boasted of having more than a
million subscribers and the paoer has
not always been good nor the press
work the best, but the beauty of the life
that has animated the magazine has
made every reader close his eves to

EDITORIAL AND GENERAL.

45i

defects so trifling. Affection beautifies
everything- to him who sees even the
so-called ugly things of nature with
the eve of love. "We love things not
because they are beautiful but they
are beautiful to us because we love
them."

But one wonders why such a condi-
tion of the human mind should exist
as to make such a labor of love neces-
sary. Why has it not been the better
appreciated by humanity in general?
Why should one go to a news counter
and find displayed, with all the excel-
lency that liberal patronage can pro-
duce, magazines that are devoted to
trash, while 'The Mineral Collector"
has for fifteen years struggled on,
humanity not giving anything to the
editor to pay him for his paper and
press work? It does seem that the
very rocks should their silence break
and cry out for better appreciation.

"IT INTERESTS CHILDREN."

In the January number of TiiK
Guide to Nature was published an
interesting article regarding the dog
"Owney" that traveled over a large
part of the world with mail bags, being-
forwarded from place to place by the
clerks and royally entertained by per-
sons prominent in the government of
cities, states and kingdoms. So far
as we know the dog was always in
association with adults.

We recently handed a copy of that
number to a lady, suggesting that she
would be interested in "Owney." She
read the article and confessed that she
was not at all interested in that nor
in any other part of the magazine, but
suggested that it might be "all right
for children." Now what we want to
know is, what is there about a dog that
during his entire life was of intense
interest to adults but which, as soon
as he was dead, became, as this intel-
ligent woman remarked, of interest
only to children! We take this little
incident as a text to say that it is a
common remark and apparently a poo-
nlar belief that nature study can be
interesting only to children. A few
months ago we published an article
regarding rabbits. A local merchant
who subscribes to Tttk Guide to Na-

TURE remarked to the editor that he
supposed such things were of interest
to children and had taken the maga-
zine home to his little girl. The rab-
bits referred to were purchased from
an adult breeder, a member of the
American Fur Fanciers' Association,
and the main purpose of publishing
that article was to advance the interest
among fanciers, everyone of whom, as
far as I know, is a mature man or
woman. Can it be possible that when
we older ones ,who are interested in
rabbits and cavies, write about them
that the article and the photographs
are regarded as intended solely for
children? It must be so for when, in
the earl\- numbers of this magazine,
we devoted an article to rabbits one
of our adult readers took offence and
withdrew his patronage because it was
"too childish." Another, a scientist
for whom we have great respect,
bought a copy at a news stand and
wrote to tell us that he regarded it as
too juvenile. It seems that he desires
to devote all his time to Daphnia and
Cyclops.

Why is the study of the relation be-
tween Daphnia and Cyclops a proper
pursuit for the adult while the study
of a larger biological specimen in the
form of a rabbit or a cavy is regarded
as childish !

What is a child's interest and what
an adults? We should like to have
the subject discussed and we wish, too,
that some one would explain why so
many persons think an article pertain-
ing to any phase of nature must neces-
sarily be for children unless it bristles
with gigantic words in a dead language.
We have been endeavoring in The
Guide to Nature to interest adults
because our work for boys and girls
is limited to "St. Nicholas," but we
must confess that when we publish
an article on alligators by a learned
physician and president of a large
society of naturalists, when we publish
an article on trees from the germination
point of view hoping to advance the
interest of forestry, when we publish
an article on pet mice written by a
noted physician who has devoted a life
to that department of biology, when
we publish an article on silkworms

452

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

and incidentally picture a child assist-
ing a parent, when, in fact, we publish
almost anything pertaining to plant
or animal life, put it in a good readable
shape, and do not pile up a list of long
words and trouble our printer by a
series of intricate bracketing, we should
like to know wdiat there is about it all
that should be regarded only as so
much matter for children.

Why is it that a teacher should write
to us that she has no further use foi
The Guide to Nature because she is

no longer teaching, having left the
profession to enter another or to get
married ; wdiy is it that occasionally
a person subscribes "for the children,"

why is it . But it is not necessary

to give further illustrations of the sub-
ject. Will some one please look at a
tree, a dog, a rabbit, a book, a bird and
tell us what there is in the subject that
must restrict it to the sphere of child-
hood and what there is in it that does
not or should not interest and instruct
the adult? Please answer.

(pRRESPO^DENCE

AND

Information

£

THE HERMIT THRESH.

Brooklyn, X. V.
To The Editor: —

You may like to hear again from
Brooklyn's winter hermit thrush. On
January 20th, I was rejoiced to see my
old friend again in Prospect Park.
Just at dusk he alighted on a bubbling
drinking fountain, drank freely, and
after a lew shy glances to reassure
himself, he plunged into the basin and
look a thorough bath. After leisurely
preening his feathers on a nearby
shrub he Hew to some pine trees and
was lost to sight.

