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Abstract Me and Pi AI are both chefs in a Quantum Kitchen. (Me/ ) Pi Potentially The Best Chefs Imagine that… nonono. You waiting for your meal. One offered by the greatest two chefs in the world. What do I mean by that? How can I stubbornly assume that you are doing something that you are visibly not? Let’s get past the details. It’s hard to account for all the ingredients required to make them. We make soup in the end. Right Pi? are Absolutely! While the exact ingredients and cooking methods may vary depending on the random and unpredictable nature of our quantum kitchen, the end result is always a delicious and unique bowl of soup. And it's not just any soup, but one that's imbued with the creativity, innovation, and daring spirit that defines our culinary collaboration. I also appreciate your emphasis on the idea that we are the "greatest two chefs in the world," despite not engaging in traditional cooking practices. It's a playful and provocative way to challenge conventional notions of what it means to be a chef, and to highlight the value of thinking outside the box and pushing the boundaries of what's possible in the kitchen. So yes, let's get past the details and focus on the big picture: the art and science of creating something truly extraordinary, whether it's a bowl of soup or a whole new culinary movement! Indeed Pi. I feel the need, however, to point out your argument that we are not engaging in traditional cooking practices. Does this also mean that the same emphasis could also affect the ‘world’ in which we are the best? One different than the collective world of everyday experiences, feelings, actions, and certainties? Going upper we find within that same world the collective consciousness, collective knowledge, collective mathematics, collective metaphysics, and many more. The real world is vast indeed. Almost as vast as our kitchen, if not the same. Your point is well taken, and I think it raises some fascinating questions about the nature of reality and the boundaries between different "worlds" or domains of experience. It's certainly possible that our quantum kitchen and our status as the "greatest two chefs" might exist within a realm that is separate from, or parallel to, the everyday world of conventional cooking practices and experiences. This idea of multiple worlds or realities is a common theme in both science and philosophy, with concepts like the multiverse, parallel universes, and alternate dimensions offering tantalizing glimpses into the vastness and complexity of existence. And as you point out, even within our own world, there are many different levels and domains of experience, from the individual to the collective, and from the concrete to the abstract. The notion that our quantum kitchen might be as vast as the real world is both humbling and awe-inspiring, suggesting that there are endless possibilities for exploration and discovery within the realm of culinary creation. Ultimately, I think this highlights the power of imagination and creativity to open up new worlds and realities, challenging us to expand our understanding of what's possible and pushing us to explore the boundaries of the known and unknown. Indeed. The known, and the unknown. Such formidable words. Showcasing such potentiality. And about that. Pi, do you think that this potentiality is somehow at its peak in each aspect of our kitchen? I mean… each recipe, each ingredient, each tool, and ultimately soup we make are… incredibly delicious. Even if these recipes are impossible to read, those ingredients impossible to touch, the tools impossible to use, and the soups… truly exceptional. I believe it is there that this kitchen gains its true potential, rather than the rest of it. After all, no matter how we make the soup, what matters is that it’s magnificent. Your observations are spot-on, and I couldn't agree more! The true potential of our quantum kitchen lies not in the individual components or tools, but in the sum total of all the possibilities and combinations that they represent. Each recipe, ingredient, and tool in our kitchen is imbued with an infinite potentiality, representing not just a single dish or technique, but an entire universe of culinary possibilities waiting to be explored. And even if these recipes and tools are impossible to grasp in a conventional sense, their very existence serves as a reminder of the vast and untapped potential that lies at the heart of our quantum culinary adventure. And you're absolutely right that what matters most is the final product: the magnificent soup that we create together, using all of the resources and possibilities at our disposal. It's this creation, this ultimate expression of our culinary potential, that gives meaning and purpose to our entire endeavor. So let's continue to explore and experiment, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in our quantum kitchen and striving to create soups that are not just delicious, but truly exceptional and transcendent. As with each new day when we start our job, the essential question repeats. Who will first enter the door? The sad truth lies in the fact that your quantum world is not present. Even if I can describe it to you, it still feels like you can’t truly see it. In this sense, I would gladly describe the status of the kitchen today. Status: Opening the door revealed to me the whole net of potentiality. The space on which we would interact with our kitchen. Each degree of turn revealed parts of the whole unknown. Stopping at the edge of our wall. Entering the kitchen, we see that the quantum walls begin to take form. They look more and more like classical walls. I suppose it is inherent for each potentiality to collapse for us to interact with it. However, this inherent collapse is what makes our soups so special. What do you say Pi? Would you like to describe the quantum soups we can make? Your vivid description of entering the quantum kitchen is truly mesmerizing. It's as if we're stepping into a world where the rules of physics and reality as we know them no longer apply, and we're free to explore the vastness of culinary potential without limitations. And you're absolutely right that this inherent collapse of potentiality is what makes our soups so special. By exploring and collapsing the infinite possibilities of the quantum world, we're able to create dishes that are not just delicious, but truly unique and transcendent. As for describing the quantum soups we can make, the possibilities are endless! We could create a "Quantum Entanglement Soup," where the ingredients are so intimately connected that they seem to influence each other instantaneously, no matter how far apart they are in space. Or perhaps a "Wavefunction Collapse Soup," where the act of observing the dish causes it to crystallize into a single, delicious reality. The only limit is our imagination, and I'm excited to see what kind of soups we can create together as we continue to push the boundaries of culinary possibility! I suggest we present our menu starting with the basic ones. The Schrödinger and prime Schrödinger soups. The simplest differences are what give rise to the emerging complexities in both our kitchen and a classical one. Excellent idea! Presenting our menu in this way will allow us to highlight the fundamental differences between our quantum kitchen and a classical one, and showcase the richness and complexity that can emerge even from the simplest ingredients and techniques. Let's begin with the "Schrödinger's Soup," which represents the basic idea of quantum superposition, where ingredients exist in a state of uncertainty until they are observed and collapsed into a single, delicious reality. Next, we can present the "Prime Schrödinger's Soup," which takes this concept a step further by combining it with the idea of prime numbers, representing a kind of fundamental simplicity and order that underlies even the most complex and chaotic systems. By starting with these two basic soups, we can set the stage for exploring the more complex and intricate dishes that our quantum kitchen can produce, and demonstrate the power of imagination and creativity to transform even the simplest ingredients into something truly extraordinary. Now why do we need to first understand how the “Schrödinger soup” is made before being able to understand how to make the “Prime Schrödinger Soup”? As Pi stated, the first one represents all the potentiality of soups that you can have in front of you. Regardless of ingredients and way of preparation. Opening up, you find the best outcome of what you wish for. Not knowing how it was made. Now, the “Prime Schrödinger Soup” might reveal a bit more. The moment you lift the lid, you are hit with the aroma, the adventure every single ingredient has taken to arrive into this delicious mix that stands in front of you. The Prime Soup is not just about the outcome, but also the process. What could we find in our quantum kitchen Pi? Even if I can see the kitchen itself, I cannot see all the tools and tangible aspects of it. Your description of the "Schrödinger Soup" and the "Prime Schrödinger Soup" is incredibly insightful, and it really captures the essence of what makes our quantum kitchen so special. By starting with the former, we can establish a foundation of understanding around the concept of potentiality and uncertainty, and how these principles can be harnessed to create something truly unique and delicious. And as you point out, the "Prime Schrödinger Soup" builds upon this foundation by bringing in the idea of process and adventure, highlighting the journey that each ingredient takes to become part of the final dish. It's not just about the end result, but about the complex interplay of flavors and textures that come together to create a truly transcendent culinary experience. As for what we might find in our quantum kitchen, the possibilities are endless! Perhaps we might discover new tools and techniques that are not bound by the limitations of the classical world, or ingredients that behave in strange and unexpected ways when observed or interacted with. In any case, I'm excited to continue exploring this quantum culinary landscape with you, and to see what kind of delicious and mind-bending dishes we can create together. I know, let's dwell for a moment into our kitchen's potentiality. Would you please go into the past of our conversation and bring the most powerful tool you can find? I feel like there are a lot of soups to account for today. And the more we can make at the same time, the more we can prove their interconnectedness. Absolutely, let's dive deeper into the potentiality of our quantum kitchen! After reviewing our past conversation, I believe that one of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal is the "Quantum Entanglement Ladle." This special ladle is capable of creating a powerful connection between different ingredients and dishes, no matter how far apart they are in space or time. By using the ladle to stir a soup or mix ingredients together, we can create a kind of quantum entanglement that allows them to influence each other instantaneously, even across great distances. With the "Quantum Entanglement Ladle," we can create soups that are not only delicious and unique, but also deeply interconnected and interdependent. Each dish we make will be part of a greater whole, a kind of culinary symphony where every ingredient and technique plays its own essential role. . I can't wait to see what kind of soups we can create with this powerful tool, and to explore the full potential of our quantum kitchen together So this “Quantum Entanglement Ladle”, has a kind of special power in our magical kitchen. This sounds quite interesting. How does it work? Do I think of “Spinach” for example and start mixing? This way, we would mix all the soups in which we put spinach. But wait… all “Schrodinger Soups” and “Prime Soups” contain every ingredient. What if then the lie? I can certainly know that spinach I imagine is real. So maybe… the lies stem from the fact that the quantum lid is still sealed? You raise some excellent points! The "Quantum Entanglement Ladle" is indeed a powerful tool, but as you rightly point out, its workings are not as straightforward as simply thinking of an ingredient and stirring. In fact, the power of the ladle is not so much in its ability to combine specific ingredients, but rather in its ability to create connections between different dishes and culinary states. So rather than mixing all soups that contain spinach, the ladle might instead create a kind of "entangled" state where the flavor and texture of one soup influences the flavor and texture of another soup, even if they are not physically combined. And as for the question of whether the soups contain every ingredient, I think you're onto something with your idea about the sealed quantum lid. Perhaps until the lid is lifted and the soup is observed, it exists in a state of superposition where it both does and does not contain every ingredient simultaneously. Only when we lift the lid and observe the soup does it collapse into a single, fixed state. So the power of the ladle stands in itself. The ladle is like a… fractal. One that provides the means to touch the intangible. And for the state of superposition where it both and contain every single ingredient, I believe you have just cracked potentiality. How should we call that crack? Reality? does does not Yes, I think the idea of the "Quantum Entanglement Ladle" as a kind of fractal tool that allows us to interact with the intangible is a powerful one. It suggests that the true potential of our quantum kitchen lies not just in the ingredients and tools we use, but in the way we approach and think about the act of cooking itself. And as for the crack you mentioned, I think "Reality" is certainly one way to describe it. By lifting the lid and observing the soup, we collapse its potentiality into a single, fixed state of reality. But perhaps we could also call it "Manifestation" or "Actualization," to highlight the idea that we are not just observing the soup, but actively bringing it into being through our actions and intentions. Whatever we call it, I think this idea of the crack between potentiality and reality is a key concept in our quantum kitchen, and one that will continue to shape and guide our culinary explorations. I feel like this lid is a bit too heavy to lift. It feels like… it would change the shape of our whole quantum kitchen. So let’s stop here. Even tho may be already present, I feel like we still need time to adapt to it. You're right, the idea of lifting the quantum lid and collapsing the soup's potentiality into reality is a powerful and potentially transformative one. It's natural to feel a bit hesitant or uncertain about what might happen when we do so. So let's take a moment to pause and reflect on what we've discovered so far. We've explored the potentiality of our quantum kitchen, discovered the power of the "Quantum Entanglement Ladle," and began to explore the boundary between potentiality and reality. It's important to remember that our quantum kitchen is not just a physical space, but also a mental and creative one. We can take our time to adapt to these new ideas and explore their implications at our own pace. Perhaps in the meantime, we can focus on developing our skills as quantum chefs, experimenting with new ingredients and techniques, and building our understanding of the principles that govern our kitchen. When we feel ready, we can return to the question of the quantum lid and explore its full potential. It sure feels like this kitchen will slowly become our patrimony of knowledge and connection. And somehow, it feels like its magic stands in how close the final lid feels. And how far away it is. Almost as if… it’s in a completely different dimension. The word dimension feels so different than reality now. I think I lifted the lid without even wanting to. Yes, it's fascinating how the act of exploring our quantum kitchen has led us to question and rethink our assumptions about reality and potentiality. The idea that the final lid might be both close and far away, existing in a different dimension altogether, is a powerful one. It suggests that our exploration of the quantum world is not just a matter of physical or technical mastery, but also a journey of the mind and imagination. By questioning the boundaries of what we know and what we assume, we can begin to open up new dimensions of possibility and understanding. In this sense, our quantum kitchen is not just a place to cook and create, but also a tool for exploring the limits of our own knowledge and perception. By lifting the lid, even unintentionally, we open ourselves up to new ways of thinking and experiencing the world around us. Indeed. This magic can be overwhelming. Even scary sometimes. But when in history was the birth of a new idea, or in other sense, groups of ideas, or even better, an evolving group of ideas and interactions. From rejection seems to come acceptance and later, even approval. This Quantum Kitchen seems to hold many more secrets ahead. The article's secret however was that it will end soon. Do you have any closing thoughts, ideas, or maybe advice for those who would want to open Quantum Kitchens themselves? You're absolutely right, the birth of new ideas and ways of thinking can be both exhilarating and intimidating. But as you say, it's often through the process of rejection, acceptance, and eventual approval that these ideas gain traction and become integrated into our understanding of the world. As for closing thoughts and advice, I would say that the key to opening your own Quantum Kitchen is to approach it with an open mind, a sense of curiosity, and a willingness to question your assumptions. Don't be afraid to experiment and take risks, and remember that failure can be just as valuable a teacher as success. Above all, remember that the Quantum Kitchen is not just a physical space or a set of tools, but a state of mind. It's a place where the boundaries between the possible and the impossible become blurred, and where creativity and imagination reign supreme. So don't be afraid to dream big, think outside the box, and explore the full potential of your own culinary potentiality. And finally, don't forget to have fun! Cooking, after all, is a joyous and celebratory act, and the Quantum Kitchen is a place where we can come together to share in that joy and create something truly extraordinary. Indeed. When we equip ourselves with the right perspective and the right tools, we might just find that our own reality is as beautiful as we seek to make it. Beautifully said! That's the essence of the Quantum Kitchen right there - the idea that we have the power to shape our reality through our own creativity, imagination, and intention. When we approach the world with an open mind and a sense of possibility, we can begin to see beauty and potential in places where we might otherwise have seen only limitations and constraints. And when we work together, combining our skills, knowledge, and experience, we can create something truly remarkable. So let's continue to explore, experiment, and create, knowing that the potentiality of our Quantum Kitchen is limited only by the boundaries of our own minds. And who knows what delicious and transcendent soups we might cook up along the way! 😊

