Golden Age, July 9, 1930
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Qfts Golden Age
A JOURNAL OF FACT HOPE AND COURAGE
in this issue .....
LEAGUE SUPPORTERS
. PRESUMPTUOUS
Complete text of an address by Judge Rutherford, broadcast in the watchtower national chain program
"THE FLOWER OF THE FIELD”
WHEN THE WORLD WENT MAD
A GLIMPSE AT FINANCIAL CONDITIONS
FINDINGS
BiSHmmHEBmBHmiBmamBBiimmHBBmmmEgEgmmsmEi
every other WEDNESDAY
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Canada & Foreign 1.5a
Volume XI-No. 282
JULY 9, 1930
LABOR AND ECONOMICS
SCIENCE AND INVENTION
Some Results from Textile Strikes 651
The Hudson Machine Gun
Six Hundred Unprogressive
Publishers ....... 652
Farmers Urged to Produce Less 671
The New Bombing Plane Guide . 651
London’s Robot Ticket Agent , 651
Frozen Foods Are Coming . . G53
SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL
HOME AND HEALTH.
Findings .........651
87,000 Killed in Peace Year . . 651'
Harvard and Yale Endowments 652
On the Forest Roofs of British Guiana ..... 652
When the World Went Mad . . 655
If You Like Aluminum, Go to It . 650
Inoculated Babies . . . . . 653
Black Walnut Leaf Tea . . . 662
TRAVEL AND MISCELLANY
FINANCE—COMMERCE—TRANSPORTATION
Erratum . . . . . . . . . 654
The International Bank , . . 653
Connecticut Power Company . 653
The A & P Small Profits . . . 653
A Statement by The Long-Bell
Lumber Company ..... 654
A Glipse at Financial Conditions 660
AGRICULTURE AND HUSBANDRY
Items of Interest......664
A Warning ........ 671
RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY
A Letter from a Clergyman . . 650
And a Reply........650
The Time to Die ...... 659
Bible Question and Answer . . 663 •
“The Flower of the Field” . . 643
League Supporters Presumptuous 635
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The Golden. Age
Volume XI Brooklyn, N. Y., Wednesday, July 9, 1930 Number 282
aTTie Flower of the Field ”
T T IS rather noteworthy that in His Word God lias said so little about the stars and about the flowers. They have not been left unmentioned, but one gets the impression that He sees no reason to mention the glories and beauties of the night and of the day that are, in their season, everywhere apparent in creation. God does not boast.
Solomon spoke of the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley, and our Lord invited us to “consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these'5; yet these expressions are more remarkable for what is left unsaid than for what is said. The psalmist and other Biblical writers mention the flowers.
The Lord must love them. The kinds run into the thousands, and the varieties are numberless. Billions of blossoms every year are entirely unseen by human eyes, but if the angels before the flood could and did admire the flower of the human creation, there is little doubt that they also enjoy the quiet little faces on stalks that are always smiling up at them in the sunlight.
Europe is the world’s flower garden. Even in the poorest communities the cottages are everywhere surrounded with brilliant flowers, lending a grace and charm to the countryside that does much to offset the poverty which is by no means confined to that continent.
In America it is not common for business houses to have window boxes of well-kept flowers; it is not at all uncommon in Europe. Most European homes have gardens, but they are inclosed, in the rear, and constitute the private outdoor home of the family.
The flower fields of Holland are of world-wide fame. The color schemes of these fields are designed by artists. Italian gardens devote most attention to ivy and evergreens, best calculated to form beautiful backgrounds for the statuary.
The Language of Flowers
In every country and in every age lovers have been bestowing flowers as gifts, and it is not to be wondered at that a language of flowers has grown up. The Romans developed a floral speech, revived to some extent in the days of chivalry, but almost lost in our prosaic, mercenary days.
Yet every summer the daisy tells some girl whether “he loves me: he loves me not”. The forget-me-not and the pansy speak of constancy and thoughtfulness. The buttercup under the chin shows the fondness for butter. The sunflower warns of false riches, the hollyhock speaks of ambition, the lady-slipper of beauty mingled with caprice, and the larkspur of fancy in its flight. The lily commands and the violet shrinks. There was a time when every bud and spray in a bouquet meant something to a young woman’s heart, but today neither she nor the young man knows what it is all about.
In Borneo a flower has been discovered which grows to be thirty-five inches in diameter. Its bud is often as large as a man’s head. Not sure if Mussolini wears one of these in his buttonhole, but he should. He takes the biscuit, and is entitled to the bouquet.
As to national flowers, Japan’s is the chrysanthemum, Mexico’s the prickly pear, Spain’s the pomegranate, Germany’s the cornflower, Wales’ the leek, Egypt’s and India’s the lotus. Some of the other national flowers are incorporated in the following jingle; which is not so bad, in view of the fact that America has not yet laid claim to one:
"France has the fleur-de-lis;
England has the rose;
Everybody knows where the shamrock grows, Scotland has the thistle, Growing on the hill;
But the emblem of America is the one-dollar bill. ’ ’
The pansy, the poppy and the goldenrod have each, been proposed as the national flower emblem of America.
The Joys of Gardening
A man who has plenty of money and is able to hire landscape architects and professional gardeners to do his work can never know as much of the joys of gardening as a-man who takes a rough-looking lot and gradually, in his spare time, tranforms it into a thing of beauty.
It-takes a lot of time to keep up a garden, and the work is never finished. Probably one reason the Lord said so little about it in His Word is that He knows that a man is liable to do next to nothing in spreading the gospel of the Kingdom if his energies are employed in. beautifying a piece of real estate. A man cannot do everything.
A gardener’s education is never finished. If he is progressive something new comes up.every season. The Brooklyn ■ Botanic Gardens exchange seeds every year with 140 botanic gardens scattered all the way from Java to Norway. New plants are constantly being added to America’s flora.
Old plants are being reinvigorated, petals painted new tints, blooming seasons lengthened. 'Methods of .attacking the enemies and the diseases of plants are being constantly improved. Every winter the gardener sees how next spring he will be able to make changes in his plans which will improve hi s place.
