Part 4

Two young Englishmen made a mock tree-trunk of cloth, painted its exterior, cut holes in it for observation and for the camera, tricked it out with vines, spread it out on a light frame so they could set it up where they chose, and got so many beautiful and scientifically interesting views that they have written a book that has had a large sale. It is embellished with half-tone engravings made from their collections of photographs, and is a most delightful and useful addition to one's library. It is entitled "Wild Life at Home," and is published by Cassell & Company of New York. It has met with such popularity largely because it has appeared just at the time when so many young people are turning their attention from the killing of birds and animals to the more pleasing and humane business of catching their likenesses in their native haunts.

Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, of Washington, a distinguished naturalist, has made many photographs of wild life in the United States, and embellished his own works with reproductions of these pictures which are so very interesting and difficult to secure.

The telephoto lens is a great help in taking the more timid subjects. Audubon used a telescope to get the most familiar glimpses of these little inhabitants of the forests long before the dry plate was invented. What would he not have given to have been the possessor of a means of taking instantly all the details and attitudes of the wild birds he loved so well!

The camera is now adding daily to the accurate knowledge we possess of the things of nature, and every young person should own one and become familiar with its rare qualities and usefulness. It is very gratifying to think that sport in the woods now means something superior to the old bloody work our boys formerly pursued with guns. With a copy of the book above mentioned a boy is equipped with suggestions and directions enough to keep him busy and well employed for several seasons.

MOLE CRICKET LODGE.

BERTHA SEAVEY SAUNIER.

Mr. and Mrs. Mole Cricket had folded their hands for the winter. The busy season was over, for the ground was all hard with the foot tread of Jack Frost and the snow lay all over the lodge--a solid, warm cover that squeaked and crunched quite musically when little Boy Will rode back and forth on it with his sled Dasher.

Shadows lay rather heavily in the lodge. The caverns and galleries which had been built in warmer times were hung with darkness and all was still in slumber.

Side by side in the chamber, just under the long, dead grass and the white snow, with a roof formed of tiny roots and loose earth, lay Mr. and Mrs. Mole Cricket.

It was the same chamber in which had lain the little white eggs that the warm sun had hatched, and from it the young crickets had gone out, already valiant, to burrow their own galleries, and seek their own food.

Slumber had gone on in the chamber for many weeks when, at a sudden sound, Mr. Cricket moved. We fancy he was cross at being disturbed. "What's that?" he said.

"Boy Will," answered his wife. "He's digging up the snow to make a snow man, and shouting."

"He'll make us cold," grumbled Mr. Cricket.

"Then we must go to the cavern."

"But we can't--I'm as stiff as a stick."

"I believe I am, too."

The earth that covered their roof was very sandy and loose, when not frozen, and as it was, it yielded readily to persistent thumps such as now fell about it. The snow was soggy--just right for building purposes--and Boy Will, in his enthusiasm, scraped up a shovelful of dirt with the last bit of snow that covered the lodge. His sharp eyes saw something black lying beneath the little dead roots that had in the summer belonged to his forget-me-nots. He took the shovel--it was his mother's stove shovel--and carefully pried the dark bundle up, and with his little red fingers separated it from its wrappings.

"Aha!" he said, and ran into the house. "Look a-here!" he cried as he ran up to his father's desk. "Well, well!" said his father, looking at the objects through gold-bowed spectacles, "that's the same sort of fellow that we teased last summer with a grass blade."

"Tell me," said Boy Will, in wonder, "don't you remember the little hole in the garden, and when I put in a spear of grass how the fellow grabbed it with his jaws? I drew him out and there was Sir Mole Cricket that does so much mischief in the garden."

"Oh yes; and now here are two; but they are dead."

"No, only asleep for the winter. The warm room will revive them but they may die after all. They will have awakened out of season."

"I wish I could put them back," said Boy Will.

"We will study them a little and then we will see," returned his father as he took up his penknife and pointed to the folded legs.

"Those big flat fore-legs are what do all the mischief. They are like strong little hands and have claws on them and they are used for digging. The main business of Sir Cricket is to burrow and he works away with these hands of his until he will have made a number of underground passages. And in his work he will cut off hundreds of new, tender roots that belong to plants and shrubs. And that's the mischief of him."

"What do they eat?"

"Why, little bugs; but they are fierce, hungry creatures, and when they meet a mole cricket that is weak and defenseless they pounce on him and eat him. They are no respecter of relatives."

"They don't deserve to live!" cried Boy Will, with a stamp.

"But we can give them their chances," returned Mr. Rey. "Now look at this one. There are two sets of wings. One outside and one inside like grasshoppers, but much shorter. Here are two delicate feelers, or antennæ, bent backward, and two at the end of the body. I suppose those are for the purpose of discovering any danger that might approach them from behind while they are busy at digging. The jaws are toothed and horny, and so, all in all, we may put Sir Cricket down in the same order in which are the katydid, grasshopper, field and house cricket, cockroach, earwig and so on, which is the order _Orthoptera_. Now come and show me where you found them."