Caroline M .] [artweel.

VERT FRIENDLI CHIPMUNKS.

Auburn, California.
Ti < T11 k Editor : —

In Tut; Guide to Nature for January
appeared a very interesting article on
chipmunks. While camping this last
summer in the Sierra Nevada Moun-
tains I became very well acquainted
with the beautiful little creatures, and
although the) were a very great nui-
sance we would not have them driven
away. They became very bold after
a while, would even come up on the
table while we were eating and run

oil with anything they could carry.
One morning we had let the fire in
our cam]) stove die almost out. so that
the stove was only warm and while
we were eating breakfast they came on
to the stove, took potatoes out of the
frying-pan, and scampered off with
them.

1 would sometimes tie a string
around a piece of bacon and place the
bacon at my feet, and the)- would
catch hold of it. and T would lift them
up into ni)- la]), when they would let
go and scamper off in a great burr}-.

They got into our macaroni one day.
and wre afterwards let them have it.
and it was amusing to see them take
a piece in their paws, and sit up on
their haunches, stow it away in their
cheeks, then hurry home, put it away
and hurry back for another load.

E. I!. BEECHER.

SARCODES SANGCTNEA.

Auburn, California.
To Tn t; Editor : — ■

I wonder how many of your readers
know the meaning of the above words,
and how many of those who do know
what it means have ever found it grow-

111!

in

its native home.

EDITORIAL AND GENERAL.

453

It was my good fortune to spend the
summer of 1938 camping at the sum-
mit of Sierra Nevada Mountains. One
day while wandering in the woods at
the foot of Crow's Teak, my companion
suddenly exclaimed "Oh! what is
that?" in such a tone of mingled de-
light, surprise and admiration that I
hastily turned to see what had called
it forth, and there, on a slight rise of
ground, perfectly free from under-
brush, in the dee]) shade of the fir-trees
with just a little sunlight struggling
through the branches, was the most
perfect specimen of the "snow plant"
of the Sierra Nevadas, I had ever seen.
It was about fourteen inches in height
and one and three-quarters inches in
diameter, and from a little distance
seemed a solid mass of glowing crim-
son. On closer inspection it was seen
to be covered with flowers the same
color as the stem, and flowers tinged
with a silvery, creamy tint difficult to
describe, but the effect was very beau-
tiful.

Do you or any of the readers know
whether it has ever been propagated?

E. B. BeechER.

CARE OF PRIMROSES.

Franklin, Pa.
To The Editor:

Sarah Root Adams, who, in The
Guide to Nature for February, asks
for the best treatment for the primrose
as a house plant, does not say which
species of primrose she alludes to ; but
as the different kinds require nearly
the same treatment, I will try to an-
swer her question.

Primroses, with proper care, may be
grown well in any ordinary soil ; but
will do best in a compost prepared as
follows. Sods from a loamy pasture
should be piled outdoors until the bean
can be screened readily ; when it should
have about one third of its bulk added
of real leaf mould, or thoroughly de-
caved manure from the yard of the
cow stable.

This soil, when thoroughly mixed,
will be found very satisfactory for
growing all kinds of house plants ;
but would be improved by the addition
of a small quantity of bone flour.

Primroses, and all other plants.

should be placed where they can have
an abundance of direct light ; and also
air from the outside, when the weather
will permit. A temperature of from 50
to 60 degrees at night, and ten degrees
higher during the day, will suit prim-
roses very well; but the most impor-
tant point in their treatment, as it is
with all other plants, and the one that
it is most difficult to explain, is the
way in which they should be watered.
Water should not be given to any
plant when the soil is saturated with
moisture; but when the surface of the
soil becomes light-colored and some-
what dry to the touch, the plant should
have a sufficient amount of water giv-
en to it to wet all the soil contained
in the pot ; which will be enough un-
til the surface becomes dry again. If in
doubt as to whether the entire mass
of soil has been moistened, the plant
may be set into a vessel containing a
sufficient amount of water to cover
the too of the pot, and allowed to stand
for a few minutes ; when the water will
penetrate the soil from above and be-

'OW- XXT ATA T-.

vV. T. r.i;u..

IS THIS VERSION OF THE "DIPLOMACY"
CORRECT I

29 City Hall Building.
Duluth, Minnesota.
To The Editor: —

Prof. W. owned a few chickens and
desired more, and as a neighbor was
moving away, Prof. W. purchased his'
hens. The man was also anxious to
dispose of the rooster, — a lordly old
fowd, — so the entire flock were moved
to their new quarters. But the voting
roosters of Prof. W.'s flock resented
the coming of their lordly rival, and a
series of battles ensued; even an old
hen with a brood of half-grown chicks
was inclined to join in the attempt to
rout the invader, and he was van-
quished.

