Join a sunrise club? as is proposed in Birds and Nature for January. Of
course I will. I have for years belonged to one of two members—my
daughter and myself. Now we will transfer our membership to the new club
that is to have members all over the country.
Some of our winter sunsets here in Nebraska are glorious. I am
especially fond of looking at them through the thousand interlaced
branches of the leafless trees. One can study tree forms and sunsets in
the same picture. I wonder that every person is not a sunset observer.
But some people are sunset blind, and some rarely ever look at the
heavens on starry nights. I sometimes meet people who lament the fact
that they cannot go to Colorado and see the mountains, of which they
hear such glowing accounts. I tell them that I do not pity them at all
so long as they do not care to gaze upon the most glorious sight which
mortal man is permitted to see—the starry heavens. They who do not
appreciate the stars and the sunsets would soon tire of the mountains.
Our summer sunsets are also glorious, but I miss some of them on account
of the trees around my house. I sometimes get on my wheel and go out of
town simply to see the sunset. Trees are nice, but they often hide from
us something nicer. When the towns of Colorado were new, twenty-five
years ago, we could see the mountains from all our west doors and
windows. Now in those same towns the people must go out into the street,
or even out of town, if they would see the mountains in summer.
But, say, let us have another club—a Sunrise Club. It may be asking too
much to make it operative for the whole year, so we will call it a
sunrise club for May and June. Those are the bird months of the year,
the months when some of us are out before sunrise morning after morning,
to watch the birds and to hear their wonderful concerts. Some of the
pleasantest memories of my life are of early morning trips on my wheel
to a certain grove in the edge of town. On those trips I have seen many
a new bird—new to me—and many a glorious sunrise.
Somehow birds and the rising of the sun fit into each other beautifully.
There is something inspiring and exhilarating about sunrise that is not
found in sunsets. The air is more free from dust; one’s body and mind,
yes, and soul, too, are in better mood to enjoy the sight; one is more
pleased to welcome the sun than to bid him good night; the birds seem to
think so and they give joyous welcome to the orb of day; all nature is
awakening; a great thing is happening; a new day, fresh from the hands
of its Maker, is being born. All hail, thou new creation! Welcome, thou
glorious orb of day! Let me join with the birds in singing thy praise.
Thou dost flood my soul with joy even as thou dost flood the earth with
light. Yes, let us have a sunrise club for May and June, except perhaps
the cloudy and stormy mornings when even the birds seem to lie abed. Who
will join?
Roselle Theodore Cross.
[Illustration: TOMATOES.
(Lycopersicum esculentum).]
THE TOMATO.
(_Lycopersicum esculentum._)
The tomato is an herbaceous plant, belonging to the nightshade family
(Solanaceae), the same family to which the potato and tobacco belong. It
has numerous rather large, showy, cut leaves, which are more or less
woolly, due to numerous hair cells or trichomes. It has numerous not
attractive or pleasant smelling flowers, with numerous yellow or red
berries, which vary in size and form. It is a native of South America,
but is very extensively cultivated in nearly all countries excepting the
cold northern regions. In 1596 it was introduced into England as an
ornamental and medicinal plant. Previous to about 1840 it was little
used in the United States, but now it is very extensively grown in green
houses, gardens and as a farm crop. For an early crop the seed is
planted in a hot bed, so that the plants may be of suitable size for
transplanting as soon as the danger of frost is past. The plants are
placed three or four feet apart in fairly rich soil and the soil
frequently tilled and kept free from weeds. The plants grow about three
or four feet high, become quite spreading and rank so that it is
desirable to tie the top portions to stakes driven into the ground to
keep the plants upright; this procedure is also of advantage in ripening
the fruit.
Botanically, the fruit is a berry, and before ripening is of a bright
green color, changing to red in the red variety and to yellow in the
yellow variety. The same plant bears flowers and ripe fruits, so that
fruits may be gathered for a considerable period.
Tomatoes have a peculiar flavor and somewhat acid taste when ripe. The
pulp contains many seeds. As with other garden plants, there are
numerous culture varieties. Some are no larger than cherries. Some are
pear-shaped; others large and flattened at the ends. Some are nearly
spherical, others quite irregular. The ripe fruits must be gathered
promptly, as they decay very readily and quickly.
At the present time the tomato is very little used medicinally, but is
very extensively used as an article of diet. Picked green they are
pickled either alone or mixed with other vegetables. The ripened fruit
is prepared in a multitude of ways. Peeled and sliced raw, adding salt,
pepper, vinegar and sugar. Boiled in soups, mixed with sauces, baked or
fried entire, fried or baked, mashed, mixed with stale bread and
seasoned, etc. There is a popular superstition that eating tomatoes to
excess causes cancer. Tomato preserves are highly relished by some;
likewise tomato pies.
The general opinion prevails among scientists, as well as laymen, that
the tomato is nourishing and wholesome. It is certainly harmless when
ripe, but the green pickled preparations are not nourishing nor
particularly wholesome. The notion that pickles aid digestion is a
mistaken one. The spices added may stimulate, but the green fruit
particles are not digestible.
The word tomato is of American Indian origin. The popular name love
apples (German Liebesæpfel) is a translation of the French pomme
d’amour, which is a corruption of pomo dei Mori, a name derived from
Morocco. The Germans also designate them apples of Paradise
(Paradiesæpfel).
The entire plant, including flowers and green fruit, have a somewhat
heavy, disagreeable odor, a characteristic common to many members of the
nightshade family.
Albert Schneider.