JOIN A SUNRISE CLUB.

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.

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.