Chapter II: Front Matter (2)

“Your sheep are all down in the rooms now, having a nice Sunday, I think,” continued Lora. “When winter comes and the snow is all over the ground they won’t come up at all. Haven’t you seen them carrying food in to pile up in one of their rooms?”

“O, and my cookies are all down there!” he cried in great delight.

When the man appeared in the morning Baby Jim marched out with an air of importance, and, after surveying the deserted ant-hill, he turned to the man and said, “My sheeps are all gone into the house to bed, so you can clean up their meadow if you want to.”

And thus it was that the Farnum children began a study which will interest them as long as they live. There is no longer any need to worry about their living at the neighbors; and at last the Farnum back-yard has become not only respectable, but actually a “thing of beauty and joy forever.”

Lee McCrae.

THE AMERICAN ELK OR WAPITI.
(_Cervus canadensis._)

Centuries ago, before Columbus sailed the unknown seas which divided him from the New World of his dreams and ambitions, before the birth of De Soto, that adventurer whose discoveries and conquests were to unfold to the Old World the mysteries and fascinations of the new land, through the virgin forest and over the broad plains as yet unknown to the white race, roamed many animals which were widely distributed throughout North America.

They fearlessly sought those localities which would furnish them the most abundant supply of food and water. Unmolested except by their natural enemies, they multiplied and lived a free and untrammeled life.

In these early times the Wapiti or the American Elk, as it is commonly though erroneously called, was probably the most widely distributed quadruped in North America. Its range extended from the northern part of Mexico northward to Hudson’s Bay and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. At the present time, however, but a few wild individuals are left in the United States east of the Mississippi and lower Missouri Rivers. They are occasionally met with in the wilder regions bordering Lake Superior, and it is reported that they are still living in the mountainous regions of Pennsylvania and Virginia. The advance of civilization, causing the cultivation of the lands and the destruction of the forests, has gradually driven this noble animal to the westward and into the wilds of British America. In the states bordering the Pacific Ocean and along the western tributaries of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers it is still quite common. One writer tells us that “in the rich pasture lands of the San Joaquin and Sacramento it formerly was to be seen in immense droves and with the antelope, the black-tailed deer, the wild cattle and mustangs covered those plains with herds rivalling those of the bison east of the mountains or of the antelope in South Africa.”

The name Wapiti is of Indian origin, and in their language is used to designate a Rock Mountain goat. The name elk so commonly applied to this animal should properly be limited to the moose.

The Wapiti is closely related and belongs to the same genus as the famous stag or red deer (Cervus elaphus) of Europe. This animal, which is smaller than the Wapiti, inhabits the forests of mountainous regions.

In both the Wapiti and the stag the senses of sight, hearing and smell are well developed. They will detect a human being or other animal when some distance away. Though their acute senses protect them, they are said to have poor memories as well as weak powers of comprehension. The Wapiti when listening raises its head and throws forward its erected ears. When entering the forest it will examine the surrounding open country and sniff the wind, seeking possible danger.

The antlers of both Wapiti and stag are much alike, though those of the former are longer and heavier, corresponding to its larger size. The full growth of the horns is attained about the seventh year. The perfect horns are slightly oval in transverse section and thickly covered with warts or slight elevations, which are arranged in longitudinal lines. All the branches or prongs are situated on the front side of the main trunk. “The general color is a light chestnut red, which deepens into a brownish hue on the neck and legs and almost into a black on the throat and along the median line of the under surface of the body. The buttocks are yellowish white, bordered by a dusky band which extends down the posterior surface of the hind legs.” In winter the fur is much thicker and finer and the general color is more gray than in summer. “During the mating season the males have fierce combats, and at this time the male Wapiti emits a peculiar noise, resembling the braying of an ass, beginning with a loud shrill tone and ending in a deep guttural note.” At this time, even when kept in confinement, the male is easily irritated and may attack people. Old males will frequently wage persistent and long battles for supremacy. The antlers are used as the weapons in these duels, and cases have been recorded where these have become so firmly interlocked that they could not be separated, resulting in the death of both individuals.

When food is plentiful and the Wapiti is not constantly disturbed, it will remain in the same region, only straying away during the mating season. They assemble in herds of a greater or less number of individuals. The females and fawns usually remain together; the older females without fawns form another herd and the old males, as a rule, lead a more or less solitary life, except during the mating season.

The Wapiti is more common in low grounds in the vicinity of marshes and well wooded tracts, where it feeds on grasses and the young branches and leaves of the willows and allied trees.