Tn the morning the young roosters
escorted the hens to the feeding
grounds, leaving the old cock in stately
solitude. He spent most of the day in
crowing defiance to the world in gen-
eral, without attracting any notice.
Next day he was again left alone, and
it began to have a depressing effect.

454

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

He ceased to crow, and devoted him-
self to the task of winning back at
least part of his lost harem. He would
find a choice bit, and cluck and call
and offer his treasure in the most per-
suasive manner, but all to no avail, and
he "flocked all by himself" another
day.

When night came Prof. W. noticed
that he did not go to roost with the
others, but crept into a box with the
old hen and her brood, to assist in
hovering the chicks. They were at a
very uncomfortable age, but he stuck
manfully to his self-appointed task.

and half sitting, half standing, hovered
the chicks.

Next morning he had one follower
— his devotion had won the heart of
the old mother hen, and she stayed by
him all day ; and thereafter first one
and then another of the hens rallied
around his standard.
Thus, when he found that martial
glory was not for him, he "went in"
for favor as a pattern of domestic vir-
tue— and won.

Yours truly,

Nellie B. Pendergast.

A PLEA FOR TAME PLANTS.

BY MISS W. C. KNOWLES, WASHINGTON,
CONNECTICUT.

I had planned to give a rainy day
nature talk to a party of friends on the
piazza and for illustration had placed
on the porch table material gathered
in woods and fields and from a neigh-
boring window garden. As I came be-
hind the group who were examining
my botanical bouquet, I heard one of
the company exclaim, "Why, that thing
is just a common house plant."

The tone of surprise plainly showed
that at least to one mind nature study
with regard to growing things must
be confined to wild flowers from their
native haunts. I have often been temp-
ted to use the term "tame flowers" for
house plants because it so nearly ex-
presses our proper relation towards
these plant strangers from over the
sea or from different parts of our own
land, which, like many of our animal
pets, certainly lived in a wild state be-
fore we made their acquaintance.

Do you know your tame plants?
Man}' interesting observations may be

made by those who carefully study
their indoor plants while the snow may
be flying outside.

Some few years ago an amaryllis, a
native of South America, found its way
into my window garden and the mech-
anism of its unfolding flower bud has
been of never failing interest. The
flower stalks, which often measure
twenty-five inches in length, bear twin
lilies six inches in diameter which are
folded in a green sheath until they
showr their red coloring. The red se-
pals are much narrower than the petals
and each sepal has a small greenish
white projection at its point forming
grooves or tiny pockets into which the
tips of the petals are inserted.

By means of these grooves the petals
of this large flower are wonderfully
packed into small space. In one half of
the bud two petal tips are inserted into
the grooves of the sepal growing be-
tween the petals. The tip of the third
large petal, upon which the stamen
cluster rests in the open flower, is in-
serted between each of the remaining
sepals. Contact and pressure due to
this arrangement keep the two halves of

THE PLANT WORLD UNDLR CARL.

455

the bud tightly closed until the Fork-
like cluster of red stamens is fully
grown, when it presses like so many
finger ends against the inside of the
corolla and the petals fly back like
magic l"n>m their neat little pockets.
The bud at the right stage of develop-
ment may be artificially opened by
pressing one's fingers against a petal.
It is interesting to note that the ex-
treme tips of these red petals, where
they were imprisoned in the bud, re-
main colorless and that the flower

But the spider flower ((.'Iconic pun-
gens) is decidedly opposed to this ar-
rangement. The stamens "pull out
backwards" from the closely folded
petals that open after the stamens are
nearly if not fully extended. It is in-
teresting to watch the steps in this
peculiar process yet, although every
phase be closely examined, it is diffi-
cult to discover just how the force is
applied which pulls the stamens out
and why the planl has so astonishing
a habit.

THE TWIN FLOWERS OF THE AMARYLLIS.

opens at night as if to welcome some
nocturnal insect visitor from its native
land. In a warm climate where heavy
downpours of rain are of frequent oc-
currence, this little hinge-like device
of the petals prevents the flower cup
from being shaken out by the wind be-
fore the pollen has ripened.

STAMENS THAT PRECEDE THE PETALS.

One naturally thinks of the unrold-
ing flower as opening the perianth be-
fore even a portion of the reproductive
parts becomes visible. With the co-
rolla wrapped closely around the sta-
mens, it wotdd seem to be the most
logical order for the petals to be the
first to unfold.

