TO KNOW THE STARRY HEAVENS 
37 
So many prefer to call Cygnus (the 
swan) the northern cross since the stars 
are arranged in that form. Many are 
familiar with the great square in 
Pegasus, the W in Cassiopeia, the A of 
Perseus and the Y of Aquarius, etc. 
Many constellations, however, have 
little resemblance to any familiar 
objects. 
A few suggestions along this line 
may be of help. The head of Draco is 
well defined. If. however, we combined 
one of the stars of Hercules with three 
in the head of Draco we have a fine 
diamond-shaped figure as shown in Fig- 
ure i. Four of the stars of Ophiuchus 
and Serpens also form a diamond 
including in its area two bright 
stars near each other. These two stars 
attract the attention and serve as a 
good starting point for tracing out for 
the two constellations, Ophiuchus and 
Serpens. Lyra is easily located by rea- 
son of its chief star. Vega, the bright- 
T i / 
! / 
10 X. 
L \ / 
Figure 3. Resemblance of Hercules to a 
butterfly. 
est star north of the equator. Two faint 
stars form with Vega a triangle with 
equal sides, and the southernmost of 
these two stars with three others form 
a good parallelogram. Some like to 
locate Sagittarius by the group of stars 
resembling a little dipper shown on the 
eastern side of the constellation in Fig- 
ure i. Aquila is easily identified from 
the presence of the brilliant star, Altair, 
with a fainter companion on either side, 
the three stars lying nearly in a straight 
line. The Wye or Y of Aquarius is 
formed of the four stars near Figure i. 
Bootes may be found by considerin g it 
as an extension by fainter stars of the 
handle of the big dipper. This contin- 
uation leads to the very bright reddish 
star, Arcturus, at B, and, if extended 
further still, leads to Spica in Virgo at 
C. Cephus lies between Ursa Minor 
and Cassiopeia. It may be seen to con- 
sist of a parallelogram surmounted by a 
triangle. Hercules is often said to be 
difficult to locate. It lies between 
Corona and Lyra. Some of the brighter 
stars in it are arranged somewhat in 
the form of a capital H. The stars may 
also be looked upon as representing a 
butterfly flying toward Corona. This 
idea is illustrated in Figure 3. 
The Planets. 
None of the planets are shown on the 
map. Jupiter and Saturn are visible 
low in the west earlier in the evening. 
Uranus, invisible to the naked eye, is 
in Aquarius. It is an evening star after 
August 31. On August 3 the earth 
passes through the plane of Saturn’s 
rings for the third and last time during 
the passage of the plane of the rings 
through the earth’s orbit. The earth 
passed through the plane of the rings 
November 5, 1920, and February 22, 
1921. From August 3 the rings will 
begin to open. They will open wider 
and wider for seven years and then be- 
gin closing. It will be fifteen years, or 
half of the period of Saturn’s revolution 
about the sun, before they will be seen 
on edge again. When it is seen again 
in the early evening next spring the 
rings will be opened enough to show 
their real character. 
Where Age Improves Germination. 
The seed of some garden vegetables 
is never saved by amateurs for the rea- 
son that the plant is a biennial, and 
doesn’t make seed until the second year. 
Cucumber seed is seldom saved, prob- 
ably for another important reason, and 
that is the germination factor. Cu- 
cumber seed only a year old is charac- 
teristically poor seed. Germination 
improves with age. Seed houses never 
plan to sell cucumber seed which is not 
at least two years old. Seedsmen, as 
the professional gardener is perfectly 
well aware, know that cucumber seed is 
at its best at three years ; that it is ex- 
cellent at five years. Not only does 
aged cucumber seed have higher germi- 
nation, but it produces much stronger 
plants. Plant cucumber seed fifteen 
or even twenty years old, and a great 
deal of it often will come up. — Scien- 
tific American. 