The Wapiti is graceful and proud in its bearing and very light in its movements. This is especially true of the male, which may be described as an animal of “noble carriage.” When moving from place to place it walks rapidly and runs with remarkable swiftness.

A FRIENDLY FIELD MOUSE.

Many stories have been told in the past, tending to show that wild animals when in trouble will display surprising confidence in man, in fact will often seek his assistance when sore beset. The writer, when a boy upon a farm in Minnesota, had an experience with a field mouse which prettily illustrates this trait in wild creatures. It was stacking time and the men were all busy in the fields lifting the shocks of cured grain and stacking them in hive-shaped stacks in the barnyard. The writer, a barefoot boy at that time, had been following the wagons in the field all the morning in a vain endeavor to capture some field mice to take home as pets. He had seen a number of the drab little creatures with their short tails, but had failed to lay his hands upon any of them, owing to the thick stubble and the nimbleness of the mice. At last, as a particularly large shock was lifted, a broken nest was disclosed and the youthful mouser was put upon the qui vive by the slender squeaks of seven or eight hairless little beings that were so young as not to have opened their eyes as yet. The mother disappeared with a whisk, whereupon the young hunter sat down in a critical attitude beside the nest and began to examine his find. He had already put one of the young mice in his trousers pocket when the mother reappeared out of the stubble beside the nest. The boy held his breath and awaited developments. Much to his surprise, the mouse-mother, after carefully examining the ruined nest, entered his pocket, which, as he sat, opened very near to the nest. She seemed to come to the conclusion very quickly that her lost little one had found a very good home, and in about two minutes had transferred the remainder of her offspring from the nest to the pocket, carrying them one at a time in her mouth.

The writer has had many varied experiences with wild animals, but none of them impressed him so strongly as the episode of the mouse-mother in the wheat stubble.

J. Clyde Hayden.

THE OPENING OF WINTER BUDS.

In our cold temperate zone spring means chiefly the changing of the trees from their naked winter condition to the beautiful green leafy appearance of early summer. When stripped of their foliage, trees present to the observant eye a great variety of form. The tall, slender poplar can easily be distinguished from the spreading elm as far as it is seen; as, also, can the rough-barked hickory, with its clinging strips of bark, from the smooth beech.

Usually, the opening of buds seems to take place almost in a single night, but they really open very gradually. Now, these buds are all formed the summer before, but they are so small that they are scarcely noticed in the midst of the many leaves. In the winter, however, they are readily seen; and, then, when the first warm rains fall in the spring they start to swell, and gradually grow larger until, suddenly, they burst through their snug winter coats, and show the tiny, green leaves that have been concealed in the thick, dark, outer covering.

The buckeye bud is one of the largest of the winter buds. It is covered with small, pointed, brown scales, which overlap each other, thus keeping the cold from the more delicate parts within. Underneath these hard outer scales are thinner, half-transparent ones. Their color is a delicate pink, and fine veins line them. Snugly wrapped inside these dainty coats are tiny woolly objects, and when the wool is removed they are found to be miniature leaves folded together so compactly that they occupy very little room. If the bud has grown on the end of the twig a very small flower bud will be enclosed within the leaves; but if it has grown on the side there will be no flower bud. Since these leaves and flowers have all been formed the summer before, it is easy to understand that a few warm days will cause them to grow so that they soon become too large for their winter covering, and suddenly burst it open.

The trees are forced into a period of inactivity by the cold, so, if a twig is broken off, and placed in moderately warm water, in a warm, light place, the buds on it will open just as they do in the spring and their development may be easily watched.

Often a tree will have a countless number of buds; and since growing buds need much light and nourishment only the stronger ones will grow, the weaker ones remaining in a resting state. These resting buds are called dormant buds, the word dormant coming from the Latin word “dormio,” which means “to sleep.” The buds often continue in this dormant state for several years, becoming weaker and weaker all the time, until finally they die. If, however, the stronger buds are killed at any time, as by a late frost, the dormant ones suddenly become active, and grow to take the place of the ones that were destroyed. This shows us how cleverly trees provide substitutes for cases of emergency. These dormant buds then might even be compared to the understudies of the stage.

The regular places for buds to grow are in the axes of the leaves or on the end of the twigs. Buds, however, can be made to grow on unusual places. If the tops of the tree are cut off, as we often see them in the maple, buds will grow on the trunks. Then, if trees are cut down or blown over, buds will grow on the stumps or from the roots.

Thus, we can see by watching the formation and development of buds, and the growth of branches, that trees follow certain fixed laws of nature, modifying these laws only on account of some peculiar external conditions as, for example, nourishment, light, heat or moisture.

Roberta Irvine Brotherson.

THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS.

This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,
Sails the unshadowed main,
The venturous bark that flings
On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings
In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,
And coral reefs lie bare,
Where the cold sea maids rise to sun their streaming hair.

Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl!
Wrecked is the ship of pearl!
And every chambered cell,
Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,
As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,
Before thee lies revealed,—
Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!

Year after year beheld the silent toil
That spread his lustrous coil;
Still, as the spiral grew,
He left the past year’s dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft step his shining archway through,
Built up its idle door,
Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.

Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee,
Child of the wandering sea,
Cast from her lap, forlorn!
From thy dead lips a clearer note is born,
Than ever Triton blew from wreathéd horn!
While on mine ear it rings,
Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life’s unresting sea!
—Oliver Wendell Holmes.

THE NAUTILUS AND OTHER CEPHALOPODS.

The highest group of mollusks belongs to the class Cephalopoda, which signifies head-footed, the name being given to them because the head is surrounded by a circle of eight or ten arms, which act both as arms and feet. Let us take as an example of this class the common squid of the Atlantic coast (Ommastrephes illecebrosa), and see how it is formed. The body is long and cylindrical and ends at the tail in a point; the dorsal side of the tail end has a pair of triangular fins. The body is practically a hollow cylinder or sac which contains the vital organs of the animal. The neck is in many genera fastened to this cylinder or mantle by an apparatus which may be likened to a button and button-hole. The head is rounded, has on either side the large, round eyes, and at the end it is split up into ten arms, two of which are longer than the others and are called the tentacular arms. On the inner side, the arms are provided with two rows of suckers, which are little, rounded cups placed on pedicels or stems and which form a vacuum when they touch an object and so cling to it. The two long arms are expanded and club-shaped at the end, each club being armed with four rows of suckers. Directly in the center of the circle of arms the mouth is placed and is provided with two sharp beaks like those of a parrot, only inverted. In addition to these organs there is a large siphon or tube on the ventral side, which is really an organ of locomotion, for it expels water from the mantle cavity with great force, thus rapidly sending the animal backward, its usual direction of propulsion. The body has no shell for protection, but in its place there is a long rod called a pen, which acts as a backbone to support the body of the animal, although of course not in the same sense as the backbone of vertebrated animals. In some cephalopods this pen is hard and stiff but in Ommastrephes it is thin and soft. Such is the general form of a cephalopod, familiar names of which are the Octopus, Squid, Nautilus, Paper-nautilus and Devil-fish. In this class, also, the majority of the shelled species are extinct, only a few living at the present time. The Ammonite is an example of the extinct cephalopods.

The most familiar member of this class to the layman is the Pearly Nautilus, the shell of which may be found on the mantel shelf or what-not of very many dwellings. The shell of the Nautilus is formed in a spiral and is made up of many chambers, all connected by a tube called a siphuncle, the outer chamber containing the animal and hence called the living chamber. The shell is called the “Pearly Nautilus,” but the pearly tints cannot be seen until the outer layer—which is yellowish-white with brown markings—is taken off, when the exquisite, rainbow-like colors may be observed.

While the shell of Nautilus is well known the animal is very rare in our museums, although the natives of the Fiji Islands, New Hebrides and New Caledonia are able to obtain it in large quantities for food and it is highly esteemed by them. During the voyage of H. M. S. Challenger around the world, a living Nautilus was captured by dredging in some three hundred and twenty fathoms near Mateeka Island, one of the Fiji group. This was placed in a tub and it swam about in a lively manner by ejecting water from its funnel. The tentacles, of which there are a larger number than in the other cephalopods, were spread out radially, like those of the sea anemone. The Nautilus lives among the coral reefs, at depths varying from three to three hundred fathoms or more.

The Fijian’s method of capturing the Nautilus for food is thus described (Tryon,—Structural and Systematic Conchology): “When the water is smooth so that the bottom, at several fathoms’ depth, near the border of the reef, may be distinctly seen, the fisherman in his little, frail canoe scrutinizes the sands and the coral masses below, to discover the animal in its favorite haunts. The experienced eye of the native may probably encounter it in its usual position, clinging to some prominent ledge, with the shell turned downwards. The tackle consists first, of a large, round, wicker-work basket, shaped very much like a cage rat-trap, having an opening above, with a circlet of points directed inward, so as to permit of entry but to preclude escape; secondly, a rough piece of rope of sufficient length to reach the bottom; and lastly, a small piece of branched wood, with the branches sharpened to form a sort of grapnel, to which a perforated stone is attached, answering the purpose of a sinker. The basket is now weighted with stones, well baited with boiled cray-fish (the principal food of the Nautilus is crabs of different species), and then dropped gently down near the victim. The trap is now either closely watched or a mark is placed upon the spot, and the fisherman pursues his avocation upon other parts of the reef until a certain period has elapsed, when he returns and in all probability finds the Nautilus in his cage, feeding upon the bait. The grapnel is now carefully let down, and having entered the basket through the opening on top, a dextrous movement of the hand fixes one or more of the points or hooks and the prize is safely hoisted into the canoe.”