It is, however, probably due to their
exceedingly rapid growth and to the
constant resistance of the folded pe-
tals. The stamens, being held firmly
at one end by the petals which are as
firmly and obstinately rolled together,
ceaselessly lengthen, until relief and
freedom can be obtained only by burst-
ing out at the side in the form of a
curved spring which adds the force
of its resilience to the stubborn resis-
tance of the petals, the stamens finally
escaping and leaving the petals still
unfolded.

dhe Cleome is easily grown and is
regarded as one of the best of our
honey plants. The petals, which are of
a lovely pink color, varying to white,.

456

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

FIG. 1. A SERIES OF THE OPENING STAMENS.

are all on one side of the blossom, and
the stamens, in proportion to the size
of the entire bloom, are the longest of
an}- others with which 1 am familiar.
From their length and sprawling posi-
tion in the flower, both of which sug-
gest the sprawling legs of the spider.

i be plant takes its name of spider
plant. The foliage too is charmingly
ornamental. The pistil also "shoots"
out to an astonishing length soon after

the flower opens. At first it is only
about an eighth of an inch long but
speedily extends to three, four or even

FIG. 2. ONE OF THE CLEOME FLOWERS GREATLY ENLARGED.

THE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE.

457

five inches. Cleome is well worth culti-
vation both for its beauty or for its pecu-
liarities. It is as hardy as a weed, in fact
it becomes a pernicious nuisance when
one no longer wishes to have it grow.

In Fig. i is shown a beautiful and
instructive series of photographs of the
curving stamens from the closed peri-
anth to complete anthesis from a
sub-sylindrical tube with closely op-
pressed sepals and not a trace of strug-
gling stamens, through a gradually-
expanding calyx, gradually but cease-
lessly bending stamens, until just be-

fore the petals spread apart the contin-
uous pressure of the curved staminal
spring lias accomplished their freedom
and they have spread themselves wide-
ly asunder, even while the tips of the
petals are still unrolled. Jn this photo-
graph there are several instructive
features, of which not the least is the
gradual separation and recurving of
the sepals.

Fie 2 shows the parts greatly en-
larged, with the appearance of the pis-
til, probably pulled free by the move-
ment's of the stamens.

«>YAID
THE LENS

THE ANCHORS AND PLATES OF SY-
NAPTA.

One of the sea cucumbers known to
naturalists as the Synapta, is common
in the sand along the coast of New
Jersey, and of New England as far
north as Massachusetts Bay, whence
they may be dug" between tidemarks.
Thev move by means of strongly de-

mwm

ANCHOR AND PLATES OF SYNAPTA.

veloped muscles situated beneath the
skin. Feet and all appendages corres-
ponding to feet are entirely absent.
While the internal anatomy is rather
complex and exceedingly strange and
interesting, to the amateur micros-
copist the skin is the more attractive
as it supplies him with two minute
objects, which may be said to occur
in "sets" since both are needed to
complete each group.

These organs for a long time puzzled
observers, as they failed to compre-
hend bow they were combined, or
whether or not they were connected in
any way. They are the "anchors and
plates," several of which are shown in
the photograph, where they are ar-
ranged in an artistic pattern more to
attract the esthetic fancy, than to in-
struct or to gratify one's scientific
curiosity.

The eight objects grouped around the
central disc are the so-called plates of
Synapta, while the external row of
anchor-like bodies are the so-called
anchors. All these bodies are from a
foreign species, European probably,
and not from the common form of our

45«

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

eastern coasts, in which the plates are
much less ornate, having the apertures
smooth, or nearly so, while those in
the figure are crenated, or scalloped.
That part of the anchor where the
ring would be, is here extended later-
ally and cut into several teeth.

The perforated plates are attached

to the skin of the Synapta, and the nar-
row end of the anchor is fastened to
the narrow part of each plate, in such
a manner that the shank and the flukes
stand obliquely and freely upward.
They are supposed to help the animal
in its movements of locomotion.

PHOTOGRAPHS OF MICROSCOPIC STUDY OF SILK OF CECROPIA COCOON.

ORNITHOLOGY

AN OPEN FIELD FOK INVESTIGATION.

BY HENRY OLDYSj WASHINGTON, 1). C.

Our museums are constantly grow-
ing richer through the labors of collec-
tors. Bird and mammal skins, eggs,
insects, plants, fossils — these and many
other specimens are constantly finding
their way into natural history cabinets.
But the recording of bird songs otters
a comparatively open field to those
who possess a taste for exploration of
the secrets of nature. And one can

scarcely imagine a more refined or
more delightful form of collecting.
The pursuit violates no feelings of
compunction, however sensitive, for the
recorder of bird music leaves no trail
of death behind him nor does he dimin-
ish in the slightest degree the stock
from which he derives his material.
His avocation involves the closest in-
timacy with nature's charms and with
a form of art that is the furthest re-
moved from the commonplace and
utilitarian.