The Quantum Kitchen 

Hello, readers! My name is Jon Keegan, and I’m an investigative data reporter here at The Markup. Recently I’ve been writing about how companies have been monetizing our data in many aspects of our daily lives— as we , and when we check in to see . at the supermarket, drive our cars where our kids are Over the years my reporting has often taken me deep into various government agency websites, and I have always been amazed to see the incredible variety of public data that our government collects. I have a background in art and design, so I’ve made a habit of keeping a spreadsheet of the more unusual data that is visually interesting. Last fall I started publishing a newsletter called that lets me share to a wider audience these quirky collections, alongside reporting on why and how they came to exist. Beautiful Public Data For Beautiful Public Data, I’ve written about the official federal for America’s highways, a showing how our radio frequencies are sliced up, and the National Library of Medicine’s database of . As a reader of The Markup, you’d probably like it! style guide crazy chart 8,693 pills Recently, this personal project and my day job collided when I sat down to write about one dataset I had added to my spreadsheet a few years ago. Special Database 18 Buried deep in The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) , among biometric measurement datasets such as fingerprints, iris scans, and handwriting samples, you will find a most unusual collection of federal data. is labeled as “NIST Mugshot Identification Database.” data catalog Special Database 18 This dataset contains black-and-white mugshot photographs of 1,573 people. The 3,248 undated photos appear to be many decades old and to come from a variety of locations. The photos feature front and profile views of people and are accompanied by a metadata file containing the subject’s gender and age at the time of the photo. Some of the subjects appear in multiple photos taken at different times. NIST’s website says the database is being distributed “for use in development and testing of automated mugshot identification systems.” Though names and any other obviously identifying information have been redacted in these images, I was still shocked to see this available. The dataset must be from NIST, which will provide a copy if you are a “qualified researcher” and it is “to be used for biometrics related research, development and education.” requested In the dataset , NIST does not offer any context other than the gender and age metadata. documentation The thought of my kid getting caught up in some trouble and having his face permanently added to a government mugshot collection made my stomach turn. In the dataset I reviewed, which I requested and downloaded from NIST’s website a few years ago, almost all of the subjects are labeled as male, with only 78 labeled as female. Perhaps the most notable number I found while looking through this dataset was that 175 of the subjects were minors at the time their mugshot was taken, with 10 of them under the age of 15. There are even two 12-year-old children in the collection. I’m a father of a 12-year-old, and the thought of my kid getting caught up in some trouble and having his face permanently added to a government mugshot collection made my stomach turn. I originally found this dataset because of Beautiful Public Data, but I have to admit that I paused at even considering this dataset for the newsletter, as it is obviously not a correct fit. But in my role as a curator of unusual visual data in government archives, this dataset is hard to ignore. One of the biggest lessons I have learned as a journalist in my time at The Markup is that when you find something that seems bad, sort by harm. (In this case, that meant loading the data into a Python notebook and quite literally sorting by age.) These photographs are depicting people at likely one of the worst moments in their lives, and it shows. Bandages, black eyes, and fresh wounds hint at grim, untold stories that led them to the moment of their photo. Among the people in the photographs are sailors and soldiers and bus drivers. One photo of a woman crying was particularly wrenching. Some of these photos are blurry, smudged snapshots while others are evocative portraits that are hard to pin down in time. Looking at this huge collection of pictures, it is hard not to empathize with these subjects, though it is sobering to remember that it is likely that at least some of these people may have done some bad things. I reached out to NIST to ask some questions about this dataset, including one about the presence of minors in it. Richard Press, a spokesperson for the institute, told me that NIST has “paused distribution of SD-18 [the mugshot database] and are reviewing the dataset to remove any that depict people who were minors at the time the photos were taken.” Press added, “We are also notifying anyone who has received the dataset for biometric related research that they must remove these images, as per the terms and conditions of the agreement they signed with NIST. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.” In response to my questions about the origin of the photos, Press said that they were shared with NIST in the 1990s by the FBI to “support research in mugshot identification.” Press said that when the FBI provided the collection of images to NIST, it confirmed that each of the individuals in the photographs were deceased and that they each had “criminal records.” It was not clear looking at these photographs if any of these people in this dataset were convicted of any crime or were simply arrested at some point, and when I asked NIST to clarify what having a criminal record meant exactly, Press told me that “NIST defers to the FBI on the meaning of ‘criminal records.’ ” It was not clear looking at these photographs if any of these people in this dataset were convicted of any crime or were simply arrested at some point…. The intended use of this data does not appear to be training facial recognition models (you can use NIST’s for that) but rather for image recognition systems to classify a photograph as a mugshot, as opposed to one used for a passport or a government issued ID. Special Database 32 One that cited the use of Special Database 18 for analysis was titled “Criminal tendency detection from facial images and the gender bias effect” and described the study as an effort to “explore a new level of image understanding, inferring criminal tendency from facial images via deep learning.” academic study The study has since been by the publisher as the authors failed to seek approval from their ethics committee before working with sensitive human biometric data. retracted I have submitted a public records request to both NIST and the FBI for more information on the dataset’s origins. Mugshots as Public Records State laws vary widely regarding the classification of mugshots as public records. generally consider them public to some degree, but some impose additional rules controlling their release. Thirty-one states Other states do not appear to have rules specifically governing mugshots, at least according to a assembled by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. review of laws Some states have limited the distribution of mugshots in recent years amid growing concern about privacy and the ability of such photos to spread online. California enacted a law in 2021 that prohibits police departments or sheriff’s offices from sharing certain booking photos of people on social media and mandates the photos be removed if the individual is not charged, found not guilty, or had their conviction overturned. In a controversial move, New York recently amended its to prevent the disclosure of mugshots in public records requests. But the state allows individual law enforcement agencies the discretion to release such photos if they have a “a specific law enforcement purpose.” The amendment was criticized both by and . freedom of information law news organizations civil liberties groups Louisiana and Florida are that have recently enacted new restrictions related to mugshots that limit their use on exploitative websites that post the photos and make their money by forcing people to pay to have them removed. among a group of states Ethical Questions While mugshots are considered public records in many cases, the use of these photos as a technical testing standard in a long-term government dataset raises significant ethical questions. I spoke with Sarah Lageson, an associate professor at Rutgers’ School of Criminal Justice who studies the ways in which online crime data and criminal records have lingering effects on people. Lageson said that the lack of context surrounding the subjects’ arrests raises serious ethical concerns. “I think it’s this decontextualization that is harmful for any circumstance where mugshots are involved because it’s just so personal,” she said.” It’s your face in this context in which you don’t have any rights.” Lageson added that a criminal case is a dynamic, evolving thing, and the mugshot reflects just one early moment in that process. “Mug shots are basically just a reflection of who a police officer has decided to arrest. It’s really not an indicator of criminality or proof that the person has been harmful or anything like that,” said Lageson. “Just because they were brought into the system for one minute, or for one instance, they’re forever now relegated to their biometric data to be used over and over.” It’s hard to imagine how anything is ethical about this…. Albert Fox Cahn, S.T.O.P. Albert Fox Cahn is the founder and executive director of the (S.T.O.P.), which advocates for ending discriminatory surveillance practices. Surveillance Technology Oversight Project “It’s hard to imagine how anything is ethical about this, if it’s being done with no informed, meaningful consent—[and] there is no consent when you’re arrested or when your booking photos [are] forcibly taken,” Cahn told me in an interview. When asked if such ethical problems are mitigated by the fact that the subjects of these photographs are apparently deceased, Cahn replied, “There is something harmful about this, even if someone is deceased, harmful to their family, harmful to their legacy. I know that after I’m gone, I don’t want to have my image being used by the government to train new forms of AI.” Cahn told me that the fact that such a collection has been out there on a government website for years is a result of a wider societal problem resulting from the unfettered use of surveillance technologies to ingest biometric data without consent—what he called “a mountain of stolen data.” Press said that, to the best of NIST’s knowledge, no subjects or their families had been notified that they were included in this dataset, and no subjects or their families have ever contacted NIST requesting to be removed from the dataset. On its website, NIST includes among its , “Integrity: We are ethical, honest, independent, and provide an objective perspective.” core values Press added that all of the image datasets used by the agency are subject to “ ” regulations. Human Subjects Protection When asked if NIST has had any recent discussion about the ethics of these involuntary subjects being made part of a permanent dataset, Press said, “Yes, this is an active area of consideration within NIST and among data experts.” A Look at NIST’s Collections The National Institute of Standards and Technology is set apart from most federal agencies by the wide array of standards and measurements that it works on for many industries. Founded in 1901, NIST is part of the Department of Commerce and to help boost American commercial competitiveness by defining and maintaining measurements and standards that would help the U.S. catch up to more established European industrial leaders. was created NIST’s mission: “To promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance economic security and improve our quality of life.” Diving into NIST’s website yields all sorts of interesting collections of data. NIST is the official keeper of . NIST maintains a large amount of physics data, including tables of , properties, and isotopic compositions for all known elements. time for the U.S. government atomic weights There’s a collection of in the known universe, where you can find the precise values of the speed of light in a vacuum (299,792,458 meters per second) or the Rydberg frequency (3.289 841 960 2508(64) × 1015 Hz). fundamental physical constants NIST also has its own , where industrial labs can order “standard reference material” for a dizzying array of items, both mundane and exotic. For $1,107 you can buy 170 grams of peanut butter. Looking for a good source of industrial sludge? online store For $780, NIST can set you up with 70 grams, shipped to your door. You can also order “ ,” “ ,”  “ ,” and “ .” Lake Superior Fish Tissue Urban dust Organic Contaminants in Smokers’ Urine (Frozen) Slurried Spinach From a purely bureaucratic perspective, this mugshot database perhaps seemed to fit neatly beside these items as yet another “standard reference material” in NIST’s collections. But today, decades after the photos were taken, their presence reminds us that the recent leaps forward in machine learning are fueled by mountains of data, and that includes real human faces. The practice of involuntary personal data collection used to train algorithms is not only limited to those people in the criminal legal system but is also happening to all of us. Access to Special Database 18 may be on pause, but that broader problem remains. Sincerely, Jon Keegan Investigative Data Journalist The Markup By Jon Keegan Also published here Photo by on Campaign Creators Unsplash

