This is the plan of operation: Reeds are cut and placed along the margins of lakes and ponds. Soon these reeds are covered by an incredible number of eggs so minute that it is necessary to shake them on a cloth to gather them. These eggs are then put in bags and pounded. The result is a coarse flour, which may be cooked in a great variety of ways. All highly nutritious and stimulating. A vast number of beetles are also collected and used as food for chickens, but notwithstanding this immense demand, the supply suffers no appreciable diminution. Louise Jamison. NATURE’S GLORY. Oh, golden days with cloudless skies— When forests flame with gorgeous dyes; A touch of wine seems in the air, Fields are brown—pastures bare. Deep purple wraps the distant hills, Gray shadows fall upon the rills;— Thro’ rustling corn the zephyrs sigh, In grief to see fair summer die. These are days of Nature’s glory, Sung in song, and told in story. —J. Mayne Baltimore. LAPIS LAZULI, AMBER AND MALICHITE. LAPIS LAZULI. This stone was the sapphire of the Greeks, Romans and Hebrew Scriptures. Pliny likened it to the blue sky adorned with stars. Large quantities of worked pieces of it are found in early Egyptian tombs, and the Chinese have long held it in high esteem. Marco Polo visited Asiatic mines of the mineral in 1271 A. D., and these had doubtless been worked for a long time previous. Besides its value as a stone it was in former times used as a blue pigment, giving the ultramarine blue. In modern times not only has the esteem in which the stone is held for ornamental purposes declined but the mineral can be artificially made so as to give the desired blue color for paints and thus the use of the natural lapis lazuli has greatly diminished. It is still however carved to make vases, small dishes, brooches and ring stones and is used to a considerable extent for mosaic work. When, also, pieces of sufficient size and of a uniform color can be found, large carved objects may be made which command a high price.