394 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



From these he has compiled a graphic 

 table for thirty States, taking care to 

 keep within the conservative limit in 

 every particular, which shows that for- 

 ty-six per cent of the birds of the coun- 

 try have been destroyed within the last 

 fifteen j-ears — the State averages rang- 

 ing from ten per cent in Nebraska and 

 twenty-seven per cent in Massachu- 

 setts to seventy-five per cent in Con- 

 necticut, Indian Territory, and Mon- 

 tana, and seventy-seven per cent in 

 Florida. In North Carolina, Oregon, 

 and California the balance of bird life 

 has been maintained; and in Kansas, 

 Wyoming, Washington, and Utah it has 

 increased — Kansas, with its law abso- 

 lutely forbidding traffic in certain birds, 

 being the " banner State." " The west- 

 em part of the State of Washington 

 reveals the uncommon paradox of a lo- 

 cality being filled up with bird forms 

 because of the clearing away of the tim- 

 ber." The agencies bringing about the 

 destruction of our animal life are many 

 and various. There are the " sports- 

 men," of whom Mr. Hornaday registers 

 five kinds, all eager to " kill something," 

 hunting for one hundred and fifty-four 

 species of " game birds," and when these 

 fail, taking the song birds in their place. 

 If the reports are true, the boys of 

 America are the chief destroyers of our 

 passerine birds and other small non-edi- 

 ble birds generally. " The majority of 

 them shoot the birds, a great many de- 

 vote their energies to gathering eggs, 

 and some do both." Then there are 

 the women wearing birds or feathers in 

 their hats. Egg collecting, which was 

 fostered at one time as encouraging in- 

 terest in natural history, has increased 

 till it has become an abuse as danger- 

 ous and destructive as any of the others, 

 and even genuine scientific collectors are 

 advised to call a halt. Mr. Hornaday 

 concludes that "under present condi- 

 tions, and excepting in a few localities, 

 the practical annihilation of all our 

 birds, except the smallest species, and 

 within a comparatively short period, 

 may be regarded as absolutely certain 

 to occur." 



Annual Flowers. — In a Cornell 

 University Agricultural Experiment bul- 

 letin on Annual Flowers the authors, 

 G. N. Lauman and Prof. L. H. Bailey, 

 teach that the main planting of any 



place should be trees and shrubs. The 

 llowers may then be used as decora- 

 tions. They may be thrown in freely 

 about the borders of the place, but not 

 in beds in the center of the lawn. They 

 show off better when seen against a 

 background, -which may be foliage, a 

 building, a rock, or a fence. Where to 

 plant flowers is really more important 

 than what to plant. " In front of 

 bushes, in the corner of the steps, against 

 the foundation of the residence or out- 

 house, along a fence or a walk — these 

 are places for flowers. A single petunia 

 plant against a background of foliage 

 is worth a dozen similar plants in the 

 center of the lawn. . . . The open-cen- 

 tered yard may be a picture; the pro- 

 miscuously planted yard may be a nur- 

 sery or a forest. A little color scattered 

 here and there puts the finish to the 

 picture." If the person wants a flower 

 garden, the primary question is one not 

 of decoration of the yard, but of grow- 

 ing flowers for flowers' sake. The flower 

 garden, therefore, should be at one side 

 of the residence or at the rear, for it is 

 not allowable to spoil a good lawTi even 

 with flowers. A good small garden is 

 much more satisfactory than a poor 

 large garden. Many annual plants 

 make efTectiA'e screens and covers for 

 unsightly places. Wild cucumber, coboea, 

 and sweet peas may be used to decorate 

 the tennis screen or the chicken-yard 

 fence. Efficient screens can be made of 

 many strong-growing and large-leaved 

 plants, such as cannas, castor-beans, 

 sunflowers, or tobacco. 



A Thirteenth-Century Miracle. — 

 The legend of St. Prokopy relates that 

 on the 25th of June, 1290, the city of 

 Wilikij Ustjug, government of Volog- 

 da, southern Piussia, was imminently 

 threatened by a violent storm. The 

 populace appealed to the saint, and, by 

 virtue of his prayers, the storm changed 

 its direction, and, passing on one side 

 of the city, spent its fury upon a desert 

 spot about fifteen miles away, where it 

 left, with hail, a mass of fire-marked 

 stones, the fall of which wrought great 

 havoc with the undergrowth. The inci- 

 dent made a deep impression upon the 

 minds of the people, so that the story is 

 still current and alive after the lapse 

 of six hundred years. A testimony to 

 what the people believe is its truth 