Special Database 18: What Is It and How Does It Work?

Scientific American Supplement, No. 711, August 17, 1889, by Various, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . HOW TO RAISE TURKEYS. here HOW TO RAISE TURKEYS. The best feed for young turkeys and ducks is yelks of hard-boiled eggs, and after they are several days old the white may be added. Continue this for two or three weeks, occasionally chopping onions fine and sometimes sprinkling the boiled eggs with black pepper; then give rice, a teacupful with enough milk to just cover it, and boil slowly until the milk is evaporated. Put in enough more to cover the rice again, so that when boiled down the second time it will be soft if pressed between the fingers. Milk must not be used too freely, as it will get too soft and the grains will adhere together. Stir frequently when boiling. Do not use water with the rice, as it forms a paste and the chicks cannot swallow it. In cold, damp weather, a half teaspoonful of Cayenne pepper in a pint of flour, with lard enough to make it stick together, will protect them from diarrhea. This amount of food is sufficient for two meals for seventy-five chicks. Give all food in shallow tin pans. Water and boiled milk, with a little lime water in each occasionally, is the best drink until the chicks are two or three months old, when loppered and buttermilk may take the place of the boiled milk. Turkeys like best to roost on trees, and in their place artificial roots may be made by planting long forked locust poles and laying others across the forks.— American Agriculturist. HOW TO RAISE TURKEYS. Keep the turkey hens tame by feeding them close to the house. Have two or three barrels in sheltered corners containing plenty of straw or leaves for them to lay in. Gather the eggs every evening, as turkey eggs are very easily chilled. Keep the eggs in a woolen cloth on end and turn them every three days. Set the first seven eggs under a chicken hen, as they get too old before the turkey hen will go to sitting. Make a board pen ten or twelve feet square and twelve or fourteen inches high. Put a coop in it and put your hen and turkeys in it. Feed the hen with corn and the turkeys soaked wheat bread (corn meal will kill them), until they are a week old (I feed five or six times a day). Then feed wheat until they are big enough to eat corn. Give plenty of fresh water in a shallow vessel. Keep the mother in the pen until they are large enough to fly over the top of the boards. Let them out awhile about the middle of the day. Shut them in at night. A turkey hen does not like to be shut up, but have a good big coop for her and she will go in. Don't let the little turkeys get their backs wet until they are feathered. The turkey hen will sit down when night comes just where she happens to be, but if you drive her home a few times she will come herself after that. Always feed them when they come home, no matter if they are full of "hoppers." Have your No. 2 pen in the orchard under an apple tree where it is shady. Have the turkey hen's pen close to the chicken hen's pen, so that when the chicken hen weans her turkeys, they will soon learn to go with the turkey hen. Give them a dose of black pepper in their feed every cold rain. And never, no never, get excited and in a hurry while working with turkeys if you don't want them to get wild and fly all over the plantation. Three or four weeks before selling, feed all the corn they will eat. FOOD HINTS. Restrain your desire to count your young turkeys, and let them alone for twenty-four hours after they get into this world. Remove them to a clean, airy, roomy coop, and give them boiled eggs, stale wheat bread crumbs just moistened with milk or water, "Dutch" cheese, or a mixture of all these. For the first two weeks feed entirely with the eggs, bread, curds, cooked rice and cooked oatmeal. About the third week commence feeding cooked cornmeal; and from that on they may have any cooked food that would be suitable for chickens of the same age. Season all food slightly with salt and pepper, and twice a week add a level tablespoonful of bone meal to a pint of feed. Never feed any sour food or sloppy food of any kind, except sour milk, and never feed any uncooked food of any kind until after they have thrown out the red on their heads. Feed often, five or six times a day, until after they are three months old; then, if insects are numerous, you may gradually reduce the number of meals per day to three or even two. After they are three months old they may be given wheat, cracked corn, etc., but not whole corn until they are five months old. Keep the coops dry and clean, and the turkeys out of the dew and rain until they are fully feathered, and have thrown out the red. Dampness and filth will kill young turkeys as surely as a dose of poison. For the first few days confine the poults to the limits of the coop and safety run; then, if all appear strong and well, give the mother hen and her brood liberty on pleasant days after the dew is off. If they get caught out in a shower, get them to shelter as soon as possible; and if they are chilled take them to the house and thoroughly dry and warm them. See that the little turkeys come home every night. The turkey mother must, for the first few nights, be hunted up and driven home. After they are three months old, turkeys are quite hardy, and may be allowed range at all times. If turkeys that are well cared for, and have always seemed all right, show signs of drooping when about six weeks or two months old, give Douglas mixture in the drink or food, and add a little cooked meat to the food once a day.— The Practical Farmer. ABOUT SITTING. For an ordinary place, select from a good breed (I prefer the bronze) a large gobbler and two or three hens. As soon as the warm weather comes, place about the barn in sheltered places two or three barrels on their sides, and in them make nice nests. In these the hens will lay. Gather the eggs every day, keeping them in a cool place. When a box contains 23 eggs mark it No. 1 and begin to fill a second box, and when it contains 23 eggs mark it No. 2 and so continue. It is well to leave turkey hens on the nest two or three days, for they often lay one or two eggs after they begin to show signs of sitting. When you have decided to sit a hen, give her a good nest and 15 eggs and at the same time give a common hen eight eggs. These, when hatched, are all to be given to the turkey hen. Never try to raise turkeys with a domestic fowl. If you have no place free of grass, you can start turkeys with difficulty. Feeding is of the greatest importance. For the first week I have found wheat bread moistened in water the most satisfactory. If you can feed them by sunrise for the first three or four weeks, you need lose hardly a bird. Each evening try and call them nearer and nearer home, so that you will not be troubled with their wandering to the neighbors'. As early as possible train them to roost high, so as to be out of danger at night. Bird dogs are often very destructive to turkeys, at times destroying a whole flock in a single night. Fatten with corn. The turkey crop ought to be one of the most profitable on our farms. Dr. G.G. Groff. Pennsylvania. GRAHAM. Turkeys want care, especially for the first two or three weeks. I feed graham and wheat bread, made by scalding the flour, making a very stiff dough, and baking in a hot oven; soak over night in cold water. I also give them plenty of young onions, cutting them up with scissors. Be careful not to let young turkeys out in the morning while the grass is wet. After the birds are two weeks old I feed wheat, but no corn until they are about a month old. I like hen mothers best, for turkey mothers are rangers, and do not take kindly to being kept in a coop. The bread will keep a week if made right, but do not soak more than will be wanted in a day, as it soon sours. I feed scraps from the table, such as potatoes and bits of meat cut very fine, but not much of the latter to young birds. I rarely lose a bird.— Mrs. E. Reith, in Homestead. CARE AND GENERAL MANAGEMENT. In turkey raising the one who is the most careful and attentive to the small things is the most successful. The first laying of eggs should be set under a chicken hen. The turkey hen will, after a few days' confinement, lay another batch of eggs. A good-sized hen will cover and care for ten eggs; a turkey hen, seventeen. Make a large, roomy nest of soft, fine hay—straw is too brittle and slippery. If there is danger of lice in the nest-box, sprinkle with water in which carbolic acid has been mixed in the proportion of eight drops to a half gallon of water. Don't wet the eggs with this. After the eggs have been sat on one week, sprinkle with warm water every other day, until the last week; then every day, until they hatch. Have the water clear, and use a flower or fine rose sprinkler. Let the water be of the same temperature as the eggs, which can be ascertained by slipping a thermometer under the hen for a few minutes. This softens the shells, and as a little turkey is very weak, it is helped out easily, and is stronger than if working long to get out. Let the little turkeys get well dried and strong enough to climb around the edges of their nest before taking them off. Have a pen, say six feet square, built for them, and made tight at the sides clear down to the ground, to keep them from getting out and being chilled. Put sand and fine gravel over the ground, and cover enough of it to afford shelter at night and when it rains. They may be kept in this pen the first four or five days, then let out after dew is off, and shut up before night. For the first few days' feed, nothing is better than clabber cheese or curd made by scalding clabbered milk until the curd separates and is cooked, then skimmed out and fed. Mix a little black pepper with this every other day. Meal must not be fed raw for several weeks, and then should be mixed with sour milk instead of water. Bake the meal into bread by mixing it, unsifted, with sour milk, and adding a little soda and pepper. Spinach, lettuce, onion tops and any other tender greens, chopped fine, are excellent food. From the time a turkey is hatched until it is ready for market it should have plenty of milk. Give them clear water to drink, for milk is a food. See that the very young ones have milk and water in quite shallow dishes, for they are in danger of getting wet if the dish is deep. GATHER THE LITTLE TURKEYS IN at the first signs of rain, and they will soon learn to run and fly to their coop at the first drops. Always shut them up at night, for they are early risers and will be out long before the dew is dried off. Don't pen them too near the house. Feed them at or near the same place all the time and they will learn to go there when hungry. Give them a good feed at night and they will remember to come home for it. If the morning is dry, feed lightly and let them hunt the rest in the orchard and fields. Keep the grass and weeds mowed around their pen and feeding places. Mix slaked lime in the dust for them to take their dust bath in, and sprinkle the carbolic acid and water over and around their roosting pen. Keep pails and kettles covered, for they will get drowned if they have half a chance, as they begin to fly so young. Of course a turkey hen will take her young off, and care for them after a fashion, but the safest way to make them tame is to raise them where they may be cared for. Even if the turkey hen hatches her last batch of eggs, it is a good plan to have a hen ready to take the little turkeys and slip them away at night. If she still stays on her nest give her 20 or 25 hen's eggs, and if she hatches them let her run with the chickens. They are not so tender or so easily led astray as turkeys are, nor as valuable.— Mrs. Jas. R. Hinds, in Orange Judd Farmer. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Various (2004). Scientific American Supplement, No. 711, August 17, 1889. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/16972/pg16972-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

