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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



I also noticed that the basal threads, in 

 every instance, were much thicker and 

 stronger than those of the subsequent 

 constructions. The little nest has 

 given me, during its construction, many 

 hours of solid amusement. Is there 



THE INTERESTING SPIDER'S WEB ON THE 

 INSIDE OF A BOOKCASE. 



any characteristic or mechanical ap- 

 pliance which we big men follow which 

 is not also used by small forms of ani- 

 mal life? 



The other day I observed a carpen- 

 ter bee at work on an old fence post. 

 In two days she chiseled out a beauti- 

 fully round hole seven inches long and 

 about half an inch in diameter. 



A week ago I watched a wasp sting 

 a green caterpillar of probably eight 

 times its own weight, then carry the 

 burden for a distance of more than 

 twenty feet over bushes two and three 

 feet high, to a hole which it had pre- 

 viously dug in less than a day's time, 

 and which, as I found upon digging, 

 was more than twenty inches deep. In 

 my hayloft are numerous ourple wasDS 

 at work, making the cleverest little 

 receptacles of mud. It will take a wasp 

 hardly a day to make a beautifully 

 shaped box, with four or five neat com- 

 partments, and plaster the whole thing 

 inside with additional layers of mud, 

 and do it in not more than an hour's 

 work. 



Here we have the three trades of 

 plasterer, a carpenter and constructive 

 engineer, practised by three different 

 kinds of animals. 



Yours very truly, 



John C. Uiirlaub. 



Interesting Experiments in Plant Cir- 

 culation and in the Coloring of 

 Flowers. 



White pinks may be readily colored 

 green, blue, red or pink by inserting 

 the stems of the cut flowers in ink of 

 the desired color, as they are usually 

 put in water to keep them fresh. As 

 soon as the petals begin to take the 

 color, the stems should be transferred 

 to clear water. The color will then 

 continue to deepen for some time, be- 

 cause the water that the plant will take 

 up will carry the ink already in the 

 vessels of the stem, onward into the 

 petals. If kept in the colored liquid 

 until the petals assume the desired 

 tint, the color will finallv become so 

 deep that it will spoil the daintiness 

 of the effect. This is an interesting 

 method by which to make decorations 

 for special occasions, such as green 

 pinks for St. Patrick's Day, and red, 

 white and blue ones for the Fourth of 

 July. It also affords an opportunity 

 for studying the circulation of liquids 

 in plants. It is said that lilies of the 

 valley are specially susceptible to the 

 influence of these coloring liquids, and 

 it may naturally be inferred that any 

 white flower will be equally favorable, 

 if it holds its freshness for a long time, 

 since the continued freshness of cut 

 flowers is due to the presence of water 

 within their cells and vessels. When 

 a plant wilts soon after cutting, it 

 shows us that the liquid current 

 throughout the stem and the flower is 

 exceedinglv imperfect and that that 

 particular flower will probably not take 

 up a colored liquid, nor even water. 



It is also said that ammonia taken 

 into the plan in this manner will pro- 

 duce a variety of tints, and that the 

 vanor of ammonia brought into contact 

 with the flower under a bell glass will 

 be the, cause of especially novel effects. 

 Pansies are capable of remarkable 

 changes in color when they are brought 

 in contact with these ammonia fumes. 



The stud)- of Nature is an inter- 

 course with the highest mind. You 

 should never trifle with Nature. At 

 the lowest her works are the works 

 of the highest powers, the highest 

 something in whatever way we may 

 look at it. — Louis Agassis. 