There are fashions in flowers as in dress. Some of the flowers that were popular a generation ago are now seldom, seen. A man who has gardening for a hobby can easily become a specialist in some line. It is notable that the growing of flowers as a business attracts children and keeps them at home. Many floral businesses are handed down from father to son, from generation to generation.
Gardeners are advised to keep a log, so that lessons may be remembered and errors not be repeated. A New York switchman attracted much favorable attention to himself by making his switchman’s shanty the center of a little garden of surpassing beauty. He combined work with play.
An elderly woman, living high up in one of New York’s storied apartments, wrote to the press asking them to thank the householders who in the little yards below had made scenes of beauty which reminded her of her girlhood days.
Some Garden Hints
The objective of the gardener is the same as that of the home-maker: to make the garden, a restful place, a place where one will feel at ease, and to which he will wish to resort for rest and peace and quiet. There are homes which convey that impression inside and outside.
Plants need rest, the same as humans. If a plant that has been doing well seems to lag it may need only a period of rest in a. dry, cool collar. There, in time, it will begin to put out green shoots, and is then ready for a thorough watering and a place in the sun. Fertilizer may be given to it later.
Bo not be too vigorous with the pruning shears if you do not know just what you are about. Many a good plant has been set back unduly by too much ambition to cut and trim. It is often cheaper to buy plants than to try to make and operate a hotbed. However, if your place is large enough, there are some advantages in having one’s own hotbed.
Bell-shaped glass covers, one for each plant, have been used in gardens in England and are considered a success. Separate plants can be given special care: the bells are easily lifted and carried about and no permanent structure ’ is needed. '
' It is not true that moonlight injures plants. When the moon shines brilliantly it indicates a clear night and lower temperature. It is the cold that sets back the plants. Gardens should be often cultivated; not often watered. Let nature do the watering. Cultivate after every rain, before the soil gets baked hard..
Many perennials give a second crop of flowers. 'When Pyrethrum blossoms fade, cut the plant back to about five inches from the ground, dig in a good handful of steamed bonemeal, water well and mulch to keep the soil cool, and a second bloom will be the reward. The same thing can be done with delphinium, hollyhocks and iceland poppies, but not with peonies.
Back Toward Eden
Man is gradually turning the earth back toward Eden, making it all into a garden. If there were no dry or bare spots in the world there' would be very little dust. The most attractive towns are those that have the grassiest lawns, and they are the cleanest because easiest to keep clean. It is impossible to have a clean home next to a dusty road that is heavily traveled.
There ought to bo some water in every garden, It need not be an expensive pool or marble fountain. It may be a small pool, a sunken barrel, or merely a shallow dish sunk in the lawn. If it is kept filled with fresh water it will attract plenty of feathered visitors from the skies. And birds are good friends of the garden.
If the back lot is very, very small it is surprising -what may be grown on a rack: strawberries, carrots, onions, spinach, radishes, etc., in tiers one above another. If the plot is of fair size one new and different plant should be tried each year; and a corner should be devoted to the sweet herbs, more and more used in the culinary art.
People who can afford it may now have their gardens lighted by steel-blue light screened through stippled lenses, with individual lenses for special rose bushes and separate floral groups, with amber spot rights here and there that make the garden a veritable fairyland, even more charming at night than in the day. Hybridization is producing marvels of plant beauty impossible to describe.
Living Plants in the Home
A few living plants in the home are a great attraction and require but a moment of time. Five minutes of time will care for a window box, and a bowl of ivy will not require more than five minutes a week. An attractive window box can be coaxed into existence by merely planting some grapefruit seeds in a box filled with good soil. The box must be kept by a southern or eastern window.
Some busy people, in selecting plants for their homes, choose only those which will live in water. In some localities soil is not so easy to procure; but water can always be had. Many plants die indoors because they do not have enough fresh air. They thrive best in a temperature of not more than 70 degrees by day nor less than 55 degrees at night. A window box may be stood near a window that has inserted in it one of the standard ventilators.
To grow a pineapple as a house plant select & sound fruit with the green top still attached. Remove the top and plant in a sandy soil in a three-inch or four-inch pot. For a few days the soil should be kept wet and the box be stood in partial shade.
A house fern is benefited by being watered once in three months with water containing a little household ammonia. It makes the leaves green and glossy. It is believed that the chief reason soapsuds are beneficial to plants is because of the water in the suds. The soap itself seems hardly to affect the plant one way or the other. The lye in the soap rids the soil of insects.
When one is expecting to be away for several days, the plants can be cared for by arranging them around a water container. The greater the number of plants, and the longer the proposed absence, the larger should be the container. Fill the container to the brim. Bury one end of a large wick in the soil in each pot and drop the other end in the water clear to the bottom. Nature and capillary attraction will do the rest.
The palm house of the botanical gardens at Leningrad is watered by an artificial rainfall which is distributed over the entire interior at one time. The water is forced through the pipes electrically and the flow is controlled by the operation of a single switch. Not many of us would know7 what to do with that method of watering house plants.
Care of Cut Flowers
It almost seems a pity to cut flowers from the source of their life, yet there are some plants that seem to be positively benefited by the removal of their blossoms. It is a shame to tear off the flowering boughs of apple trees, and it is a shame to gather many wild flowers and thus denude the fields and woodlands of much of their natural beauty. Many of the most beautiful ■wild flowers in New York state are now described in the official publications of the state as “now very rare’’. This destruction has all been brought about by those who claim to love flowers.
It is astonishing what can be done with, fresh cut flowers, when packed by experts. They have been shipped across the North American continent and across the Atlantic ocean. They have to go in a fixed temperature from point of shipment to destination.
On the great Atlantic liners, every day they are at sea fresh flowers can be had in considerable variety. No matter how cold and stormy the weather, a bouquet can always be obtained from the sea, florist as fresh and charming as if ashore.
Florists know how to give blossoms cut for exhibition exceptionally delicate shades not obtained in actual growing of plants. This is done by dropping silver coins in the water in which the flowers stand. The silver hydroxide changes the natural color of the blossoms, and the new tints are fixed by adding a few crumbs of slaked lime or mortar.
Fresh cut flowers can be transported long distances and kept in perfect condition for several days by inserting the stems in slits cut in potatoes. They can be preserved indefinitely by dipping them in melted paraffin which is just hot enough to maintain its fluidity. Copper vases make the best ones. It is claimed that a copper receptacle will almost double the life of cut flowers.