Boy Will led the way where stood his half-built snow-man, and Mr. Rey with a stick felt about in the chamber for the opening to another cavity to the lodge.

"Ah, here it is--a warmer and a better one than the other because it is deeper," and he slipped the two objects in and stopped the doorway with earth and snow.

"Well, I declare!" said Mr. Mole Cricket from under his horny skin, "What do you think of that?"

"Why," said his wife, "they've put us in the cavern where we should have been in the first place. What a mistake it was to go to sleep in the nursery! Now we shall be quite safe until spring."

"Well, well, true enough!" returned Sir Mole Cricket. And they both fell asleep again.

SNOW BIRDS.

This poem, by Louis Honoré Frechette, the laureate of Canada, is very fine in the original, and holds the same position in French-Canadian literature that Bryant's "Lines to a Waterfowl" occupies in American classics. It is one of the poems that won for its author the crown of the French academy and the Grand Prix Monthyon of 2,000 livres.

When the rude Equinox, with his cold train From our horizons drives accustomed cheer, Behold! a thousand winged sprites appear And flutter briskly round the frosty plain. No seeds are anywhere, save sleety rain, No leafage thick against the outlook drear; Rough winds to wildly whip them far and near; God's heart alone to feel their every pain. Dear little travelers through this icy realm, Fear not the tempest shall you overwhelm; The glad spring buds within your happy song. Go, whirl about the avalanche, and be, O birds of snow, unharmed, and so teach me: Whom God doth guard is stronger than the strong. --_C. G. B._

VEGETATION IN THE PHILIPPINES.

Much attention has of late been devoted to the Philippines, and as one result considerable interest has been evinced in their natural products. In the matter of vegetation they are highly favored. Fruits grow in great abundance, and the reputation of some of them is already established abroad, as is the case, for example, with the mango. Other fruits grown in the islands are the ate (the cinnamon apple of the French colonists), the mangosteen, the pineapple, the tamarind, the orange, the lemon, the jack, the jujube, the litchi (regarded by the Chinese as the king of fruits), the plum, the chico-mamey (the sapodilla of the West Indies), the bread fruit, and the papaw. The last named is eaten like a melon, and is valued as a digestive; its juice furnishes an extract which is used as a medicament under the name of papaine, or vegetable pepsin. The banana grows abundantly and is a great boon to the poor people, supplying them with a cheap, delicious, and exceedingly nutritive food; there are many varieties, ten of which are in particular highly esteemed.

Plants which are cultivated for industrial purposes include the sugar cane, of which four varieties are grown--yellow cane, Otaheite cane, purple or Batavia cane, and striped cane. Of vegetables there are several pulses used as food by the natives which never appear on the tables of the European settlers. These include the mango, mentioned above, and three or four kinds of beans, such as the butingue, the zabache, the Abra bean, and the Patami bean. These suit the natives much better than the garbanzos, or chick peas, that are so highly prized by the Spaniards. Among the tuberous roots valued as food the sweet potato ranks first, with an annual production of 98,000,000 pounds. The common or white potato, although of inferior quality, stands next in importance. Then follows the camotengcahoy or manihot (cassava), the root of which is made edible by the removal of its poisonous juice in the same way as in the West Indies. After expression of the juice the pulp forms a sort of coarse-grained flour that is very nutritious, pleasant to the taste and easy to digest. Besides these tubers other plants, such as the ubi, the togui and the gabi, are cultivated in the fields for the sake of their edible roots. Other edible vegetables include calabashes, melons, watermelons, cucumbers, carrots, celery, parsley, tomatoes, egg plants, peppers, capers, cabbages, lettuce, endives, mustard, leeks, onions, asparagus, and peas. Of the cocoa palms the ordinary cocoanut tree is the most important, the oil of which is put to many and varied uses. The bamboo is much valued, the young and tender shoots making a very acceptable article of food, in the form of salads and other dishes, and the fibre is used for numerous purposes. Tobacco as a cultivated crop is generally grown in the same field as maize. Of spices the Philippines grow cinnamon, nutmegs, pepper, ginger, and majoram. Of medicinal plants the most familiar are the papaw, already mentioned, and ipecacuanha.

Among aromatic and ornamental plants may be mentioned magnolias, camellias, clematis, several kinds of roses, dahlias, ylang-ylang, papua, jessamine, and many species of orchids and ferns. These, however, grow wild in such profusion that little care is bestowed upon their cultivation.--_Gardener's Magazine._

COMMON MINERALS AND VALUABLE ORES.

3.--MINERALS CONTAINING CARBON.

