' 
 

THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
TREES, PLANTS, AND FLOWERS, 
 
 WHERE AND HOW THEY GROW. 
 
 A FAMILIAR HISTORY OF 
 
 THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF 
 
 "OUR OWN BIRDS." 
 
 WITH SEVENTY-THREE ENGRAVINGS. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 
 1876 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by 
 J. B. LIPPJNCOTT & CO., 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for th 
 Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
PEEFACE. 
 
 'JL'HERE are few recreative pleasures to which 
 tlie minds of children can be turned with more 
 real advantage, than to the close observance 
 of the beauties of the creation. We are every- 
 where surrounded by objects of deep interest, 
 which attract but little attention because their 
 appearance is so familiar. But it certainly is 
 an evidence that we do not sufficiently appre- 
 ciate the blessings which our Heavenly Father 
 has conferred upon us, when we look with in- 
 difference upon the beautiful adornments of 
 that world which his own hand hath created, 
 and whose every charm he hath so evidently 
 designed for our enjoyment. 
 
 How elevating are the thoughts which are 
 begotten by the contemplation of these objects I 
 1* (v) 
 
VI PEE FACE. 
 
 how soft and gentle are the influences which 
 take possession of the mind, when it turns the 
 channel of its musings from the bright world 
 around it, to the great Fountain and Source 
 and Creator of all. 
 
 There is probably no time in life when a 
 fondness for the study of Nature may be more 
 safely cultivated than in early childhood. It 
 is then that the mind turns with true simpli- 
 city from the visible objects of its admiration, 
 to the adoration of the Invisible whc created 
 them; and what more happy moment than 
 this to instil into the mind of a child the great 
 truths of that religion, whose sublime doctrines 
 are so abundantly illustrated in Holy Writ by 
 direct references to objects in the outward 
 world ? Our Saviour, in his teachings to his 
 disciples, frequently alludes to the beauties of 
 his Father's creation : " Consider the lilies of 
 the field how they grow ; they toil not, neither 
 do they spin ; and yet I say unto you that 
 Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like 
 one of these." 
 
 The object of these pages is not so much to 
 attempt a description of rare and curious 
 
PEEFACE. Vll 
 
 plants, as, by presenting some of the leading 
 principles of Botany in a familiar manner, to 
 beget in the reader an interest in a study which 
 will at once prove a profitable pleasure and a 
 wholesome recreation. The flora of our own 
 land possesses attractions to all classes, inas- 
 much as it lies within the reach of all. The 
 schoolboy may gather, as he goes, gems from 
 the grassy roadside, which, if they be but the 
 simplest of flowers, will bear the impress of a 
 Divine finger, and convey a lesson of deep in- 
 struction. Let us not then undervalue the 
 least of His works, who created nothing in 
 vain, but who, 
 
 With consummate skill devised the plan 
 
 That creation's every voice should whisper 
 Words of peace, and joy, and hope to man 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THERE is no time in the day better suited to the 
 study of Nature than the early hours of the morn- 
 ing. Every thing is bright and fresh and beau- 
 tiful; the sweet little songsters are warbling their 
 sprightliest notes; the lambs are skipping merrily 
 over the soft green sod, from which the morning sun 
 has not dispelled the sparkling dew; the tall trees 
 wave their heads majestically to and fro ; the babbling 
 brook murmurs its softest melodies ; while upon the 
 gently blowing gale is borne the rich fragrance of 
 many a fresh opening flower. 
 
 The whole creation is exhilarated by the rest of 
 the night; and the mind, as well as the body, being 
 refreshed by repose, becomes more capable of enjoy- 
 ment; and if we can go forth with our hearts laden 
 with gratitude to our Maker for his blessings, we 
 shall be able to see in all his works, the evidences 
 of a superior wisdom, so adapting one part to another, 
 
 (W 
 
X INTRODUCTION. 
 
 that each seems to minister to the wants and the hap- 
 piness of the other. 
 
 There are many objects of great beauty and in- 
 terest, which can only be observed to advantage in 
 the morning There are thousands of beautiful birds, 
 which are active and busy in hopping about the trees, 
 and sometimes about the very doors of our houses, 
 early in the day, that retire to the deep shade of the 
 forests, and pass the sultry hours of noon in the tops 
 of the tallest trees, and there remain so quiet that 
 few are aware of their existence. 
 
 Most flowers also open their petals to catch the 
 first glimpses of the morning sun, at which time their 
 colors are most brilliant, and their fragrance the 
 sweetest. If, then, you would study Nature to advan- 
 tage, you must devote to it the earliest hours of the 
 morning. 
 
Various Grasses. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GRASSES THEIR PECULIAR FORM AND APPEARANCE MAN- 
 NER OF GROWTH ADAPTATION TO THEIR USES WHEAT 
 
 BARLEY MAIZE OATS RICE PAPYRUS PAMPA GRASS. 
 
 "HE first visible objects that were 
 created in the beginning, after the 
 waters were gathered together, and 
 the dry land had appeared, were 
 grasses. 
 
 "And God said, Let the earth 
 bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and 
 the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, 
 whose seed is in itself upon the earth ; and it 
 was so. And the earth brought forth grass, 
 and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree 
 
 (11) 
 
12 GRASSES. 
 
 yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after his 
 kind ; and it was so ; and God saw that it was good." 
 
 The term grass, as it is sometimes used in Scrip- 
 ture, evidently includes a great variety of plants, as 
 in the passage commencing with, "If God so clothe 
 the grass of the field which to-day is and to-morrow 
 is cast into the oven," &c., it undoubtedly alludes to 
 the various smaller herbs which commonly grow in 
 the fields, as in those days the stems of plants were 
 often gathered by the poorer classes, and used for 
 fuel. 
 
 Of what is commonly called grass, there are many 
 varieties, some of them possessing properties which 
 render them very useful; while others seem to be 
 created for the special purpose of beautifying the 
 earth. Children may often be seen plucking their 
 tall straight stems, and seem to take much delight in 
 arranging them into bunches; and we might suppose 
 that the interest generally felt in the soft verdure 
 and the cool and refreshing appearance of a luxuriant 
 grassy field or lawn, would excite in all but the most 
 indifferent a desire of knowing something more than 
 that certain plants are called grasses, as an acquaint- 
 ance with their structure and properties cannot fail 
 to afford both instruction and entertainment. 
 
 The vegetable kingdom is divided into three great 
 natural orders, called Acrogenous, Exogenous, and 
 Endogenous, terms referring to their different modes 
 of growing. To the last of these belong the grasses. 
 The word Endogenous means ingrowing ; that is, the 
 increase in the growth takes place upon the interior 
 
GRASSES. 13 
 
 of the stem, which is often hollow, though mostly 
 filled with a soft pithy substance, which becomes 
 harder as it nears the outer surface of the stem. The 
 peculiar formation of the leaves of endogenous plants 
 is also striking; the veins all run parallel to each 
 other, mostly throughout their entire length, instead 
 of branching off and forming the beautiful and 
 prominent net-work so noticeable in others. To 
 this order also belong a variety of plants differing 
 widely from the grasses, such as some species of the 
 Lilies, the Orchids, and many more, some of which 
 will be mentioned hereafter. 
 
 The stems of most plants are much branched, but 
 the formation of the grasses is peculiar, the stalk 
 being mostly tubular and jointed, and quite simple, 
 except where, in some instances, it is parted to give 
 place to a cluster of flowers. The leaves are very 
 long and narrow, and the flowers are variously ar- 
 ranged, sometimes scattered loosely upon the stem, 
 as in the oats, sometimes in a short compact head, 
 suspended from the ends of long and slender branch- 
 lets, as in the Rattlesnake's grass; and sometimes 
 they are densely crowded at the end of the stem, in 
 a lengthened spike, as in Wheat, Rye, and Timothy. 
 Each flower is composed of concave valves, placed 
 one over the other ; they are most conspicuous when 
 the beautiful white, yellow, purple or scarlet anthers, 
 which are hung gracefully upon their slender fila- 
 ments, project from the lips of the corolla : the plant 
 is then in bloom, and who does not admire a specimen 
 2 
 
H GRASSES. 
 
 of fresh -blown Fox Grass or Timothy, especially 
 when on some foggy morning the minute particles 
 of moisture have settled upon the delicate stamens, 
 giving them the appearance of being thickly studded 
 with jewels ? 
 
 We have said that many of these plants have 
 jointed stems ' } this is observed in those whose leaves 
 grow one above the other ; each joint here answers 
 the double purpose of giving strength to the stem 
 and support to the leaf. But, in other varieties, the 
 only leaves produced are what are called radical, or 
 leaves growing from the root; with these the stems 
 are not jointed, but receive additional strength from 
 their being sometimes triangular or square, and mostly 
 very fleshy and stout. 
 
 It is a remarkable provision of Nature, that those 
 plants which appear to have been designed for food, 
 either bear seed in great abundance, or are supplied 
 with some separate provision for reproducing them- 
 selves ; this is particularly noticeable in the grasses. 
 Wheat, Rye, Corn, Oats, Rice, and Barley, which 
 constitute staple articles of food, all produce their 
 seed in great quantities ' } while in many species whose 
 seed supply the wants of the birds, the roots are 
 po r cnnial and creeping, and are continually sending 
 up suckers, thus increasing themselves many-fold by 
 a distinct method. 
 
 Those seeds which require to be sown every year 
 are reserved for the use of man, whose superior in- 
 tellect teaches him the proper mode of rendering 
 
GRASSES. 15 
 
 them useful ; while the inferior animals depend en 
 tirely upon that provision which Nature has made for 
 their supply. 
 
 How beautifully do these facts illustrate those 
 words of our Saviour : " Consider the ravens, for they 
 neither sow nor reap, which neither have storehouse 
 nor barn, and God feedeth them ! " 
 
 The cereal grasses, or corn plants, are very rapid 
 in their growth, and in a surprisingly short time 
 send up a tall hollow stem, divided by joints, where 
 the leaves are inserted, one at each joint, on the alter- 
 nate sides of the stem ; each leaf embracing the stem 
 like a sheath. 
 
 Wheat stands at the head of the cereal grasses for 
 its great productiveness and utility. Thene are seve- 
 ral cultivated varieties of Wheat, the origin of all of 
 which is involved in obscurity. No where has it been 
 found in a wild state; at least, botanists have not 
 been able to identify any of the wild species with 
 those in cultivation. There is no doubt of its great 
 antiquity, grains having frequently been found en- 
 closed with the mummies of Egypt. Some of these 
 having been sown, have produced plants similar to 
 those now grown in the Levant. 
 
