266 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
they wish answers. All letters about puzzles should go I 
to Aunt Sue. I have no time to work out problems; 
they properly should go to your school teacher. Some 
questions are about matters that can not be well answer¬ 
ed in such a manner that young people can understand 
them, and these, together with questions that nobody 
can answer, are left unnoticed. The kind of questions 
that I especially like to get, are those concerning the 
common things that you see about you. I wish to en¬ 
courage you to observe, that is to use your eyes. Boys 
or girls who live in the country should never find it 
“dull,” or be at a loss for something to interest them. 
Plants, stones, birds, insects are everywhere, and there 
is always something to be learned from them. When 
you wish to know more about these and other natural 
objects than you can learn at home, I will try to help 
you. I do not mean that all your questions should be 
about such things, for I expect you to write on any other 
matters, about which you think I can aid you. Lately 
several old people—that is grown up persons, have 
written to “ The Doctor,” saying that they would like 
an answer in the “Correspondence.” This can not be 
done. These columns belong to the Boys and Girls, and 
to them only. If older persons find anything to interest 
them here, I am glad of it, but we can not give up any 
space to them. 
ABOUT “EARTH-STARS.” 
Master A. G. C. picked up last summer some curious 
things near Providence, R. I. As he could find no one 
to tell him what they were, he sends them to “ The Doc¬ 
tor.” No doubt Master Albert will be much surprised 
to learn that these “ things ” are plants—and very curious 
plants too. But that the rest of you may know what I 
am talking about, let me give an engraving of them. 
At the left hand, (fig. 1.), you have one of the things as 
they now appear, while the other engraving, (fig. 2.), 
shows how they looked when my young friend found 
them, or as they might have looked in the morning, be¬ 
fore the dew had dried off, or soon after a shower. To de¬ 
scribe a thing like this in such a way that you will fairly 
understand it, is sometimes rather difficult, as they belong 
to a class of objects about which grown people in gen¬ 
eral know but little, and of course youngsters know 
Fig. 1. EARTH-STABS. Fig. 2 . 
less. You all know that our common plants have flow¬ 
ers, and that after the flowers come the fruit and seeds. 
Most of our common plants have flowers—some more 
showy than others. When I say that all plants are either 
flowering plants, or flowerless plants, (plants that bear 
.no flowers) you will not find it difficult to understand 
that. If I ask you to name some flowering plants you 
will at once give the names of a great number, from 
chickweed to the apple-tree; but when I ask for the 
names of some of those which bear no flowers, you will 
—unless some of you have studied a little about plants, 
be puzzled. There are several different kinds of flower¬ 
less plants, which are not much alike except in the one 
point, that they have no flowers ; thus the ferns are one 
family and the mosses another, of flowerless plants ; the 
seaweeds, and the green scum you see on pools of water 
in the spring are another family of these plants; then 
there is a great number of things—for perhaps you never 
thought they were plants—some of which you must 
know as mushrooms, toadstools, puff-balls, and even the 
mold upon bread, and all other molds, that belong to 
another family of flowerless plants. Very little do they 
look like plants, for they have no green leaves, nor is 
there anything about them that is like common plants. 
Still you must take my word for it that they are plants, 
until you are old enough to learn why they are so classed. 
Probably almost every boy who lives in the country has 
seen a “Puff-ball,” a rounded body,.sometimes as big as 
a pullet’s egg and sometimes the size of a large apple, or 
much larger. Boys usually notice these when they are 
dry, and if hit slightly will send out a great cloud of 
smoke-like dust, in a sudden puff—hence they are called 
puff-balls. If you were to find them earlier, you would 
see that they are whitish, and fastened to an under¬ 
ground portion, and if you break one in this condition, 
you will find no dust inside, but it is full of what looks 
like a white pith. Now I can only briefly say that the 
greater part of this puff-ball is under ground. What we 
should call the branches of a plant of another kind—and 
this ball appears only when the under-ground part is full 
grown—this ball serves for the under-ground plant, just 
the same as flowers and seeds do to other plants—that is, 
allows it to multiply its kind. When the puff-ball is 
Fig. 3.—“ peacock’s-tail.” 
ripe, the dust will puff out when you hit it, and each 
little particle of this dust, so fine that it is carried along 
way on the wind, will, if it falls in the right place, grow, 
and make more under-ground plants which will pro¬ 
duce more above-ground parts, which, when ripe, are 
these same puff-balls, and so you will see that this 
dust serves just the same as seeds do for larger 
plants. This is a long story, but I think you will under¬ 
stand it. Now the things Albert wishes to know about 
are own cousins to the puff-balls. They have an under¬ 
ground part that we do not see ; at the proper time a 
little ball shows itself on the ground, of the size of fig. 