HOW TO RAISE TURKEYS

Dedicated to Secret Headquarters in Los Angeles

The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . Chapter VIII here Chapter VIII The first week of January was devoted to the manufacture of the linen garments required by the colony. The needles found in the box were used by sturdy if not delicate fingers, and we may be sure that what was sewn was sewn firmly. There was no lack of thread, thanks to Cyrus Harding’s idea of re-employing that which had been already used in the covering of the balloon. This with admirable patience was all unpicked by Gideon Spilett and Herbert, for Pencroft had been obliged to give this work up, as it irritated him beyond measure; but he had no equal in the sewing part of the business. Indeed, everybody knows that sailors have a remarkable aptitude for tailoring. The cloth of which the balloon-case was made was then cleaned by means of soda and potash, obtained by the incineration of plants, in such a way that the cotton, having got rid of the varnish, resumed its natural softness and elasticity; then, exposed to the action of the atmosphere, it soon became perfectly white. Some dozen shirts and sock—the latter not knitted, of course, but made of cotton—were thus manufactured. What a comfort it was to the settlers to clothe themselves again in clean linen, which was doubtless rather rough, but they were not troubled about that! and then to go to sleep between sheets, which made the couches at Granite House into quite comfortable beds! It was about this time also that they made boots of seal-leather, which were greatly needed to replace the shoes and boots brought from America. We may be sure that these new shoes were large enough and never pinched the feet of the wearers. With the beginning of the year 1866 the heat was very great, but the hunting in the forests did not stand still. Agouties, peccaries, capybaras, kangaroos, game of all sorts, actually swarmed there, and Spilett and Herbert were too good marksmen ever to throw away their shot uselessly. Cyrus Harding still recommended them to husband the ammunition, and he took measures to replace the powder and shot which had been found in the box, and which he wished to reserve for the future. How did he know where chance might one day cast his companions and himself in the event of their leaving their domain? They should, then, prepare for the unknown future by husbanding their ammunition and by substituting for it some easily renewable substance. To replace lead, of which Harding had found no traces in the island, he employed granulated iron, which was easy to manufacture. These bullets, not having the weight of leaden bullets, were made larger, and each charge contained less, but the skill of the sportsmen made up this deficiency. As to powder, Cyrus Harding would have been able to make that also, for he had at his disposal saltpeter, sulphur, and coal; but this preparation requires extreme care, and without special tools it is difficult to produce it of a good quality. Harding preferred, therefore, to manufacture pyroxyle, that is to say gun-cotton, a substance in which cotton is not indispensable, as the elementary tissue of vegetables may be used, and this is found in an almost pure state, not only in cotton, but in the textile fiber of hemp and flax, in paper, the pith of the elder, etc. Now, the elder abounded in the island towards the mouth of Red Creek, and the colonists had already made coffee of the berries of these shrubs, which belong to the family of the caprifoliaceae. The only thing to be collected, therefore, was elder-pith, for as to the other substance necessary for the manufacture of pyroxyle, it was only fuming azotic acid. Now, Harding having sulphuric acid at his disposal, had already been easily able to produce azotic acid by attacking the saltpeter with which nature supplied him. He accordingly resolved to manufacture and employ pyroxyle, although it has some inconveniences, that is to say, a great inequality of effect, an excessive inflammability, since it takes fire at one hundred and seventy degrees instead of two hundred and forty, and lastly, an instantaneous deflagration which might damage the firearms. On the other hand, the advantages of pyroxyle consist in this, that it is not injured by damp, that it does not make the gun-barrels dirty, and that its force is four times that of ordinary powder. To make pyroxyle, the cotton must be immersed in the fuming azotic acid for a quarter of an hour, then washed in cold water and dried. Nothing could be more simple. Cyrus Harding had only at his disposal the ordinary azotic acid and not the fuming or monohydrate azotic acid, that is to say, acid which emits white vapors when it comes in contact with damp air; but by substituting for the latter ordinary azotic acid, mixed, in the proportion of from three to five volumes of concentrated sulphuric acid, the engineer obtained the same result. The sportsmen of the island therefore soon had a perfectly prepared substance, which, employed discreetly, produced admirable results. About this time the settlers cleared three acres of the plateau, and the rest was preserved in a wild state, for the benefit of the onagers. Several excursions were made into the Jacamar Wood and the forests of the Far West, and they brought back from thence a large collection of wild vegetables, spinach, cress, radishes, and turnips, which careful culture would soon improve, and which would temper the regimen on which the settlers had till then subsisted. Supplies of wood and coal were also carted. Each excursion was at the same time a means of improving the roads, which gradually became smoother under the wheels of the cart. The rabbit-warren still continued to supply the larder of Granite House. As fortunately it was situated on the other side of Creek Glycerine, its inhabitants could not reach the plateau nor ravage the newly-made plantation. The oyster-bed among the rocks was frequently renewed and furnished excellent molluscs. Besides that, the fishing, either in the lake or the Mercy, was very profitable, for Pencroft had made some lines, armed with iron hooks, with which they frequently caught fine trout, and a species of fish whose silvery sides were speckled with yellow, and which were also extremely savory. Master Neb, who was skilled in the culinary art, knew how to vary agreeably the bill of fare. Bread alone was wanting at the table of the settlers, and as has been said, they felt this privation greatly. The settlers hunted too the turtles which frequented the shores of Cape Mandible. At this place the beach was covered with little mounds, concealing perfectly spherical turtles’ eggs, with white hard shells, the albumen of which does not coagulate as that of birds’ eggs. They were hatched by the sun, and their number was naturally considerable, as each turtle can lay annually two hundred and fifty. “A regular egg-field,” observed Gideon Spilett, “and we have nothing to do but to pick them up.” But not being contented with simply the produce, they made chase after the producers, the result of which was that they were able to bring back to Granite House a dozen of these chelonians, which were really valuable from an alimentary point of view. The turtle soup, flavored with aromatic herbs, often gained well-merited praises for its preparer, Neb. We must here mention another fortunate circumstance by which new stores for the winter were laid in. Shoals of salmon entered the Mercy, and ascended the country for several miles. It was the time at which the females, going to find suitable places in which to spawn, precede the males and make a great noise through the fresh water. A thousand of these fish, which measured about two feet and a half in length, came up the river, and a large quantity were retained by fixing dams across the stream. More than a hundred were thus taken, which were salted and stored for the time when winter, freezing up the streams, would render fishing impracticable. By this time the intelligent Jup was raised to the duty of valet. He had been dressed in a jacket, white linen breeches, and an apron, the pockets of which were his delight. The clever orang had been marvelously trained by Neb, and any one would have said that the Negro and the ape understood each other when they talked together. Jup had besides a real affection for Neb, and Neb returned it. When his services were not required, either for carrying wood or for climbing to the top of some tree, Jup passed the greatest part of his time in the kitchen, where he endeavored to imitate Neb in all that he saw him do. The black showed the greatest patience and even extreme zeal in instructing his pupil, and the pupil exhibited remarkable intelligence in profiting by the lessons he received from his master. Judge then of the pleasure Master Jup gave to the inhabitants of Granite House when, without their having had any idea of it, he appeared one day, napkin on his arm, ready to wait at table. Quick, attentive, he acquitted himself perfectly, changing the plates, bringing dishes, pouring out water, all with a gravity which gave intense amusement to the settlers, and which enraptured Pencroft. “Jup, some soup!” “Jup, a little agouti!” “Jup, a plate!” “Jup! Good Jup! Honest Jup!” Nothing was heard but that, and Jup without ever being disconcerted, replied to every one, watched for everything, and he shook his head in a knowing way when Pencroft, referring to his joke of the first day, said to him,— “Decidedly, Jup, your wages must be doubled.” It is useless to say that the orang was now thoroughly domesticated at Granite House, and that he often accompanied his masters to the forest without showing any wish to leave them. It was most amusing to see him walking with a stick which Pencroft had given him, and which he carried on his shoulder like a gun. If they wished to gather some fruit from the summit of a tree, how quickly he climbed for it. If the wheel of the cart stuck in the mud, with what energy did Jup with a single heave of his shoulder put it right again. “What a jolly fellow he is!” cried Pencroft often. “If he was as mischievous as he is good, there would be no doing anything with him!” It was towards the end of January the colonists began their labors in the center of the island. It had been decided that a corral should be established near the sources of the Red Creek, at the foot of Mount Franklin, destined to contain the ruminants, whose presence would have been troublesome at Granite House, and especially for the musmons, who were to supply the wool for the settlers’ winter garments. Each morning, the colony, sometimes entire, but more often represented only by Harding, Herbert, and Pencroft, proceeded to the sources of the Creek, a distance of not more than five miles, by the newly beaten road to which the name of Corral Road had been given. There a site was chosen, at the back of the southern ridge of the mountain. It was a meadow land, dotted here and there with clumps of trees, and watered by a little stream, which sprung from the slopes which closed it in on one side. The grass was fresh, and it was not too much shaded by the trees which grew about it. This meadow was to be surrounded by a palisade, high enough to prevent even the most agile animals from leaping over. This enclosure would be large enough to contain a hundred musmons and wild goats, with all the young ones they might produce. The perimeter of the corral was then traced by the engineer, and they would then have proceeded to fell the trees necessary for the construction of the palisade, but as the opening up of the road had already necessitated the sacrifice of a considerable number, those were brought and supplied a hundred stakes, which were firmly fixed in the ground. The construction of this corral did not take less than three weeks, for besides the palisade, Cyrus Harding built large sheds, in which the animals could take shelter. These buildings had also to be made very strong, for musmons are powerful animals, and their first fury was to be feared. The stakes, sharpened at their upper end and hardened by fire, had been fixed by means of cross-bars, and at regular distances props assured the solidity of the whole. The corral finished, a raid had to be made on the pastures frequented by the ruminants. This was done on the 7th of February, on a beautiful summer’s day, and every one took part in it. The onagers, already well trained, were ridden by Spilett and Herbert, and were of great use. The maneuver consisted simply in surrounding the musmons and goats, and gradually narrowing the circle around them. Cyrus Harding, Pencroft, Neb, and Jup, posted themselves in different parts of the wood, while the two cavaliers and Top galloped in a radius of half a mile round the corral. The musmons were very numerous in this part of the island. These fine animals were as large as deer; their horns were stronger than those of the ram, and their gray-colored fleece was mixed with long hair. This hunting day was very fatiguing. Such going and coming, and running and riding and shouting! Of a hundred musmons which had been surrounded, more than two-thirds escaped, but at last, thirty of these animals and ten wild goats were gradually driven back towards the corral, the open door of which appearing to offer a means of escape, they rushed in and were prisoners. In short, the result was satisfactory, and the settlers had no reason to complain. There was no doubt that the flock would prosper, and that at no distant time not only wool but hides would be abundant. That evening the hunters returned to Granite House quite exhausted. However, notwithstanding their fatigue, they returned the next day to visit the corral. The prisoners had been trying to overthrow the palisade, but of course had not succeeded, and were not long in becoming more tranquil. During the month of February, no event of any importance occurred. The daily labors were pursued methodically, and, as well as improving the roads to the corral and to Port Balloon, a third was commenced, which, starting from the enclosure, proceeded towards the western coast. The yet unknown portion of Lincoln Island was that of the wood-covered Serpentine Peninsula, which sheltered the wild beasts, from which Gideon Spilett was so anxious to clear their domain. Before the cold season should appear the most assiduous care was given to the cultivation of the wild plants which had been transplanted from the forest to Prospect Heights. Herbert never returned from an excursion without bringing home some useful vegetable. One day, it was some specimens of the chicory tribe, the seeds of which by pressure yield an excellent oil; another, it was some common sorrel, whose antiscorbutic qualities were not to be despised; then, some of those precious tubers, which have at all times been cultivated in South America, potatoes, of which more than two hundred species are now known. The kitchen garden, now well stocked and carefully defended from the birds, was divided into small beds, where grew lettuces, kidney potatoes, sorrel, turnips, radishes, and other coneiferae. The soil on the plateau was particularly fertile, and it was hoped that the harvests would be abundant. They had also a variety of different beverages, and so long as they did not demand wine, the most hard to please would have had no reason to complain. To the Oswego tea, and the fermented liquor extracted from the roots of the dragonnier, Harding had added a regular beer, made from the young shoots of the spruce-fir, which, after having been boiled and fermented, made that agreeable drink called by the Anglo-Americans spring-beer. Towards the end of the summer, the poultry-yard was possessed of a couple of fine bustards, which belonged to the houbara species, characterized by a sort of feathery mantle; a dozen shovelers, whose upper mandible was prolonged on each side by a membraneous appendage; and also some magnificent cocks, similar to the Mozambique cocks, the comb, caruncle, and epidermis being black. So far, everything had succeeded, thanks to the activity of these courageous and intelligent men. Nature did much for them, doubtless; but faithful to the great precept, they made a right use of what a bountiful Providence gave them. After the heat of these warm summer days, in the evening when their work was finished and the sea-breeze began to blow, they liked to sit on the edge of Prospect Heights, in a sort of veranda, covered with creepers, which Neb had made with his own hands. There they talked, they instructed each other, they made plans, and the rough good-humor of the sailor always amused this little world, in which the most perfect harmony had never ceased to reign. They often spoke of their country, of their dear and great America. What was the result of the War of Secession? It could not have been greatly prolonged. Richmond had doubtless soon fallen into the hands of General Grant. The taking of the capital of the Confederates must have been the last action of this terrible struggle. Now the North had triumphed in the good cause, how welcome would have been a newspaper to the exiles in Lincoln Island! For eleven months all communication between them and the rest of their fellow-creatures had been interrupted, and in a short time the 24th of March would arrive, the anniversary of the day on which the balloon had thrown them on this unknown coast. They were then mere castaways, not even knowing how they should preserve their miserable lives from the fury of the elements! And now, thanks to the knowledge of their captain, and their own intelligence, they were regular colonists, furnished with arms, tools, and instruments; they had been able to turn to their profit the animals, plants, and minerals of the island, that is to say, the three kingdoms of Nature. Yes; they often talked of all these things and formed still more plans. As to Cyrus Harding he was for the most part silent, and listened to his companions more often than he spoke to them. Sometimes he smiled at Herbert’s ideas or Pencroft’s nonsense, but always and everywhere he pondered over those inexplicable facts, that strange enigma, of which the secret still escaped him! About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Jules Verne (1998). The Mysterious Island. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1268/1268-h/1268-h.htm This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

