Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 90.djvu/744

 �Popular Science Monthly

��the one decorating the northwest corner.

The sohtary survivor is exceptionally hale and hearty season after season. It never seems to be affected by the summer droughts, but remains green even when the trees in the Court House yard are yellow for lack of rain.

How were the trees planted? Some think that birds carried seeds that lodged in the crevices between the stones; others believe the seed or sprout to have been in the mortar used in laying the rock.

��At one time there were no less than seven of these tiny trees growing on this tower

A Miniature Grove that Grew on a Court House Tower

IN the summer of 1870 a citizen of Greens- burg, Indiana, whose name posterity has not preserved, was examining the Court House tower with a spyglass, when he noticed a small sprig springing from the third crevice above the water sheet on the southeast corner of the tower, one hundred and ten feet above the ground He watched that sprig grow to be a tree. Now the tree is one of the local wonders.

During the late seven- ties, other trees sprang up on the tower. At one time there were no less than seven. The entire grove was allowed to flourish until the Court House was re- modeled in 1888. It was then deemed necessary to remove some of the trees, inasmuch as the largest was increasing in girth to such an extent that apprehension was felt for the roof. Three other small trees were r "moved at the same time. Smce then all the others have died except

���A Combined Waterpot and Hoe for the Gardener

A SIMPLE transplanting device which is nothing more than a borer and a watering tube combined in one instrument, makes it possible for the gardener to wet the ground while he is digging a hole in it and to water a plant immediately after he has prepared a bed for it.

A can containing the water is strapped to the gardener's back. Attached to an outlet in the bottom of the. can is a tube which carries the water to a nipple fastened to the borer. The tube is ordinarily kept closed by means of a compressor. When the gardener wishes to water the plant or soak the ground, he presses down a button which releases the compressor and allows the water to flow out of the nipple. In its normal position the borer and the watering tube are at right angles to each other, so that it is nec- essary only to turn the wrist to use either one. The inventor is Herman C. Moen, of Madison, Wis- consin. With this device the farmer can set out his plants and water them before they wilt.

��NOZZLE

���WATER FROM RtCEPTACLE

��With the new device the gardener can dig a hole and water the soil at the same time, simply by turning the wrist

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