 There is much to admire in a simple grain of wheat. 
 It contains within itself a marvellous vegetative power, 
 which, after having lain for centuries in the darkness 
 and obscurity of an Egyptian tomb, is capable, if 
 rightly managed, of being made to yield not only a 
 new plant, with its abundant spike, but also plant 
 after plant, and spike after spike, until the produce 
 
16 
 
 GRASSES. 
 
 of this single grain might at length feed a family, 
 the dwellers in a village, the inhabitants of a city, 
 and even of a nation, or of the world. 
 
 Barley, although not 
 so much grown in this 
 country as some other 
 corn plants, is neverthe- 
 less the principal crop in 
 some parts of the world. 
 In Egypt and Syria it 
 forms the staple grain for 
 making bread. It is not 
 capable of producing the 
 beautiful white and fine- 
 grained loaves that are 
 made from wheat, as it 
 lacks the glutinous pro- 
 perties which are neces- 
 sary to facilitate the ac- 
 tion of the leaven. It is therefore made into thin 
 cakes without the use of yeast, and hence it has been 
 called unleavened bread. 
 
 We read of such cakes in very early times. Some, 
 most probably of Barley, are mentioned when the 
 Lord appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre, 
 and the patriarch said to Sarah, " Make ready quickly 
 three measures of fine meal; knead it, and make 
 cakes on the hearth." Gen. xviii. 6. The Arabs of 
 the desert act precisely in this way now, when they 
 entertain strangers, using Barley meal to prepare their 
 hearth-cakes. And the bread used by our Lord when 
 
 Wheat, Barley, and Ilice. 
 
GRASSES. 17 
 
 he fed the multitude with five loaves and two small 
 fishes, is expressly stated to have been made of bar- 
 ley. John vi. 9. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that so great a quantity 
 of Barley should be wasted in producing intoxicating 
 liquors, so destructive to the peace of mankind, this 
 being the best grain for distillation ; and from the 
 ready market thus obtained, the farmer is often led 
 to grow barley, and neglect crops which would be 
 useful in supplying the means of human subsistence. 
 
 The most important grain next to wheat is Maize, 
 or Indian Corn, which is a native of America, and 
 was cultivated by the Indians previous to the landing 
 of Columbus. It may be a matter of surprise to 
 some, that this plant should be ranked among the 
 grasses ; but a little examination into its structure and 
 habits will at once show its connection with them. It 
 attains a much larger growth than any other of the 
 corn plants, although there are many other grasses 
 which even exceed it in height. 
 
 Maize is extensively cultivated in every part of the 
 continent of North America. In the western states 
 it is particularly productive, as it sometimes yields, 
 under the combined influence of the rich soil and 
 genial climate, at the rate of eight hundred for one. 
 
 Maize has never been cultivated in Europe with 
 success, the climate not being favorable to its growth ; 
 hence it is rarely seen in England, except where a 
 few stalks are raised as curiosities. 
 
 Oats is probably the next grain of importance, espe- 
 cially in America, where it forms one of the princi- 
 2* B 
 
18 
 
 GRASSES. 
 
 Panicle of Oats. 
 
 pal crops, being extensively 
 used as feed for horses and 
 cattle ; it is much easier of 
 culture than wheat, and can 
 be grown on soil that would 
 scarcely produce a good crop 
 of any other grain. In Ire- 
 land it is raised in great 
 quantities, and together with 
 potatoes, forms a considera- 
 ble part of the food of the 
 peasantry. Almost any cli- 
 mate is adapted to the growth 
 
 of Oats. Good crops have been seen growing close 
 to the line of perpetual snow, at the Glacier de Bois- 
 sons, on Mont Blanc; and it is said to have been 
 found in a wild state on the island of Juan Fernan- 
 des, in the Southern Ocean ; but the few plants dis- 
 covered there may have been produced by grains 
 accidentally scattered by some of the pirates who in- 
 fested those seas soon after the discovery of the island. 
 Rice is a native of warm climates, and differs in 
 the mode of its cultivation from any other grain that 
 is grown. Those spots where various animal and 
 vegetable substances are washed down by rivers, are 
 most favorable to its growth. The marshy parts of 
 Hindostan and Carolina are among the chief portions 
 of the globe where rice is brought to perfection. But 
 the American rice is generally considered as being 
 much better than that which is grown in the East 
 Indies. 
 
GRASSES. 19 
 
 The rice-fields of Carolina lie adjacent to the larger 
 rivers which flow toward the sea, and down whose 
 rapid currents the floods of each Spring bring a fresh 
 deposit of soil. They are enclosed in some places by 
 neat embankments, through openings in which the 
 water is allowed to run at such times as it is needed. 
 The rice-seed is sown in a rich plot of ground, and 
 allowed to attain the height of a few inches, when 
 the plants are removed into the fields where they are 
 to grow ] the ground having been previously prepared 
 by being overflowed with water until it is thoroughly 
 saturated. These plantations require to be kept con- 
 stantly moist, and as they usually lie below the level 
 of the river, by opening the sluices in the embank- 
 ments they are readily watered; this operation is 
 repeated several times during its growth. 
 
 A field of young rice is a beautiful and interesting 
 sight, but the great amount of decayed vegetation 
 which the soil contains, renders the atmosphere very 
 unhealthy, and few persons beside the negroes em- 
 ployed in cultivation can remain in the neighborhood 
 with safety. 
 
 In the list of useful grasses we must not forget 
 the Bulrush spoken of in the Bible. This appears 
 to be no other than the paper-reed of the Egyptians. 
 The ark in which the infant Moses lay among the 
 sedges of the Nile, was made of this plant. Isaiah 
 speaks of the paper-reeds by the brooks, (Is. xix. 7,) 
 which undoubtedly alludes to the same, as it was 
 found in great abundance, not only in the shallow 
 
20 
 
 GRASSES. 
 
 parts of the Nile, but in the little streams in the 
 vicinity. 
 
 The Papyrus, or 
 Paper - Reed, has a 
 thick triangular stem, 
 eight or ten feet in 
 height, and is said 
 always to turn one of 
 its angles toward the 
 current, as though to 
 break the force of the 
 waves. It formerly was 
 very abundant in all 
 parts of Egypt, Abys- 
 sinia, and Syria, but 
 modern travellers de- 
 scribe it as now being 
 very rare. 
 
 Papyrus. From the very ear- 
 
 liest ages of Egypt, papyrus appears to have been 
 used for various purposes, but especially for the man- 
 ufacture of paper. Herodotus mentions paper made 
 from it as being an article of commerce long before 
 his time ; he calls it byblos. This name, it is sup- 
 posed, is the origin of the Greek word billion, or 
 book, whence comes the term Bible. The paper made 
 by the ancients was formed of the pellicle found be- 
 tween the bark and the fleshy part of the stem ; the 
 pieces of this were united together until they were 
 of a suitable size, when they were pressed and dried 
 in the sun. Many manuscripts, written upon this 
 
GRASSES. 21 
 
 paper, have been found in the swathings of mum- 
 mies, which were perfectly legible, and are interesting 
 on account of their great antiquity. Paper was made 
 from the papyrus until the eleventh or twelfth cen- 
 tury, when it was superseded by that made from 
 cotton. The papyrus had also many other uses 
 among the inhabitants of Africa. Boats of a consi- 
 derable size were made of it, and are spoken of in the 
 Scriptures. The tassel-like flowers which surmounted 
 its tall straight stems were worn as coronals by illus- 
 trious men. The Abyssinians chewed the root and 
 the woody parts of the stem, its sweet juice resem- 
 bling liquorice. The stems, as well as being used for 
 fuel, were also made into cordage, and woven into a 
 coarse matting which was used for various purposes. 
 Those grasses, which seem to be created rather for 
 the purpose of increasing our happiness by affording 
 a pleasing and grateful prospect to the eye, than to 
 minister to our comfort by supplying the wants of 
 the body, are so numerous and so widely distributed, 
 that all are familiar with some of them, and as any 
 attempt to describe them would be useless in so small 
 a compass as could be assigned them here, we shall 
 only cite a single example, leaving it to the readers 
 to enter more fully into the subject as their interest 
 or pleasure may incline them, there being few, per- 
 haps, who have not the opportunity of seeing them 
 in profusion, as they exist almost everywhere, and 
 
 "Clothe all climes in beauty." 
 
22 
 
 GRASSES. 
 
 The Pampas Grass is a native of Brazil, and covers 
 large tracts of country in the vicinity of Buenos Ayres, 
 known as the Pampas, whence its name is derived. 
 It grows to the height of twelve or fourteen feet. 
 Many beautiful specimens are to be seen cultivated 
 in the gardens of England, where the mildness of 
 the climate is favorable to its growth. The annexed 
 cut is a sketch of a plant growing in the grounds of 
 
GRASSES. 23 
 
 Stoke Park, which was long the seat of the Penn 
 family of Pennsylvania celebrity. 
 
 These plants show to much better advantage when 
 grown separately, as the long leaves, of which there 
 is a great profusion, hang in thick tufts on every 
 side. From the centre of these, the tall straight 
 stems rise several feet above the mass of foliage, and 
 are crowned with large plume-like heads of silvery- 
 white flowers. Some of these separate plants have 
 attained the height of fourteen feet, with a diameter 
 of about eighteen feet; and occasionally they have 
 been seen with as many as fifty heads of flowers. 
 
 How beautifully does this majestic species com- 
 pare with some of the humble little varieties which 
 are scattered over our meadows ! and yet, while Grod 
 hath given extraordinary grace and beauty to one, 
 he has also endowed the others with qualities which 
 render them none the less curious, and far more use- 
 ful. How wonderfully are they adapted to the various 
 uses assigned them ! If animals were allowed to feed 
 upon the foliage of the Pampas Grass, its beauty 
 would be marred, and the life of the plant endan-- 
 gered ; but not so with the meadow-grass ; the more 
 its leaves are cropped, the wider spreads the plant ; 
 the more it is trampled upon, the thicker and softer 
 it grows ; and so far from being killed by the frosts 
 of winter, it seems only to gather more life from re- 
 pose, and upon the return of spring it again shoots 
 forth with renewed freshness and vi^or 
 
24 FLO WEES. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 FLOWERS THEIR VARIOUS FORMS AND COLORS PARTS OF A 
 FLOWER ARRANGEMENT UPON THE STEM NIGHT-BLOOM- 
 ING CEREUS EVENING PRIMROSE EFFECT OF LIGHT UPON 
 THE BLOOM OF FLOWERS PERFECTING OF THE SEED THE 
 FRUIT. 
 