1, but round, as that has shriveled. Now instead of act¬ 
ing just like the puff-ball, this has two coats or peels, 
just as an orange has before you get at the juice. When 
this ball is ripe, this outer coat splits up, just as you 
sometimes cut the peel of an orange. This outer coat is 
very easily affected by moisture. If rain or dew comes, 
the parts turn back, as shown in fig. 2, and with such 
force as to tear it away from the under-ground part, and 
send it, with a bounce, for some distance. When it be¬ 
comes dry, the points all curl up as in fig. 1. So with the 
dewy morning and drier midday—or with shower and 
sunshine, this opens and shuts and goes jumping along 
—why does it travel ? you will wonder. The outside is 
so curious and so affected by moisture that you have for¬ 
gotten the central part, the ball. In time, this opens by 
a little hole—and just like the puff-ball, puffs out a cloud 
of dust, which, like the puff-ball dust, will grow and make 
more plants. So you will see that this opening and 
shutting helps to scatter the dust. You of course want 
to know what is the name of these curious plants. If 
the points of fig. 2 were out straight they would look 
like a star, and they are often, 
in a wet time, found spread out 
flat on the ground, and they are 
called “ earth-stars.” Botanists 
give the plant the name Geaster, 
which is exactly Earth-star in 
Greek. While .they are not so 
very common, I have more than 
once seen them so abundant 
that one could, if he chose, 
pick them up by the basketful. 
It is a pretty long story, but if 
I told you anything about it. I 
wished you to understand some¬ 
thing more than the mere name. 
ABOUT “SEA MOSS.” 
Miss M. T. has received from 
a friend who passed the winter 
in Florida, something which 
she thinks is a “ Sea Moss,” 
and wishes to know more 
about it. My correspondent is 
right in supposing it to be from 
the sea, but the name “Sea 
Moss,” though often used, is 
incorrect. The true mosses 
are, with few exceptions, land 
plants, and those plants, found 
in both salt and fresh water, 
that are often called mosses, 
are as different from the true 
mosses as can be. In the talk 
about Earth - stars, I state 
that there are plants that do not produce flowers. 
The “ Earth-star,” is an example of one family of these 
plants, the Fungi—another family of flowerless plants, 
live entirely in the water, and are of many beautiful 
forms and colors. The botanist calls them Algos, and 
those that live in salt water are commonly known as sea¬ 
weed. The one sent, (fig. 3), is called the “ Peapock’s- 
tail,”—the botanists name for it is Padina Pavpnia. It 
is usually about twice as large as the one shown in the 
engraving, and is found in the sea in warm countries 
all over the world. When dried it is of different shades 
of olive green, but when seen in the water, it is very 
beautiful, and shows all the colors of the rain-bow. 
THE RUSSIAN ARMY. 
Well, here is 'an unusual question. J. W. W., Rock¬ 
land Co., Ya., writes that he has no Cyclopaedia, but so 
long as lie has “The Doctor” to go to with difficult 
questions, he does not so much miss it. Certainly, after 
so appreciative a note as this, I must try and answer the 
young man’s question, which is: “Do the Russians all 
have to serve a certain number of years in the army ? If 
so, how long? ”—While I can reply to most of the Boys 
and Girl’s questions off-hand, this is so much out of my 
line that I must go to the Cyclopaedia for an answer. 
There I learn that every Russian, who is not in some way 
disabled, of the age of 20, is liable to 15 years of military 
duty, six of which must be in active service, and no sub¬ 
stitutes are allowed. There are a number of exceptions, 
as to active service, but nine years of what is called re¬ 
serve service, is exacted of every man. This refers to the 
militia, but enlistment in the regnlar army, and a term 
of service there, exempts one from this service. 
CARELESS LETTER WRITERS. 
I have a letter from a boy asking several questions. 
He says, 1 ‘ If you would be so kind a6 to answer through 
the American Agriculturist, you would very much oblige 
a boy of 12.”—I willanswer “a boy of 12,” but perhaps 
not as he would like. In the first place, “ Boy of 12’s ” 
letter is about things, the answer to which would be of 
no interest whatever to any other boy or girl, and I can 
not answer such letters in the paper. But more than 
this, his letter does not show where he writes from, nor 
does it give his name. There is a blind post-mark on 
the envelope which shows that the letter comes from 
somewhere in Pennsylvania, and that is all that shows 
where “ Boy of 12 ” lives. The young man is old enough 
to write a well expressed letter, and even a “ Boy of 12 ” 
should know that every letter, wriiten to any person 
whatever, should start with his address. That is, his 
Post-Office, and State in full, and should end with his 
full and proper name. If he writes something for the pa¬ 
per and does not care to have his name printed, he can sign 
“Boy of 12” or anything else he chooses, but his real 
name should always be given. It is not rare for older 
people to write without giving their names, and the 
editors very properly put their letters into the waste¬ 
basket. Always give name and address in full. 
Tlae Sui'inam Toad. 
The history of our common toad is a strange one; the 
eggs are laid in the water, and hatch out, not as toads, 
but as tadpoles, or “pollywogs,” as boys often call them. 
In the early part of their life, they live in the water, just 
like a fish; at length, the tadpoles get legs, lose their 
tails, and come out as regular toads. Frogs do the same, 
and it is difficult to tell a frog tadpole from one that will 
turn out to be a toad. All this is strange enough, but 
there is a toad in Surinam that manages in a different, 
and s ill more singular manner. After the eggs are laid 
in the water—and most of you have seen the eggs of our 
toads and frogs, which the boys call “ frog’s-spittle,” in 
which the eggs are all surrounded by a clear, jelly-like 
substance—the male-toad heaps the eggs on the back of 
THE SURINAM TOAD. 