( JRXITHOLOCY.

459

While there arc many with whom
these considerations would have no
weight, to most of the readers ol a
magazine like The Guide to Nature
they should, and doubtless will, appeal
with much force; and it is the interest
of just such appreciative students of
nature I wish to enlist. There arc-
probably several who will read these
words who are already capably equip-
ped to pursue this phase of nature
stud}' and others who, with a little
preparation, could properly equip them-
selves. 1 would urge upon all who
combine a taste for music and love of
nature to become reporters of bird
music.

And why? Because of the immense
amount of excellent material that is
going to waste. There is great indi-
vidual variation in the songs of cer-
tain species of birds ; wood thrushes.
>ong sparrows, hermit thrushes, ori-
oles, meadowlarks and several others
are gifted with such musical individual-
ity that the songs of each species may
be numbered by millions. ( )f wood
thrushes whose tones were Mat and
most, if not quite, safe to assert that
no two sing the same way. Geograph-
ical variation, also, causes musical
variety. Moreover, the range of musi-
cal attainment varies greatly in differ-
ent individuals. I have heard wood
thrushes whose tones were flat and
whose songs had little of pleasing mel-
ody and others that uttered most
rhythmically melodious songs in rich
liquid voices. Some song sparrows
fully justify the contemptuous char-
acterization of "that squeaky little
bird" bestowed by a young lady on
first acquaintance (To the chagrin of
the ornithological friend who made
the introduction) while others utter
very sprightly and attactive bits of
melody in rich musical tones.

On account of this 'personal equa-
tion' among birds, the woods and
meadows are filled with attractive and
interesting songs which, if not re-
corded will pass into oblivion when
the short lives of the singers terminate.
Hence the need of many recorders.
Were all the musicians of the world
to invade the wilderness and set to
work transcribing noteworthy bird

music much of it would still remain
unheard and unrecorded.

Just here some thoughtful reader
may be disposed l<> ask little Peterkin's
question as to the good that will come
of it at last. If so, I am, fortunately,
able to give a more satisfactory answer
than the boy elicited from old Kaspar.
Apart from the assistance such records
may lend in the identification of species
by novices and aside from the interest
that always attaches to collections, the
recorded songs of birds offer a fascina-
ting and fruitful field of stud)'. Not
only do they have an important bear-
ing on questions relating to the evolu-
tion of birds but from the many resem-
blances they show to our music they
throw much light on the study of the
evolution of music itself and are of
value in the investigation of the origin
and development of the aesthetic taste.
matters that have engaged the atten-
tion of our prqfoundest philosophers.
The solution of many vexed questions
may be greatly facilitated by careful
study of ample material secured from
the little musicians of the summer
fields. Here, then, is value of great
degree in this research to one who
does not measure importance by dol-
lars— one who appreciates the high
character of knowledge that aids our
attempts to penetrate the mysteries
and uncertainties by which we are
surrounded.

But wdiile extending a hearty invita-
tion to all capable investigators to en-
ter this new field I would offer a word
or two of caution and advice, f would
urge the exercise of both care and pa-
tience. Fancy should never be allowed
to supply the place of exactness and
impatience to secure records should
not be permitted to bring discourage-
ment if at the outset no songs are
heard that can be properly recorded on
our musical staff. Most birds show a
fine disregard for our scale and rules of
musical construction and it is only occa-
sionally that pure melodies are to be
heard. T cannot too strongly em-
phasize the danger of invalidating work
by inexactness.

For equipment the reporter of avian
music requires a notebook, a pitch pipe
or tuning fork, a watch (Tor ascertain-

460

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

ing the speed of the song), absolute
sincerity of purpose and a tireless
enthusiasm that will qualify him to
remain practically motionless by the
hour occasionally to secure a single
song. Yet by way of encouragement
1 would add that week by week, month ,
by month and season by season the vv\
collection of material will steadily grow
and. as with all collections, will con-
tain some prizes that will be ample
reward for all the time and pains given
to the pursuit.

SPRING BIRDS.

BY EDMUND J. SAWYER, SCHENECTADY,
NEW YORK.

ft is about time or even a little too late,
according to the locality north or
south, to look for the first "spring"
bird. Though he may come before
winter is over we do well in thinking
of him as a sign of spring. Who can
believe winter is not to all intents and
purposes quite past when once he has
heard the first bluebird? The storms

MARYLAND YELLOW-THROAT IN FULL
SONG.

"Bring it here-er; bring it here-er; bring it
here-er; bring it."