 COME, brother Freddy, let's go gather some flowers, 
 Here are the violets all sweetly in bloom ; 
 
 And the roses just washed by plentiful showers, 
 Will regale with their soft and lovely perfume. 
 
 Here are tulips with petals of every hue, 
 And a white lily with its bosom so fair; 
 
 While daisies and jonquils and hyacinths too, 
 Are casting their fragrance around on the air. 
 
 The honeysuckles cluster on every spray, 
 
 That twines o'er the lattice or droops from the wall; 
 Where the Humming-bird sips the nectar away, 
 
 And honey-bees gather their stores for the fall. 
 
 Here's sweet flow'ring almonds, a token of spring, 
 And yellow corcoras as brilliant as gold; 
 
 With the gay Columbine, as pretty a thing 
 I'm sure, as we ever need wish to behold. 
 
 And primrose and cowslip with poppies intervene, 
 Kingcups and primulas all smiling and gay ; 
 
 Geraniums and foxglove in plenty are seen, 
 All standing in bright and imposing array. 
 
FLOWERS. 25 
 
 Come, while the lark its sweet anthem is singing, 
 And the breath of the morn is freshened by showers : 
 
 The voice of the thrush through the woodland is ringing, 
 Come, little brother, let us gather some flowers. 
 
 MONO the diversified products of 
 Creative Wisdom, there are perhaps 
 no more attractive objects than 
 flowers, and none to which the 
 mind turns with greater pleasure. 
 See how lovely and beautiful they 
 are in their multiplied forms and colors, and 
 how interesting and wonderful in their distri- 
 bution and uses. Some are decked in colors 
 so brilliant as to bid defiance to all imitation, 
 or marked with tints so delicate as to set at naught 
 the skill of the artist; while others, as emblems of 
 perfect purity, are arrayed in vestures of snowy white- 
 ness. 
 
 Nature has scattered these beautiful objects with 
 an unsparing hand over every portion of the globe; 
 they smile in clusters among the decayed leaves of 
 the wood, and the pasture-fields are dotted all over 
 with their ever-varying hues. They rear their gay 
 heads to the sun in gaudy profusion in the ever- 
 glowing regions of the south, and peep out in modest 
 loveliness from beneath the Arctic snows. 
 
 There is something happy in the thought that the 
 pleasure to be derived from flowers is open to the 
 youngest, and the poorest of mankind ; they are gifts 
 3 
 
26 
 
 FLOWERS. 
 
 which Nature hands alike to all. It has been said 
 that birds are the poor man's music, so wild flowers 
 may be said to be the poor man's poetry ; for him, as 
 for all, they open their gay petals, and exhale the 
 sweetest odors ; they smile upon his toils, and add 
 new charms to repose. 
 
 To children, flowers are an unfailing source of de- 
 light ; and the first blossom that flings its fragrance 
 upon the spring air is welcomed by them as a har- 
 binger of future joys. With what care may they 
 often be seen nursing their little daisy-plants, when 
 their whole happiness seems wrapt up in their suc- 
 cessful growth ! And the violets which they have 
 dug from the woods, and transplanted into their own 
 gardens, are watched with the greatest anxiety. This 
 love of children for flowers is implanted in their young 
 breasts by Him who created every blossom pure and 
 beautiful, and a fit object of admiration and love. 
 
 There is much that is interesting and worthy of 
 our attention in flowering plants, besides th n ir beau- 
 tiful colors, and attractive and showy appearance; 
 many of them possess peculiar habits which render 
 
 Complete Stamens and Ovary and 
 flower. Pistil. Pistil. 
 
 Calyx and 
 Corolla. 
 
 Ovary and 
 
 Calyx. 
 
 them objects of wonder. Even the simple parts of a 
 flower, when separated, bear evidence of a superior 
 
FLOWERS. 27 
 
 skill, which has so nicely adapted them to each other. 
 Let us see what they are. First comes the Calyx, 
 or the cup which supports the flower ; this is some- 
 times entire, but more frequently parted into divi- 
 sions, or segments, as they are called ; it is generally 
 of a pale green color, but, in some instances, as in 
 the Fuchsia, it is highly colored ; the Calyx also acts 
 as a covering for the seed-vessels. The delicate and 
 richly colored leaves or petals, which stand just with- 
 in the calyx form the corolla. Some flowers have 
 neither calyx nor corolla, and cluster around a pen- 
 dent spike, as in the Willow and Hazel ; these are 
 termed Catkins. At the base of 
 the corolla there generally appears 
 the Nectary, so called from its se- 
 creting a sweet fluid called nectar. 
 This is the store from which the 
 bee derives its honey, and from this 
 delicious fountain the lovely little 
 Humming -Bird, poised upon its Catkin, Hazel, 
 rapid wings, extracts through its slender bill the 
 sweet food which it conveys to its young. 
 
 The most important organs in the flower are those 
 which produce the seed. These consist of two 
 principal parts, called Stamens and Pistils. They 
 mostly exist in the same flower ; but in some cases 
 they not only occupy separate flowers, but are pro- 
 duced upon separate plants. At the base of the pistil 
 is the seed-vessel or Ovary, which is composed of 
 one or more valves, differing in form in different 
 plants; a little thread-like stalk called a Style, 
 
28 FLOWERS. 
 
 rises from the top of this seed-vessel, and sup- 
 ports a small spongy substance called the Stigma. 
 Around this pistil, or pistils, (as there are sometimes 
 many,) are placed the stamens, each consisting of a 
 slender thread, or filament, supporting a little bag, 
 called the anther, which contains the pollen, a kind 
 of powder or dust; when this powder ripens, the 
 anthers burst, and the pollen falls upon the stigma, 
 which is mostly below, and thus the seed in the ovary 
 becomes fertilized. These grains of pollen, which 
 are very minute, when seen under a microscope are 
 of various shapes; some are round or oval, some 
 square, others are toothed like a watch-wheel, or re- 
 semble a prickly ball, while others have long appen- 
 dages or tails. 
 
 There is much difference observable in the shape 
 ind size of flowers, as well as their colorings ; some 
 are large and showy, while others are so diminutive 
 as to require the aid of a microscope to distinguish 
 them. Some are shaped like a bell, as may be seen 
 in the Campanula; others like a trumpet, as the Con- 
 volvulus and Honeysuckle; the common Snapdragon 
 and the Scarlet Sage have flowers of a very peculiar 
 form, called ringent, or grinning, from their resem- 
 blance to an open mouth ; but the most common form 
 of flowers is the shape of a star or a cross. They 
 generally consist of from four to eight or ten petals, 
 spreading out like rays, arranging themselves va- 
 riously; sometimes these petals are broad at the 
 base, and bend upwards, and form a shallow cup; 
 sometimes they bend backwards, and almost clasp the 
 
FLOWERS. 
 
 29 
 
 stem ; the flower is here said to have its corolla re- 
 flected. 
 
 Flowers also differ in their arrangement. Some 
 grow very close and compact around one common 
 stalk, which is frequently quite long, as in the Fox- 
 glove; this is called a spike. Sometimes they droop 
 in long and graceful bunches, like Currants ; these 
 are styled racemes. In the beautiful Lilac they appear 
 in a thick, close head, or ihyrse. In some cases they 
 hang loosely upon long slender branch- 
 ing stems, or peduncles; these are 
 panicles, of which the Oats is an illus- 
 tration. When they have separate 
 stalks which rise from a common cen- 
 tre, and spread out in the form of an 
 umbrella, as in the Carrot, they are 
 described as umbels ; when these stalks 
 which rise from one centre become 
 much branched, and the flowers more 
 scattered, as may be seen in the com- 
 mon Elder, we call it a cyme; if the 
 clusters grow from different parts of 
 the main stalk, and the stems are of 
 different lengths, it is a corymb ; while if the flowers 
 are on very short stems, and form a close, thick-set 
 cluster, it bears the name of a fascicle; of this the 
 Sweet William is a very familiar example. 
 
 There are also many other modes of flowering 
 
 peculiar to different plants, but these are the most 
 
 important, as many of those which come under 
 
 general observation will be found to have one or an- 
 
 3* 
 
 Spike, Fox- 
 glove. 
 
30 
 
 FLOWERS. 
 
 Raceme, Laburnum. 
 
 other of these methods of displaying their blossoms. 
 There is, however, a very interesting exception to this 
 in the common Dogwood. The 
 flowers, which are quite small, 
 are clustered in close heads, and 
 each head is surrounded by four 
 large white leaves, which are 
 called an involucre. These leaves 
 being very prominent and showy, 
 are often mistaken for the flower, 
 while they only act as appen- 
 * dages; but they undoubtedly 
 
 have some use assigned them; perhaps it may be 
 to protect the delicate little blossoms from the cold 
 night-winds which are apt to prevail in the early 
 Spring, while they are in bloom. 
 
 Most flowers require the action 
 of light to cause them to expand, 
 and many never open except un- 
 der the influence of the most bril- 
 liant sunshine. But there are a 
 few instances in which the con- 
 trary is observed. Far down in 
 the evergreen forests of South 
 America, when the sun has set 
 behind the tall groves of Palm 
 and Mimosa, and the glimmering twilight is fast fol- 
 lowing in its train, the magnificent flowers of the 
 Night-blooming Cereus may be seen just opening their 
 fair petals to catch the first rays of the full-orbed 
 moon. Travellers in the tropics describe it as a sight 
 
 Fascicle, Sweet William. 
 
FLOWERS. 
 
 31 
 
 Umbel, Carrot. 
 
 worth witnessing, to see in the 
 same forest perhaps hundreds of 
 these lovely blossoms hanging in 
 profusion from the branches of 
 the trees, and loading the atmo- 
 sphere with the most delicious 
 fragrance. The plants upon 
 which they grow are parasites, 
 and fasten their roots into the 
 trunks and branches of the trees. The flowers are 
 white, and very large, often measuring as much as 
 nine or ten inches in diameter. They commence to 
 blow early in the evening, and remain open during 
 most of the night, when they close, to bloom no more. 
 But the Evening Primrose is a much more familiar 
 instance in which the approach of darkness is hailed 
 by the opening flower. This beautiful and interesting 
 plant grows abundantly in our fields, and on the 
 borders of our woods; and is frequently culti- 
 vated in our gardens. It unfolds its pale yellow blos- 
 soms in the latter part of the day, and 
 the process of opening is of so re- 
 markable a nature as to claim parti- 
 cular notice. The divisions of the 
 calyx are furnished with little hooks 
 at their extremities, by which the 
 flower is held together before expan- 
 sion. These divisions open gradually 
 at the bottom, so as to show the yel- 
 low corolla within, when suddenly the 
 flower bursts from its confinement, and opens about 
 
 Corymb, Candy 
 Tuft. 
 
