66 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



for the insect, whose unconscious and 

 unintentional work is to transfer pol- 

 len from one blossom to another. Take, 

 for example, the accompanying" views 

 of the interior of the mallow's flower. 

 Could anything- more plainly express 

 nature's design, or reveal a beauty 

 more delicate or fairy-like? Here sure- 

 ly is a perfect machine, self-evidently 

 the work of a Mechanic who delib- 

 erately designed that machine. It is 

 unthinkable that such adaptation di- 

 rectly to a certain end could have been 

 without a designing workman. 



We suggest this aspect of flower 

 photographv as an interesting field for 

 our camerists. The secret of success is 

 to use a very short focus lens with a 

 long bellows, to stop down the lens, 

 and to give plenty of time in exposure. 

 The accompanying photographs were 

 taken with a five inch Dagor with 

 about three feet of bellows stopped 

 down to sixty-four, with an exposure 

 of three and one half minutes. 



A Mammoth California Pumpkin. 



BY JOHN L. VON BLON, LOS ANGELES, 

 CALIFORNIA. 



This California pumpkin is believed 

 to surpass in size anything of the kind 



ever before raised. The young lady 

 that occupies it is sweet sixteen, and 

 large for her years. True, she was not 

 sixteen when the photograph was 

 taken, for that was more than a dozen 

 years ago, but she was a big girl to 

 find in a pumpkin sufficient space for a 

 comfortable rest. California pumpkins 

 are not all so big, and not all Califor- 

 nia girls live in pumpkins, but this 

 picture shows one of the possibilities 

 <>f the Golden State. Think of the pies 

 that "mother could make" out of one 

 of these giants fresh from the vine. In 

 addition to cow feed and pie material, 

 pumpkins of this variety have been 

 found useful for a unique purpose in 

 a certain California town, where a 

 strict prohibition law is in force. Sev- 

 eral business men were observed to be 

 active buyers of pumpkins, and it was 

 observed that they were rolled into 

 rear rooms and many men went to ad- 

 mire them. Event uallv the police 

 found the exolanation. The pumpkins 

 were filled with beer! 



Go to the hills, the woods, the fields, 

 For the balm that Mother Nature yields. 



"ONE OF THE POSSIBILITIES OF THE 

 GOLDEN STATE." 



Enthusiasms with a Load. 



Perhaps some people think that such 

 an equipment for the field must be a 

 terrible burden, and they may say that, 

 if Nature-study means carrying so 

 much apparatus about on their ram- 

 bles, they are not going to be bothered 

 with it. That is the kind of people 

 who need carrying everywhere they 

 go. If the}- have to take a journey of 

 a couple of hundred yards, they must 

 be hauled in a street-car or a motor. 

 Needless to say, they will never be 

 naturalists : they are not built that 

 way. Then, the naturalist sets out to 

 take records, not to break them. He 

 does not walk for a wager; he is never 

 in a hurry, never impatient; and as 

 for the load, that is carried by his en- 

 thusiasm. Your naturalist is a self- 

 reliant, independent, and manly mor- 

 tal ; you find him out in all weathers, 

 facing sunshine or storm ; you see him 

 drenched to the skin, yet cheerful ; per- 

 spiring under a hot sun and a heavy 

 load, vet rejoicing on his way. — Rev- 

 erend Charles A. Hal!, in "The Open 

 Book of Nature" 