The animal is made into soup by some of the natives while others boil it in a pot. The shells are used by the natives to make beautifully carved figures, the contrast of the dark outer coating against the light, pearly, inner coating producing a striking effect. The shell is also used in England and on the Continent to produce elegant cameos.

The “Argonaut,” or “Paper Sailor,” is no less beautiful and interesting than the Pearly Nautilus. The thin and fragile shell cannot be compared with that of the Nautilus nor with the pen, or internal support, of the squid, for it is attached to the animal by no muscles, and is only kept in position by the broad webs on the upper arms of the female (which alone possesses a shell), its function being simply to protect the eggs. The male is very much smaller than the female and is exceedingly rare. The natural position of the female is with its arms spread out and hanging about the shell, four in front and four behind, the two broad arms supporting the shell being spread out and closely embracing the latter. The siphon is turned toward the ridged part of the shell and the animal progresses in a backward direction by forcibly ejecting water through this organ. It crawls with the shell on its back, like a snail.

The poets have given us many beautiful writings detailing the vices and virtues of the lower forms of life and among these the Pearly Nautilus and Paper Sailor have received a goodly share of the muse’s attention. But, alas! for the poet, who, not being a conchologist, has sadly misused and misjudged these helpless and harmless creatures. Thus we are told how the paper nautilus sails over the ocean with his “sails” (meaning the two expanded arms) spread out to catch the breeze, and how, when the storm approaches, it folds its sails and disappears beneath the waters of the ocean. Alas for the poet! he puts the most beautiful ideas together in verse, ideas and themes which we would fain believe; but along comes cold, calculating science, and at one fell stroke sweeps away all that the poet has done, for in the poem on the Argonaut all is wrong, the animal does not and could not sail, for were it to do so the shell would fall and become lost in the bottom of the ocean.

A mollusk whose shell is cast upon the shore by thousands, but the animal of which is very rare, is the Spirula. The shell is less than an inch in diameter, is made in the form of a loose spiral and is divided into little chambers connected by a siphuncle. The shell of this genus does not contain the animal, as in Nautilus, but it is enveloped in two flaps of the mantle, at the posterior part of the animal, the shell being concealed with the exception of a part of the edge on each side. The body of the animal is long and cylindrical and the arms are quite short, more nearly resembling those of the Nautilus than those of the Octopus or squid. The body ends in a disk which is supposed to be a kind of sucker, by which the animal can adhere to rocks, thus enabling it to freely use its arms in obtaining food. It has been supposed by some anatomists that the shells of the fossil Ammonites were attached to the animal in a similar manner, and if this should be true these small mollusks would assume a new meaning as being the last survivors of a large group of animals of which all except Spirula are extinct.

Probably the best known of the shell-less cephalopods is the octopus, with its rounded body, large eyes and long arms. Almost everybody has read Victor Hugo’s weird account of the octopus in his “Toilers of the Sea,” and the animal has thus been rendered more or less familiar, although it was made to do several things by the author that it would not do in nature, as, for example, “drinking” a man alive. The Octopus is found abundantly throughout temperate and tropical seas, generally on the coast among rocks, but frequently on the sandy bottom in water of moderate depth. Here it may occasionally be seen “walking” clumsily along on its eight long arms, its little round body being balanced above the arms. Its favorite position, however, is among the rocks. In such a locality it will squeeze its body into some crevice and spread out its arms until they form a sort of web, resembling in this position a huge spider waiting for its prey. And it may well be likened to a spider for from this web there is no escape if once a hapless fish has come in contact with the powerful suckers on the long arms. The poor fish is paralyzed when seized by the octopus and is drawn towards the mouth, where it is torn to pieces by the beak-like jaws, and swallowed.

