To be the leader of five brass bands is the strenuous and unusual task of Charles Brown, a Junction City, Kan., bandmaster. Evidently he believes with the poet, that music has its power to soothe the savage breast.
Pink Kitten is a Beauty.
A kitten owned by Miss Mary Swartz, of Point Pleasant, Pa., is one of the oddest freaks of nature ever seen in that section. The kitten is a bright pink in color, and it is a beauty.
Moon is Powerless to Influence Crops.
"Scientists are now convinced that the moon has no more influence on crops than it has upon the temperature, or the amount of rain, or the winds, or any other weather element," say experts of the Federal Department of Agriculture.
"The growth of plants depends upon the amount of food in the soil and the air that is available for them, and upon temperature, light, and moisture. The moon obviously does not affect the character of the soil in any way; neither does it affect the composition of the atmosphere. The only remaining way in which it could influence plant growth, therefore, is by its light.[Pg 58]
"Recent experiments, however, show that full daylight is about six hundred thousand times brighter than full moonlight; yet, when a plant gets one-one-hundredth part of normal daylight, it thrives little better than in absolute darkness. If one-one-hundredth part of normal daylight is thus too little to stimulate a plant, it seems quite certain that a six-hundred-thousandth part cannot have any effect at all. It is, therefore, a mere waste of time to think about the moon in connection with the planting of crops.
"The moon has nothing more to do with this than it has to do with the building of fences, the time for killing hogs or any other of the innumerable things over which it was supposed to exert a strong influence."
Cat Mothers Young Rabbit.
A young rabbit found by Arthur Keen, who lives east of Gentry, Mo., a few days ago, was taken home and placed in a nest of young kittens of nearly the same size and age as the rabbit. The mother cat quietly adopted the little stranger, seeming to think as much of it as she did of her own offspring. The little rabbit seems perfectly satisfied with its new mother, and is as lively and playful as the kittens.