32 FLOWERS. 
 
 half way, being still partially restrained by the calyx ; 
 it then continues to expand gradually for some time, 
 when it finally opens with a 
 slight noise. This occupies 
 about fifteen minutes, and may 
 be witnessed upon almost any 
 summer's evening. 
 
 There are also other plants 
 of this description, which 
 are found growing in many 
 parts of the world. The Mar- 
 vel of Peru has been termed 
 by the French, " Belle de nuit," 
 Cyme, Eider. on acc ount of this peculiarity; 
 
 and the night-winds of India are laden with the 
 odors of the large blue, lilac, or white blossoms of 
 plants of so magnificent an appearance as to entitle 
 them to the appellation of the " Grlory of the night." 
 Some plants, the flowers of which 
 bloom many days in succession, close 
 their petals during the night, while 
 in others the leaves double them- 
 selves over the blossoms to shelter 
 them from the cold dews. LinnaBus, 
 the celebrated Swedish naturalist, 
 termed this u the sleep of plants;" 
 and there is little doubt that nearly 
 all are more or less affected by it, 
 except those whose habits resemble 
 the Primrose. Compound leaves, or 
 Panicle of Grass, such as are composed of many small 
 
FLOWERS. 33 
 
 leaflets arranged on both sides of a common midrib, 
 often fold themselves together, and remain in a droop- 
 ing posture, until the stimulating influence of the 
 sun's rays causes them again to expand. 
 
 While, as has been observed, most flowers require 
 the action of light to make them bloom, the ab- 
 sence of light is not the only cause of their folding 
 up. For although crocuses are so tenacious of their 
 privilege of opening upon the first appearance of the 
 sun, that it is quite easy to cheat them by bringing 
 them near a lamp in the evening, yet many beautiful 
 wild as well as cultivated flowers, regardless of the 
 light, are closed by noonday. 
 
 Florists act upon the sugges- 
 tions of Nature in the manage- 
 ment of their choice greenhouse 
 plants; and while they expose 
 them to the full glare of the sun 
 in order to produce the bloom, 
 they also observe that its conti- 
 nued influence tends to hasten 
 decay, by ripening 00 soon the 
 pollen contained in the anthers, 
 and consequently hastening the fertilizing of the 
 seed ; and as the flowers only last in perfection 
 while this process is being accomplished, the period 
 of blooming may be greatly prolonged by shading 
 them from the direct rays of the sun. If, then, the 
 half-opened flower be kept in a sort of twilight by 
 means of canvas or paper shades, the pollen does not 
 o 
 
34 
 
 FLOWERS. 
 
 Involucre, Dogwood. 
 
 ripen so fast, and the flowers 
 are fair and fresh for many 
 days, and even weeks, instead 
 of yielding to the first bright- 
 ness of the season. For the 
 moment the great object for 
 which the flower is produced is. 
 accomplished, which is the per- 
 fection of the seed, it imme- 
 diately commences to wither, 
 the petals become flaccid, the 
 colors lose their brightness and 
 beauty, and they soon either 
 fold themselves within the calyx, or fall unheeded to 
 the ground. Upon the fading of the corolla, the seed 
 commences to grow, and the ovary which contains it 
 gradually increases until the seed becomes ripe, when 
 it bursts from its confinement, and falls to take root 
 in the earth, and become itself a plant like that which 
 bore it. 
 
 There are many curious and interesting forms no- 
 ticed in the fruits of different plants ; some of them 
 have such valuable uses assigned them by man, that 
 without them life would be robbed of many of its 
 luxuries and comforts. The Apples which load our 
 orchard trees, the Peaches and Pears and Plums in 
 almost endless variety, the Grapes and other berries 
 which hang in clusters from our vines, the nuts which 
 lie scattered beneath our forest trees, and above all the 
 grain upon which we depend mainly for our suste- 
 
FLOWERS. 
 
 35 
 
 nance, are all familiar forms of fruit. How wonder- 
 fully does Nature provide, not only for the repro 
 duction of the plant by this means, but how bounti- 
 fully does she spread around us these her choicest 
 blessings, which are so singularly adapted to our 
 wants ! 
 
 The leaves also of plants present many varieties, 
 both in their shape and arrangement. Sometimes 
 they are placed alternately one above another on the 
 stem; sometimes two are placed opposite each other; 
 and often we see them in what is called a whorl, or 
 radiating from the same point like the spokes of a 
 wheel. They also occur in tufts or bunches thickly 
 scattered on the stem or branches, and sometimes but 
 a single leaf is seen, and that springs immediately 
 from the root, and is termed a radical, while those 
 which grow from the stem are called cauline. Some 
 plants have both cauline and radical leaves, and some 
 have neither. 
 
 The following cuts will illustrate the principal 
 shapes observable in leaves. 
 
 Serrate. 
 
 Palmate. 
 
 Cordate. 
 
 Ovate. Lanceolate. 
 
 These may be separated into two distinct classes, 
 the simple and the compound; the simple being those 
 
36 
 
 FLOWERS. 
 
 Sagtitate. Sinuate. Mucronate. Digitate. Crenate. 
 
 which, though much notched, are not divided into 
 separate parts. The Fuchsia has a simple leaf. The 
 compound are such as consist of a number of small 
 leaflets arranged upon a common midrib, as is seen in 
 the Sweet Pea. 
 
 Emarginate. Ternate. Pinnatifid. 
 
 Bipinnate. 
 
 Pinnate. 
 
 Leaves -may be considered as the most important 
 appendages of plants, and certainly add not a little to 
 their beauty } the flower would lose much of its lustre 
 were it not in contrast with the pleasing and agree- 
 able color of the leaf. 
 
FLOWERS. 37 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE AMERICAN ALOE THE PASSION FLOWER ORCHIDS 
 TRUMPET FLOWER MORNING GLORY THE ROSE BLACK- 
 BERRY DAISY COMPOUND FLOWERS. 
 
 F all the forms in which flowers 
 appear, there is perhaps none more 
 wonderful than that of the Aloe. Its 
 peculiar habits, and its gigantic 
 dimensions, may well entitle it to 
 the name of king of flowers. 
 It is commonly known by the name of 
 " The Century Plant," from the fact that it 
 was formerly supposed to bloom only once in 
 a hundred years. This is, however, an error 
 which time has corrected, as many specimens 
 have been known to flower in conservatories in much 
 shorter periods ; and it is probable that in its native 
 climate it occurs at an early age. In the United States 
 the Aloe is probably the best known, and most fre- 
 quently kept as an ornament to our hot-houses. It is 
 a native of tropical America, where it is a plant of 
 great utility to the Indians. 
 
 The singular fact that it blooms but once, and that 
 its existence terminates with the decay of its flowors, 
 has rendered it particularly interesting ; and as the 
 4 
 
38 
 
 FLOWERS. 
 
 opportunity of witnessing so beautiful a spectacle if 
 of rare occurrence, it is regarded as a great curiosity 
 
 A noble speci 
 men, probably 86 
 or 90 years of age, 
 recently bloomed 
 in Philadelphia 
 About the middle 
 of the summer of 
 1858, the stem 
 made its appear- 
 ance, and in six 
 weeks' time it had 
 reached the height 
 of about twenty 
 feet, being seven 
 inches in diameter 
 at the base, and 
 crowned with sev- 
 enteen fascicles of 
 greenish yellow 
 flowers, number- 
 ing in all about 
 
 3000, and spreading over a space of nearly eighteen 
 feet in circumference. 
 
 In Mexico, the West Indies, and South America, 
 where several varieties of this plant are found, it is 
 often cultivated by the natives, and its different parts 
 appropriated to useful purposes. It may frequently be 
 seen planted in long rows, which serve as hedges, and 
 form an impervious barrier both to man and beast. 
 
 American Aloe. 
 
FLOWERS. 39 
 
 In no other country, perhaps, is the Aloe so gene- 
 rally serviceable as in America. 
 
 The rope bridges of Mexico, so often named as 
 dangerous to the traveller unaccustomed to cross 
 them, are formed entirely of cords made of the fibrous 
 parts of its root. These bridges, swung over some 
 foaming torrent, have pieces of the bamboo stem 
 placed at small intervals across the ropes, disclosing 
 through their interstices the dashing of the waters ; 
 and their rude structure, oscillating either with the 
 wind or the unsteady footsteps of the passengers, 
 might appal the heart of the strongest and bravest 
 strangers, while the Indian passes lightly and fear- 
 lessly over. 
 
 The leaves of the Aloe, when baked, form an ex- 
 cellent article of food, and from the juice, sugar and 
 medicines are prepared. The strong flower stems 
 serve as beams for the roofs of the Indian dwellings, 
 and the leaves supply the place of tiles. 
 
 In former times the Aloe was extensively cultivated 
 for the manufacture of paper, and great quantities 
 were evidently used in the time of the Montezumas 
 in painting hieroglyphics. The paper produced from 
 this plant resembles that made by the Egyptians 
 from the papyrus. The ancient Mexican manuscripts, 
 which have received so much attention from the 
 learned, and upon whose records is based the history 
 of that injured and interesting people, were painted 
 chiefly upon paper made from the fibre of the aloe. 
 Many of these " picture writings," as they have been 
 called, are still preserved at Mexico. 
 
40 FLOWERS. 
 
 From the juice pressed from the flowers of this 
 plant, the natives prepare a very pleasant and refresh- 
 ing beverage, called "pulque," of which they are 
 very fond, and it is said to be quite nutritious and 
 wholesome, although, if taken in large quantities, it 
 produces the same effect as brandy. 
 
 The drug called aloes is the thickened juice of a 
 species of aloe, which grows abundantly near the 
 Cape of Good Hope. It is procured by cutting the 
 leaves in pieces, and pressing and boiling them ; after 
 which the juice is allowed to cool, when it becomes 
 hard. 
 
 How few, who . look upon the thick spiny leaves 
 of the Aloes, as they stand in our green-houses, ever 
 reflect upon the great usefulness of this plant to the 
 natives of America ! 
 
 Hanging in gay festoons about the venerable trees 
 of the American forests, the various kinds of Passion- 
 Flowers form objects of splendor which arrest the 
 attention of the traveller. In this, their native soil, 
 they grow to much greater perfection than when kept 
 in our green-houses ; and their large starry blossoms 
 hang down in profusion among the branches, or clasp 
 by their strong tendrils the immense trunks of the 
 trees. 
 