Like many of the mollusks of which we have written the octopus is esteemed as a valuable article of food by several savage tribes as well as by some civilized people. The native of the Pacific coast catches the Octopus (Octopus punctatus) by a very ingenious method. Providing himself with a spear twelve or fourteen feet long which has four or five barbed pieces of hard wood some fourteen inches long attached to the end, he paddles his canoe to the feeding-ground of the mollusk. One is soon found in ten or twelve feet of water and the Indian carefully lets down his spear until within a few inches of the center of the animal, when he quickly plunges it into the soft mass. Instantly the water is in commotion, the eight long arms writhing about in an endeavor to reach the boat. The Indian knows that should this happen his chances for life would be slim indeed. But he is prepared, and carefully lifting up the octopus with his barbed spear until it is above the surface of the water, he plunges a long, sharp spear, with which he is provided, into each arm where it joins the body. At each plunge of the spear, an arm becomes helpless and in a short time the animal, which but a few moments before had the power of a score of men, lies in the canoe, a shapeless, helpless mass.

That the octopus is good eating the writer can attest from experience, for during a visit to Yucatan some years ago this mollusk was served as a meat dish and was very palatable, the flesh being firm and tender and much resembling chicken. The portion which fell to the writer was the head, with a part of the arms attached.

One of the most interesting characteristics of the Octopi and allied cephalopods is their facility for changing color when danger is near. These changes are caused by little pigment cells just beneath the skin, which expand and contract. Thus, if a person is looking at an octopus in captivity and the animal is so placed that it cannot escape, the observer will be astonished to see the body of the animal suddenly assume a deep pinkish color which in turn is succeeded by a blue and then by a green, and finally a return to pink. The body is covered with these little pigment cells, the different colors—pink, blue and green—being so evenly scattered over the surface than when each color cell is expanded the whole body assumes that tinge. This is one of the most wonderful characteristics of the Mollusca.

Another cephalopod closely related to the Octopus is the Squid, several species of which are found on the Atlantic coast of the United States. In this genus the body is long and cylindrical, ends in two fins, has a prominent head terminating in eight short and two long arms and is supported by a long, cartilaginous, internal pen, which is made up of a central shaft with expansions on each side like a quill, hence the name “pen.” These animals are very numerous in individuals and form a large part of the food of fishes, like the blue-fish, black bass, etc., and have even been found in the stomach of jelly-fishes. Besides being eaten by the fish the squid furnishes a large part of the food of some whales, the former occurring frequently in shoals and falling ready victims to the huge monster.

In Norway and Sweden the people have a legend of a peculiar sea-monster, called the Kraken, which was probably founded on some of the enormous squids discovered during the past thirty years. Many of these mollusks are found off the coasts of Norway, Scotland and Ireland, and not a few have been recorded from the coasts of Nova Scotia and New England. In the larger of these animals the body is eight or ten feet long, the short arms eight feet and the long, tentacular arms thirty feet in length, making in all an animal nearly forty feet long when fully stretched out! The squid is greatly prized as bait and frequently a royal battle will take place between one of these gigantic creatures and a boat’s crew. Sad indeed is the fate of the latter if the mollusk once gets a firm hold of the boat. Care is used, however, to guard against such a result, and the animal is gradually deprived of its strength by making a sudden dash, cutting off an arm and as quickly retreating. These large squids are not as common as the smaller ones and they are rarely captured.

An ingenious method of capturing a species of the smaller squids (Ommastrephes illecebrosa) in use by the fishermen of the New England coast is as follows: The squid has the habit of swimming in an opposite direction to a light, as the full moon, so the fishermen go out to sea in boats, light a large torch in each boat and slowly row toward the shore, driving the squid, which of course swim backward in an opposite direction from the light, upon the beach, where they may be gathered by thousands after such an expedition. Another method of capture is by jigging; the jig is made of a piece of lead some two inches in length which is armed with a circle of sharp, unbarbed wires pointing upward and curving outward. The process of jigging is accomplished as follows: the jig is attached to twelve or fifteen feet of stout line and is lowered into the water, which is generally chosen of a depth of ten feet from the side of a small boat. When near the bottom it is kept moving slowly up and down until a squid is felt upon it, when it is suddenly drawn to the surface with the squid attached. These squid, when caught, are used for bait, a single fishing smack being known to use as many as eighty thousand squids in a single season.

A familiar object to most canary-bird fanciers is the cuttle-bone placed in the cages of these birds for them to sharpen their beaks upon. This “cuttle-bone” is the internal support of the Cuttle-fish (Sepia officinalis) and is homologous with the pen of the squid, mentioned above. The animal of Sepia is short and rounded, with a large head surrounded by a row of eight short arms and two very long tentacular arms, ending in expanded clubs armed with powerful suckers. Like the Octopus and Squid, the Cuttle-fish is capable of many changes of colors by the contraction and expansion of its pigment cells. They are found throughout the world, living near the shore, but the species found about European shores are the best known.

