18 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
July 1, 1908 
Roo Imecrease im Price. 
6S. 
THE OLD FAVORITE 
DIAMOND TOBACCO, 
Dark Twist, 3s. Ib 
Aromatic, 3s. 9d. Ib. 
Obtainable at all Stores, or of the Sole Agents— 
W. CORNELL & Co., 55 Rundle Street, Adelaide. 
Wonders of Little Things. 
There is a certain fly that makes four 
hundred and forty steps in running three 
“inches, and all in one-half second of time. 
To equal this, in proportion to his size, a 
man would have to run at the rate of 
twenty miles a minute. 
The common flea leaps two hundred 
times its own length. To show like agility 
aman six feet tall would have to leap a 
distance of twelve hundred feet. 
The cheese-mite is about one quarter of 
an inch in lenvth, yet it has been seen to 
take the tip of its tailin its mouth, and 
then, letting go with a jerk, leap out of a 
vessel six inches in depth. To equal this 
aman would hava to jump out of a well 
from a depth of one hundred and forty 
five feet. 
Equally strange things are found among 
the plants and vegetables, A student of 
nature once tested the growing force of a 
squash. When it was eighteen days old, 
and measured twenty-seven inches in cir- 
cumference, he fixed a sort of harness 
around it, with a long lever attached, 
The power of the squash was measured 
by the weight it lifted. Two days after 
the harness was put on it lifted sixty 
pounds. On the nineteenth day it lifted 
five thousand pounds. 
The seed of the globe turnip is about 
one-twentieth of an iuch in diameter, and 
yet, in the course of a few months, this 
seed will be enlarged by the soil and the 
air to millions of times its original bulk, 
and this in addition to a bunch of levves, 
It has been found by experiment that 
-a turnip seed will, under fair conditions, 
increase its own weight fifteen times in 
one minute, 
SECT 
‘Now, Wilson, you’re not laughing at 
me, are you? asked the schoolmaster 
sternly. ‘No, sir; certainly not, sir? 
Schoolmaster: ‘Then what else is there 
in the room to laugh at?’ 
Inventor of the Post Card. 
The honor of this cheap and convenient 
means of communicatioa belongs to Prof. 
Emanuel Herrmann, of Vienna. On Jan. 
26, 1869, he wrote a letter to the ‘Neue 
Freie Presse,’ “in Vienna, in which he 
developed his plan of a simple card which 
should be issued at 2 kreutzer (8 cent, or 
8 mills) by the Post-office Department, 
and which should be good for the Austro. 
Hungarian Empire. At first the depart- 
ment objected to making the price as low 
as two kreufzer, but agre-d to three. But 
Professor Herrmann and those associated 
in his plan objected to the extra kreutzer, 
so that finally the Government agreed to 
the cheaper rate, and on October 1, 1869, 
the first postal-card ever issued was put 
on sale in Vienna. Some years later Ger- 
many also adopted Professor Herrmann’s 
postal-card idea, but it was not a great 
success until the Franco-Prussian War 
broke ont, when they came into general 
use in Germany. Gradually other coun- 
tries issued them. The United States of 
America, which handles them by the 
million now, was one of the last countries 
to adopt Professor Herrmann’s idea, 
—_—_—_—_———— 
‘Ma,’ said-a little boy, ‘ought the 
teacher to whip me for what I did not 
do? ‘Certainly not, my boy,’ replied the 
mother, ‘Well, he did to-day when I 
didn’t do my sum,’ replied the little 
fellow. _ ; 
Aunt (to small niece and smaller ne- 
phew) : ‘Can’t you two children give up 
some little pleasure before Lent is over?’ 
Nephew : ‘ Well, Mollie’s going to give 
up teasing me, and I’m going to give up 
hitting her when she does.’ 
‘Tommy, what’s your little brother 
crying about?’ asked a mother of her 
son. ‘Cause I’m eatin’ my cake an’ 
won’t give him any.’ ‘Is his ewn cake 
finished ? ‘‘ Yes, an’ he cried while I was 
eatin’ that too !” 
Do You Know ? 
As long as I live I eat, but when I 
drink I die—Fire. 
What relation is the scraper to the 
door-mat? Step-father (farther). 
What is the difference between a jewel- 
ler and a gaoler? One sells watches and 
the other watches cells. 
Which are the most contented birds ? 
Rooks, because they never complain with- 
out caws (cause). - : 
Why is a fishmonger never generous ? 
Because his trade makes him selfish (sell 
fish). 
What is that which goes up a chimney 
down, and down a chimney down, but 
won’t go up a chimney up, nor down a 
chimney up? An umbrella. 
Which two letters in the alphabet are 
very cold? J-C (icy), of course. 
Why is asovereign gained like a guinea ? 
Because it is one pound won. 
Why are you more a carpenter than I 
am? Because you are a deal plainer. 
Why do little birds in their nests agree ? 
Because if they did not they wonld fall 
out. 
When is the moon like a load of hay ? 
When it’s on the wane (wain). 
What is the only pane of which every- 
ane makes light? A window-pane 
What insect does the blacksmith manu- 
facture! He makes the fire-fly. : 
When does u man’s right leg become 
his left leg? When the other is cut off. 
Frep Lixep Ir.—Ten-year-old Fred 
was going to a party for the first time. 
‘ Here’s half-a-crown, Fred,’ said the lad’s 
father, ‘if it rains, be sure you take a cab 
home, But Fred reached home drenched 
tu the skin. ‘ Why didn’t you take a cab ? 
asked his father. ‘1 did, father,’ said 
Fred; ‘and I sat on the box all the way 
home. It was glorious.’ 