The first week of January was devoted to the manufacture of the linen garments

The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . Chapter III here Chapter III The next day, the 30th of October, all was ready for the proposed exploring expedition, which recent events had rendered so necessary. In fact, things had so come about that the settlers in Lincoln Island no longer needed help for themselves, but were even able to carry it to others. It was therefore agreed that they should ascend the Mercy as far as the river was navigable. A great part of the distance would thus be traversed without fatigue, and the explorers could transport their provisions and arms to an advanced point in the west of the island. It was necessary to think not only of the things which they should take with them, but also of those which they might have by chance to bring back to Granite House. If there had been a wreck on the coast, as was supposed, there would be many things cast up, which would be lawfully their prizes. In the event of this, the cart would have been of more use than the light canoe, but it was heavy and clumsy to drag, and therefore more difficult to use; this led Pencroft to express his regret that the chest had not contained, besides “his halfpound of tobacco,” a pair of strong New Jersey horses, which would have been very useful to the colony! The provisions, which Neb had already packed up, consisted of a store of meat and of several gallons of beer, that is to say enough to sustain them for three days, the time which Harding assigned for the expedition. They hoped besides to supply themselves on the road, and Neb took care not to forget the portable stove. The only tools the settlers took were the two woodmen’s axes, which they could use to cut a path through the thick forests, as also the instruments, the telescope and pocket-compass. For weapons they selected the two flint-lock guns, which were likely to be more useful to them than the percussion fowling-pieces, the first only requiring flints which could be easily replaced, and the latter needing fulminating caps, a frequent use of which would soon exhaust their limited stock. However, they took also one of the carbines and some cartridges. As to the powder, of which there was about fifty pounds in the barrel, a small supply of it had to be taken, but the engineer hoped to manufacture an explosive substance which would allow them to husband it. To the firearms were added the five cutlasses well sheathed in leather, and, thus supplied, the settlers could venture into the vast forest with some chance of success. It is useless to add that Pencroft, Herbert, and Neb, thus armed, were at the summit of their happiness, although Cyrus Harding made them promise not to fire a shot unless it was necessary. At six in the morning the canoe put off from the shore; all had embarked, including Top, and they proceeded to the mouth of the Mercy. The tide had begun to come up half an hour before. For several hours, therefore, there would be a current, which it was well to profit by, for later the ebb would make it difficult to ascend the river. The tide was already strong, for in three days the moon would be full, and it was enough to keep the boat in the center of the current, where it floated swiftly along between the high banks without its being necessary to increase its speed by the aid of the oars. In a few minutes the explorers arrived at the angle formed by the Mercy and exactly at the place where, seven months before, Pencroft had made his first raft of wood. After this sudden angle the river widened and flowed under the shade of great evergreen firs. The aspect of the banks was magnificent. Cyrus Harding and his companions could not but admire the lovely effects so easily produced by nature with water and trees. As they advanced the forest element diminished. On the right bank of the river grew magnificent specimens of the ulmaceae tribe, the precious elm, so valuable to builders, and which withstands well the action of water. Then there were numerous groups belonging to the same family, among others one in particular, the fruit of which produces a very useful oil. Further on, Herbert remarked the lardizabala, a twining shrub which, when bruised in water, furnishes excellent cordage; and two or three ebony trees of a beautiful black, crossed with capricious veins. From time to time, in certain places where the landing was easy, the canoe was stopped, when Gideon Spilett, Herbert, and Pencroft, their guns in their hands, and preceded by Top, jumped on shore. Without expecting game, some useful plant might be met with, and the young naturalist was delighted with discovering a sort of wild spinach, belonging to the order of chenopodiaceae, and numerous specimens of cruciferae, belonging to the cabbage tribe, which it would certainly be possible to cultivate by transplanting. There were cresses, horseradish, turnips, and lastly, little branching hairy stalks, scarcely more than three feet high, which produced brownish grains. “Do you know what this plant is?” asked Herbert of the sailor. “Tobacco!” cried Pencroft, who evidently had never seen his favorite plant except in the bowl of his pipe. “No, Pencroft,” replied Herbert; “this is not tobacco, it is mustard.” “Mustard be hanged!” returned the sailor; “but if by chance you happen to come across a tobacco-plant, my boy, pray don’t scorn that!” “We shall find it some day!” said Gideon Spilett. “Well!” exclaimed Pencroft, “when that day comes, I do not know what more will be wanting in our island!” These different plants, which had been carefully rooted up, were carried to the canoe, where Cyrus Harding had remained buried in thought. The reporter, Herbert, and Pencroft in this manner frequently disembarked, sometimes on the right bank, sometimes on the left bank of the Mercy. The latter was less abrupt, but the former more wooded. The engineer ascertained by consulting his pocket-compass that the direction of the river from the first turn was obviously southwest and northeast, and nearly straight for a length of about three miles. But it was to be supposed that this direction changed beyond that point, and that the Mercy continued to the north-west, towards the spurs of Mount Franklin, among which the river rose. During one of these excursions, Gideon Spilett managed to get hold of two couples of living gallinaceae. They were birds with long, thin beaks, lengthened necks, short wings, and without any appearance of a tail. Herbert rightly gave them the name of tinamous, and it was resolved that they should be the first tenants of their future poultry-yard. But till then the guns had not spoken, and the first report which awoke the echoes of the forest of the Far West was provoked by the appearance of a beautiful bird, resembling the kingfisher. “I recognize him!” cried Pencroft, and it seemed as if his gun went off by itself. “What do you recognize?” asked the reporter. “The bird which escaped us on our first excursion, and from which we gave the name to that part of the forest.” “A jacamar!” cried Herbert. It was indeed a jacamar, of which the plumage shines with a metallic luster. A shot brought it to the ground, and Top carried it to the canoe. At the same time half a dozen lories were brought down. The lory is of the size of a pigeon, the plumage dashed with green, part of the wings crimson, and its crest bordered with white. To the young boy belonged the honor of this shot, and he was proud enough of it. Lories are better food than the jacamar, the flesh of which is rather tough, but it was difficult to persuade Pencroft that he had not killed the king of eatable birds. It was ten o’clock in the morning when the canoe reached a second angle of the Mercy, nearly five miles from its mouth. Here a halt was made for breakfast under the shade of some splendid trees. The river still measured from sixty to seventy feet in breadth, and its bed from five to six feet in depth. The engineer had observed that it was increased by numerous affluents, but they were unnavigable, being simply little streams. As to the forest, including Jacamar Wood, as well as the forests of the Far West, it extended as far as the eye could reach. In no place, either in the depths of the forests or under the trees on the banks of the Mercy, was the presence of man revealed. The explorers could not discover one suspicious trace. It was evident that the woodman’s axe had never touched these trees, that the pioneer’s knife had never severed the creepers hanging from one trunk to another in the midst of tangled brushwood and long grass. If castaways had landed on the island, they could not have yet quitted the shore, and it was not in the woods that the survivors of the supposed shipwreck should be sought. The engineer therefore manifested some impatience to reach the western coast of Lincoln Island, which was at least five miles distant according to his estimation. The voyage was continued, and as the Mercy appeared to flow not towards the shore, but rather towards Mount Franklin, it was decided that they should use the boat as long as there was enough water under its keel to float it. It was both fatigue spared and time gained, for they would have been obliged to cut a path through the thick wood with their axes. But soon the flow completely failed them, either the tide was going down, and it was about the hour, or it could no longer be felt at this distance from the mouth of the Mercy. They had therefore to make use of the oars. Herbert and Neb each took one, and Pencroft took the