The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-07-29

Agriculture: so it sent one of its men away out 10 Africa and across the Des- ert of Sahara to find the oases and see how palms grow there.
 He found gorgeous morning blOFy tWining all over the houses of the Arabs. And then he found the beautiful cases, and when he returned it was with many camels. all laden with fine date palms.
 And these are growing finely now in our country. That was a real Arabian Nights play trip that has been worth lots and lots of money to the country.
 Some charming toys are those that everybody may see in the many wealth CT observing stations of the govern ment. There are busy little windmills. turning like anything. and funny little round disks on arms that dance all the time, and queer spiral glass tubes that move lead pencils over charts.
 A weather observatory would be the very place of all that any child would select. if it cauld have it's way. for a playroom. There are so many funny instruments, and scores on scores of queer-colored flags, and little guady- colored lanterns, that ones heart quite fills with a desire to play with them.
 Yet even while one is looking at them turn and dance. those tempting toys may be telling of storm that is killing folk and blowing houses down far away. The little flags and lanterns. when hoisted. may seem anything but tDrrr. En 4h1 spell hurricane, and others talk of hail and rain, and others warn all human kidd to stay snug in shelter. There was learned man in Woods Hole in Massachusetts the other day, who had great fun with starfish in little saucers and bright flashing glass tanks. Woods Hole is the place where the gov ernment studies fish. This man went
 out and caught a lot of the beautiful things called starfish, because they look so much Ike stars.
 Children who have seen them and played with them and admired thief will
 find it hard to believe that they are really first cousins to the devilfish and octopus, as they are.
 The man played lots of games with the stars. He put some of them into shallow vessels and found that they had queer habits. For instance a starfish | would try to crawl over the side of the | dish, but as soon as he found he would
 have to lift his arms out of the water | to do it he would slide right back. But if he could get just enough water to keep his arms covered, he would crawl away rapidly, quite regardless of
 the fact that all the rest of his body
 was sticking out high and dry. | The man also got many eggs of the
 star and put them into tiny trays full of salt water and matched them out. Glo- | riously beautiful little things they were, purple and crimson and scarlet and yell low, each one as tiny as pinhead, yet
 each one perfect five-armed star.
 And as soon as each was matched it
 would hustle right to the bottom and
 fasten on a bit of green weed, where it
 shone like flashing gem.
 | Now this was truly pleasant play.
 But it was profitable too. For the star 1 fish is a terrible enemy of the oyster | and the clam.
 The starflsh used to eat so many oys- | ters and clans that the fishermen of
 Connecticut alone lost more than one
 hundred thousand dollars. The play of the man in Woods Hole has taught the
 government new ways of fighting the stars and it is now sending the informa-
 tion to all the fishermen and sheilfish planters.
 So all the playing means vast sums of money saved or earned In various ways. New York Sun