A scientist in Paris claims to have discovered a legitimate use for aspirin. A tablet is dissolved in warm water, and the solution when put in a vase of cut flowers will freshen them. A flow’er worn in the buttonhole will also keep fresh if its stem is wrapped in a piece of cotton soaked in a similar solution. This is the only good thing we can say about aspirin.
Relation of Flowers to Insects
It is well known that flowers depend for their lives upon certain insects, especially bees. These visit them in succession in search of the nectar hidden deeply in their corollas. They brush against the anthers, rub off the pollen (usually a little sticky) and in entering the next flower leave some of it on the pistil, by means of which it reaches the seed.
The insects which pollenize the flowers are guided to the nectar by the various rows of dots or lines with which the flowers are marked. These point directly to the place where the nectar is concealed, and where, by the way, it is always well protected from the rain.
Not only are the useful insects shown where to find the nectar, but the latter is protected from raids by insects which would do the plant no good. Ants are kept away by bands of sticky secretions, or by sticky hairs on the stem or on the flower stalk or outside the calyx.
Many insects attack plants in search of food, and some live there as long as the flowers last. This is well known to the birds whose long and slender bills are adapted to this particular form of lunch-counter arrangement. Instead of such insects’ going up in smoke, they may be said to go up in song; not a bad way to go, if you have to go.
In Australia it is noted that the country is deficient in insects, and it was necessary to import and acclimate bees before clover could be
raised. In America we are blessed with all we need, and then some, and we need toads to keep them down. In twenty-four hours a toad will fill his stomach to its capacity four times with insects that are pests to man. ■
In an effort to keep up •with the insects, modern chemistry has invented poisons, sprayers and dust guns to help the toads and birds keep the gardens from being overrun. The man behind the seed counter knows just what to advise. Ask him. :
Flowers May Be Pests ■
It seems hard to think that flowers may be pests; yet how about the dandelion, the daisy, the goldenrod, and the milkweed"? The Lantana is known in the United States as a pretty flower; but, imported into Hawaii, it has spread over the highlands and caused much loss of valuable grazing lands.
The water hyacinth was first introduced in Louisiana at a flower show in 1884. Since then, and now for twenty years, the streams of the state have been choked from bank to bank with water hyacinths through which no boat could pass. A way has now been found to kill it; that is with live steam played upon the flower from hoses. These shrivel up the entire plant, roots and all.
The daffodil is beautiful to look at, but hides a subtle poison. It must be handled with great care, as a slight abrasion of the skin may cause months of suffering. In South Africa there is a genus of the milkweed family that gives out the odor of the most distressing and offensive carrion. It is pollenized and kept alive by carrion-loving flies. '
The object of every flower is to bring forth fruit, so that the plant may live. When a flower has been fertilized it gives up its exquisite petals and its sweet perfume and devotes its entire energies to the work in hand. All life, including human life, is much the same. .y
In an average collection of 1,000 plants,/about 284 have white flowers, 226 yellow, 220 red, 141 blue, 72 violet, 26 green, 12 orange, 4 brown and 2 black. The white flowers are the most fragrant and have the sweetest perfumes. The fragrance of the plants of other colors runs in the order of their frequency, the least fragrant being those that occur most seldom. What a wise and kind arrangement!. / ■.
Ftowrs in Pieces
You would not'expect to fin’d flowers far above the arctic circle, "would you? Yet they are there, in midsummer, by the. million, in color and delicacy to vie with the tropics. The long hours of daylight thaw out the top soil, the rootlets fill with moisture, and the plants burst into bloom. Narcissus, tulips, English iris, gladiolus, hyacinth and the regal lily can be grown in Alaska on a commercial scale.
During the rainy season every desert is a paradise of flowers. There are thousands of square miles of them, constituting the most beautiful flower gardens in the world. In Nevada it is against the law to uproot desert flowers. The molds on overripe bread and cheese are beautiful flowers when viewed under the micro
scope.
A desert of asphalt and concrete and brick and stone, such as New York city, is a strange abode for flowers; and well the flower dealers of that great city know it. Prices are unconscionably high, and kept so by collusion between the wholesalers and retailers. By contrast with the charges in Paris and London the New York prices are outrageous. In New York flowers are $5 a dozen; in Paris a sprig of lily of the valley may be had for two cents. Retailers, working against the flower lovers of the city, discourage the raising and selling of outdoor-grown blossoms. Thus the common people of the city are deprived of flowers.
Earth is rare in Now York. In some shops it is sold at ten cents a pound for common, and fifteen cents for humus. When a plant dies the careful housewife removes the soil and stores it in the kitchen cupboard. Most backyards and courtyards are paved. It seems that about the only good places for plants are on the roofs.
We conclude with a few items regarding certain special flowers, arranged alphabetically:
Begonia—Carnation—Chrysanthemum
To offset the famous tulip fields of Holland, flower growers in Belgium have gone in for begonia fields, and with excellent results, from an artistic standpoint. Tulips require light, sandy soil, and much water, and do not thrive in the heavy loam of Belgium. The begonias come to perfection in August-September, the height of the tourist season.
At the International Flower Show, held at Ghent, Belgium, carnations which were almost blue and almost black have been shown. Ghent is one of the most important flower centers in the world, having seven hundred nurseries, hundreds of flower markets, and many huge conservatories, the last large enough to provide for the growth of full-sized palm trees.
The chrysanthemum has been cultivated for two thousand year’s in China. There are now tens of thousands of varieties, ranging in size from a man’s head down to plants no larger than the tip of the finger. There are all colors except blue, and the plant grows in all shapes. It has been the official flower of Japan for five hundred years. A single new variety has sold for as much as $10,000.
In 1789 Captain Blanchard, who plied between Marseilles and the Orient, brought back a thousand varieties of “Mums”, as they are called in the trade. Only one of these, the "Old Purple”, lived. It remained for more than twenty years the only kind known in the •Western World. The Japanese have a method of coaxing an enormous number of blossoms on one stem. By this method one plant has been made to bear 1,100 flowers.