Frank Collins Baker.

God made all the creatures and gave them
Our love and our fear,
To give sign we and they are His children,
One family here.
—Robert Browning.

THE TRAILING ARBUTUS.
(_Epigaea repens._)

Many years ago, before the Mayflower had cast anchor in Plymouth Bay or Columbus had landed at San Salvador, an aged indian sat shivering in his wigwam. Vainly had he sought for fuel and in his extremity he called upon the Great Spirit, that he might not perish with the cold. Crouching over the dying embers of his fire he stoically awaited the end, when suddenly there appeared before him a beautiful maiden wreathed with wild flowers and carrying in her hands, buds of the willow. Ferns and grasses draped her form and her moccasins were fashioned from pure white lilies. When she breathed the landscape suddenly blossomed with the thousand hues of nature and the warm rains fell in obedience to her will.

Under the influence of this spirit of the springtime the aged red man slumbered and, as his head sank upon his breast, the sunshine came out in all its splendor and a blue bird alighted upon the top of the wigwam. Slowly the maiden passed her hand above the old indian and gradually he shrank away until nothing remained but a cluster of green leaves. Then taking from her bosom a cluster of rosy blossoms, she concealed them among the leaves, bestowing upon them her own sweetness and fragrance and telling them that as the harbingers of spring, all who would inhale their fragrance, must bow the knee in honor of the vernal goddess. The maiden then passed away through the woods and over the prairies and wherever her footsteps lingered, there grows today the sweet-breathed mayflower.

Whether or not this fanciful story relates the real origin of the Trailing Arbutus, Ground Laurel or Mayflower, as it is variously called in different sections of the country, the fact remains that it follows closely in the footsteps of spring, often pushing up its dainty blossoms through the leaves and snow. It is always known as the Mayflower throughout New England and the old story of its being Flora’s first offering to the ocean-tossed pilgrims as they landed at Plymouth, in appreciation of which they named it the Mayflower in memory of their vessel, has endeared the beautiful plant to every New England heart and has caused it to be placed in Cupid’s keeping, along with the Scotch blue bell, the German corn flower and the Swiss edelweiss.

The Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens) belongs to the Heath family or Ericaceæ and constitutes the only species of the genus. Like the partridge berry which is often associated with it in pine woods and sandy soils, it is still in a state of transition, although it has been developing for centuries. As a rule, plants have the stamens and pistils in the same blossom or part in one and part in another. The Mayflower, however, does not carry out this arrangement. Either the anthers or the stigmas are abortive or partially so, or in other words, the perfect stigmas are usually associated with abortive anthers and vice versa. In this manner, nature has wisely provided for cross fertilization which is accomplished largely by insects, as the structure of the plant is not adapted to wind fertilization. The chosen agents for this process are honey bees, and a few early moths and butterflies, to which the nectar is served by this beautiful Hebe of the spring and who carry the pollen from one flower to another.

A wise provision of nature has been pointed out whereby ants are kept away from the nectar which they would devour without accomplishing the purposes for which it was created. Every rocky hillside on which the Trailing Arbutus is frequently found, swarms with ants which are debarred from the blossoms by hairs which project upward from the inner surfaces of the corolla and the outer surfaces of the ovary and style and effectually prevent the ants from entering but are not sufficiently rigid to keep out the larger insects.

As a rule, the pollen bearing flowers are larger and whiter than the others. The stigma bearing blossoms, while small, more than offset their defect by a rosy color which makes the flowers far more attractive than their larger but paler rivals.

Very little success has been achieved in domesticating the Trailing Arbutus. It is essentially a wild creature and prefers to waste its fragrance on the desert air. Success may be had, however, if the conditions under which the plants are found growing are preserved as nearly as possible. Yearling plants should be selected and plenty of roots taken or results can be obtained from planting seeds, but as these are difficult to obtain, the other method is the more satisfactory.

Charles S. Raddin.

TRAILING ARBUTUS.

Ah, quite alone these April days
It blossoms to evoke my praise;
And hyacinthine scents are shed
To bless and cheer me, hither led.

Upon this sheltered, upland knoll,
At early dawn I often stroll;
White clusters edged with crimson hue
Lie here, impearled with crystal dew.

The leaves, like memories, evergreen,
The blooms, like truth, of purest sheen;
The cup within, like some fair breast
Where holy thoughts can surely rest.

How worthy of its meek renown!
Delightful gem for beauty’s crown.
O’er it with joy can poet brood;
It breathes of God in solitude.
—George Bancroft Griffith.