 There are upwards of forty species found growing 
 in various parts of the world, varying greatly in their 
 color and appearance. Some are very strong and 
 robust plants, sending out long stout stems which lay 
 hold of anything within their reach; and in the 
 summer season, when their growth is rank and rapid, 
 
FLOWERS. 41 
 
 they soon envelope the trunks of the trees in a rich 
 and luxuriant mantle. These have mostly large blue, 
 white, or crimson flowers, which they bear in great 
 abundance. The greatest number of varieties may 
 probably be found in South America and the West 
 Indies. One or two species grow in the United States, 
 and many in Africa and the adjacent islands. 
 
 These flowers are of short continuance, generally 
 lasting but one day, opening a little before noon, and 
 closing in the evening. 
 
 The name of Passion-Flower was given to it by the 
 Spaniards, whose attention was attracted by the beau- 
 tiful and showy appearance made by the vines in the 
 forests of Mexico and South America; and fancy 
 pictured to them in the various parts of the flower a 
 resemblance to the crown of thorns, and the other 
 signs of our Saviour's passion. Alluding to this, the 
 poet Barton says : 
 
 " We soar to heaven ; and to outlive 
 
 Our life's contracted span, 
 
 Unto the glorious stars we give 
 
 The names of mortal man. 
 
 Then may not one poor floweret's bloom 
 
 The holier memory share 
 Of Him who, to avert our doom, 
 
 Vouchsafed our sins to bear? 
 
 God dwelleth not in temples reared 
 
 By work of human hands; 
 Yet shrines august, by man revered, 
 
 Are found in Christian lands. 
 4* 
 
42 FLOWERS. 
 
 And may not e'en a simple flower 
 
 Proclaim his glorious praise, 
 Whose fiat only, had the power, 
 
 Its form from earth to raise ? 
 
 Then freely let the blossom ope 
 
 Its beauties to recall 
 A scene which bids the humble hope 
 
 In Him who died for all ! " 
 
 In the same coun- 
 tries where the Night- 
 Blooming Cereus and 
 the Passion - Flower 
 wreathe their bright 
 blossoms among the 
 forest - trees, may be 
 seen many other cu- 
 rious and interesting 
 plants ; among them 
 is a tribe known as 
 Orchises or Orchids; 
 these, like the Cereus, 
 are often found grow- 
 ing upon the trunks 
 and branches, and 
 Butterfly Orchis. sometimes in such 
 
 quantities, as almost to deprive the tree of the nou- 
 rishing sap intended for its support. If we should 
 attempt to describe the multiplied forms and color- 
 ings of these air-plants, it would cost the labor of a 
 lifetime. They mostly consist of rough unsightly 
 bulbs, which, for about one-half the year, lie appa- 
 
FLOWERS. 48 
 
 rently lifeless, adhering by their tough fibrous roots 
 to the bark ; but no sooner do the clouds of the rainy 
 season empty their life-giving virtues upon the earth, 
 than they send out their leaves in thick tufts, which, 
 being often long and grass-like, have a graceful ap- 
 pearance. After these have arrived at their full 
 perfection, the flower-stems shoot forth, and are some- 
 times several feet in length, loaded with a profusion 
 of gay flowers, frequently very large, and of almost 
 every imaginable shape and color. Some of them 
 bear a close resemblance to living objects. Thus, in 
 the Butterfly Orchis, the likeness is so striking, that 
 one unacquainted with the plant would suppose that 
 a large yellow butterfly had chanced to light upon it. 
 
 Orchises are divided into two kinds, terrestrials 
 or such as grow upon the ground, and Epiphytes, or 
 those which hang from the trees. Many yery beau- 
 tiful terrestrial Orchids are to be found in our own 
 woods and meadows. But the most curious and re- 
 markable species are exotics, and require peculiar 
 treatment to make them flower. The roots are tied 
 to a rough stick of wood, with the bark upon it, and 
 are suspended from the roof of the green-house; 
 others are planted in pots filled with stones and rotten 
 wood. The air in the house being kept constantly 
 moist, the plants thrive and produce their blossoms 
 in great perfection. 
 
 Another very attractive and showy species of plants 
 is the Bignonia, or Trumpet-Flower; of this, many 
 varieties abound in the same localities as the Orchids, 
 and may often be seen weaving a tangled web with 
 
44 FLOWERS. 
 
 their long twining stems as they clamber over the 
 trees. The great abundance of these and other vines 
 in the tropical forests, so fills up the recesses between 
 the undergrowth, as to render them almost impene- 
 trable, and travellers often speak of being compelled 
 to cut their way through with axes. These tangled 
 brakes are the lodging- places of thousands of beauti- 
 ful birds, which build their nests and rear their young 
 without fear of intrusion. Here the jewelled breast 
 of the Humming-Bird is seen glittering in the light, 
 as it flits from flower to flower and gently dips its 
 tiny bill into their sweet ambrosial cups ; and here 
 may be heard the wild screams of flocks of gay plu- 
 maged Parrots, intermingled with the no less clamor- 
 ous chattering of troops of monkeys. 
 
 On the borders of these forests may also be found 
 in great profusion, many elegant varieties of Convol- 
 vulus or Morning-Glories, plants with which most 
 persons are familiar. Of all the flowers with 
 which Nature with a lavish hand adorns our gardens, 
 there is perhaps none more showy or more fleeting. 
 Their delicately painted petals, their luxuriant growth, 
 the graceful drooping of their long twining branches, 
 and, above all, the gorgeous array of large showy 
 blossoms, which welcome with their smiles the earliest 
 streaks of dawn, all conspire to render them, as they 
 truly are, the glory of the morning. But how in- 
 structive is the lesson conveyed by the language of 
 Scripture, which is so applicable to this beautiful 
 plant : " For the sun is no sooner risen with a burn- 
 
FLOWERS. 45 
 
 ing heat, than the flower thereof falleth, and the grace 
 of the fashion of it perisheth." 
 
 The common sweet potato is a species of Convol- 
 vulus, and was originally brought from South Ame- 
 rica. Its blossoms are bright purple, but are so 
 hidden beneath the leaves, as to attract but little 
 attention. 
 
 Most varieties of Convolvulus, or Ipomsea, are an- 
 nuals, and are grown from seed, but there are some 
 whose roots are perennial, and in their native climates 
 they are constantly clothed with verdure. One of 
 these, which, in this latitude, requires the protection 
 of the green-house during the winter, extends its 
 branches to a great length, sometimes forty feet in 
 one season, and over four hundred flowers have been 
 counted at one time upon a single vine, each flower 
 being four inches in diameter. 
 
 But foremost among the flowers of the garden 
 stands the rose, a general favorite on account of its 
 soft and delicate colorings, and its delightful fragrance. 
 
 The rose was undoubtedly well known, and its 
 qualities appreciated, at a very early period. In the 
 Scriptures, it is alluded to, where the idea of great 
 beauty and excellence is intended to be conveyed. 
 Solomon, in Canticles, speaks of the " Rose of Sha- 
 ron;" and the prophet Isaiah, in ch. xxxv. 1, thus 
 makes use of it in a beautiful comparison : " The 
 wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for 
 them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the 
 Jose." 
 
 We are greatly indebted to cultivation for the per- 
 
40 FLOWERS. 
 
 fection in which the many beautiful varieties of this 
 lovely flower now exist. Most of our finest roses were 
 originally brought from the East, where they are 
 raised in large quantities as an article of commerce. 
 Ghazipore may be called the rose-bed of India. In 
 the spring of the year, an extent of miles around the 
 town presents to the eye a continued garden of roses. 
 The sight is perfectly dazzling, the whole surface of 
 the ground, as far as the eye can reach, being clothed 
 with the same beautiful carpet of mingled green and 
 red ; while the air is loaded with the sweetest odors, 
 which are wafted far across the river Ganges. The 
 flower is cultivated thus extensively for the manufac- 
 ture of rose-water. 
 
 There is much interest connected with the cultiva- 
 tion of this flower ; the almost indefinite number of 
 sorts, with hues varying from the most delicate pink 
 to the deepest crimson, and from the purest white to 
 a brilliant yellow, renders it a peculiarly fit object to 
 adorn our conservatories or our flower-gardens. And 
 while its blossoms are proverbially frail, and continue 
 at most but a few days, still its rapid and constant 
 succession of fresh opening buds fill up the places of 
 those which have fallen beneath the rays of the sun. 
 
 " Fairest flower, the pride of spring, 
 Blooming, beauteous, fading thing 
 'Tis as yesterday, when first 
 Forth thy blushing beauties burst, 
 And I marked thy bosom swell, 
 And I caught thy balmy smell, 
 Fondly hoping soon to see 
 All thy full-blown symmetry: 
 
FLOWERS. 47 
 
 But I came and lo ! around 
 Sadly strewn upon the ground, 
 Lovely, livid leaves I see 
 Oh! can these be all of thee? 
 I could weep, for so I've known 
 Many a vivid vision flown ; 
 Many a hope that found its tomb 
 Just when bursting into bloom ; 
 Many a friend Ah! why proceed? 
 See afresh my bosom bleed 
 Rather turn my thoughts on high, 
 Hopes there are which cannot die; 
 Yes, my Saviour, thou canst give 
 Joys that will not thus deceive; 
 Eden's roses never fade, 
 Eden's prospects have no shade." 
 
 There are some beautiful kinds of roses found wild 
 in almost every part of the country ; when unaltered 
 by culture they are generally single, and have but 
 five petals, with a great profusion of stamens, which 
 fill up the space between the pistil and corolla. In 
 the cultivated varieties, the number of the petals is 
 greatly increased, while the stamens are not so 
 numerous. The common blackberry belongs to the 
 same class of plants as the rose, and if the peculiar 
 formation of the flower and leaf be compared with 
 that of the wild-brier or rose, the resemblance will 
 at once be seen. 
 
 The daisy is so well known to all, that any descrip- 
 tion of it would seem useless ; but, as there are several 
 different plants known by that name, it may be well 
 to speak of them. The bright little flower that is so 
 welcome in the spring, is the common daisy of Eu- 
 
43 FLOWERS. 
 
 rope ; and it is this lovely plant that has formed the 
 theme of many a poet's song. Wordsworth's three 
 beautiful poems are too familiar to be quoted. Spen- 
 ser sang of the " little daisie that at evening closes ;" 
 while Chaucer and Ben Jonson each had a good 
 word for the bright " day's eye." 
 