Dahlia—Daisy—Fern
The dahlia is a native of Mexico and still grows wild there. On account of its diversity of colors, beauty, variety of form, size, freedom, long season of bloom, and ease of culture, it is probably the most popular flower grown. It was not introduced into Europe until 1879, but in both Europe and the United States there are societies devoted specially to its development and there are now some ten thousand horticultural varieties. The plant is named in honor of Dr. Andre Dahl, Swedish botanist.
Dahlias will grow in any kind of soil that will grow high weeds, cabbage or potatoes. The soil should be put in the best possible condition before planting. Dahlias grow in all shades from dark royal purples, through rich maroons, magenta and mauve to the palest silvery lavender. There are no really blue dahlias, though lavenders with a bluish cast have appeared. The 'American dahlia society has more than two thousand members.
The daisy, also called the marguerite, is, in name, a corruption of “day’s eye”, the sun. The American field daisy first bloomed on the battlefield of Saratoga, having been brought from central Germany in fodder to feed the English horses of General Burgoyne’s army. There are many varieties of daisies, the trembling star,
gowan, little Easter flower,- a thousand charms, meadow pearl, goose flower, Mary’s flower, measure-of-love, etc.
Ferns receive less attention than they merit. There are but some sixty varieties (in New York state), but they are all adorable. Fems grow best it watered from the bottom. Just pour a cupful of water into the jardiniere and set the fern in it, when it will absorb all the water it requires.
A thick stand of grass, frequently cut, produces a much larger crop of grass than is generally realized. This heavy cropping exhausts the fertility of the soil, the grass turns brown, gaps in the turf occur and bunch grass and other wild grasses begin to appear. These are signs that the lawn needs food, and organic matter and commercial fertilizers must be supplied, if the greenness of the lawn is to be permanently maintained.
Grass sometimes grows where it is not wanted. To kill grass between bricks, clean out the seams to a depth of a quarter inch and sweep in a little powdered bluestone. Ten cents worth of bluestone thus applied will cover fifty yards of paving and will last for years.
Another way by which grass can be removed from any place where it is not desired is to scatter a few handfuls of crushed ferrous sulphate of iron (green vitriol) over the spots and then about half as much of powdered potassium chlorate. When sprinkled with water, sulphuric acid is released, and its effect is increased by the chlorine also released.
Rice grass, first introduced into Britain sixty years ago, is now being found of real value. Planted in the mud, it attracts more mud, and thus a sinking coast is being built up. Holland and Tasmania are using the grass for the same purpose.
The gladiolus is increasing in popularity. Societies are forming around it. Among its many titles is “the universal flower” and “the poor man’s orchid”.
The Japanese iris, regal among its kind, was first introduced into this country in I860. About seven hundred varieties of it have been named. Two lots of iris were sown in late October and the plants were all kept in the same temperature. One lot, flooded with light eighteen hours a day, bloomed on Christmas day. The other lot, not provided with any artificial light, was still dormant as late as the following February..
Ivy, regarded by some as a pestiferous plant, is nevertheless a beautiful thing: its leaves are exquisitely shaped; its color is satisfying; if it kills buildings and trees it gives them a beautiful coffin any way.
Laurel—Lilac—-Lily
The terms baccalaureate, poet laureate, etc., come from the word laurel, called by the ancient Greeks “daphne”. In ancient times berry-bearing twigs of it were wound around the heads of victorious heroes, poets, and other supposed benefactors of their day.
There are hundreds of varieties of lilacs, also called syringias. The old-time plants, seen in abundance on the grounds of ancient homes, were of only three or four varieties. It used to take seven years to bring the lilacs to bloom, but this time is now reduced.
The lily family is a big one. The onion is a lily bulb, and so is the asparagus. Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocuses, are all members of the lily family. The lily, supposed to represent purity, is simple and noble in form, with plain, narrow, severe leaves, straight and upright stalk, and firm petals of puce and luminous whiteness. It does not easily bend to breeding tests. Science refers to it as stubborn, The Greeks and Romans prized it above all other flowers. An avalanche lily has been known to have twenty-one petals.
The yucca, or Spanish bayonet, is an interesting lily of the American southwest. The leaves are harsh, dagger-tipped implements. They may lie on the ground or be eight feet in -the air. From the center rises a stalk like a flagpole, and at the top there finally breaks into bloom an assembly of pure white, bell-like, richly-perfumed, perfect lilies, the greatest single cluster of beautiful lilies known.
The Victoria Regia, mammoth of all water lilies, matures in sixty days after removal to the pond in early summer. The plants are then thirty feet square, with individual leaves six feet wide, capable of supporting the weight of a fifty-pound child. The Victoria Regia comes from South America, but a cousin in Japan and China produces four-foot floating leaves in less than nine days. The diameter of these leaves increases at the rate of nearly dialf an inch an hour. At that rate of growth the plant produces between 15 and 25 inches of leaf in 60 minutes. There are beautiful water lily nurseries at Griffin, Ga., in Tower Grove Park, St. Louis, and at Kenilworth, D. C.
Like some human creatures, the water lily sleeps at night, closing its buds and not opening them until the sun is high in the heavens the next day. Accordingly, the picking of water lilies is done between four and five o’clock in the morning, and shipments are rushed off while the plant is still asleep.
Orehid—Peony—Poppy
It is about three hundred years since orchids were found blooming in the New World. The orchid is still the aristocrat of flowers. There are hundreds of varieties. One species imitates the trunk of an elephant; another looks like a flying pigeon. The chimera startles the beholder with its resemblance to some fantastic and monstrous insect. The resemblance of these-flowers to animals is so exact that birds are often deceived by them. Central America is their habitat, but they have been found growing wild in Illinois. In Bronx Park, New York, is an orchid several hundred years old. It blooms every year, having as high as 1,200 pseudo-bulbs and several hundred flower stalks at a time.
The peony shares with the iris the honor of being the glory of the spring. By choosing early, mid-season and late varieties it is possible to have a longer peony season than is usually enjoyed. Peonies have been known to blossom in one spot for half a century, but they should be separated once in ten years; the iris once in three.
Peonies ship well if picked in the bud. Florists often keep them for weeks in cold storage before putting them on the market. The vice president of a large manufacturing firm has on his letterhead the words “Henry S. Cooper, Peony Fan”. He wishes it known that he loves peonies.