THE MOUNTAIN LAUREL.
(_Kalmia latifolia._)

About the middle of the eighteenth century an enthusiastic botanist and collector, Peter Kalm, gathered specimens in America of a beautiful plant which he carried back to the gardens of Europe and also to his preceptor, the naturalist Linnaeus. In the year 1753 Linnaeus named the plant, honoring his pupil by giving to the plant the generic name Kalmia. He also gave it the specific name latifolia, referring to its broad leaves.

The genus Kalmia includes six known species, five of which are natives of eastern North America and one a native of Cuba. They are all beautiful shrubs, varying in height from a few inches to several feet.

The plant of our illustration is a native of the eastern portion of the United States, where it grows in sandy or rocky woods and is more abundant in mountainous regions. This shrub, which grows to a maximum height of twenty feet, is a superb object early in June, when it is covered with corymbs of rather large pink or pinkish-white flowers and numerous evergreen leaves.

Easily cultivated and highly ornamental, it has been introduced into the greenhouses and gardens of this and European countries.

In spite of the beauty of this plant, it has a bad reputation, for its leaves are narcotic and poisonous to some animals. “Even the intelligent grouse, hard pressed with hunger when deep snow covers much of their chosen food, are sometimes found dead and their crops distended by these leaves.”

We cannot show the characteristics of this plant in any better way than to quote from “Nature’s Garden,” where we find the following passage:

“All the Kalmias resort to a most ingenious device for compelling insect visitors to carry their pollen from blossom to blossom. A newly opened flower has its stigma erected where the incoming bee must leave on its sticky surface the four minute orange-like grains carried from the anther of another flower on the hairy underside of her body. Now, each anther is tucked away in one of the ten little pockets of the saucer-shaped blossom and the elastic filaments are strained upward like a bow. After hovering above the nectary, the bee has only to descend towards it, when her leg, touching against one of the hair-triggers of the spring trap, pop! goes the little anther-gun, discharging pollen from its bores as it flies upward. So delicately is the mechanism adjusted, the slightest jar or rough handling releases the anthers; but, on the other hand, should insects be excluded by a net stretched over the plant, the flowers will fall off and wither without firing off their pollen-charged guns. At least this is true in the great majority of tests. As in the case of hot-house flowers, no fertile seed is set when nets keep away the laurel’s benefactors.”

Many of our readers reside near the home of the Mountain Laurel and can examine the interesting features of this beautiful plant in Nature’s own garden. Those that do this will be well repaid.

Violets stir and arbutus waits,
Claytonia’s rosy bells unfold;
Dandelion through the meadow makes
A royal road, with seals of gold.
—Helen Hunt Jackson.

Description of Plate.—A, staminate (male) inflorescence; B, pistillate
(female) inflorescence; C, fruiting branch; 1, staminate flower; 2,
perigone; 3, stamen; 4, open anther; 5, pollen; 6, pistillate catkin;
7, 8, 9, pistillate flowers; 10, scales; 11, 12, 13, scales and
flowers; 14, 15, fruit; 16, 17, 19, seed; 20, resin gland (lupulin).

HOPS.
(_Humulus lupulus L._)

“A land of hops and poppy-mingled fields.”

—Tennyson: Aylmer’s Field.

The hop plant is a creeping perennial with several stems or branches attaining a length of fifteen to twenty-five feet. It has numerous opposite three to five lobed, palmately veined, coarsely toothed leaves with long leaf stalks (petioles). Flowers unisexual, that is staminate and pistillate flowers separate, either on separate plants (dioecious) or upon different branches of the same plant (monoecious). Flowers insignificant in loose, drooping axillary panicles. Fruit a cone-like catkin usually designated a strobile.

The hop has been called the northern vine. It is found in a wild state throughout Europe, excepting the extreme north, and extends east to the Caucasus and through central Asia. It is a handsome plant and not infrequently used as an arbor plant. The lower or basal leaves are very large, gradually decreasing in size toward the apex. H. lupulus is the only representative of the genus.

It is rather remarkable that a plant so widely distributed and familiar should not have been known to the Greeks and Romans. Its cultivation in Europe dates back to the eighth and ninth centuries. It was, however, not extensively cultivated until about the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

The word hop (German, Hopfen) is of very uncertain origin. According to some authorities it is traceable to the old English, hoppan, in reference to the habit of the plant in climbing over hedges and fences. Humulus is said to refer to its habit of creeping over the soil. Lupulus (diminutive of lupus, wolf) is said to refer to the pernicious and destructive influence the hop plant has upon plants which it uses as a support, especially the willows. Plinius named it Lupus salictarius, that is, the willow wolf or willow destroyer.