THEO. F. BROOKINS, B. S., Principal Au Sable Forks Union Free School and Academy, New York.

Among minerals of economic importance carbon minerals hold the unique position of being at the same time of the most common and the most rare occurrence. As far as external appearance indicates, a piece of common coal and the most brilliant diamond are widely separated; with regard to chemical composition they are closely related. Intermediate between the coal of the stoke furnace and the "brilliant" of the jewelry shop is still another well-known form of carbon, the graphite of the lead pencil. These three substances comprise the far greater part of carbon-containing minerals.

In so far as our mind's picture of a mineral is that of an aggregation of crystals of fairly perfect form our consideration of coal as a mineral is erroneous. We must yield to a broader interpretation of the essential characteristics of a mineral and modify our idea so as to include any homogeneous substance (solid, with the single exception of mercury) of fairly definite chemical composition "occurring in nature but not of apparent organic origin." Organic substances are those that are alive or have lived.

Vegetation is, undoubtedly, the origin of all coal, but often much more than a cursory examination is necessary to prove such origin. In the less altered coals the vegetable origin is readily proved by the actual presence of seeds, plant fibers, and other equally apparent organic remains. A microscopic study is necessary for finding the presence of woody fiber in the more metamorphosed form. The word metamorphose comes from the Greek; _meta_ means after or over; _morphe_ is form. A metamorphosis is a change of form or a forming over.

The history of the discovery of the value of coal as a means of producing heat and of the development of the coal-mining industry covers a comparatively recent period. Coal occurs in such quantities near the surface of the earth's crust and its outcrops are so numerous that it cannot have failed to attract the attention of the most ancient of peoples. Indeed, that coal could be used as a fuel is mentioned by a writer, Theophrastus, who lived 300 years B. C. The ancient Celts of Britain are reputed to have evidenced knowledge of the industrial value of coal. It was not until near the middle of the thirteenth century, however, that coal became so important an economic product as to result in statutes granting to certain places the privilege of mining it. After a long period of trial in England the superiority of coal over other fuels was recognized, and stone coal, as the harder form was commonly known, came into general use. In America bituminous, or soft coal, was mined to a slight extent in the latter half of the eighteenth century. The form now commonly used in house-heating furnaces, anthracite, for a long time baffled the colonists in their efforts to make it burn. The knowledge that an anthracite fire is most effective if not continually poked is said to have been acquired generally by accident.

Europe and the United States to-day produce practically all the coal of the world. In Europe, Great Britain, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, and Belgium are the main sources of supply. Several important coal areas exist in our own country, notably that of the New England basin, with an area of 500 square miles; the Appalachian district, with an area of 65,000 square miles; the northern area, in Michigan, covering 7,000 square miles; the central area, comprising parts of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky, and including 48,000 square miles; the scattered western area, with a total of 98,000 square miles; the indefinite Rocky Mountain area, and the Pacific coast region, including parts of California, Oregon, and Washington. Coal mining is yet an undeveloped industry in our territorial possessions. Alaska has an abundant supply of coal, and lesser quantities are found in Cuba and Porto Rico.

Mention has already been made of the two common kinds of coal, bituminous and anthracite. These two kinds mark different stages in the transformation from plant organism to mineral product. As the biologist traces the successive steps in the evolution of an individual of a species from germ to adult, so the geologist unfolds before us the wonderful history of a piece of coal from its first appearance on the earth to the time when it is thrown into our fire grate as fuel. Coal is the metamorphosed product of vegetable growths, changed by atmospheric agencies and the internal forces of the earth acting through a total period of perhaps millions of years. In the remote past, ages before man had appeared on the earth, the atmosphere or our globe was highly charged with carbon gases. Vegetation flourished in luxuriance. Great swamps were common. The ocean alternately covered and receded from verdure-clothed land areas. Ponds were transformed to morasses and swamps. In the swamps thus formed, the accumulated sediment of centuries upon centuries covered alternate layers of decayed plant organisms, until finally beds of peat were formed. Great masses above pressed on those underneath; the internal heat of the earth reached up and transformed the densely packed masses of peat until the beds became hard and brown, the product of the partial metamorphism being what we know as lignite, or brown coal. With the continued action of the forces of metamorphism, the lignite turned still darker, and as more gases were driven off, became heavier, until the bituminous stage was reached, which, in turn, was succeeded by the anthracite stage.

Graphite, or black lead, is a mineral containing not more than five per cent of impurities, and is generally supposed to have originated as did mineral coal, and to represent a still more advanced stage of development. It occurs in various localities both in the vicinity of coal measures and far removed from them. The chief part of the world's supply comes from Ceylon, though Germany and the United States produce quantities of graphite of excellent quality. In the Laurentian rocks of Canada, and of course with as ancient origin, extensive deposits are found. This presence of graphite in strata in which as yet no certain traces of organic life have been found has led some to believe that this form of carbon mineral may have another than organic origin.

