We have all heard of certain animals sleeping through the long winter months and most of us have probably wondered what happens to them when they do this.
This hiding away for a long sleep, or hibernation, as it is called, commences when the food of the animal begins to get scarce, and the length and depth of the sleep depends on the habit and constitution of the animal.
Bats, bears, some animals of the rodent order, such as the porcupine, the dormouse, some squirrels, etc., all the animals belonging to the classes of Amphibia and Reptilia, such as tortoises, lizards, snakes, frogs, etc., and many species of mollusks and insects, hibernate more or less completely, retiring to suitable places of concealment—the bat to dark caves, the hedgehog to fern-brakes, snakes to holes in trees, etc.
During hibernation there is a great decrease of heat in the bodies of the animals, the temperature sometimes sinking to 40° or even 20° F., or in general to a point a little above that of the surrounding atmosphere. The respiration as well as the pulsation of the heart is exceedingly slow, and the irritability of the animal often so low that in some cases it can be awakened only by strong electric shocks.
With frogs and amphibious reptiles the dormant state is very common, and if the temperature is kept low by artificial means they may remain dormant for years.
The term “æstivation” has been used to describe a similar condition into which certain animals, such as serpents and crocodiles, in tropical countries pass during the hottest months of the year.
How do Peanuts Get in the Ground?
Peanuts are really the seeds or pods of a plant belonging to the family called the earthnut in Great Britain, the nuts there being used chiefly to fatten swine. The peanut-stand so commonly seen on street corners here is kept well supplied by the extensive cultivation of peanuts in the United States, mainly in the South, and in several tropical countries.
As most people have discovered, the nuts have a much more agreeable taste after being roasted. They also yield an oil which is often used for olive oil, and very good “peanut butter” is now made by grinding them up and mixing them with oil.
The peanut plant, or groundnut as it is also called, has a hairy stem and the leaves usually grow in sets of two pairs each, on the extreme end of each little branch-stem. The pod or nut is situated at the end of a separate stalk, which is longer than the leaf-stems, this stalk having the peculiarity, after flowering, of bending down and pushing the fruit into the earth. After the peanuts have reached their full growth, they are dug up very much in the same way as potatoes, a machine potato digger now being extensively used for this purpose.