Beside the countries above named hops is also cultivated in Brazil and other South American countries, Australia and India. There are several cultivated varieties. According to most authorities it is not supposed to be indigenous to North America, but Millspaugh expresses it as his opinion that it is indigenous northward and westward, growing in alluvial soil, blossoming in July and fruiting in September.

The plants are planted in rows and the rapidly growing branches trained upon poles stuck into the soil. Three or four male plants (with staminate flowers) are grown in an acre patch to supply the necessary pollen. Some authorities state, however, that the female plants develop enough staminate flowers to effect pollination. It is extensively cultivated in England, Germany and France. Also in New England, New York, Michigan, and in fact nearly every State in the Union.

In Belgium the young, tender tops of the plants are cut off in the spring and eaten like asparagus, especially recommended to the pale and anaemic and those with scrofulous taints.

The peculiar hop-like fruiting known as strobiles are collected in the fall of the year (September to October), dried and tightly packed into bales. The base of the scales of the strobile are covered with a yellowish powder, consisting of resin-bearing glands, known as lupulin. One pound of hops yields about one ounce of lupulin. Since the medicinal virtues of hops reside in the lupulin it will be readily understood that the hops from which the glands have been removed is of little or no medicinal value. Lupulin as well as the hops have a faint, peculiar, somewhat yeasty odor, which increases with age due to the development of valerianic acid. For medicinal purposes only fresh hops should be used.

The principal use of hops is in the manufacture of beer, to which it imparts the peculiarly bitter taste, and its repute as a tonic. For this purpose enormous quantities are consumed in Germany and England. The exhausted hops from the breweries form an excellent fertilizer for light soils. The leaves have been used as fodder for cows. Leaves, stems and roots possess astringent properties and have been used in tanning. In Sweden the fibre of the stems is used in manufacturing a very durable white cloth, not unlike the cloth made from hemp and flax.

Hops is used medicinally. It at first causes a very slight excitation of brain and heart, followed by a rather pronounced disposition to sleep. Pillows stuffed with hops form a very popular domestic remedy for wakefulness. Hop bags dipped in hot water form a very soothing external application in painful inflammatory conditions, especially of the abdominal organs. It has undoubted value as a bitter tonic in dyspepsia and in undue cerebral excitation. Tincture of lupulin and red pepper (capsicum) enjoys the reputation of being a very efficient substitute for alcoholic stimulants when their use is to be discontinued. Earlier physicians recommended hops very highly in kidney and liver complaints, as a “blood purifier” and to cure eruptive skin troubles. It is recommended in nervous troubles and in delirium tremens. The roots were formerly employed as a substitute for sarsaparilla.

Hops contains an etherial oil, resin and tannic acid. The oil and the resin are important constituents in the manufacture of beer. The young shoots contain asparagin, etherial oil, resin and sugar.

Albert Schneider.

AWAKENING.

Never yet was a springtime,
Late though lingered the snow,
That the sap stirred not at the whisper
Of the south wind sweet and low;
Never yet was a springtime
When the buds forgot to blow.
—Margaret E. Sangster.

INDEX.
Volume IX—January, 1901, to May, 1901, Inclusive.

Page.

A
Apple, The (Charles S. Raddin), 38
April [Sonnet] (Helen Hunt Jackson), 145
April [Poem] (Bernard Malcolm Ramsay), 145
Arbutus, The Trailing (Charles S. Raddin), 228
Arbutus, Trailing [Poem] (George Bancroft Griffith), 231
At Dusk [Poem] (Albert Schneider), 96
Awakening [Poem] (Margaret E. Sangster), 236

B
Back-Yard Class, A (Lee McCrae), 214
Bacteria, The Study of (Adolph Gehrmann), 6
Bear, The , 122
Beaver, The , 170
Before the Storm [Poem] (Mary Morrison), 119
Bird Calendar by the Poets, A (Arranged by Ella F. Mosby), 24
Bird Gossip, A Bit of (S. E. McKee), 115
Bird Incidents (Berton Mercer), 126
Bird-Joke at Leafy Lawn, A (Gertrude Southwick Kingsland), 202
Bird Notes [Poem] (Mary Hefferan), 85
Bird, The Autobiography of a (Caroline Crowinshield Bascom), 17
Bird, The Story (Belle P. Drury), 121
Birds, The Geographical Distribution of (Lynds Jones), 65
Blackbird or Grackle, The Rusty , 204
Blackbird’s Song, The [Poem] (Walter Thornbury), 151
Black Bugs, The Story of Some (Louise Jamison), 12
Boy-Chickadee (Elizabeth Nunemacher), 120