BLACK-THROATED WARBLER.
A watchful pose while descending a tree.

which may yet come hold no terrors.
Nothing could be more fierce than
some of the "sugar snow" storms of
March and yet being associated in our
minds with the first bluebirds and
blackbirds they are little more dreaded
than an April shower.

The subject of spring birds is by no
means altogether a new one. But I
have often wondered why certain
species are so much neglected in this
connection. Those who write on this
subject have need to bear in mind that
one bluebird (plus one robin) does not
make a springtime. It requires
phoebes, cowbirds and a few others.
In fact I have so repeatedly seen the
two last named before the earliest of
the other birds that to me they are
above all others the heralds of spring.
The bluebirds do not go far south any-
way and I have seen a robin in mid-
winter in Michigan. The phoebe is a
fly-catcher and her coming is a pretty
sure sign that mild weather will
thenceforth be the rule though ice may

ORNITHOLOGY.

461

still cover all hut the swiftest water in
the brook where the phoebe has taken
up her home.

It is not safe to predict the earliest
spring bird. One year you will see

THE PHOEBE.

one kind and another year a different
kind. One must spend part of every
day afield for at least two weeks in

March to be at all sure of seeing the
earliest arrival. In most cases it hap-
pens that several species have come by
the time the first is seen by the indi-
vidual. A mild day comes, the cawing
of crows or a rumor about robins
reaches you and you go for the fiist
excursion afield. Your list for that
day will probably look something like
this: song sparrow (many), bluebird
(fairly common), phoebe (several),
purple grackle (three), cowbird (a
small fiock on telegraph wires), robin
(several), fox sparrow (a small, loose
flock), unidentified (flock of one hun-
dred birds Hying north, probably red-
winged blackbirds).

Finally arrive the warblers in April
and May. There are sure to be some
species to look for with special care.
Local lists of these birds are ai.vays
provisional, temporary, never final.
The professional will have at least
some doubtful notes to reinforce by
closer observation, some question
marks to erase and, it is all too prob-
able, some specimens to collect.

AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION

-W&<&<&8^^

TOO LITERARY.

A few of our Chapters miss the spirit
of The Agassiz Association, because they
make their programmes too literary. A
timely selection from some standard
naturalist, a bit of poetry (not too
long) and a nature song or two may
add to the social enjoyment, but a
programme made up wholly of this
kind of material with one or two gen-
eral essays, is far from what we desire
or should try to get. Go straight to
nature, and wdien you return, tell us
with all possible enthusiasm what you
have observed.

If a literary selection from some nat-
uralist is read, do not be contented

with the mere sentiment, but tell who
the author is and what he actually saw
that suggested the essay and supplied
its up lifting and helpful character.

A discussion of items or articles per-
taining to nature, from newspapers or
magazines, may well take, say ten min-
utes.

But do not depend on printing press
and piano for the principal part of the
program.

Eyes, eyes, eyes, eyes ; again I say
eyes. Do not forget to observe. See
correctly; tell if possible in a lively and
entertaining way. Nature is never
"dry." A speaker or essayist \\ ho is
nature's representative has no right,

462

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

and especially no excuse for being dull.
If you are an uninteresting speaker or
writer, you will soon be made to feel
your limitations, and should accept the
hint as gracefully and gratefully as
may be. But if you yourself are really
interested, you will be able to interest
others. This is the secret of success in
every pursuit, and likewise in every
amusement.

"WORK AM) PLAY WONDERFULLY
COMBINED,"

REPORT OF Till', JOHNSTOWN (PENNSYL-
VANIA) CHAPTER, NO. IOII, OP THE
\r,\SSIX ASSOCIATION FOR THE YEAR
OF I908.

During the past year of nineteen
hundred and eight the Johnstown
Chapter has been steadily growing.
It has become something definite with
a definite purpose. However, it is as
yet too new an organization to be fully
appreciated by many here in the High
School. Those who have joined are
very enthusiastic.

Our Chapter is divided into two divi-
sions. The boys, the first division,
meet every other Saturday morning
from ten to eleven o'clock ; the girls,
the second division, meet every other
Wednesday afternoon from half past
three to half past four. 1 personally
do not like this division of the Chapter
but it seems impossible to arrange it
differently. The divisions work to-
gether as nearly as possble.

The study of the Coleoptera (beetles )
has been taken up systematically and
quite a number of the more common
species have been discussed at length.
These insects have been studied from
collections made by Carl (dock ami
\lberl Walters during last June, July
and August. Over twelve different
families and several genera of each
family are represented in these collec-
tions. In the study we used almost
entirely Prof. Comstock's book, "Man-
ual for the Study of tnsects."

