Bridgeton pioneer., 1910-05-26

Why the olacA bass titles on one day
and refuses every bait the next: why
he takes helgramiteS and only he'll
GRANTEES on Monday, grasShopperS on
Tuesday and frogs on Wednesday;
why he bites only on dark days for a
fortnight and then shifts his biting
humor TO days bright and breezy; why
you find him today on sandy bottom
and tomorrow on mud and the day
after on the rocks. are bafBiug traits
Of the bass that relate merely TO his
sporting relations with the angler
But there are other mysteries that
puzzle the naturalist and bear on the
organic life Of the fish.
Up in Maine are two bass rivers not
far apart In one the fish run often
to four. even to FIVE. pounds; In the
other rarely above a pound and a half.
In one of the largest lakes of New
Hampshire the writer's score for n
whole season once ran up to 3qS fish
Food was evidently abundant. for the
bass were chunky" and the viscarea
thick with fatty tissues Yet the post.
mortem showed in the stomach only
glutinous. uLrecognizable white mat.
ter, and the largest bass of the whole
season drew the scales at but 4 pound
and three-quarters. What did those
bass live on. and why didn't they grow
bigger? Again. in the uplandS OF Con
nectieut are two large lakes some eight
miles apart In the one bass are of
ten caught in winter ice fishing; in
the other lake almost never in winter.
though in its open summer waters
bass fishing is the better Remember
ing that the bass are supposed to hi
bernate and in fairly deep waters
would not that fact argue in the late
season darker outward hues and deep
er bronzeS: Yet the head of a large
bass hatchery has observed a silvery
change Of the bass at the approach cf
winter when his habit and habitat
would imply the exact reverse. Such
are a few OF the anatomical enigmas
Of the black bass that make him and
his paradoxes an interesting study fo;
that open minded angler who blends
the naturalist with the sportsman
Collier's Weekly.
The bursting leaves of springtime
Illustrate nature as a chemist who
performs feats which the highest ex-
actitude of science cannot hope TO RI
val. In leaf the living matter is his
chemist, and the cell is his laboratory
By daylight the leaf chemist is alb
sorbing the carbonic acid gas and
Is decomposing this gas into its COM
ponent elements-carbon and oxygen.
The carbon it is retaining as part of
the plants food to enter into combina-
ton with water. and the oxygen it
sets free into the atmosphere. By
night this process ceases, for light is
an essential feature in the operation.
Out Of the carbon and the water the
leaf chemist will elaborate the sugars
and starches which the plant world
affords. As sugar the products viii
pass from the leaf TO be stored up. as
In the case Of the potato, for example,
SO as TO afford storehouse Of food
whereon the plant may draw for its
sustenance and for the development Of
Its leaves and flowers when occasion
comes. All the vegetable essences and
acids, the scents and gums. the juices
which yield india rubber, the fiavoring
OF fruits and even the color of the
flowers are similarly the products of
constructive chemistry which beats
mans best efforts to initiate Man fol.
lows nature, but at a dtstance.-Ch,.
caSo Tribune.