26 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



to any one who will give them only 

 a little study, and go at the work in 

 the proper way. It has been my pas- 

 time study for fifteen years and interest 



It seems 10 



has never been wanting 



JUAN CHAVEZ, A VENDER. 



me, too, that the mere contemplation 

 of photographic records of natural 

 beauty, and the attempt to fix them in 

 the prettiest way, make one more fond 

 of the original beauty, and enable one 

 to understand and love more fully the 

 God who formed and every day beau- 

 tifies His Handiwork. As a matter of 

 culture and refinement a good camera 

 well operated is a noble instrument. 



To Photograph Dew. 



BY WILSON A. BENTEEY, JERICHO, VER- 

 MONT. 



The forms of water, in snow, frost, 

 ice, dew, clouds and rain, are not only 

 a beautiful and varied part of nature, 

 but they perform a beneficent and im- 

 portant part in nature's plan, for with- 

 out them vegetable and animal life 

 would be impossible upon the lands of 

 the earth. 



The processes concerned in their 

 formation and evaporation, including 

 the production of clouds, rain and 

 snow, comprise nature's wonderful 

 system of natural irrigation, whereby 

 water is taken from ocean, lake and 

 river, and deposited in part upon the 

 land. This should endow with general 

 interest these processes and the forms 

 of water which they produce. 



Snow, frost, clouds and ice are the 

 most beautiful and varied among these 

 water forms, but if closely studied the 

 dew, and even the rain, is full of in- 

 terest and beauty either in its forms 

 or its manner of collecting upon vege- 

 tation and beautifying it. The dew 

 forms so abundantly during the night- 

 time and in so quiet and invisible a 

 manner, that it appears to be a much 

 more magical and mysterious phenom- 

 enon than it really is. We can 

 hardly credit the fact that the apparent 

 magic that overnight tips the grass 

 blades with sparkling drops of water 

 (or with frost crystals) is largely ac- 

 complished merely as a result of a 

 slowing down in the rate of vibration 

 of the invisible particles of water (wa- 

 ter molecules, they are called) that 

 float in the air, as well as of those of 

 the air itself, and those that compose 

 vegetable objects. 



During the daytime the sun's rays 

 agitate these invisible water particles 

 and thus prevent their collecting upon 

 earthy objects. 



The next time you go out in a dewy 

 or frosty night or morn, recall this 

 simple yet wonderful explanation of 

 the formation of dew and frost. The 

 seasons, spring, summer and autumn, 

 each furnishes its especial opportunities 

 for the study of dew. In the spring we 

 may note the charming way in which 



