The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-04-26

The sky was almost clear OF clouds when
we reached the street and the sun was fast
removing all trace of rain from the cement
walks.
There is one thing we are all thankful
for in Irvington," said Betty. Cement
walks are vast improvement over the
mud paths and gravel walks we had few
years ago. Now you can keep your shoes
clean after a rain, while formerly you were
fortunate If you did not lose them in the
sticky mud on some of the new streets"
lone Of the blessings of annexation, per-
haps." 1 ventured.
mo, indeed. Irvington was progressive
long before its independence was stolen.
Nothing has yet been done by the munich
pality that robbed us of our Town Board
and our picturesque guardian of the peace
Sometimes We get glimpse of blue coat
and a big shield. just as reminder that
a power exists somewhere. but there is no
other evidence of our having been urban
lied. Yes we have had promises. and are
living in hope of securing some of the utili-
ties deemed necessary to modern life
THAT looks like one of the promises" and
1 pointed to water pipes which had been
strung along the street preparatory to put
ting them under ground.
THAT certainly is evidence of progress
| toward the fulfillment of one promise, at
| least" Betty admitted.
"And over there" / said, pointing to
Washington street, preparations are being
made to build a fire engine house, and the
city engineer is arranging to give you a
sewerage system that will cost many thou
sand dollars before all the houses are con-
nected with it,
Betty made no reply. She was an original
| anti-annexationist, and has not yet become
wholly reconciled to the merging of the
| town with Indianapolis. At the end Of Lay
| man avenue she stopped to admire a japon-
| lea bush that was ablaze with scarlet flow
| ers. In the adjoining garden the apple,
pear. peach and cherry trees were all COW
| cred with blossoms.
There is a crab apple tree over there"
| and Betty called attention to a mass of white
| blossoms that almost hid the branches.
How delicious the perfume. Crab apple /
think, Is the most fragrant Of all orchard
| blossoms"
THAT tree near the house certainly gives
evidence of a bountiful CROP" and l indi-
Gated a tree that promised to yield album
| dainty.
| Eyes. if each blossom produced an apple,
there would be about $4,000 apples on the
tree. according to mathematician who
| counted the blossoms In a square foot of
space, measured the trees radius and COM
puted its total bearing capacity" said Betty
as she surveyed the cloud of white with a
mathematical eye.
What chance for the small boy! A
/
a great many aches if the fruit was eaten
| green"
mo Doubt Betty admitted, "but if the
10000 blossoms developed into apples the
fruit would be so small the boy would not
/ trouble 1T. 1 think the owner of the tree
would prefer that at least $4,000 of the bios
SONS dropped off and left no trace Of an
| embryo apple. The remaining 1000 apples
| might grow to an edible size. Some orchard
| lists, in order to increase the size of the
| fruit, pick off many of the apples when
| they begin to form. Their theory is that
the fewer on the tree the larger the apple.
THE florist, you know" Betty further
| explained, eff he desires a large chrysan-
| themum, permits only one flower to grow
| on plant, and it is the same with the
| large American we admire much. AL
the strength of a plant goes to swell the
| size of a single rose when size is wanted
| Many of the large Strawberries, melons
| pumpkins and other delights of the horti-
| culturist and farmer, which we see exhib-
| tied at fairs, have been forced beyond the
| average size in the same manner that the
| florist grows his prize flowers. A single eaI
of corn on a stalk is generally much larger
| than any of the two or more ears growing
| on another stalk
On our way back to the house Betty
| stopped occasionally to admire a Towering
ms were numerous and their tuneful voices
could be heard in all directions. Meadow
larks were caroling their spring lays and
blue birds and domestic sparrows were sing
ing or chattering. We stopped for a few
minutes at small grove where beech nuts
| and the winged seeds of the maple were
covering the ground with infant trees
Some of the beech nuts were at the burst.
ing stage, others had taken firm root dis.
carded their shells. and were shooting out
tiny leaves from the center of the kernel
"See how the beech nut evolves from the
| nut stage to the tree" and Betty pulled
one from the ground. when the germ is
| ready to sprout a long slender root shoots
downward and anchors the nut firmly
| Then the kernel swells until the shell
cracks, the meat of the nut takes the
form of two thick leaves, and from the
center another leaf develops. The outel
leaves are oddly shaped as they burst out
of the three-cornered pyramid Here is q
shell that is tougher than some of the
others. See how it is throttling the would
be tree and forcing the first leaves to re-
tain cramped shape, while the third Leaf
is pushing its way upward.
Betty found a maple seed that was be-
ginning to grow. Two small leaves hat
formed and on the end of one was a wing
looking very much like the wing of an in
sect None of the acorns had yet sprouted
but few blackberry seeds were showing
signs of life. We gathered a few of tn,
sprouting nuts and seeds for examination
under the microscope, and continued oul
way toward home.
AS we approached the house Phyllis ant
Jack and Raymond and Laura could b.
seen trying to play tennis on a court tha
had not fully dried. The racquets looked
| &c 10 tbav had heep riSed ON muddy bol