At several meetings some of the low-
est types of animals were studied
through the microscope. The Para-
maecium and Rotifer vulgaris were par-
ticularlv dwelt upon. The material

for this study was gathered by Philip
\ Voile.

We are looking forward into a
bright future. As we progress with
our studies new fields of interest are
opened before us, fields in which work
and play are wonderfully combined,
and the little knowledge which we gain
we feel is Avell worth wdiile.

Philip WoLLE, Secretary.

LOCAL RAIN CAUSED BY TREES.

FROM GEO. W. WAV. MOUTH, PRESIDENT

FRIENDS' ACADEMY CHAPTER, NO. IOl6,

OF THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION, LOCUST

VALLEY, NEW YORK.

A few days ago I was walking alone
in a held in the neighborhood of a
duck pond surrounded by tall trees,
when I saw a strange sight, strange
to me for I have never noticed it before.
To all appearances it was raining on
the pond but not outside. It had
rained hard all over this section during
the morning and now in the afternoon
there was a heavy fog. I thought it
might be the rain water falling off the
trees but on looking at a fence a little
way off I saw I was mistaken, for no
water fell from it like it did hom the
trees. After thinking a Utile while I
found out the cause of its raining on
the pond in a fog and not on the land.
The trees being cooled by the morning
rain were colder than the atmosphere and
condensed the water of the atmosphere
so that it fell as rain. I have just men-
tioned this because it seemed so
strange to me.

This was a very sharp observer and
it will take an equally sharp one to
elucidate the phenomenon. I know
of no theory that will be satisfactory.

The first question is "Did it seem to
be raining over the whole pond, or
only around the edges under the trees?
If there was no wind then the cooling
of the foggy air by the cold trees might
produce raindrops, but they would fall
only beneath the trees and not on the
middle of the pond. If there was a
wind, which is rare in such a fog, then
drops formed near the tops of the trees
could fall in the center of the pond.

THE AGASSIZ ASSOCIATION.

463

It is not likely that the tiers after
being cooled by the morning rain, re-
mained cooler after the fog had funned,
but they would have the same tempera-
ture as the fog. I think there must
have keen a slight motion of the foe
downwards from some higher ground,
bringing with it the larger drops that
fell like rain.

Why could it not have keen a driz-
zling fog whose drops fell on the sur-
face of the pond? — Cleveland Abbe.
Weatker Department, Washington.

STUDYING NATURE PEDAGOGY.

REPORT OF E. EARL DUBOIS, CoRRESPOND-

1XO MEMBER, NO. 2042, OODENSBURG,

N. Y.

I do not know as I can make much
of a report of my work as a Corres-
ponding Member of the AA this year
because I have been a member only a
few months. Last summer my spare
time was devoted to my camera and to
furthering my nature "knowledge in a
general way, such as naming species in
new localities, etc.

Then, too, I have spent considerable
time for several months in making a
comparative study of the systems" of
teaching nature study in the schools
of various countries. Especially in tins
state, our systems are far behind those
of Canada and some European conn-
tries. It seems about time we were
getting- awake to our position in the
educational world. This is a work-
that takes more of my interest than a
mere study of nature because I can
only know a little at best and I now,
I think, have learned enough to get the
correct view point in nature study and
in education. I enclose a specimen of
the outlines I use at various times,
thinking you may be interested in it.
You probably noticed my article in the
November issue of The Nature-Study
Review.

Next summer I expect to be able to
take up some line of field work.

[With this report was an excellent outline
for "The Story of a Tree." Mr. DuBois
believes that; "Nature study is an effort to
put the life of man in harmony with that of
nature. Its means is simple observational
study; its results, greater happiness and
efficiency."]

A MOUSE CATCHING FLIES.

I".Y FREDERICK SCHWA NK0VSKY, JR.,
CORRESPONDING MEMBER NO. 2053 OF

Till-, AOASSIZ ASSOCIATION, DETROIT,

M K'll [GAN.
I noticed a mouse doing some
"stunts," which were so peculiar as
to meril special notice. It was in
broad daylight in the show window
o| a large down town business house.
The big plate glass window was set
in a heavy frame and along this frame
on the inside of the glass I noticed a
mouse and some flies. The latter buzzed
against the glass for a while and then fell
to the frame at the bottom, rested a mo-
ment and then buzzed up again. The
mouse, however, was very busy reducing
the number of flies. It would watch un-
til a fly got near the bottom of the glass
and then rush forward and catch it
deftly between its front feet as a boy-
would catch a baseball. Then sitting
ii]) it would calmly eat the captured
fly. It caught and ate three while I
watched and only a boy tapping on
the glass finally scared it away. It
seems to me this mouse seemed not
only bold but very capable of adjust-
ing itself to circumstances, of devis-
ing ways and means for taking care
of itself.

