The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-07-24


planted and that grew up to the sky.
1t came in a letter coiled up like lit
tie green snake and | thought at first
II was snake. 1t is about the size
of an average wax bean and is twenty
eight and one half inches long. |
measured ii on my square and am sat
istied ii was at least thirty inches
when ii was taken from the vine, for
it has shrunk some in the mail. He
writes that he has lineal descendant
Of Jack and the bean stalk and this
variety has been handed down through
seventeen generations, more or less,
and these beans won't grow for any
body except Irish patriots or Confed-
crate veterans The writer belonged
TO Captain Dawson's company in the
Eighth Georgia regiment and was
with us that memorable night when
we crossed the Shenandoah river py
torch light and the short boys had 70
be eased over the deep places by put
ting taller soldiers behind them. and
even then the water ran into their
mouths occasionally. Ny friend was
one Of the shorts and says he got
strangled several times on tiptoe.
These bean vines and other vines
have often excited my wonder and
contemplation. Solomon says: There
is a purpose for everything under
heaven" and Addison says: In rea-
sons voice all rejoice" And so /
would like to know why all the bean
vines. morning glories, madeira and
cinnamon vines grow and wind toward
the sun. starting on the south side
of the pole and going east. while the
top vine and some others reverse their
course. Everything has its law and
you can't make anything change its
nature. \ vine will die il YOU force it,
the wrong way. And vet Raphael
Semmes says in his great book that
south OF the equator everything is re
versed and the bean vines that climb
against the sun up here climb with il
down there. OF course the motion
| of the earth on its axis has something
| to do with it, but Why is it 50? We
| don't know much after all. Mrs
| HemaDs says: And flowers shall
wither at the north winds breath.
| but if she had lived in South America
| she would have said ''at the south
| winds BREATH for that is the cold
| wind below the equator We are all
| inclined to view things from our own
| standpoint. OF course it is very nat
| ural for us to do so for we live in the
| same zone and latitude that Adam and
| Eve lived in. "Westward the course
| Of empire takes its way. That's all.
| No change in the course of the sun
| OF moon or stars or climate or tenn
| perature. Paradise was on line with
| Cartersvile, and it is yet. and the Eu-
| pirates river is the Etowah now and
| the gold Of that land was good and 50
| is the gold Of this.
| But | was Illuminating about these
| mysteries of nature that surround us
| and are so common that we do not no
! tice them. Last night our grove was
| Illuminated by thousand firefies-
| more numerous and more brilliant
| than ever before. 1t was regular pyro-
| technics for an hour. They tighten
| as they rise from the grass and emit
a spark of gold and green luster that
| is lovely. Some naturalsts say it IS
| phosphorus that they can illuminate
| at will by breathing hydrogen or ONy-
| gen into it and that it has not heat.
| Ever since Linneus lived this little
| innocent bug has been under the fires
| of dissection and discussion and no
| solution of its wonderful faculty has
| yet been agreed upon. ! had TO catch
| a bottle full for the little girls. They
| played with them until bed time and
| then ! turned them out and one of
| them was dead with the light still
| shining in it's tail 1t had illuminated
its own death and kept its lantern
| burning without a breath OF hydrogen
| or oxygen Away down in the tropics
| these firefiies are an inch long and 4
| score or two of them Will illuminate
| a room and Il dozen in a bottle gives
| light to read by. Travellers tie Il dozen
| to Il sstrick and travel at night by their
| light. | would like to import some OF
| that variety into my grove. In fact |
| think we could utilize them in our
| street lamps and get more light than
! we do now.
The other morning about sunrise
| | was surprised at the number OF lit
| tie cobWebs that adorned the grass
| and weeds around the house. They
were almost touching each other and
| glistCned in the morning sun like a
frost was upon them. Most Of them
were about the size Of a saucer and
had their tiny cords and stays fasten-
| cd securely and in everyone was q
cunning little aperture where The
weaver lived and waited and watched
for his prey. The workmanship OF
| these little webs was exquisite. artls-
tie and pcrfect-where did the little
creature get its material and who told
it that this was good morning TO set
its trap? The books tell rs that II
has within its little abdomen tiny
reel that turns as the web is spun
and that the fiber * SO wonderfully
fine it would take ten thouSand
strands 10 make a thread OF sewing
, silk Wendell Phillips delivered lee
ture in Boston and his subject vas:
There Is Nothing New Under the
sun" He declared that 1000 wears
{ ago the Persian ladies could weave
fabrics as delicate as Il spiders wei
ard that once a Persian princess wht
was going out to II fashionable dance
went into her fathers room TO sho"