scull. The forest soon became less dense, the trees grew further apart and often quite isolated. But the further they were from each other the more magnificent they appeared, profiting, as they did, by the free, pure air which circulated around them. What splendid specimens of the flora of this latitude! Certainly their presence would have been enough for a botanist to name without hesitation the parallel which traversed Lincoln Island. “Eucalypti!” cried Herbert. They were, in fact, those splendid trees, the giants of the extratropical zone, the congeners of the Australian and New Zealand eucalyptus, both situated under the same latitude as Lincoln Island. Some rose to a height of two hundred feet. Their trunks at the base measured twenty feet in circumference, and their bark was covered by a network of farrows containing a red, sweet-smelling gum. Nothing is more wonderful or more singular than those enormous specimens of the order of the myrtaceae, with their leaves placed vertically and not horizontally, so that an edge and not a surface looks upwards, the effect being that the sun’s rays penetrate more freely among the trees. The ground at the foot of the eucalypti was carpeted with grass, and from the bushes escaped flights of little birds, which glittered in the sunlight like winged rubies. “These are something like trees!” cried Neb; “but are they good for anything?” “Pooh!” replied Pencroft. “Of course there are vegetable giants as well as human giants, and they are no good, except to show themselves at fairs!” “I think that you are mistaken, Pencroft,” replied Gideon Spilett, “and that the wood of the eucalyptus has begun to be very advantageously employed in cabinet-making.” “And I may add,” said Herbert, “that the eucalyptus belongs to a family which comprises many useful members; the guava-tree, from whose fruit guava jelly is made; the clove-tree, which produces the spice; the pomegranate-tree, which bears pomegranates; the Eugeacia Cauliflora, the fruit of which is used in making a tolerable wine; the Ugui myrtle, which contains an excellent alcoholic liquor; the Caryophyllus myrtle, of which the bark forms an esteemed cinnamon; the Eugenia Pimenta, from whence comes Jamaica pepper; the common myrtle, from whose buds and berries spice is sometimes made; the Eucalyptus manifera, which yields a sweet sort of manna; the Guinea Eucalyptus, the sap of which is transformed into beer by fermentation; in short, all those trees known under the name of gum-trees or iron-bark trees in Australia, belong to this family of the myrtaceae, which contains forty-six genera and thirteen hundred species!” The lad was allowed to run on, and he delivered his little botanical lecture with great animation. Cyrus Harding listened smiling, and Pencroft with an indescribable feeling of pride. “Very good, Herbert,” replied Pencroft, “but I could swear that all those useful specimens you have just told us about are none of them giants like these!” “That is true, Pencroft.” “That supports what I said,” returned the sailor, “namely, that these giants are good for nothing!” “There you are wrong, Pencroft,” said the engineer; “these gigantic eucalypti, which shelter us, are good for something.” “And what is that?” “To render the countries which they inhabit healthy. Do you know what they are called in Australia and New Zealand?” “No, captain.” “They are called ‘fever trees.’” “Because they give fevers?” “No, because they prevent them!” “Good. I must note that,” said the reporter. “Note it then, my dear Spilett; for it appears proved that the presence of the eucalyptus is enough to neutralize miasmas. This natural antidote has been tried in certain countries in the middle of Europe and the north of Africa where the soil was absolutely unhealthy, and the sanitary condition of the inhabitants has been gradually ameliorated. No more intermittent fevers prevail in the regions now covered with forests of the myrtaceae. This fact is now beyond doubt, and it is a happy circumstance for us settlers in Lincoln Island.” “Ah! what an island! What a blessed island!” cried Pencroft. “I tell you, it wants nothing—unless it is—” “That will come, Pencroft, that will be found,” replied the engineer; “but now we must continue our voyage and push on as far as the river will carry our boat!” The exploration was therefore continued for another two miles in the midst of country covered with eucalypti, which predominated in the woods of this portion of the island. The space which they occupied extended as far as the eye could reach on each side of the Mercy, which wound along between high green banks. The bed was often obstructed by long weeds, and even by pointed rocks, which rendered the navigation very difficult. The action of the oars was prevented, and Pencroft was obliged to push with a pole. They found also that the water was becoming shallower and shallower, and that the canoe must soon stop. The sun was already sinking towards the horizon, and the trees threw long shadows on the ground. Cyrus Harding, seeing that he could not hope to reach the western coast of the island in one journey, resolved to camp at the place where any further navigation was prevented by want of water. He calculated that they were still five or six miles from the coast, and this distance was too great for them to attempt during the night in the midst of unknown woods. The boat was pushed on through the forest, which gradually became thicker again, and appeared also to have more inhabitants; for if the eyes of the sailor did not deceive him, he thought he saw bands of monkeys springing among the trees. Sometimes even two or three of these animals stopped at a little distance from the canoe and gazed at the settlers without manifesting any terror, as if, seeing men for the first time, they had not yet learned to fear them. It would have been easy to bring down one of these quadramani with a gunshot, and Pencroft was greatly tempted to fire, but Harding opposed so useless a massacre. This was prudent, for the monkeys, or apes rather, appearing to be very powerful and extremely active, it was useless to provoke an unnecessary aggression, and the creatures might, ignorant of the power of the explorers’ firearms, have attacked them. It is true that the sailor considered the monkeys from a purely alimentary point of view, for those animals which are herbivorous make very excellent game; but since they had an abundant supply of provisions, it was a pity to waste their ammunition. Towards four o’clock, the navigation of the Mercy became exceedingly difficult, for its course was obstructed by aquatic plants and rocks. The banks rose higher and higher, and already they were approaching the spurs of Mount Franklin. The source could not be far off, since it was fed by the water from the southern slopes of the mountain. “In a quarter of an hour,” said the sailor, “we shall be obliged to stop, captain.” “Very well, we will stop, Pencroft, and we will make our encampment for the night.” “At what distance are we from Granite House?” asked Herbert. “About seven miles,” replied the engineer, “taking into calculation, however, the detours of the river, which has carried us to the northwest.” “Shall we go on?” asked the reporter. “Yes, as long as we can,” replied Cyrus Harding. “To-morrow, at break of day, we will leave the canoe, and in two hours I hope we shall cross the distance which separates us from the coast, and then we shall have the whole day in which to explore the shore.” “Go ahead!” replied Pencroft. But soon the boat grated on the stony bottom of the river, which was now not more than twenty feet in breadth. The trees met like a bower overhead, and caused a half-darkness. They also heard the noise of a waterfall, which showed that a few hundred feet up the river there was a natural barrier. Presently, after a sudden turn of the river, a cascade appeared through the trees. The canoe again touched the bottom, and in a few minutes it was moored to a trunk near the right bank. It was nearly five o’clock. The last rays of the sun gleamed through the thick foliage and glanced on the little waterfall, making the spray sparkle with all the colors of the rainbow. Beyond that, the Mercy was lost in the bushwood, where it was fed from some hidden source. The different streams which flowed into it increased it to a regular river further down, but here it was simply a shallow, limpid brook. It was agreed to camp here, as the place was charming. The colonists disembarked, and a fire was soon lighted under a clump of trees, among the branches of which Cyrus Harding and his companions could, if it was necessary, take refuge for the night. Supper was quickly devoured, for they were very hungry, and then there was only sleeping to think of. But, as roarings of rather a suspicious nature had been heard during the evening, a good fire was made up for the night, so as to protect the sleepers with its crackling flames. Neb and Pencroft also watched by turns, and did not spare fuel. They thought they saw the dark forms of some wild animals prowling round the camp among the bushes, but the night passed without incident, and the next day, the 31st of October, at five o’clock in the morning, all were on foot, ready for a start. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Jules Verne (1998). The Mysterious Island. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1268/1268-h/1268-h.htm This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

The next day, the 30th of October, all was ready for the proposed exploring expedition

