Sundial Mottoes 
By Ann Hanley 
While the astrolabe, superseded by the 
sextant, is rarely seen to-day except as a 
curio, the sundial like the weathervane still 
has a semblance of use. “Timepiece of the 
shadows” as it has been called it makes a 
valuable addition to a garden setting, where 
its white pillar balances the bird bath as a 
useful ornament.,,Through the ages it has 
followed the trend of agriculture from the 
Greek to Georgian which may still be copied. 
What a sundial needs is a good vista with 
greensward in front, a firm base, a well cast 
an interesting motto. The dial may be pur- 
chased ready to mount on the pedestal, the 
tops being cast in one piece. While the 
correct setting of the plate is most easily 
managed by taking the noon reading of the 
sun on one of the four times a year where 
sun time and clock time agree, these dates 
differ according to Greenwich or Washing- 
ton time, so it is well to consult a meteoro- 
logist as to exact date for the place.,,The 
local weather man will no doubt set you 
right. : 
Mottoes are not so often used to-day as 
they were when sundialing (before clocks 
were introduced) was a special brand of 
education, about which text books were 
written. But mottoes always add _ interest 
and many of them have historical value. 
French mottoes for brevity as: L’Avance - I 
move forward; Allez Vous - Pass On. Latin 
mottoes were always popular as Carpe Diem 
Seize the Moment; Tarde sed Certe - Slow 
but Sure. From Petrarch comes: Volano 
L’or, I Giorni, Gl’anni E I Mesi, - Hours, 
Days, Months, Years, all fly. 
English mottoes are numerous and _ inter- 
esting. Harriet Martineau chose, Come 
Light Visit Me! Then there is: Old Father 
Time Stands Still for None, This moment 
here. the next He’s gone. 
Let Others tell of storms and showers, 
Till only count your sunny hours. 
or 
Noiseless falls the foot of Time, 
Which only falls on flowers. 
Several verses of Omar Khyyam would 
make suitable mottoes for sundials: 
Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught 
The Sultan’s turret in a noose of light, 
or: 
The Bird of Time Has but a Little way 
To fly - -And Lo! the Bird is on the 
wing: 
Of facetious mottoes there are many, of 
which that of the Inns of Court, Inner Temp- 
le, London had an amusing story. When the 
artist went to arrange about the motto, the 
testy old gentleman in charge told him: 
“Begone about your business!” The bench- 
ers so enjoyed the joke that they chose this 
for their sundial motto. 
Charles Lamb who loved sundials thought 
that Adam could scarcely have missed hay- 
ing one. The oldest on record is an Egypt- 
ian one once in a Berlin museum: The 
translators of the Bible credited) Ahaz 
(Issiah xxxviii:8) with one: “Behold I will 
bring again the shadow of the degrees, which 
is gone down in the sundial of Ahaz, ten 
degrees backward.” 
Shakespeare has several suitable mottoes 
in his sonnets. Thou by the Dial’s shady 
Stealth must Know, 
Time’s thievish Progress to Eternity. 
(LXXVII) and in the same: 
The Dial will show how thy precious minu- 
tes waste. 
John Greenleaf Whiittier once wrote a 
sundial motto: 
“With warning hand I mark Time’s rapid 
flight 
From Life’s glad morning to its solemn 
night: 
Yet through the dear God’s Love I also 
show 
There’s a light above me by the shade 
below.” 
Austin Dobson like so many English poets 
honoured the sundial: 
*Tis an old sundial, dark with many a 
stain, 
In summer crowned with drifting orchard 
bloom, 
Tricked in the autumn with the yellow 
rain, 
And while in winter like a marble tomb: 
But round about its gray, time-eaten 
brown, 
Lean letters speak. a worn and shattered 
row: 
“T am a shade, a shadow; so are thou. 
I mark the time; say gossip, doest thou 
so?” 
CIVILIZATION! 
Have you ever thot just what our civil- 
ation exactly is? Probably, I should say, 
what the results of our civilization are. 
In reading books written a hundred years 
or more ago, one often comes across such 
remarks as,““when affairs of all kinds were 
more leisurely and easy-going than they are 
now”. This was written a hundred years 
ago! 
Today, with all our knowledge and mod- 
ern machinery, a bushel of wheat never cost 
so much to produce or as much to buy, as it 
does today, right here in the U. S. A! 
Rupicolus: roo-PIKK-ol-us; growing on cliffs 
Patens: PAY-tenz; spreading. 
157 
Acid Treatment of Seeds 
Many seeds, especially those in woody 
plants, shrubs and trees, have impervious 
seed coats and under ordinary germination 
methods, they cannot be easily germinated. 
Soaking such seed in warm water or cut- 
ting thru the hard seed coat, will break this 
type of dormancy in many species but others 
will require a more drastic treatment. 
Pretreatment with concentrated sulfuric 
acid in many cases has increased the germ- 
ination percentage many fold. 
To treat with the acid, sufficient acid is 
only required to cover the seed; use wooden 
or earthern containers, of course, and be 
able to use running water to rense the seed 
immediately after the treatment. In _ the 
case of nurserymen, planting a quantity of 
seed, a small lot should be used first to find 
the proper lenght of time for the particular 
lot of seed being treated, as different lots will 
vary. Over treatment will damage the germ- 
ination and leaves the seed pitted, dulls the 
color while insufficient treatment leaves 
many seeds glossy. 
The dry seed should be covered with ord- 
inary commercial grade sulfuric acid with 
a specific gravity of 2.84 and 95% pure. 
At a temperature of 60-80 degrees Far., 15 
to 60 minutes, may be required. Lower 
temperature requires a longer period. Stir 
the seeds some during the treatment. 
Then wash the seed thoroughly over a 
screen, with cool running water and this 
should take at least 10 minutes. 
Next spread out the seed and dry carefully 
or they can be sown immediately. Seed 
should not be stored longer than 4 weeks 
after treatment. 
CAUTION: Do not splash water into the 
acid as it is very liable to result in a react- 
ion that may splash acid on to the operator. 
In many cases the seed when offered in 
our columns, the acid treatment may be in- 
dicated and therefore the above will explain 
just what the treatment will be. 
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISMENTS 
We wish to make this classified section of special value to our readers who may 
have plants, roots or any other item that they wish to sell or exchange. 
The charge will be 20¢ per line of seven words, per insertion; four insertions 
When offering plant material know your nursery laws. 
at price of three, 
PLANTS FOR SALE 
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named varieties, plants 3 to 6 in. tall 3 for 
Gypsy Series leaves 20¢ 
$1.00. Rose- 
you have something extra choice, the cost 
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SITUATION WANTED 
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DODECATHEON CUSICKII. Fresh seed 
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TREE AND SHRUB SEEDS: We carry in 
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BEAUTIFUL INDIAN ORCHIDS Himalay- 
an Flower Bulbs, Anemone, Sternbergia, 
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MAKE USE OF THE CLASSIFIED SECTION - IT’S YOURS 
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