134 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



May 



A JOLLY SORT OF FARM. 



Vegetables Growing at One Harid, the Prodi 

 ucts of the Sea at the Other. 



"Once some years ago," said Supciin- 

 tondent H. T. Woodnian of the city's 

 aquarium at Castle Garden, "I went up 

 the west coast of Florida in a sailboat on 

 a collecting tour for shells and so on. On 

 the north shore of Tampa bay we saw a 

 little white house — very white indeed it 

 was — a whiteness, as we afterward learn- 

 ed, that was due to whitewash made of 

 lime from shells that the owner had burn- 

 ed himself. We went ashore there and 

 were most hospitably received and invited 

 to stay. We couldn't do that, but we 

 were in the neighborhood for a day or 

 two, and we ate two or three meals at his 

 house, and subsequently I called upon 

 him once or twice and was received in 

 the same hospitable manner. 



"No doubt there are other gardens like 

 his, but his is the only one of the sort I 

 ever saw — a kind of land and water gar- 

 den combined. His land garden, which 

 was about half an acre or so, was 50 or 

 perhaps 100 feet back from the shore. He 

 had in this garden cabbages and beans 

 and potatoes and lettuce and garden stutf 

 generally. His water garden was com- 

 posed of three patches, each about 50 feet 

 square, side by side and under water, 

 close to the shore and each inclosed in a 

 palmetto crib, which was, however, only 

 one log high, for that was all that was 

 needed. He could go out in a skiff at any 

 time and catch anything that there was in 

 any of the cribs. 



"In the first patch of the water garden 

 he kept hard clams, and he had plenty of 

 them. The second patch he had fixed up 

 for oysters. He had thrown in shells for 

 the oysters to spawn on, and he had an 

 abundant supply of oysters. The third 

 crib he had fixed up for Crustacea. He 

 had thrown in some old stumps here and 

 shoved in under the crib some slabs or 

 planks that had drifted ashore to make a 

 shelter for crawfish, which like to back in 

 under things, as the lobster does. He had 

 in this crib crawfish and crabs. Of course 

 these could easily have crawled over the 

 single log of the crib if they had wanted 

 to, but they didn't waiit to. They pre- 

 ferred the shelters in thiscrib to the sandy 

 beaches outside. In fact, the crib was an 

 attraction to any stray crawfish or crab 

 that might come that way. You see, he 

 had only to step out of his house on one 

 side for his vegetables and on the other for 

 his sea food. He gave us oysters steamed 

 in a big iron pot over a fire in the yard 

 and the pick of both his gardens, land 

 and marine, and certainly we couldn't 



have had anything frcsherormoredelight- 

 ful. "—New York Sun. 



"ASTERIA." 



Interesting: Data About the Magical Star 

 Stone of Ceylon. 



Familiar to some of the ancient writers 

 and credited with supernatural powers, 

 the Asteria, or star gem, wa.s highly val- 

 ued for the benefits supposed to be confer- 

 red on the wearer. Its bright, six rayed 

 star, ever clianging and shifting with 

 every play of light and especially shooting 

 out its flames in the direct sunlight, would 

 seem to be something more than an ordi- 

 nary crystal, and to the superstitious mind 

 it could readily be believed to embody 

 some tutelar spirit. The particular virtue 

 attributed to this gem was the conferring 

 upon the wearer "health and good for- 

 tune" when worn as an amulet, and to 

 those fortunate to be born in the month 

 of April, with which that stone was asso- 

 ciated or represented, the wearer was in- 

 sured from all evil. The star stone is 

 found principally in Ceylon, invariably in 

 soil peculiar to rubies and sapphires. 

 Indeed it is composed of the same consti- 

 tuent "corundum," its chatoyant, or 

 star rays, being caused by the presence of 

 what the natives call "silk." It is found 

 in many different colors, from pale blue, 

 pink and white to deep dark blue, ruby 

 and purple. The blue are termed "sap- 

 phire stars," the red "ruby stars." It is 

 always cut en cabuchon, the star dividing 

 into six rays at the apex. It ia next in 

 hardness to the diamond. 



The "Moorman" of Colombo, with tools 

 as rude and simple as his forefathers used 

 1,000 years before, with no training or 

 Instruction except the unwritten mys- 

 teries of the craft handed down from fa- 

 ther to son, will produce the most wonder- 

 ful results in cutting and polishing gems 

 and in many instances rival the more edu 

 cated lapidary of Europe for judgment in 

 cutting gems to the greatest advantage. 

 — London Graphic. 



Costly Business. 



"Lookee here, mistar, kin yo' tell me 

 whar dey git marriage sustiflcates?" in- 

 quired an old colored individual of one of 

 the bailiffs at the city hall the other day. 

 The bailiff" steered him toward the clerk's 

 oflSce. When he appeared before one of 

 the gentlemen who issue the small slip of 

 paper so requisite to the eternal happiness 

 of a pair whom Cupid has visited, he re- 

 peated his request. 



"Yes, sah; she hab a funny name; but, 

 Lor, I don' know how she spells it," he 

 said in answer to the clerk's question. "I 