Various uses are served by graphite. The chemist finds it of great value in making his crucibles; the engineer uses it, finely powdered, as a lubricant; the housekeeper polishes stoves with it; the electrician uses it in his arc lights; all civilized nations use it in the lead of lead pencils. The stem, _grapho_ (to write), on which so many of our words, as geography, telegraph, graphophone, etc., are formed, suggests also the origin of the name, graphite. The finest quality lead pencils are those made from graphite occurring in a state sufficiently pure to allow the cutting and grinding of pieces to the size needed. In the case of the medium and poorer grade pencils, the graphite has first been finely powdered and then pressed into the requisite shape and size.

The purest form of carbon found in nature is the diamond. The rare occurrence of diamonds indicates that the essential conditions in nature for causing the transformation of some less pure form of carbon into diamond are seldom present. While diamonds have actually been produced in the laboratory by far-seeing and indefatigable chemists, yet the cost of such products is so great as to preclude the possibility of the most precious of gems becoming at all common. The diamond is the hardest of all known substances, and will scratch any other mineral across which it may be drawn.

Three localities have successively furnished the main part of the world's stock of diamonds. A century and a half ago, practically all the diamonds came from India, where at one time 60,000 persons were employed in diamond digging. Toward the middle of the eighteenth century, when the diamondiferous districts of India were becoming exhausted, the discovery of the precious gem in Brazilian deposits was made. At present, the supply of diamonds from Brazil has much diminished, and the diamond fields of South Africa, where is located the famous Kimberley mine, produce the larger part of the world's output of diamonds.

Among famous diamonds of the world should be mentioned the Koh-i-noor of the British crown, which, Hindu legend relates, was worn five thousand years ago by one of their national heroes. The largest known diamond, weighing three hundred sixty-seven carats, was found in Borneo, and is now owned by the Rajah of Matan.

FEBRUARY.

FEBRUARY,--fortnights two-- Briefest of the months are you, Of the winter's children last. Why do you go by so fast? Is it not a little strange Once in four years you should change, That the sun should shine and give You another day to live? May be this is only done Since you are the smallest one; So I make the shortest rhyme For you, as befits your time:

You're the baby of the year, And to me you're very dear, Just because you bring the line, "Will you be my Valentine?" --_Frank Dempster Sherman._

The snow had begun in the gloaming, And busily all the night Had been heaping field and highway With a silence deep and white.

Every pine and fir and hemlock Wore ermine too dear for an earl, And the poorest twig on the elm-tree Was ridged inch-deep with pearl.

From sheds new-roofed with Carrara Came Chanticleer's muffled crow, The stiff rails were softened to swan's-down, And still fluttered down the snow. --_Lowell._

LICORICE.

(_Glycyrrhiza glabra L._)

DR. ALBERT SCHNEIDER, Northwestern University School of Pharmacy.

But first he cheweth greyn and _licorys_ To smellen sweete.--_Miller's Tale, l. 504; Chaucer._

The licorice yielding plant is a perennial herb with a thick root-stock, having a number of long sparingly branched roots and very long runners or rhizomes. It belongs to the same family as the peas and beans (_Leguminosæ_). It has purplish flowers with the irregular corolla characteristic of the family. The pods are rather small, much compressed, each with from two to five seeds.

The plant is in all probability a native of the warm parts of the Mediterranean region. There are several varieties of _G. glabra_, all of which are more or less extensively cultivated and placed upon the market.

As to the exact habitat of licorice there is some difference of opinion. According to some authorities its native home is in the vicinity of the sea of Azov. Dioscorides was among the first to give a description of the plant and designated the pontic lands and Kappadonia of Asia Minor as its home. The Romans named the plant _Glycyrrhiza_. Celsius, Scribonius Largus, and Plinius described it as _Radix dulcis_, sweet root, on account of its sweet taste. Galenus, the eminent Roman physician, made extensive medicinal use of the roots as well as of the juice. Alexander Trallianus also recommended licorice very highly. Although this plant enjoyed extensive use during the middle ages it was apparently not included in the herbal list of Charlemagne, _Karl der Grosse_. In the 13th century licorice was highly prized in Switzerland as a remedy for lung troubles. It was similarly used in Wales and in Denmark. Pietro di Crescenzi of Bologna (1305) was the first to give a full report of the occurrence and cultivation of licorice. The Benedictine monks of St. Michaelis cultivated it extensively in the vicinity of Bamberg. The eminent authority, Flückiger, reports a peculiar practice by these monks. A new hand in the horticultural work was initiated by requiring him to dig up a complete root of a licorice plant with all its branches including the rhizome. This was by no means an easy task on account of the ramification of the roots and the extreme length of the rhizome.