Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-12
NATURE IN SUMMERTIME
BY d. C. PEATTIE

indicates that the tree belongs to q
tropical family.
Foliage in This Region.
When Summer is at its height the
dominance Of green is almost oppres-
sive, as you walk in Rock Greek Park
or in the woods above Great Falls. This
IS not so true Of the light green's as Of
the blue-green shades Of vegetation.
Some spots, especially in old Washing
ton, have almost too much of a good
thing in having so many trees; on a
hot, breathless night you feel as
though you were sleeping at the bot
tom of well of vegetation.
But there Is something very wonder
ful in the mile on mile of foliage, filed
with that magical substance called
chlorophyn, the green coloring matter
In leaves, which, Harvesting the suns
energy with q low efficiency Cbut still
higher than any man has devised for
the same purpose), manufactures plant
food, and SO nourishes the world.
Wood to burn, coal, food, fibers like
cotton and hemp, all are the products
OF chlorophyn. On it we depend abso-
lutely, for even animal products
leather, meat, silk, milk, eggs, horn, glue,
FUR, wool, from animals that eat chic
rophyl or that eat animals that eat
chlorophyll. The greenery Of Summer
leaves is the frail thread on which the
existence OF man is hung.
In school they taught you long ago
that animals breathe up oxygen and
plants give 1t out, so a walk in the
woods is walk through clean, pure
air. This is undoubtedly true, even
though scientists modified this old idea
when they discovered that at night
plants also breathe out carbon dioxid
like animals, a gas poisonous to man.
Doctors and nurses got hold of this
botanical fact and decreed that 1t was
unhealthy to leave flowers in a sick
persons room at night. Theoretically
this is true, but If the window Is open
even a very little, 20 vases full OF
flowers would not give of enough car
ference in patients health. If you
slept in a hot. moist, air-tight green
/ house, you might wake up feeling
! stuffy, but that is all. One gas fixture
| in room leaks more poison gas from
! its joints, however well fixed, than q
| jungle Of flowers.
Heat Waves,
Inevitably the weather Of the State,
| to the West creepS across the map anC
brings prostrations and deaths, beside.
| an immense amount of discomfort, II
its wake. A hot spell, the vital stats.
tics show, sends the death rate amonl
infants and old folks soaring; the In
creased death rate in young people Il
| largely due to drowning. Heat-crazec
| people rush recklessly into rivers anc
| jam the beaches of Maryland. Ever
| those who can swim are frequently
demonstrating those who cannot.
! AS Mark Twain said, everybody talks
about the weather but nobody does any
thing about it. The tourist doesn'
mind it, for the good psychological rea
son that he has his return ticket IL
his pocket, and he enjoys plying th'
poor Government workers who have Il
stand 1t.
When people tell us that it is soot
corn weather 1t makes us a bit hotter
like most consoling remarks. But Their
are few hints that scientists give u
which, like most advice, are given ava.
free yet seldom taken.
For instance, the way to cool of, a
people in tropical countries well know
is not to take a cold bath and rub down
briskly. but to take warm bath ant
fan yourself dry with the towel.
An electric fan is indispensable II
Washington. and melt merely to thin
what working hours in Washington
were before its invention. But ham
ran WORKS up more neat IMAM any SKIN
cooling can compensate for.
Drinks even when iced only raise tn
temperature of the body II they contai
alcohol or sugar. Two Jumps of sugar
polar explorers have found, will rails
. the body temperatures high enough I
restore comfort at the North Pole. T
make lemonade effective In cooling Of
the suffering body, take it with ice bu
no sugar.