 What is commonly called the daisy in this country 
 is a species of Chrysanthemum : it is also of foreign 
 origin, and is one of those plants whose beauty hardly 
 repays for the trouble it gives the farmer, as it in- 
 creases so rapidly, both by its roots and seed, that 
 where it once obtains a footing, it soon spreads over 
 whole fields, thus preventing the growth of that which 
 is more valuable. It is considered by the Danes to 
 be so injurious to the pasture, that one of the laws 
 of Denmark compels the farmers on whose land it 
 appears, to use every effort to eradicate it. 
 
 There is also another variety of plants to which 
 the name of Michaelmas daisy has been applied in 
 England; they consist of various kinds of asters, 
 some of which have been introduced there from 
 America and China. These are among the last 
 flowers of summer, even blooming until late in the 
 autumn. Some of them are possessed of great beauty ; 
 the well-known China Aster, or Queen Marguerite, is 
 among their number. 
 
 The flowers of the daisies are what are termed 
 compound, or similar to those of the dog- wood. The 
 beautiful white, blue, or rose-tinted petals, which are 
 so conspicuous, are the rays of the involucre, and it 
 is in the centre of these where the compact mass of 
 
FLOWERS. 49 
 
 minute flowers lies; so that what 'is commonly re- 
 garded as one, consists sometimes of hundreds of 
 blossoms. Each of these being a complete flower, 
 with its corolla, pistil, stamens and seed-vessel, as 
 may readily be seen under the microscope. 
 
 Many beautiful compound flowers ornament our 
 gardens during the summer and autumn. The stately 
 sun-flower, which grows to an immense size in the 
 woods and plains of Mexico, and excited the astonish- 
 ment of the Spanish conquerors; the bright mari- 
 golds, some of which bloom in almost every month 
 of the year; the dahlias and chrysanthemums, with 
 those dear friends the daisies, which welcome the 
 spring, and around whose quaint little name so many 
 associations cluster. 
 
 Not worlds on worlds, in phalanx deep, 
 
 Need we to prove a God is here; 
 The daisy, fresh from Nature's sleep, 
 Tells of his hand in lines as clear. 
 
 For who but He who arched the skies 
 And pours the day-spring's living flood, 
 
 Wondrous alike in alt he tries, 
 
 Could raise the daisy's purple bud; 
 
 Mould its green cup, its wiry stem, 
 
 Its fringed border nicely spin, 
 And cut the gold-embossed gem 
 
 That, set in silver, gleams within; 
 
 And fling it, unrestrained and free, 
 O'er hill and dale, and desert sod, 
 
 That man, where'er he walks, may see 
 In every step the hand of God?" 
 5 if 
 
50 LILIES. 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 LILIES VICTORIA REGIA : ITS DISCOVERY LOTUS OF EGYPT- 
 LILIES MENTIONED IN SCRIPTURE TULIPS CALLA LILY 
 JACOBEAN LILY. 
 
 " Observe the rising lily's snowy grace, 
 Observe the various vegetable race ; 
 They neither toil, nor spin, but careless grow, 
 Yet see, how warm" they blush ! how bright they glow! 
 What regal vestments can with them compare ! 
 What king so shining ! or what queen so fair ! 
 If ceaseless thus the fowls of heaven He feeds, 
 If o'er the earth such lucid robes He spreads ; 
 Will He not care for you, ye faithless, say? 
 Is He unwise ? or, are ye less than they ? " 
 
 OW many are the charms which 
 hang around this lovely and beau- 
 tiful flower, of which it has been 
 said by the great Redeemer, that 
 " Solomon, in all his glory, was 
 not arrayed like one of these ! " 
 
 As an emblem of purity, some 
 species are peculiarly appropriate, their 
 snow-white petals being unsullied by a stain; 
 while others are decked in all the rich and 
 glowing colors of the rainbow. 
 
LILIES. 51 
 
 The principal mention of the Lily in Scripture, is 
 in Canticles, where Solomon frequently uses it as 
 conveying the impression of great beauty and love- 
 liness. 
 
 There are many flowers to which the name of Lily is 
 applied, between some of which there seems to be 
 but little resemblance. Among these, perhaps there 
 is. none more beautiful, and certainly none more won- 
 derful, than the Victoria Regia, or the Great Water 
 Lily. No description of this remarkable plant can 
 convey to the reader any adequate idea of its singu- 
 lar beauty. It' stands alone among its tribe as Queen 
 of the Waters, nothing having yet been discovered 
 which can compare with it. (See Frontispiece.) 
 
 This plant, although known to naturalists as early 
 as 1822, was not introduced into England until about 
 the year 1846, when seeds were taken thither by 
 Thomas Bridges, a collector of curious plants in South 
 America. We extract the following narrative from 
 the published account of his discovery. 
 
 "During my stay at the Indian town of Santa 
 Ana, in the province of Moxos, republic of Bolivia, 
 during the summer of 1845, I made daily shooting 
 excursions in the vicinity. In one of these I had 
 the good fortune, whilst riding along the woody banks 
 of the river Yacuma, one of the tributary rivers of 
 the Mamore, to come suddenly on a beautiful pond, 
 or rather small lake, embosomed in the forest, where, 
 to my delight and astonishment, I discovered for the 
 first time, the Queen of Aquatics, the Victoria Regia ! 
 There were at least fifty flowers in view, and Belzoni 
 
52 LILIES. 
 
 could not have felt more rapture at his Egyptian dis- 
 coveries,- than I did in beholding the beautiful and 
 novel sight before me, such as it has fallen to the lot 
 of few Englishmen to witness. Fain would I have 
 plunged into the lake to have procured specimens of 
 the magnificent flowers and leaves; but knowing that 
 these waters abounded in alligators, I was deterred 
 from doing so by the advice of my guide, and my 
 own experience of similar places. 
 
 " I now turned over in my thoughts how and in 
 what way flowers and leaves might be obtained ; and 
 I clearly saw that a canoe was necessary, and there- 
 fore returned promptly to the town, and communi- 
 cated my discovery and wants to the Con'ejidor or 
 Governor, who with much kindness immediately or- 
 dered the Cacique to send Indians with a yoke of 
 oxen for the purpose of drawing a canoe from the 
 river Yacuma to the lake. Being apprised that the 
 canoe was in readiness, I returned in the afternoon, 
 with several Indians to assist in carrying home the 
 expected prize of leaves and flowers. The canoe 
 being very small, only three persons could embark ; 
 myself in the middle, and an Indian in the bows and 
 stern. In this tottering little bark we rowed amongst 
 magnificent leaves and flowers, crushing unavoidably 
 some, and selecting only such as pleased me. The 
 leaves being so enormous, I could find room in the 
 canoe but for two, one before me and one behind; 
 owing to their being very fragile, even in the green 
 state, care was necessary to transport them; and thus 
 we had to make several trips in the canoe before I 
 
LILIES. 53 
 
 obtained the number required. Having loaded my- 
 self with leaves, flowers, and ripe seed-vessels, I next 
 mused how they were to be conveyed in safety; and 
 determined at length upon suspending them on long 
 poles with small cords, tied to the stalks of the leaves 
 and flowers. Two Indians, each taking on his shoul- 
 der an end of the pole, carried them into the town ; 
 the poor creatures wondering all the while what 
 could induce me to be at so much trouble to get at 
 flowers, and for what purpose I destined them now 
 they were in my possession." 
 
 The leaves of this plant are round, and vary con- 
 siderably in size, the largest being about six feet in 
 diameter. They float on the surface of the water, 
 are of a light green color above, and bright purple 
 below. The margins of the leaves are turned up- 
 wards, giving them the appearance of floating dishes. 
 The plant grows in four to six feet of water, producing 
 leaves and flowers which rapidly decay and give place 
 to others. From each plant there are seldom more 
 than four or five leaves on the surface; but even 
 these, in parts of the lakes where they grow most 
 abundantly, almost cover the surface of the water, 
 one leaf touching the other. The blossoms rise six 
 and eight inches above the surface, expanding first 
 in the evening, when they are pure white, changing 
 finally to a beautiful pink or rose color ; and several 
 may be seen at the same time, partaking of every 
 tinge between the two. The largest flowers measure 
 about ten or twelve inches in diameter. 
 
 Another very interesting and beautiful plant, simi- 
 5* 
 
54 LILIES. 
 
 lar to the above, although much less in size, is the 
 Lotus, or the famed Egyptian Water Lily, which was 
 formerly adored as a deity by the idolatrous inhabit- 
 ants of that country. It also grows in the river Gan- 
 ges as well as the Nile, and is held in the same vene- 
 
 O ' 
 
 ration by the natives of Hindostan and Nepal. One 
 of the latter, upon entering the study of Sir "William 
 Jones, prostrated himself before some specimens 
 which happened to lie there for examination. The 
 Egyptians prepare a kind of bread from its seeds, 
 and sometimes feed upon its tuberous roots. 
 
 Pond Lily. 
 
 The Lotus resembles very closely our own White 
 Pond Lily, except that the flowers and leaves, instead 
 of resting upon the surface of the water, rise some 
 distance above it. 
 
 Some authors believe the Lotus to be the Lily of 
 the Old Testament, as very frequently, in Canticles, 
 Solomon speaks of his beloved " feeding among 
 lilies;" and the root, stalks, and seeds being common 
 articles of Egyptian diet, would naturally lead to such 
 a conclusion, especially as it is supposed that the 
 
LILIES. 
 
 55 
 
 White Lily. 
 
 Song of Solomon was written on the occasion of his 
 marriage with an Egyptian princess. 
 
 The great beauty of the com- 
 mon White Lily of our gardens, 
 would naturally suggest that it 
 was the one so often spoken of in 
 Scripture - } but as it is not certain 
 that this was a native flower in 
 Palestine, it seems more probable 
 that the plant often referred to is, 
 as Dr. Kitto believes, the Yellow 
 Amaryllis, which covers large 
 tracts of country in the Holy 
 Land, and blooms until so late 
 in the year, as to be almost in its 
 prime when most other plants 
 have yielded to the influence of the cold. 
 
 The many -colored Tulip, whose gorgeous tints 
 would outshine even the robes of eastern royalty, has 
 also been supposed by some to be the subject of our 
 Saviour's allusion when he so beautifully and so ten- 
 derly encouraged the drooping faith of his disciples. 
 The beauty of the Tulips in the plains of Sharon, as 
 well as at Joppa, has frequently attracted the notice 
 of British travellers ; and even the gayety and bril- 
 liancy of a bed of Tulips in our own gardens, is an 
 unfailing source of admiration. 
 
