422 



THE GUIDE TO XATl/RE 



Rock Toadstools. 



Manitou, Colorado. 



To the Editor : — 



I enclose a photograph that I hope 

 you will find available for publication. 

 These are natural formations of red 

 sandstone, located in Mushroom Park, 

 on the land owned by Paul Goerke & 

 Son of Manitou, Colorado. They are 

 called ''The Toad and Toadstools" on 

 account of their resemblance to a toad 

 sitting under a toadstool- Near these 

 can be found many wonderful forma- 

 tions resembling mushrooms, from 

 which the park gets its name. 

 Yours truly, 



Chas. S. Barxett. 



abundance of snow remained from a 

 snowstorm of two weeks previous. 



Suddenly I spied a small brown snake 

 about eighteen inches long, coiled on a 

 spot that was surrounded by snow and 

 water. It darted out its tongue, and when 

 we touched it with a cane, it straightened 

 out and crawled away under leaves and 

 water. This was a remarkable perform- 

 ance, although the snake did not crawl 

 through the snow as some might say. 



Heating Value of Woods. 



All non-resinous woods, says Science, 

 have virtually the same heating value, 

 weight for weight, about 2100 calories 

 to the pound. But resin is more than 



THE ROCKS IN FORM 



Snakes and Snow. 



BY CHARI^S D. ROMIG, AUDEXRI HI >, 

 PENNSYLVANIA. 



( >ccasionally during the snowy season, 

 we read a newspaper statement that some 

 one has seen a snake or several snakes 

 lying in the snow after a sort of pre- 

 mature visit to the outside world. For- 

 tunately we are not compelled to believe 

 all we luar, and in both winter and sum- 

 mer snake stories are quite flexible. 



In regard to the foregoing I wish to 

 describe what a friend and I actually 

 saw on Sunday, .March 14th of this year. 

 We were strolling about the edge of a 

 swamp, and were wearing gloves, over- 

 shoes and winter clothes because the tem- 

 perature was nearly at the freezing point 

 and the wind was strong and raw. An 



SUGGEST TOADSTOOLS. 



twice as heating as cellulose, 4270 cal- 

 ories to the pound. Therefore, all dry 

 wood, reckoned by weight, has a fuel 

 value in proportion to the amount of 

 rosin in it. 



Bought by the cord, however, the 

 heavy woods like hickory and oak are 

 worth more than the resinous ones. 



Hard coal has a heating capacity of 

 3500 calories to the pound, nearly 

 twice that of non-resinous wood. In 

 general, therefore, to equal a ton of 

 coal, requires a cord of hickory, oak, 

 beech, birch, hard maple, ash, elm, 

 locust, long-leaf pine or cherry ; a c< >rd 

 and a half of short-leaf pine, hemlock, 

 fir, sycamore, soft maple, or gum ; and 

 two cords of cedar, redwood, poplar, 

 cypress, basswood, spruce or soft pine. 



