HAYS 



2736 



HAZEL 



opposition in Congress, a bill was passed re- 

 pealing the disputed provision of the Panama 

 Canal Act, for it was President Wilson's belief 

 that the nation's honor depended upon the 

 strict observance of the treaty. See PANAMA 

 CANAL. 



HAYS, CHARLES MELVILLE (1856-1912), a 

 Canadian railway executive, who reorganized 

 the Grand Trunk Railway and was largely 

 responsible for the construction of the Grand 

 Trunk Pacific. Hays was a man of executive 

 ability and large views, and deserves to be 

 ranked with the constructive railway men of 

 America. He was born in Rock Island, 111., 

 but from his long connection with the Grand 

 Trunk Railway was always regarded as a Cana- 

 dian. He began railroading when he was seven- 

 teen, and rose rapidly until, in 1886, when he 

 was only thirty, he was general manager of the 

 Wabash Railway. In 1897 he accepted the 

 position of general manager of the Grand 

 Trunk at Montreal. He remained there four 

 years, during which he reorganized the Central 

 Vermont Railway Company, a subsidiary of 

 the Grank Trunk, and double-tracked the line 

 of the Grand Trunk from Montreal to Chi- 

 cago. In January, 1901, he became president 

 of the Southern Pacific, but in the autumn of 

 that year was recalled to Montreal to become 

 second vice-president and general manager of 

 the Grand Trunk. It was largely due to his 

 efforts that the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway 

 Company, of which he was president, was 

 organized. On January 1, 1910, he became 

 president of the Grand Trunk Railway Com- 

 pany. While returning from a trip to England, 

 where he had made arrangements with the 

 directors for further expansion, he perished in 

 the Titanic disaster, on April 15, 1912. G.H.L. 



HAZE, the accumulation of extremely mi- 

 nute particles in the air which are individually 

 invisible, but which, collectively, produce a 

 fogginess of the atmosphere. Unlike fog, haze 

 is often observed when the lower air is unusu- 

 ally dry. When the upper air is in the first 

 stage of cloudiness, the particles comprising 

 haze are usually small drops of water, mixed 

 with smoke or dust. This is termed water 

 haze, and appears gray in reflected light. 

 Extensive forest fires cause a smoke haze, which 

 is dense blue in color and which travels many 

 miles from the scene of the fire; sometimes 

 the smoke from a great forest fire will darken 

 the atmosphere perceptibly five hundred miles 

 distant. Volcanic eruptions also throw a fine 

 dust into the air, producing coloration of the 



atmosphere which is observed for great dis- 

 tances. Haze is frequently observed during 

 the autumn months, and makes an effective 

 background for the changing foliage. See 

 INDIAN SUMMER; DUST, ATMOSPHERIC. 



HAZEL, ha'z'l, the tree or shrub which pro- 

 duces the nut called the filbert. Most of the 

 cultivated varieties are grown in Europe. The 

 best nuts come from Spain, but North America 

 has two species of its own, which are widely 

 distributed over the woodland. In the spring, 

 when many trees are showing beautiful flowers, 

 the hazel is not conspicuous, for its flowers 

 are modest catkins; but in autumn, when the 

 pointed, scallopy leaves turn a rich yellow, the 

 hazel would be sadly missed from the woods. 

 Nowhere do these trees grow very large, and 

 the wood is of little value to the c'abinet- 

 maker; but baskets, crates, whip handles, hoops 

 and such articles are made from the strong, 

 flexible rods. 



The word rods calls attention to a most 

 interesting point about the hazel, for from 

 time immemorial it has been thought that a 

 forked hazel twig possessed marvelous powers. 

 Biblical writers, ancient Roman writers, and 

 writers in all 

 countries of Eu- 

 rope since those 

 early days have 

 mentioned the 

 use of hazel rods 

 as a means of 

 determining the 

 presence of pre- 

 cious minerals or 

 water below the 

 earth's surface, 

 and in many 

 rural communi- 

 ties the old belief 

 still persists. It 

 is the real hazel 



which is used for this purpose in England, but 

 in North America a different shrub has been 

 christened witch hazel because of its supposed 

 magic powers. (See WITCH HAZEL.) Lowell 

 speaks of this old superstition in the lines 



Which like the hazel twig in faithful hands, 



Points surely to the hidden springs of truth. 



The nuts from the American hazels, which 

 grow wild, have no especial value save as t 

 delight the children on crisp autumn days, 

 there is a large commerce in the cultiva 

 nuts of Europe. A valuable oil, much used by 

 perfumers and by painters, is prepared from 



THE HAZEL 

 Leaves and growing 

 At right, the ripened nut 

 frost opens the bur. 



nuts. 

 after 



K,,l 