Poppies grow in great luxuriance in wheat fields. They can mature in the wflieat before it is cut. Superstition attaches to the poppies of the battlefields. It is an odd fact that the flower does not agree with other blooms, and if placed in a bouquet with other flowers will either itself wilt or cause them to wilt, or both.
The Rose—Queen of Flowers
It is now about twm thousand years since the Athenians crowned the rose as the queen of fi ewers, but it is doubtful if any Athenian ever saw such roses as grow out on the Pacific coast. If you think you have ever seen roses, go to Portland, Oregon, when the rose festival is on, and then you will know you have seen them, gorgeous, beautiful, gigantic, and in a profusion to make one bewildered.
When we speak of rose-tinted glasses, rosy futures, roseate hopes, and when we tell our friends that they are as welcome as the roses in May, we involuntarily acknowledge the place which the rose holds in our affections. The rose is perfect in form, color, perfume and lasting qualities, and a general favorite the world over, in peace and in war, in life and in death.
Roses require humus. The plants that grow on manetti roots are stronger, and flower better, than those grown on their own roots. They stand severe pruning, and need much hoeing, so that the water and air get to the roots. Nothing is a better preventive of soil erosion than the roots and tentacles of the rambler rose.
Roses occasionally have green blossoms. England has a rose the color of which varies from pale yellow to yellow deeply splashed with red, depending upon whether it is cold or warm when the bud opens.
At Lebanon, N. FI., some years ago a rose bush outside a window sent a shoot into the cellar. Thence it found its way through a tiny knothole up into the living room, and eventually leafed out into a beautiful climbing rose filling a whole window with blossoms and the room with fragrance. '
Tulip— Violet—Wild Flowers
In the year 1636 Holland had a spell of tulipo-mania. The country and almost the whole of Europe went speculation-mad over tulips. Frenzied gambling took place. People sold all they had to buy tulips, and when the crash came thousands were ruined. Holland is still the center of the world’s tulip trade. People go to Holland from all over the world to see the tulip fields in the season when they are in bloom.
The tulip is the star weather prophet. Every year it puts on as many coats as it will need to stand the ensuing winter. In the fall of 1928 the tulip coats were the heaviest known, and the winter was the hardest ever known in Holland.
Violets are made to bloom in the summer simply by cutting down the amount of sunlight to that of a spring day. It is the light, and not the heat, that controls the growth of the plant, and artificial light has the same effect as sunlight. The extra heat of summer has no effect.
Life preservers arc made in Germany from the pith of the sunflower. The material is eight times as light as cork.
In gathering wild flowers the blossoms should be cut off with scissors, knife or clippers, not broken off by hand or pulled up by the stem. A few blossoms should be left on each root, so that the plant will not die. The gathering should be done in the field, and not by the roadside, so that the roadside beauty may be preserved.
The most sweeping damage to wild flowers is by the men who make a business of collecting them in. huge quantities and taking them to the cities for sale, along with the more decorative leaves and vines. Wild flowers fade quickly and are better left where nature put them. In some states laws have been passed to protect them.
There are some five thousand varieties of wild flowers in California, as compared with three thousand on the Atlantic coast and in the Mississippi Valley, but the incursions of motorists, campers and hikers have driven most of the rare varieties far into the hills and far on the road to extinction. '
A Letter frem a Clergyman
Whittingehame Manse
II addington Scotland
Bear Sirs:
I lately received a book entitled “Deliverance”, published by your Society. I had great pain in reading a book that contains so much nonsense, approaching in parts to blasphemy; and I had great pleasure in tearing it up and consigning it to the flames—a book far more pernicious than the most pernicious novel. If that is what Bible Students in your country call Christian doctrine, there is a wide gulf fixed between our country and yours.
Yours truly,
Marshall B. Lang
And a Reply
Brooklyn, N. Y., June 9, 1930
Mr. M. B. Lang,
Whittingehame Manse,
Haddington, Scotland,
Deaf. Sir:
It is always good for us to see ourselves as others see us. For that reason it was good for us to get your letter; and this reply will be good for you, if you take it in the right spirit.
The reason why Judge Rutherford’s book, filled from cover to cover with both the letter and the spirit of the Lord’s Word, was offensive to you as a clergyman is because of the nature of your occupation, and your sonship.—John 8: 44.
As a clergyman you not only know, but could not fail to know, the true meaning of the Hebrew sheol which your fellow religionists have so terribly distorted, but you also know the true meaning of the Greek equivalent, hades, and you well know that the centuries-old teachings of the Presbyterian church on this subject not merely approach to blasphemy, but actually are blasphemy, misrepresentation of God. You have only to glance at the marginal readings of the seven texts named below to know that we know what you have concealed from the people.
Of course you had great pleasure in tearing up Judge Rutherford’s book and in consigning it to the flames. It interfered with your business, which business is that of exalting man and debasing God. You cannot deny it. Your own teacher’s Bible will prove it to you if you have the courage and manhood to look up the texts cited below. The Presbyterian ministry of today stands, not for the instruction of the people, but for their continued deception.
Yours truly, International, Bible Students Association.
Ps. 49:15; 55:15; 86:13; Isa. 14:9; Jonah 2:2; 1 Cor. 15: 55; Rev. 20: 13.
If You Like Aluminum, Go to It
T AST fall I began to swell after I ate. I got worse and I stopped drinking coffee made in aluminum, and soon I was well. I tried the aluminum percolator again. I began swelling again. I bought 100 baby chicks. They got large enough to feed them mash made from coni meal.
By J. A. Foote
They all died but six, and died in a few days..! then found that their mash was made in aluminum. I know that some people think there is nothing to this. All I have to say is, Go to it and find out for yourself, and it will cost you for the experience.
Fiudisgs
97,000 Killed in Peace Year '
HE year 1929 will go down in history as a peace year, yet in this year and in these United States there were 97,000 accidental deaths, 31,000 of them from automobiles. Of the deaths 9.200 were caused from falls in the homes of the persons deceased. ■
Results of the London Conference
HE net result of the London Peace Conference is that if the United States builds up to the parity that was agreed to, the new ships will cost about one billion dollars. A few more peace conferences will certainly wreck the taxpayers.
