The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1912-05-29
Emmanuel
Catty's
RadiSh
BY b. L'Estranee
E&yNrEl

-
Yes" Emmanuel Catty sat up tri-
umphantly. with MY patent manure
! will grow the biggest radishes in the
! United States
Emmanuel Catty vas a recent emf
grant to America. On the voyage
thither he had become converted to
! vecetarianism, and henctforth intend.
ed to devote his life TO the culture
OF vegetables, convinced that fame
and fortune would crown his efforts.
1t had taken his fertile brain but a
short period to evolve a manure, com.
b:ued OF more chemicals than could
be named in summers day. OF its
universal efficacy he had no doubt;
bu: DESTROYS of proceeding with all
prudence, he intended TO try it first
on the humble but tasty and succu.
lent radish. He MANFRED his plot Of
ground and soweG his seed accord.
ingly; but, as time went on. the leaves
OF only one radish appeared above the
ground
Never mind" said Emmanuel, ut
will be monster
The weather WAS exceedingly hot.
but the radish grew ard prospered.
It's leaves filled all Emmanuel's little
plot and broke down the fences En-
manuel watered it daily from the well
at the back Of his house but the heat
continued. and by ard by the well
gave out. Then. one by one. all the
wells in the neighborho0d gave out;
there was a drought.
Presently the only green things in
the neighborhood were the leaves of
the huge vegetable. which. in spite of
the heat. continued to grow and pros
per. People came from miles round
to see the radish, till Emmanuel piled
huge barricade OF old meat tins in
front of 1t, and demanded cent
apiece for permission to look inside
Then still more persons came, tor
they knew there must be something
worth seeing, if they had to pay in
order to see. Emmanuels pride and
his profits grew daily. till at last it
was time TO dig up the radish.
But, behold. It would not come IN.
Emmanuel Catty, aware that it would
be work of some difficulty, had rcqui
sitioned half-a-dozen neighbors with
picks and shovels to assist him, and
large cart whcrewith TO carry the
radish away But the farther down
he and his companions dug the far
Their the radish extended.
Its bulk diminished. it is true. after
they had dug down hundred feet or
so; It showed slight symptoms of mar
rowing, as If intending to taper. as
do ordinary radishes But its perfec-
tion had to be taken on trust, for let
Its owner and his companions dig as
they would. the radsh showed no
signs Of stopping. The tail seemed
prepared to continue indefinitely
by this time scaffoldng was erect
ed. and the sides of the pit round the
radish were strutted up: the whole
state had gone wild with excitement,
and three leading newspapers had
opened subscription lists to enable
Catty to continue the work OF extract
Ing the radish. So the digging con.
tinued. and as Catty superntended II,
he realized suddenly the cause OF the
drought: that wrctched radish had
drawn to itself all the water IN the
ncighborhood. and tapped the wells.
If anything. this increased the in
'erest of the public: people felt tina,
they had sacrificed something to the
radish. and had right in 1t; so the
boring went on with undiminished en-
ergy. Emmanuel Catty heading the
workers and rejoicing in the though,
that he was famous at last.
After some weeks. however. the
work came to standstill: the hea,
in the mine was becoming intense
and the raGish still extended down
ward. Emmanuel nearly wept with
disappointment when the suggestion
Of giving up the task was first made
Come what would. he vowed he would
see the end Of that radish. Il believe.
he cried. that 1t goes right through
, the EARTH"
People looked at each other dub,
ously; II seemed possible that N,
idea was correct; but how to nut 4
, to the test! The heat in the min,
was already sitting. Then Cat,y ha,
another idea.
LET us excavate inside the radis,
4 ITSELF" he cried. That will be coo
enough"
This was true; the water which tn,
radish had sucked up into itself from
% large an area kept 1t cool an,
fresh: besides. 1t was easy to worh
and not difficult to strut up; so int
the very heart Of the radish plunee
Catty and his devoted followers. bu,
rowing steadily downward. and excs
waiting the radish pulp day by day.