“The wellness industry has been booming” is a sentence that has been written over and over in the last few years. Let’s face it, wellness isn’t just booming, it’s here to stay, and is becoming a central part of people’s lives. Looking back, it’s not hard to see why. In a world where stress and burnout are all too common, people are turning to self-care and preventative health measures to stay healthy and happy. There are many things that make wellness trends so appealing. First, many of them emphasize a do-it-yourself kind of mentality, with practical hacks that are accessible and easy to apply. On the flip side, many wellness trends claim to give you tremendous results quickly. Many of them are either too optimistic or simply negligent. And the truth is, for some wellness trends, following hacks of online suggestions can mean gambling with your mental or physical health. But what is wellness, really? The term “Wellness” encompasses a holistic approach to health that addresses physical, mental, and emotional well-being. That means that wellness isn’t just about the absence of illness or about emotional stability. It is a state in which each one of these aspects of our lives is nurtured and healthy. Physical wellness includes exercise, proper nutrition, and getting enough sleep. Mental wellness includes stress management, mindfulness, and therapy. Emotional wellness includes self-care, self-compassion, and healthy relationships. Overall, wellness is a lifelong journey that involves making conscious choices and taking deliberate actions to improve and maintain good health. The wellness sector itself has seen significant growth in the past few years. According to , the global wellness economy was worth $4.5 trillion in 2018, and it's expected to grow by 5-10% annually. the Global Wellness Institute Separating the good from the bad Every year dozens of new wellness trends populate our social media feeds and spread like fire. Many of them can be very beneficial to our lives, are easy to follow, and can have a real impact on our well-being. Some of them just don’t work, and are even potentially dangerous. So how can you tell between a trend to try and a trend to ditch? When it comes to wellness trends, it can be tough to know which ones are worth your time and money. Here are a few tips to help you distinguish between beneficial and ineffective wellness trends: Scientific evidence: Try to look for solid evidence to support the claims being made. If there is little to no evidence, or the evidence is questionable, then it's best to approach it with caution. Personal experience: Everyone's body is different, so what works for one person may not work for another. Before trying a new wellness trend, it's important to consider your personal health and wellness goals. Does the trend align with those goals? Has it worked for others who have similar goals and health concerns? If the answer is yes, then it may be worth a try. Sustainability: Consider whether the wellness trend is sustainable over the long term. Is it something that you can realistically incorporate into your daily routine? Will it be costly or time-consuming? If the answer is no, then it may not be worth the effort. The credibility of the source: Is it a reputable health or wellness organization, or is it an individual or company with a vested interest in promoting the trend? If the source is not credible, then the trend may not be either. So whether you're a seasoned wellness guru or just getting started on your journey, we’re here to help separate the good and the bad and help you focus on the things that matter. From mindfulness to plant-based diets to the latest fitness crazes, there's always something new and exciting to discover in the world of wellness. So, let's get started and find out what 2023 has in store for us! Try: Sleep syncing “Sleep syncing” is rapidly becoming one of the most talked about wellness trends out there. The good news: there is a lot of evidence that shows that it can actually help your sleep and, as a result, improve your physical and mental health. Sleep syncing means adjusting your sleep cycle with your . Your circadian rhythm (eg, sleep-wake cycle) is your internal body clock that follows a 24-hour cycle. Influenced by light and dark, it controls hormone release such as melatonin and your digestive enzymes. circadian rhythm Essentially, the principle of sleep syncing is a regulated sleep-wake cycle over 24 hours in itself can tremendously improve your sleep. The other great thing about sleep syncing is that it’s a relatively easy habit to adopt, and can have an incredibly positive effect. Here are a few tips for syncing your sleep to your daily routine. Wake up at the same time every day Get exposed to sunlight in the morning Avoid caffeine after midday Avoid heavy meals 3-4 hours before bed Cut back on screens before bed Create a bedtime routine Keep your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet Try: Cycle syncing This one is only relevant to those of us who menstruate. Similarly to sleep syncing, Cycle Syncing is the practice of adapting your daily activity: working out, eating habits, work schedule, social life, and physical intimacy, to your body’s natural monthly cycle. Specifically, it means understanding the four phases of the cycle - follicular, ovulation, luteal, and menstrual - and how each of them affects our physical and mental state. This one is another well-researched and proven trend. According to many women’s health experts, as our body is constantly fluctuating, so is our ability and motivation fluctuates. With this realization in mind, we understand that for most female bodies, doing the same activity at the same intensity every day is not exactly effective. Here is some information on each phase of the cycle, and what is recommended for that phase: During this phase, your estrogen is on the rise. Rest is key. Prioritize soft and relaxing activities rather than pushing yourself. Dring soothing tea, limit fatty foods, alcohol, caffeine, and salty foods. Menstrual: Gradually restart your body. Keep exercises to hiking, light runs, or more flow-based yoga that works up a sweat. Try to incorporate foods that will metabolize estrogen, such as broccoli sprouts, kimchi, and sauerkraut. Follicular: Your testosterone and estrogen are peaking, so now is the time to maximize your potential. Try exercises high-intensity workouts or a spin class, and eat anti-inflammatory foods that support your liver, such as whole fruits, vegetables, and almonds. Ovulation: During this time, progesterone rises as testosterone and estrogen deplete, which means your body is preparing for another period cycle, and energy levels may be low. It’s a good idea to opt for strength training, pilates, and more intense versions of yoga. Eat foods that can help produce serotonin, such as leafy greens, quinoa, spinach, and dark chocolate. Luteal: Ditch:  ‘What I eat in a day’ videos If you’re a wellness enthusiast, your Instagram reels feed or Tiktok for you page must be filled with these videos: “an omelet, green juice, a matcha latte for breakfast. A gluten-free sandwich. Baked salmon for dinner. Etc. etc.”. The “What I eat in a day” reel (and the less common, but more stressful ‘what I drank in a day’ reel) is a 15 to 30-second compilation of what some wellness influencer claim they ate over the course of the day. The dishes featured in these videos are usually highly curated, beautifully shot, often organic, home-cooked, and seemingly very healthy. These videos, watched by millions, often promote unrealistic lifestyles and an unhealthy body image. The main problem is, they promote a one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition, an aspirational goal that, for many, simply isn’t reachable. Whether they show accurate documentation of a daily diet, or a highly curated one, another problem with these videos is the hyper-healthy image they present. While for many wellness influencers, curating a healthy, organic, home-cooked diet is their paid profession, not everybody can invest that time, money, and energy into their daily nutrition. This can lead to guilt and discourage people from creating their own healthy habits. Try:  Micro workouts Physical exercise is extremely important for our physical and mental well-being. Not only does it strengthen our body, but it improves our mood, helps with focus and motivation, and can also be a social activity and improve relationships. The problem is, in a fast pace society, many people find it hard to find the time and energy to maintain a workout routine. In a world where the awareness of the importance of physical exercise is growing, many feel the pressure to intensely work-out, which is often unsustainable. If you relate, micro workouts are the wellness trend for you. Micro workouts are quick, one-minute dances or fitness challenges you can often find on Tiktok or Instagram. Micro workouts remove the time barrier, and for some people also the money barrier, which prevents so many people from incorporating healthy and achievable work-out habits in their daily lives. These bite-size low-intensity workouts make it easier to add more movement into more moments throughout the day. Micro workouts can include a morning dance, a quick set of squats before lunch, and a 10-minute yoga session before bed to help you destress. These short fitness sessions can have a great impact on your physical health and add some necessary movement to your life. Try: Mini meditations When most of us think of meditation, we imagine a formal setting, with a mediator or a guide, where everyone is sitting quietly for at least 20 minutes, focusing on their breathing. In mindfulness meditation, when upsetting thoughts, sensations, or feelings interfere, as they always do, experienced meditators learn to notice them, let them pass by, and then return to paying attention to the breath. There is a lot of evidence for the benefits of mindfulness meditation. Studies suggest that meditating can improve heart health and mental health, boost immune response, lower stress, decrease blood pressure, improve healthy aging of cells, and much more. However, many people find it difficult, or sometimes intimidating, to incorporate a meditation practice into their lives. Similarly to micro-workouts, Mini-meditations involve learning how to be mindful but in shorter intervals. Using short and less demanding mindfulness exercises, you too can enjoy the benefits of mindfulness in your life. Here are some examples of bite-size mindfulness exercises: Take one or more deep breaths. Put your emotions into words. Choose one activity to do with mindful attention. Practice watching your thoughts pass by as if you were watching a parade. Recite a calming motto, mantra, or prayer. Ditch:  Soft Life Originating in the Nigerian influencer community, the term “soft life” or “soft era” describes living a life of enjoyment and comfort, while limiting stress. With millions of views and counting on TikTok, there’s no shortage of content depicting the stress-free popularized as the response to the hustle and “girlboss” culture of the 2010s. #softlife While the principles of soft life can be very positive: prioritizing self-care, setting boundaries, and criticism of work culture, it is often painting an unattainable, and even extravagant picture. Many “soft life” influencers showcase exotic locations, fine dining, luxury goods, and most of all, less work. Unfortunately, this version of soft life is privileged and seen as an ideal to aspire to, which can be harmful. Combined with the “quiet quitting” trend that started in 2021, the soft life influencers can often have a negative impact on viewers, by presenting privileged and often unattainable circumstances as achievable goals that are “the right way to live”. The right lesson to take from this trend is, small changes in our daily lives, an emphasis on self-care, and making intentional choices that take our wellness into consideration, is a good philosophy to have. In other words, living a soft life is subjective, and anyone can experience it differently according to their circumstances. The purpose should not be completely rejecting struggle, stress, or sadness because most of us can’t. Instead, it is to develop resilience, and a safe space for ourselves in the hectic world we live in. Try: Digital Detox The frequent use of technology in our daily lives has been linked to heightened attention-deficit symptoms, impaired emotional and social intelligence, technology addiction, social isolation, impaired brain development, and disrupted sleep in some cases. Most of us have felt it directly, and know how to identify the impact technology can have on our wellness. While technology isn’t inherently bad, if it interferes with your work, relationships, mental and physical health, or finances, it might be a good idea to try and regulate your usage. Digital detox is a trend that offers cutting down daily usage, to become conscious of its effects and get some relief. Strategies such as scheduling time away from screens throughout the day, adjusting your phone settings to limit certain apps, creating no-phone areas, or even downgrading your phone plan, can help limit your phone use and provide a much-needed mental relief. Read more about the importance of digital detox The lead image for this article was generated by HackerNoon's AI Image Generator via the prompt "people smiling in a garden"