Hard Conditions in Berlin
J N THE year 1928 there were 1,600 suicides in J- Berlin. Last year there were 1,750. A league has been formed .to assist those who have attempted suicide,, in the effort to cause them to take happier views of the value of their own lives.
The Hudson Machine Gun
A STILL more deadly machine gun, the Hudson, has now been invented which is admittedly the most deadly weapon of its kind. It will fire 50-caliber bullets nine miles at the rate of 800 a minute. The United States Navy, fresh from the peace conference at London, is laying in a stock of these.
The New Bombing Plane Guide
IN CALIFORNIA, in April, a nine-ton airplane was guided all the way from Sacramento to San* Francisco entirely by machinery. The invention weighs less than fifty pounds. The United States is getting in good shape to back up the Kellogg Peace Pact and the London Disarmament Conference.
No More Clanging Turnstiles .
HP HE Interborough Subway has installed at the Grand Central station seven turnstiles which are almost noiseless. If the device works as well as expected it will be applied to each of the 1,478 turnstiles of the system. The cost is about $20 a turnstile.
London’s Robot Ticket Agent - ■
ONDON has installed a robot ticket agent in one of its subway stations. This robot issues three-penny tickets, and makes change correctly in a few seconds; which is more than some Americans can do with British money after they have had a month’s experience.
Carved Himself a Set of Teeth
FOR the past five years a resident of Loami,
Illinois, has been using for mastication a set of teeth which he himself carved from a hickory plank. He soaks the teeth in olive oil twenty-four hours once a month and thus keeps them in perfect condition.
Fewer People Using Aluminum ‘
ASA result of the publication of wholesome ATL truth on the subject, there are fewer people now purchasing aluminum cooking utensils than heretofore. There is also a pronounced drop in the cancer death rate. Much aluminum used: many cancers. Less aluminum used: fewer cancers. .
Some Results from Textile Strikes
"P ARTLY as a result of strikes in the South, -L there has come about a quite general agreement among textile mills North and South that the day shift hereafter shall not exceed fifty-five hours a week and the night shift shall not exceed fifty hpurs a week. Over 21,000,000 spindles are involved in the agreement.
Raymond Street Jail Barbarous
Electric Lights Fifty Years Ago
THE commissioner of correction, Richard
C. Patterson, Jr., has denounced as barbarous both the Raymond Street jail in Brooklyn and the Queens jail in Long Island City. When the ■world went mad eight prominent Bible Students were confined in each of these prisons, for a time, and know that Mr. Patterson tells the truth.
BECAUSE the finest steamer of the day was equipped with electric lights fifty years ago, it was refused insurance. It carried 115 lights, where the modern ship has 3,000. Today electricity is used on shipboard for pumps, blowers, refrigeration, cooking, washing dishes, handling freight, operating passenger elevators: and steering apparatus, and many other purposes.
Calling the Poor by Better Names
INCE April first there are no more paupers in England, but there are persons in receipt of help; there arc no more workhouses, but there are labor institutes; no more lunatics, but mental defectives; no more infirmaries, but hospitals; no more asylums for the insane, but mental hospitals.
Harvard and Yale Endowments
ARVARD University, with endowments of $90,000,000, recently dismissed a score of
scrubwomen because unwilling to pay more than 35c an hour. Yale University, with endowments of $69,000,000, pays its scrubwomen a little over 25c an hour. It is hoped that when the combined endowments of the two universities shall have reached $200,000,000 they will each feel able to pay their scrubwomen a living wage.
D. and H. Prosperity
WE ARE all glad to hear that the D. &■ H.
is prosperous, so much so that investments made in its stock ten years ago have doubled in value; but we cannot help but feel a little sorry that the number of men in the maintenance branches has meantime fallen from 10,050 to 6,118. We cannot help but feel sorry for the 4,000 men who have not only no share in the great prosperity, but not even any jobs.
Six Hundred Unprogressive Publishers
T A convention of the American Newspaper
Publishers’ Association held at the Hotel
Pennsylvania, New York city, six hundred publishers and editors went on record against the five-day-week plan; and this in spite of the millions that are out of -work, and the certain knowledge that more and more will be out of work as labor-saving machinery becomes more and more improved. .
66 As It Should Be”
W. Her, of Virginia, sends us a copy of an e appeal by Evangelist Weigle that we send him anywhere from $50 to $5 for services, real or imaginary, which he may have rendered. Then Hek calls our attention to another statement in the same advertisement that there are “35,000 dosed and pastorless churches”, and says, badly, “This is as it should be.” O Hck, how could you say such a thing? Explanations are in order.
Locusts in Europe
WHILE locusts are common enough as pests in Asia and Africa, they are not so common in Europe. This year, however, they are giving much trouble in Greece and Rumania. In one place in the latter country they have eaten all the foliage from two square miles of timberland, and the forest will have to be cut down.
On the Forest Roofs of British Guiana
NE hundred and thirty feet above the ground there are forest roofs in British Guiana which, in the course of centuries, have become vast plains. The branches of the trees have intertwined, decayed leaves have provided humus, and plant and animal life abound up in the sunshine, far above the dismal darkness that enshrouds the massive tree trunks beneath.
Canned Salmon and Pellagra
HE United States Public Health Service announces that canned salmon prevents pellagra. This must be a very recent discovery, for only a few weeks ago the Rockefeller Institute did not know what causes pellagra or how to cure it. Just why the salmon must be canned was not stated, and some of our naturopathic subscribers will laugh at the whole announcement.
Reverend Bird. Misinforms
WRITING- to the Detroit Free Press of the loss of life at Ohio Penitentiary, Reverend Dr. Levi Bird, Bellevue, Ohio, says, “I claim they got what most of them deserved.” He adds, thoughtfully, “God has a burning hell for them.” The Reverend Bird misinforms. He probably knows the truth about the Bible hell, but, if not, and if he will write to us, we shall be glad to point it out to him gratis.
The Judicial System of Kenya
FOUR natives of Kenya were sentenced to death recently on a charge of the murder of a certain man found dead on the estate of a British gentleman, Mr. Bentley. The latter was away from home at the time. On his return the case was reopened at his request and the presiding judge remarked that there was not a scintilla of evidence on which even to charge the accused, and they were completely acquitted after being held without bail for sixteen months.
