The Philadelphia Inquirer - Sunday, November 17, 1895

Sunflower Time.

Oscar Wilde was justified in promoting the sunflower and making it the object of worship of a time. In Kansas, which has been called the sunflower State, a farm hand—who has often found himself late for dinner—has constructed a sunflower clock. Choosing an enormous sunflower, he attached to its drooping head a tiny cornstalk, not more than 10 feet long. About the plant he drew a circle and divided it into twenty-four parts, each of which was subdivided for minutes and seconds. And now, as the faithful plant, from dawn till dusk, eyes its fierce lord, the cornstalk pointer moves about the dial, indicating the time. The sunflower clock can also be used as a stop watch to time races by holding over it a big umbrella, which checks the revolution upon the instant, when the time to a fraction of a second may be read off upon the dial. This is seed time and harvest, with a chance that clouds may come over the field and make a man lose time.