 Another kind of Lily which adorns our green- 
 houses and gardens early in the Spring, is the Calla. 
 This plant is a native of Africa, and frequents low, 
 wet grounds, where its tall leaves and flower-stalks 
 
56 LILIES. 
 
 stand two and three feet above the water, the latter 
 bearing a long spike of flowers, surrounded by one 
 beautiful broad petal or sheath, of the purest white , 
 this sheath is termed a spadix, and forms a good 
 example of a very singular mode of flowering. 
 
 The Jacobean Lily is a species of Amaryllis, of a 
 deep crimson or almost mahogany color, and flowers 
 also in the Spring. There is a very curious process 
 by which the seed becomes fertilized in this plant. 
 In the morning a drop of very clear liquid issues 
 from the stigma; this liquid receives the pollen which 
 falls from the anthers, and soon becomes thick and 
 turbid, and about noon is so heavy as to be almost 
 ready to drop, when it is again absorbed, carrying 
 with it the fertilizing principle of the stamens. 
 
 These plants, though all known by the familiar 
 name of Lilies, belong to entirely different families ; 
 the true Lilies embracing only those which are not 
 aquatics. 
 
 THE CHILD AND THE LILY. 
 
 I saw, one morn, a little maid 
 
 With locks of golden hair, 
 Pluck from its stem beneath the shade 
 
 A lily bright and fair. 
 And with a heart all full of glee, 
 
 "Oh! dear mother!" she cried, 
 * "Look what a sweet charm this will be 
 
 To set here by my side; 
 For now I'll smell its soft perfume, 
 
 Its graceful form will view; 
 And gaze upon its placid bloom, 
 
 All decked with shining dew. 
 
LILIES. 57 
 
 Oh! can it be that here below, 
 
 All o'er the verdant plain, 
 This fair and beauteous flower should grow 
 
 And bud, and bloom, in vain? 
 It looks so sweet, and pure, and good, 
 
 Within its robes of white, 
 It makes me wish that if I could, 
 
 I too might look so bright." 
 
 " Oh ! then, my child, if thou wouldst be," 
 
 The mother soft replied, 
 "Like that fair flower from spot so free, 
 
 Or taint of earthly pride, 
 Lift up thy heart to God above, 
 
 Who reigns supreme on high ; 
 And ask, that in His matchless love 
 
 He'd deign to hear thy cry; 
 And from thy soul to wash away 
 
 Each foul and guilty stain, 
 And on thy spirit shed a ray 
 
 Of life and peace again. 
 Ask that thus washed thy robes may be. 
 
 Pure as the lilies fair; 
 That thou, from sin forever free, 
 
 Christ's spotless robe may wear. 
 And let thy youthful heart be riven 
 
 From this vile world away; 
 And all thy hopes be fixed on heaven, 
 
 The realms of endless day; 
 For there, within His fold of rest, 
 
 Amid unfading light, 
 The ransomed soul, forever blest, 
 
 Shall walk with Him in white.' 
 
58 THE AQUARIUM. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SIMILARITY BETWEEN THE FUNCTIONS OF PLANTS AND ANI- 
 MALS THE AQUARIUM PRINCIPLES UPON WHICH IT IS 
 
 SUSTAINED EARLY EXPERIMENTS WITH THE AQUARIUM 
 
 PLANTS MOST SUITABLE FOR THE PURPOSE SEA WEEDS, 
 MOULD, LICHENS, MOSSES, FERNS. 
 
 is a very curious fact that in many of 
 the functions of plants, we observe a 
 close resemblance to those witnessed in 
 animal life ; thus, the circulation of the 
 sap, which will be more fully described 
 hereafter, is in effect precisely similar 
 to the circulation of the blood in the human 
 body, vessels being provided in each, which 
 are peculiarly adapted to carrying the fluids 
 which support their existence to the parts 
 where they are needed. Respiration is also a point 
 in which great similarity exists. Leaves are the 
 breathing organs of plants ; through them the sap is 
 brought into contact with the air, where it absorbs 
 that which is necessary for its purification. In this 
 operation we shall notice a wonderful provision by 
 which nature seeks to preserve a proper balance be- 
 tween the requirements of the animal and vegetable 
 world. In the purification of the blood, the air taken 
 
THE AQUARIUM. 
 
 59 
 
 The Aquarium. 
 
 into the lungs is deprived of a large amount of oxy- 
 gen gas, while at the same time it becomes charged 
 with carbonic acid gas, which is incapable of support- 
 ing animal life. This noxious principle is absorbed 
 by the leaves of plants, where it appears to undergo 
 decomposition; the carbon being retained for the use 
 of the plant, and the oxygen liberated to assist in 
 restoring the atmosphere to its original purity. This 
 
60 THE AQUARIUM. 
 
 action takes place only under the influence of light, 
 as during the night the contrary occurs, the leaves 
 giving out carbon and absorbing oxygen, although in 
 very small quantities compared with what is emitted 
 during the daytime. 
 
 If a bunch of leaves be introduced into a jar of 
 air which has been deprived of its vitality by means 
 of animal respiration, and the jar exposed to the rays 
 of the sun, the air will, in a few hours, again become 
 pure and wholesome. 
 
 The same principle holds good in aquatic plants, 
 many of them having the power of keeping the water 
 in which they grow from becoming impure or foul. 
 
 In ponds where there is no regular supply of fresh 
 water from running streams, it has been noticed that, 
 during the winter, when the plants are dead, the fish 
 frequently come to the surface to breathe, while in 
 the summer, when the plants are growing, the vitality 
 of the water is preserved. 
 
 It is upon this wonderful law of Nature that the 
 aquarium, that endless source of amusement and in- 
 struction, is based; and although it is as much 
 intended to illustrate the functions of animal as of 
 vegetable life, perhaps the following account, taken 
 from a beautiful work, entitled " Ocean and Rivei 
 Gardens," descriptive of the principles upon which 
 it is conducted, may be interesting to the reader. 
 
 " The successful treatment of aquatic plants and 
 animals, in the confined space of a glass aquarium, 
 depends entirely upon the discovery that there exists 
 in Nature a self-adjusting balance between the supply 
 
THE AQUARIUM. 6) 
 
 of oxygen created in water, and the quantity con- 
 sumed by aquatic animals. And it became equally 
 necessary to know the means by which that supply 
 was continually generated. Without the knowledge 
 of these facts, and the principles by which they are 
 regulated, it would have been impossible to establish 
 euch a marine aquarium as we may now any day 
 examine in the Regent's Park (London) ; where, in 
 a few glass tanks, of very moderate size, we may see 
 examples of some of the most curious forms of animal 
 and vegetable life peculiar to the depths of the ocean ; 
 forms so singular, that their first exhibition created a 
 sense of wonder little less intense than that which 
 must have been caused, long years ago, by the first 
 public display of the mountain form of the Elephant 
 to the people of cold northern countries. 
 
 " Those principles, the knowledge of which was 
 requisite to enable us thus to view the wonders of 
 the Ocean in their living state in the aquarium, were 
 not mastered at once, or by one man, or in one gene- 
 ration. The nature of certain relations between 
 animal and vegetable life, upon which they are 
 founded, was first advanced by Priestley, towards the 
 close of the last century, who proved that plants give 
 forth the oxygen necessary to animal life. 
 
 " But it was not till the year 1833, that Professor 
 Daubeny communicated to the British Association at 
 Cambridge, a paper concerning some new researches 
 prosecuted in the same direction ; while in the sum- 
 mer of 1850, R. Warrington communicated to the 
 Chemical Society a series of observations on the 
 6 
 
62 THE AQUARIUM. 
 
 adjustment of certain relations between the animal 
 and vegetable kingdoms, very important to our pre- 
 sent purpose. Two small gold-fish were placed in a 
 glass receiver, a small plant of Valisneria Spiralis 
 being planted at the same time in some earth, be- 
 neath a layer of sand in the same vessel. All went 
 on well by this arrangement, without any necessity 
 for changing the water ; the oxygen given off by the 
 plant proving itself sufficient for the supply of its 
 animal co-tenants, and the water therefore remaining 
 clean and pure, until some decayed leaves of the 
 valisneria caused turbidity. To remedy this evil, he 
 brought to bear the results of previous observations 
 on water in natural ponds under analogous circum- 
 stances ', and, guided by these observations and their 
 results, he placed a few common pond-snails in the 
 vessel containing his gold-fish and plant of valisneria. 
 
 " The new inmates, immediately upon their intro- 
 duction, began to feed greedily upon the decaying 
 vegetable matter, and all was quickly restored to a 
 healthy state. They proved, indeed, of still further 
 advantage, for the masses of eggs which they depo- 
 sited evidently presented a kind of food natural to 
 the fishes, which was eagerly devoured by them, so 
 that the snails became not only the scavengers, but 
 also the feeders of the little colony. And so this first 
 of true aquaria prospered; the animals and plants 
 proving of mutual value and support to each other. 
 
 "By the culture of some of our most beautiful 
 fresh- water plants, in glass aquaria, many of the wild 
 beauties of Nature, in some of her most pleasing and 
 
THE AQUARIUM. 63 
 
 interesting aspects, may be wrought into attractive 
 decorations for our ordinary living-rooms, with very 
 little trouble or expense. 
 
 " By means of an aquarium, the forms and habits 
 of fish, reptiles, and aquatic insects [also,] may be 
 made to develop themselves under our eyes, undis- 
 turbed by the continual necessity of changing' the 
 water; thus affording us the curious spectacle of 
 many phases of animal life that have hitherto been 
 concealed in depths inaccessible to the observation 
 of the most curious." 
 
 A very interesting circumstance which appears to 
 have occurred during some of the early researches 
 of the same author in aquatic animal life, although a 
 digression from our subject, is too curious to be 
 omitted. 
 
 He says, " A strange, scorpion-like creature, after 
 exercising its voracious appetite upon every other 
 living thing in the vessel in which I had placed it, 
 seemed suddenly to lose all taste for the luxuries of 
 the palate, notwithstanding a copious supply of the 
 living delicacies it was most fond of, and with which 
 I had taken care to furnish it at regular intervals. 
 It became restless and apparently diseased, . and I 
 concluded that I was about to lose this favorite spe- 
 cimen as I had lost so many others. Its uneasiness, 
 however, took quite a different turn to the one I ex- 
 pected, ending in nothing less than a determination 
 to leave its native element. Had I seen a Carp or a 
 Tench quietly walk out of the fish-pond and climb a 
 tree, I could not have been more astonished than 
 
64 THE AQUARIUM. 
 
 when I saw this creature of the water, which, with 
 its fin-like tail, and other appendages, was evidently 
 intended for a denizen of that element, quietly crawl 
 up a stick which was standing in the vessel, and, 
 emerging from the water, remain quietly attached to 
 the support it had selected, at some inches above the 
 surface of the element it thus so strangely and sud- 
 denly quitted. Its determination appeared the more 
 astonishing, as I soon perceived its finny tail, its legs, 
 and at last the whole of its skin, gradually hardened 
 and blackened, and it appeared to have shared the 
 natural fate of a fish out of water. After watching 
 it for some days, without perceiving any further 
 change, other matters occupied my attention, and I 
 entirely forgot the fate of my voracious pet, which 
 had met such an untimely end in consequence of 
 rashly leaving the proper sphere of its existence. 
 