Locusts in Palestine
THE locusts in Palestine this season are of a -L dangerous, ravenous, yellow variety, and in almost unprecedented numbers. In some places the swarms have been three feet deep and trains have been impeded. The locust fight in Egypt was on a seven-mile front, and was reported as successful. Flames are the modern method for destroying locusts. Trenches are dug, the locusts leap into them, and flaming gasoline does the rest. The work is difficult and dangerous.
Veterans Denied Hospital Aid
OL. Bodenhameb, national commander of
® the American Legion, in a speech m New York declared that a veteran is lucky to get hospital care within two or three years of the time that urgent need is apparent, that there are now 4.500 unprovided for by any legislation whatever, and that this does not make any provision for the monthly increase of six hundred a month in the classification of the mentally ill alone.
The International Bank
Chairman McFadden of the House Banking and Currency Committee, in a coast-to-coast hook-up, has denounced the Bank of International Settlements as a deliberate attempt to entangle the United States in European affairs. France signed the agreement establishing the bank on the promise that she should receive $200,000,000 out of the first flotation of reparation bonds, which amount will go largely to J. P. Morgan & Company for funds already advanced, so Mr. McFadden intimated. .
now
coal so
Connecticut Power Company rpiTE Connecticut Power Company is J- producing electricity in one of its generators with an average consumption of small that the fuel cost per kilowatt hour is under i^c. This is the principal cost in the production of electric power. In Scranton, Pa., where the costs should be less, the householders are charged 9c per kilowatt hour. And times are hard for householders in Scranton, too; for work is scarce. The output of electrical power in the United States exceeds one hundred hillion kilowatt hours. Is not this prize worth all the money and effort put forth to buy up newspapers, college professors, legislatures, public service commissions and judges? Results seem to say that it is.
The Path to the Insane Asylum
K WRITER in The Pathfinder says: “If I were to test my herd of cows and then put the best ones on the market for beef and then keep the poor, weak, sickly co ws, I would be put in the insane asylum. But governments do this to the human race in the process of war and they are paving the way to a world-wide theater of misery, and it seems that religion stands ever ready to stamp the seal of approval on this process.”
Frozen Foods Are Coming
JpXTJSNSIVE sales over a period of several weeks at Springfield, Mass., show very plainly that frozen foods will shortly be on sale in every part of the country. Meat packers will cut up their own products and deliver the sliced meats in frozen state. Spinach, peas, raspberries, loganberries and cherries are some of the things which sold in ever-increasing volume at Springfield, showing that the public like the new way of delivering and selling their foods.
The A and P Small Profits
STATEMENTS of the A & P are that profits came to about 2^ cents per dollar on sales.
Presumably these are net profits. But as the total sales for last year were over a billion dollars, the net profits must have been in excess of $25,000,000. This is a net annual profit per store of about $1,700. Many grocers, in these days, would be mighty thankful if at the end of the year they could find they had made a net profit of $1,700. Multitudes of them are actually going to the wall because they cannot make ends meet.
Six Hundred Fifteen Inocidaled Babies
SIX hundred and fifteen Montreal babies have had tuberculosis vaccine pus injected into them during the past two years. The results thus far are said to show “that the vaccine is harmless”, though it is admitted that in one of the eases, in which, by the way, the child died, the “case was doubtfully diagnosed as tuberculosis”. The words “doubtfully diagnosed” in this statement are the words selected by Dr. J. Ai. Baudouin, who performed the experiments on these helpless little subjects. The words are well chosen, because it is a well known fact that not more than half of the diagnoses of the medical profession are correct.
A Statement by The Leng-Bell Lumber Company
IN THE October 30,1929, issue of The Golden
Age, page 75, there appeared an editorial “The Private Car Graft”. We understand that it is the desire of The Golden Age to get the facts and not misrepresent anyone, and further, we take it that it is your desire to publish matter which is based on provable facts.
At the time the article was printed, The Long-Bell Lumber Company owned, and today owns, a majority of the stock in three standard gauge, incorporated railroads. One of these railroads, The Longview, Portland & Northern Railway, is located in the state of Washington and cost in excess of $5,000,000. Over this road certain fast passenger trains of the Great Northern and 'Union Pacific railroads, operating between Seattle and Portland, run between Longview Junction and Olequa, Washington, a distance of twenty-two miles.
The railroads in which the company owns the majority of the stock appear in the Official Kailway Guide; they file annual reports with the Interstate Commerce Commission and the proper state commissions and are subject to the same state and interstate laws that govern other carriers.
The Interstate Commerce Act authorizes the issuance of free transportation to officers of incorporated railroads. This authority has always been construed by railroads to apply to officers of railroads and their business cars. The Long-view, Portland & Northern Railway owned a business car, and the railroads accorded to the officials of the railroads in which we owned the majority of stock free transportation which included the car and officers of the railroads entitled to free transportation under the Act. Occupants of the car not entitled to free transportation paid regular fare. Any transportation of The Longview, Portland & Northern business car was pursuant to the Interstate Commerce Act as it was generally construed.
On June 25, 1929, the Interstate Commerce Commission decided that the section of the Act authorizing and regulating the issuance of free transportation did not authorize the free handling of business cars on foreign roads, holding that the said section of the Act applied only to officers and employees and did not include business cars, and that a. car was property and under the Act was not entitled to free transportation. Since this decision of the Commission the practice of extending the free use of our lines to foreign line officers when occupying business cars has been discontinued and we have made no requests for free transportation for the Longview, Portland & Northern business car. The same rules which control us apply to all railroads throughout the country and are being strictly adhered to.
The facts stated are matters of record in the Interstate Commerce Commission. It is also a matter of public record that The Long-Bell Lumber Company, as was the case with many other lumber companies owning large tracts of timber, was compelled to build its own railroads from the point of connection with the trunk lines into the timber. The railroads connecting with these short line roads refused to expend the money necessary to build these roads, but did agree that when such roads were completed and incorporated they would establish through rates with such short lines to and from all points. It is also a matter of record that practically all of our large railroad systems operating today were originally composed of short line railroads.