HORNET MET BUMBLEBEE!.

A True Story. — The minister was
making a parishional call, and the
youngest member of the family, a
small boy of tender years, finally mus-
tered sufficient courage to inquire his
name: "My name," replied the clergy-
man pleasantly, "is Mr. Tehonnet, what
is your name?" Astonished out of all
prudence by so singular a name and
convinced that the minister was "fun-
rung," he mastered his surprise as nest
he could and gravely replied: "My
name is Mr. G. Bumblebee." — "Ento-

mological News."

lie who has discovered little beauty
within finds but little without ; and
he who has realized great beauty
within, sees it overflowing in Nature.
—"Where Dwells the Soul Serene," by
Stanton Kirkham Davis.

464

THE GUIDE TO NATURE.

IlTERARY

BIOGRAPHICAL

The Biota of The Sail Bernardino Mountains.

By Joseph Grinnell. Berkeley, Califor-
nia: The University Press.

This University publication interestingly
and scientifically tells the territory visited
and the life zones and discusses the bird
population (one hundred and thirty-nine
species) and the influences modifying it,
the plants of the region, the mammals
(thirty-five species) and the reptiles (twen-
ty species).

The author is a well known naturalist, and
has excellently done the work assigned to
him.

Species and Varieties, Their Orieiu by Mu-
tation. By Hugo DeVries, Professor of
Botany in the University of Amsterdam.
Edited by Daniel Trembly MacDougal.
Second Edition. Chicago: The Open
Court Publishing Company.

"Professor DeVries has rendered an addi-
tional service to all naturalists by the pre-
paration of the lectures on mutation
published in the present volume. A perusal
of the lectures will show that the subject-
matter of "Die Mutationstheorie" has been
presented in a somewhat condensed form,
and that the time which has elapsed since
the original was prepared has given oppor-
tunity for the acquisition of additional facts,
and a re-examination of some of the more
important conclusions with the result that
a notable gain has been made in the treat-
ment of some complicated problems.

"It is hoped that the appearance of the
English version of the theory of mutation
will do much to stimulate investigation of
the various phases of the subject. This
volume, however, is by no means intended
to replace, as a work of reference, the larger
book with its detailed recital of facts and
its comprehensive records, but it may
prove a substitute for the use of the general
reader."

The Primary Factors of Organic Evolution.

By E. D. Cope, Ph. D. Chicago: The
Open Court Publishing Company.

From I he mass of facts accumulated by
biologists, the author has selected such as,
in his opinion, throw a clear light on the
problem of organic evolution, especially
that of the animal kingdom. He has de-
pended chiefly in his demonstrations on
paleontologic research.

Commercial Violet Culture. A Treatise on
the Growing and Marketing of Violets
for Profit. By B. T. Galloway,, Chief
of the Bureau of Plant Industry, United
States Department of Agriculture. Sec-
ond Edition, Revised. New York City:
A. T. DeLamere Printing and Publish-
ing Company, Ltd.

This hand book gives all details for pre-
paration of soil, construction of houses and
frames, care of plants and marketing of
the flowers. It is almost wholly from the
business point of view, but contains much
of interest to the amateur.

The author shows, however, that under
the dollars and cents is a real love for
nature. He says, "From the facts given it
will be seen that no big fortunes are to
be made in violet growing; but if a man
loves Nature and that quiet and peace
which work with her should always bring,
there is a chance here to open her doors.
Thus a love for all that is good and beauti-
ful may be cultivated and a respectable
living made at the same time."

Goldfish Breeds and Other Aquarium Fishes.

Their Care and Propagation. By Her-
man T. Wolf. Philadelphia, Pennsyl-
vania: Innes & Sons.

This is a new and thoroughly up-to-date
book on the aquarium and its inhabitants.
It represents the total expei ;ence of the
aquarium enthusiasts comprising the Aqua-
rium Society of Philadelphia and the scien-
tific knowledge of a number of members of
the famous Academy of Natural Sciences.
The author is an active member of both
organizations and as secretary of The Aqua-
rium Society for a number of years had
ideal opportunities for writing just such a
complete and practical book.

In addition, Mr. Wolf is an artist of un-
usual ability. His illustrations of aquarium
life are extremely natural and beautiful.

Altogether this is far the best aquarium
book that has ever appeared in any language
and should be owned by every aquarist and
naturalist.

Every point mentioned is taken up thor-
oughly and practically.

The book is 7 x 10y2 inches, fine paper,
gilt top, 390 pages and contains 280 life-
size illustrations, including a frontispiece in
colors.

The illustrations alone are worth the price
of the book, $3.00.

Books may be kept on one day's approval.
Money refunded if not entirely satisfactory.