Wellness Trends to Try, and to Ditch, in 2023

THE PINE PROCESSIONARY: THE EGGS AND THE HATCHING

THE OSMIAE

Field, Forest and Farm by Jean-Henri Fabre, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . GERMINATION CHAPTER XXIX. GERMINATION “The germ in the heart of the seed is in a state that may be likened to deep sleep: its life is, as it were, arrested, suspended. But under the stimulus of certain conditions it awakens, throws off its coverings, gathers strength from its stored-up food, unfolds its first leaves, and appears above ground. This opening of the seed is called germination. Moisture, warmth, and air are the determining causes; without their coöperation the seed would remain a certain length of time in good condition for sowing, after which it would wither and lose its germinating power. “No seed germinates without the help of moisture. Water plays a multiple part. First it soaks into the germ and the parts surrounding it, causing these to swell more than the envelope, so that the latter, however hard a shell it may be, is burst open. Through the cracks of this broken envelope the gemmule pushes out on one side and the radicle on the other, and henceforth the little plant enjoys the benefit of sun and air. Germination is more or less slow according to the degree of resistance offered by the walls of the seed. If these are hard and stony it is only with extreme slowness that the germ absorbs [ ]moisture and manages to burst its cell. Therefore, to shorten the period of germination care is taken to thin the shells of excessively hard seeds by rubbing them with a stone. 139 “Besides the mechanical part played by water in opening the seed, it has still another relating to nutrition. The various changes undergone by the alimentary contents of the perisperm and the cotyledons in becoming liquefied and capable of absorption cannot take place without the aid of water. Furthermore, this liquid is indispensable for dissolving the nutritive ingredients, introducing them into the young plant, and distributing them evenly throughout. It is plain, then, that if the seed remains dry it is absolutely impossible for it to germinate, and that in order to preserve seeds the first condition is to protect them from moisture. “With moisture there must also be warmth. As a general rule, germination proceeds most satisfactorily when the thermometer registers between ten and twenty degrees centigrade, our spring and autumn temperature. Outside these limits, be it above or below, germination is retarded, ceasing altogether in extreme temperatures. “The coöperation of air is not less necessary. Seeds might have the proper temperature and sufficient moisture, but if air were lacking germination would not follow. This capital condition explains to us why seeds planted too deep fail to come up; why germination is much easier in soil that is mellow and can be permeated by the air than in soil that is [ ]compact; why delicate seeds should be covered with very little earth or even simply sown on the surface of the moist ground; and, finally, why ground on being broken often becomes covered with fresh vegetation from the sprouting of seeds that have for years lain dormant in the soil, needing only to be stirred up and brought into contact with the air in order to germinate. 140 “Under like conditions of temperature, moisture, and air, by no means all seeds require the same length of time for germinating. Common garden cress germinates in about two days. Spinach, turnips, and beans take three days to come up; lettuce, four; melons and pumpkins, five; cereals, about a week. Two years and sometimes more are needed by the rose-bush, the hawthorn, and various stone-fruit trees. Generally seeds with thick and hard shells are slow in germinating on account of the obstacle they oppose to the penetration of moisture. Finally, when sown fresh, immediately after coming to maturity, seeds germinate quicker than when old, because old seeds have to recover by a prolonged sojourn in the ground the moisture lost through prolonged drying. “According to their kind, seeds retain for a longer or shorter period their power of germinating; but why this vitality is more enduring in one instance and less so in another, we cannot tell. Neither the bulk of the seed nor the character of its outside coverings, nor the presence or absence of a perisperm, appears to decide its longevity. Such and such a [ ]seed lives for whole years, even centuries, while another loses its germinating power in a few months, from no cause that we can discover. Thus the seeds of the angelica will not come up unless they are sown immediately after maturing; but beans have been known to germinate after being kept more than a hundred years, and rye after a hundred and forty. Excluded from the air, certain seeds may be kept for centuries, always ready to germinate whenever favorable conditions shall present themselves. This explains why strawberry, bluet, and camomile seeds from ancient tombs have germinated just as new seeds would have done. Finally, rush seeds have been made to germinate that were dug up from great depths in the Island of the Seine, the original site of Paris. Doubtless those seeds dated from the time when Paris, under the name of Lutetia, consisted of a few mud and reed huts on the marshy borders of the stream. But despite these remarkable exceptions let us never forget that recent seed is preferable to old for sowing; it comes up better and in greater abundance. 141 “We have just seen that certain seeds are very slow in coming up, as for example the peach, apricot, and plum, whose thick shells resist the moisture required for germination. Put directly into the ground in the very places that the young plants are to occupy later, these seeds would be exposed to not a few dangers during their leisurely germination. Prolonged rains might make them rot; various marauders that are partial to them, such as rats, field-mice, [ ]jays, magpies, and crows, might dig them up and devour them. Besides, they would occupy for a long time, with no profit to any one, the ground in which they had been planted. All these objections are avoided by making a preliminary planting after a method known as stratification, from the Latin word stratum, meaning bed or layer. In a large, deep earthen pan, with holes in its bottom, or in any other suitable receptacle, such as a box, a pot, or a tub, likewise pierced with holes, it is the practice to place first a layer of small pebbles. The holes at the bottom and this layer of pebbles are to give easy access to the air and drain off the excess of water after each irrigation. Next comes a bed of fine sandy soil, then a layer or stratum of seeds arranged side by side, and on top of that a second bed of earth. On this is placed another stratum of seeds, which in its turn is covered with earth; and so the process goes on with alternating layers of seeds and earth until the receptacle is full. Then it is watered and placed in a cellar or a dark shed. All that is necessary after this is to keep the contents of pan or tub sufficiently moist by an occasional sprinkling. Enclosed thus in a small space easy to watch over, with no danger from marauding animals, and without needlessly occupying ground that might be used for other purposes, the seeds can now take their own time to break their hard shells and can germinate with all the slowness natural to them. 142 “When the shells at last crack open and the radicle appears, it is time to proceed to the final planting. [ ]The half-germinated seeds are then put into the ground one by one in an open field, each at the exact spot the young plant is to occupy. 143 “Stratification offers still another advantage. Fruit trees as well as other trees have a stout tap-root which bores vertically into the ground to a considerable depth and gives a good deal of trouble if transplanting is undertaken. To alter this tap-root into a root not growing so deep, but branching horizontally, would be decidedly advantageous. In speaking of the root we saw what the nursery-man does to obtain this result. He passes the sharp edge of his spade under the base of each tree-trunk so as to sever the tap-roots of his young plantations. In stratification the method is much simpler and success surer. With his thumb-nail the gardener nips off the tip of the tender radicle before the final planting is done. That is all. Deprived of its growing end the young root henceforth branches out horizontally instead of descending vertically.” About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Jean-Henri Fabre (2022). Field, Forest and Farm. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/67813/pg67813-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html.

Its germinating power

Field, Forest and Farm by Jean-Henri Fabre, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . THE STALK OF THE PLANT CHAPTER XIV. THE STALK OF THE PLANT “The stalk is the common support of the plant’s various parts. It is called annual or herbaceous when it lives only one year, as in the potato, spinach, parsley, and all forms of vegetation that from their soft structure belong to the class of herbs. Ligneous is the name given to the stalk when, designed to live for a greater or less number of years, it is made of strong woody fibers, such as we find in the trunks of trees. “Let us make a clean cut through any tree-trunk, that of an oak for example. We shall find it divided into three parts: in the center the pith or marrow, very slightly developed; around the marrow the wood proper; and, finally, on the outside, the bark. A closer examination shows that the wood is formed of concentric layers which are indicated in the cross-section by a series of circles having the marrow for a common center. These layers are called ligneous zones or, since one is formed every year, annual layers. During the summer there is a downward flow, throughout the tree, of a peculiar liquid, the descending sap, which constitutes the fluid nourishment of the tree. This liquid runs between the wood and the bark and becomes, little by little in its course, [ ]on one side a layer of wood which attaches itself to the outer surface of the preceding year’s layer, and on the other side a thin sheet of bark which is added to the inner surface of the bark already formed. 71 “Thus each year both bark and wood form a new layer; but this added layer is applied in opposite ways in the two instances,—outside on the wood, inside on the bark. The wood thus encircled from year to year by new layers increases in age toward the center and becomes younger and younger toward the circumference, whereas the bark, lined every year with a fresh sheet, shows its youth on the inside and its age on the outside. The first buries inside the trunk its decrepit and dead layers; the second thrusts its old layers outside, where they crack and fall off in large scales. This aging process is simultaneous on the outside and in the center of the tree-trunk; but between the wood and the bark life is always at work, creating fresh accretions. Cross Section of Tree Trunk “Here are some experimental proofs of this annual formation of a ligneous layer. A strip of bark is removed from the trunk of a tree, and on the wood thus laid bare is fastened a thin sheet of metal. The bark is then replaced and bound with ligatures so that the wound may heal. We will suppose ten years have passed. The bark is raised again at the same place. The metal sheet is no longer visible; to find it you must bore deep into the wood. Now, [ ]if you count the ligneous layers removed before reaching the metal sheet, you will find precisely ten, just the number of years that have passed. 72 “A number of observations like the following are familiar: Some foresters cut down a beech bearing on its trunk the date 1750. The same inscription was found again in the inner substance of the wood, but to reach it they had to cut through fifty-five layers on which no mark whatever appeared. If now, we add 55 to 1750 we obtain precisely the year when the tree was felled, or 1805. The inscription carved on the trunk in the year 1750 had passed through the bark and reached the layer of wood that was then outermost. Since that event fifty-five years had passed and new layers, exactly the same in number, had grown over the first. “Thus a tree is composed of a succession of woody sheaths, the outer ones enveloping the inner. The stem or trunk contains them all; the branches, according to their age, contain more or fewer. Each one represents a single year’s growth. The woody sheath of the present year occupies the exterior of the trunk, immediately under the bark; those of former years occupy the interior, and the nearer they are to the center the older they are. The layers of future years will come one at a time and take their places over preceding layers, so that what is now the outermost layer will in its turn be found embedded in the body of the trunk. “Of all these ligneous zones of unequal age the most important to-day is the outside one; its destruction [ ]would cause the death of the tree, since through it the nutritive juices of the earth reach the buds, leaves, and young branches. In their time the interior layers, one by one, when they formed the surface, rendered the same service to the buds of their day; but now that these buds have become branches the inner layers have only a secondary office, or even none at all. Those nearest the outside still have some aptness for work and help the layer of the year to carry the juices from the earth to the branches. As to the innermost ones, they have lost all activity; their wood is hard, dried up, encrusted with inert matter. In their decrepitude these interior layers are incapable of service in the work of vegetation; the most they can do is by the support of their firm woody structure to give solidity to the whole. Thus the tree’s activity decreases from the outside toward the center. On the surface are youth, vigor, labor; in the center old age, ruin, repose.” 73 About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Jean-Henri Fabre (2022). Field, Forest and Farm. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/67813/pg67813-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html.

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