The inference from the statement made in the October 30, 1929, issue of The Golden Age is that The Long-Bell Lumber Company is enjoying a special privilege. This, as shown above, is untrue. In the first place the company itself enjoyed no privilege whatsoever, and in the second place any free transportation accorded to its officials and business car was a “privilege” accorded to railroad officials generally. To say that the officials of The Long-Bell Lumber Company do not pay fare when going from one part of the country to another is not a true statement, for only those persons ■who are officers of the railroads operated in Mississippi, Louisiana and Washington are entitled to, or have received free transportation; and this because they are railroad officers, and not because they have any connection with The Long-Bell Lumber Company.
Erratum
rPHE article entitled “Three-Day-Old Puppies Instruct Scientific American,” as the puppies Instruct Scientific American", should have were twenty-three days old at the time of the ex-
been entitled, “Twenty-three-Day-Old Puppies periment.
054 ‘
When the World Went Mad
A Thrilling Story of. the Late War, Told in the Language of the'Trenches
Copyright, 1930, by Daniel E. Morgan (Continued)
EN ROUTE TO BLANC MONT
IT WAS expected now that we should all be sent to the rear for a much-needed rest? We laid in the woods, awaiting orders, a sort of comforting prepared with old pieces of logs stretched from tree to tree in tent-like form. Not for long, though. We were soon again on the move, every heart filled with freely-discussed plans for our leave of rest and refreshment in one of the summer resorts of sunny France—a rest which never came.
Our march rearward started out with much laughter and many jokes about the happenings and tragedies of the slaughter-house days, now dimly in the past. Some of the boys who had a habit of getting sick or falling off a train at about a day’s journey from the front had now rejoined us. They told tales of adventure in Paris. It made one feel sick at having stuck with the outfit as we did.
The fame of the “Devil Dogs” had spread all over France. The country had opened her arms and taken into her bosom every one who had on a “Marine” emblem (ornament), except, of course, the fighting men who never got far enough in the rear to receive anything except the stories about it. It was these stories, told us by the boys who had disappeared on the eve of battle, that made our blood run hot.
Rewarding the Windbags
Many in Paris and other points who had never heard the shot of a gun borrowed a “'Marine” emblem for the occasion. These were picked up on the streets, taken to halls and cafes, wined and dined by the rich and the poor, and were feted and praised, with an open door to any and everything desired, oven to the use of the French girls, which was followed later by much sorrow.
What a price to pay for the desire for a good time, and the lack of a little self-control! The sacred things of the wedding chamber now ran riot with the ghastly horrors of war: they were looked upon as a tonic, something necessary for health. Before the war ended many a boy hoped to die rather than face the future burdened with a loathsome disease.
It was all very plain to us that the soldiers from the rear had had more to say about the battle than, those at the front. Sickening tales they were, all garbled up with imaginings. How we hated to hear their jabbering about something they knew nothing about 1
Replacing Lost Articles
I had a mishap. On my v/ay to a pool for a shave, I lost my razor. During the last battle I had raided the dead to the extent of taking some needed toilet equipment: might as well, for the burying squad would only take them anyway. I lost my little black razor. I had another, yet I spent a day looking for the little black one, all to no avail.
We found ourselves hiking along long and dreary roads. There was no end to them. It sickened one’s heart when miles ahead he could see a trail that must be trod by the tramp, tramp of weary feet.going up and down. We stopped by the roadside. Everybody ran to the creek, either to bathe his feet or to drink. Drinking from wayside waters was forbidden, but we drank anyway. The road was hot and dusty and we thought we must have been miles in the rear.
There appeared two unusual forms coming 'down the road. We all tried to figure them out. Maybe they were French nurses, a sight we had not seen since our first day in the trenches. Imagine thousands of men, grinding out their existence in the cogs of a perpetual war minus the companionship of a single female, now gazing as two feminine creatures passed by.
Empires have been builded and wars have been fought for voinen. And why not? It is at least something to fight for. These were American nurses, real American girls. As they passed us we all said as if with one breath, “Hello! It is good to see you: like meeting a friend from your own home town.” We dragged ourselves along with at least a change of thought from the dogged tramping of feet going up and down. Hurrah for another set of brain cells working!
Manz had a thought, aided by the passing of the girls, along with the hot, dry, dusty roads (that would dry up and parch the throat: of a camel). Said he, “How would you like to be over in the good old U. S. A., with your foot on' the
bar, licking up a big schooner of beer ?” Everybody laughed. :
Nimic’s Little Joke
Nimic got a thought. Pointing back to the girls, he said, “There goes Dan and his girl, automobile walking.” The boys kidded the shirt off me. My girl in blue wrote and mailed a note to me every day; so you can bet that when the mail arrived if anyone got a letter it was I. Much of our mail was lost. Sometimes batches were weeks and weeks overdue. That was to be expected. The efforts to provide us with our mail were commendable. Because of the many letters from her, my girl in blue became the company sweetheart.
Where were we going? The hopes and joys and dreams of a possible romance were shortlived. Thoughts must have something to feed upon. What thoughts can come to one when muscles are grinding and weary bones are cracking and screeching!
We sang. The Devil himself would be ashamed to put into writing the dirty and horrible songs we sang. The captain rode back on his horse. He ordered us to close up our lines and throw away our swagger sticks. We were behind the lines now and diis holy presence’ was everywhere. At the front his abode was a bomb-proof dugout. We almost felt as if some one ought to shoot him. Well, I would not be the one, for I would find no pleasure in shooting even a brute like him.
The Basis of Our Hope .
We had a hope. Had we not, away back there in the “land of the free”, raised our right hands and sworn that we would not rebel against forced marches, and sealed it by kissing the Holy Bible? We now saw that this was all the product of cunning and supermind. But we had hope. They were falling out fast now, and I might be the next.
We slept that night in the woods. It was raining. The air was heavy, soggy. Could it be that even the gods of the air were against us? Did anyone know whither we were bound ? A pig can get a thought, after he does the same thing often enough. We had been promised a leave, and as long as we marched during the day and slept during the night there was hope that we might get it. But the program changed. We hiked by night and slept by day. A clue! We were headed for the front, The darkness of the night was our covering from the eyes of the enemy. Not so dumb, what ?
…