 " Some little time afterwards I was about to empty 
 the jar, and throw away the stick to which the dried 
 and hardened form of the victim to getting out of 
 bounds was still attached, when I thought I perceived 
 a division in the blackened skin of the back. As I 
 saw that the opening widened, my curiosity became 
 again excited, and I determined to watch and see if 
 any other change would follow. Taking a book, 
 therefore, I sat down near the object of my attention. 
 I had not read many pages, turning frequently to- 
 wards the remains upon the stick, when suddenly 
 I shall never forget the surprise of the moment 
 when suddenly the opening of the back was much 
 widened, as by some sudden effort, and the greater 
 
THE AQUARIUM. 65 
 
 part of a glittering Dragon-fly became plainly visible; 
 very quickly the whole insect emerged from the 
 blackened shell, spreading its great gossamer wings 
 to the sun, which was shining brightly through the 
 window. 
 
 " I had by an accident, for I can hardly call it the 
 result of a course of observation, witnessed one of 
 the most extraordinary and complete of the meta- 
 morphoses that occur in the whole range of insect 
 life, and was all anxiety to pursue my discoveries. I 
 was, however, baffled in all future attempts, at that 
 time, to extend my knowledge of the mysterious 
 creatures of the world of waters ; and it was not till 
 recent discoverers have shown how the Aquarium 
 may be made the means of facilitating studies of that 
 class, combined with an elegant and delightful mode 
 of amusement, that I resumed the course of observa- 
 tion which has been so long interrupted by difficulties 
 which appeared insurmountable." 
 
 Those plants which naturally grow entirely below 
 the surface of the water, are best calculated for the 
 purpose of the Aquarium, as they are less liable to 
 decay } and their leaves being mostly very fine and 
 delicate, they not only present a more beautiful ap- 
 pearance, but the breathing organs are more gene- 
 rally distributed throughout the water. This is par- 
 ticularly noticeable in marine plants, they consisting 
 frequently of bunches of delicately formed filaments, 
 of so fragile a texture as to be very easily broken^ 
 but which float at their ease upon the ocean ; waving 
 6* E 
 
66 THE AQUARIUM. 
 
 to and fro with the motion of the water as gracefully 
 as the trees ware before the winds. 
 
 In the illustration on page 59, the tall and graceful 
 form of the Calla will be recognized rearing its beau- 
 tiful flowers far above the surface of the water, while 
 below will be seen the forms of some of the most 
 interesting aquatics. 
 
 The foliage of the Myriophyllum presents a fine 
 appearance when seen floating in the water, the very 
 minute divisions of which have given it the name of 
 Milfoil, or thousand leaves. 
 
 The Water Buttercup is also a very interesting 
 plant, on account of its peculiar growth ; the leaves 
 which appear below the surface of the water are so 
 deeply cut, as apparently to consist of nothing but 
 veins or fibres, while those which are developed above 
 are broad and flat, the veins being connected by the 
 ordinary tissue. The Starwort also presents the same 
 formation; the foliage below is long and slender, 
 while it spreads out upon the surface in beautiful 
 whorls, somewhat like a star. Here we see peculiari- 
 ties adapted to two different elements, existing in the 
 same plant. 
 
 The number of plants which may be grown suc- 
 cessfully in an Aquarium, is great ; but for ordinary 
 purposes, three or four well-selected varieties are suf- 
 ficient. In all cases a specimen of Valisneria Spi- 
 ralis should be obtained, if possible, as its grass-like 
 appearance is particularly appropriate, and it is an 
 excellent generator of oxygen. 
 
SEA WEEDS. 
 
 67 
 
 Sea Weeds. 
 
 The flowing and deli- 
 cate forms, and the rich- 
 ness of coloring of many 
 of the "Sea Weeds/' 
 as they are called, ren- 
 der them objects pecu- 
 liarly worthy of our 
 attention. The careless 
 lounger at the sea-side, 
 as he casts his vacant 
 gaze over the swelling 
 bosom of the deep, 
 dreams not of the store 
 of hidden treasures 
 which lie veiled beneath 
 its waters. Little does 
 
 he think that wave upon wave, as they roll in cease- 
 less succession, tossing their snowy crests upon the 
 pebbly shore, come freighted with the beauties of 
 many a far-distant clime. But an eye accustomed to 
 recreate among the varied scenes which adorn this 
 beautiful world, cannot but feel an irresistible long- 
 ing to lift the folds of that broad curtain which 
 separates him from the wonders of the vast mysterious 
 ocean. Each new-born gale that wafts its saline fra- 
 grance o'er the white-capped billows, and every ripple 
 that laves his feet, is laden with themes for sugges- 
 tive thought; while every tide that flows, bearing 
 upon its swell jewels from the profoundest depths, 
 itself unveils in its ebbings the beauties of a " world 
 beneath the sea." 
 
68 SEA WEEDS. 
 
 If you will examine the beach during the recess of 
 the tides, particularly after a storm, you will find it 
 thickly strewn with frr gments of the most beautiful 
 plants; some being colored with the most brilliant 
 shades of crimson, some sparkling as with gold, or 
 glittering like silver, and all possessing a very pecu- 
 liar and cu/ious formation; while in the little pools 
 among the rocks may be seen many of the lower 
 forms of animal life, which are truly wonderful. 
 Almost any of the marine plants are suitable for the 
 Aquarium, and it is here that their peculiar habits 
 may be most carefully studied. They generally thrive 
 well with little care, and mostly present a singular 
 appearance, fastened to the rocks, and growing we 
 scarce know how. A few of these, well chosen and 
 tastefully arranged in a glass tank, together with 
 shell-fish, Sea Anemones, and a few Sticklebacks and 
 Minnows to give life to the whole, will form an object 
 which cannot fail to interest the most unthinking in- 
 dividual. 
 
 There are some plants found growing on the rocks 
 near the sea, which, although they resemble the sea- 
 weeds in some respects, belong to a different class, 
 and a slight knowledge of botany will enable any one 
 to distinguish between them. 
 
 The Samphire is an example; it is an umbellifer- 
 ous plant, and never grows below the surface of the 
 water, but fastens itself upon the rocks just beyond 
 the reach of the tide, but where it can receive suffi- 
 cient moisture from the spray. 
 
 An interesting anecdote is related of some ship- 
 
SEAWEEDS. 69 
 
 wrecked mariners who owed the preservation of their 
 lives to the knowledge of the habits of this plant, 
 possessed by one of their number. 
 
 It was many years ago that a large ship was driven 
 upon the rocks in the English Channel, upon which 
 she soon became a wreck. The entire crew were lost 
 except four, who clung to a large projecting crag, 
 which appeared to be the only refuge to which they 
 could resort. The darkness of the night rendered 
 every other object invisible, except when the vivid 
 flashes of lightning would cast upon the wild scene 
 around them a momentary glare, revealing the true 
 horrors of their forlorn condition. This was rendered 
 the more hopeless as they perceived that the tide 
 was rising, and the spot on which they stood was 
 decreasing in size as each succeeding wave broke 
 over them. The storm was too violent to admit of 
 their being heard from the shore, and the melan- 
 choly thought that they would soon be driven from 
 their only hope of safety by the advancing waters 
 was truly disheartening. Just at this moment, when 
 they were debating whether or not they should com- 
 mit themselves to the mercy of the waves, in hopes 
 of reaching some more elevated position, one of them, 
 while endeavoring to hold more firmly to the rock, 
 grasped a weed, which, wet as it was, he at once re- 
 cognized as the Rock Samphire, which he knew never 
 grew beneath the water. The knowledge of this fact, 
 indicating that the tide had nearly reached its highest 
 point, assured them that they might remain with 
 safety. Their anxiety was at once relieved, and the 
 
70 SEA WEEDS. 
 
 rest of that dreadful night passed in comparative 
 comfort. At daybreak their perilous condition was 
 discovered from the shore, and they were rescued 
 "A little learning/' in this case, was certainly nc 
 "dangerous thing." 
 
 The Sea Weeds, or marine " Algae," as they are 
 termed, belong to the first great natural order 
 of plants, the Acrogenous ; they are so called be- 
 cause, with a few exceptions, they are devoid of 
 the usual appendages of plants stems, leaves, 
 and flowers. Some of the simplest forms belong- 
 ing to this order consist merely of a mass of cellu- 
 lar tissue. The mpuld which collects in damp 
 places, and sometimes upon the top 
 of articles of food that have been 
 kept in damp closets, is a little plant 
 of this order. The green tinge as- 
 sumed by stagnant water, is owing 
 to the presence of a species of fresh 
 water "Algae/' which grows spon- 
 taneously in such places. The beau- 
 tiful lichens that cover the bark of 
 Mould, magnified, some trees, and the rails and boards 
 of old fences, the many kinds of 
 moss with which our woods abound, and the un- 
 sightly mushroom and toadstool, all belong to this 
 order of plants. In all these there exists nothing 
 which can be strictly defined as either stem, leaf, 
 or flower; but in the "Ferns," which also belong to 
 the same order, we see the connecting link between 
 the higher and the lower forms of vegetable life. The 
 
FERNS. 
 
 71 
 
 rudiment of a stem exists underground in what is 
 called a rhizome, from which 
 the fronds shoot out, in 
 the same manner as the 
 leaves spring from the buds 
 of other plants ; these fronds 
 have a strong midrib which 
 is commonly called a stalk. 
 There are said to be between 
 two and three thousand va- 
 rieties of Ferns; some of 
 them, in the tropics, attain 
 the enormous height of 
 thirty feet. Their growth is 
 extremely interesting, the 
 fronds opening in a peculiar Ferns. 
 
 manner, unwinding them- 
 selves, as it were, from a round ball. The seed- 
 vessels are placed on the back of the fronds in little 
 spots or bunches, and the seed is so fine as to be only 
 perceptible under the microscope. Ferns thrive best 
 in moist and warm situations ; if grown under a glass 
 vessel which will confine the moisture, they form a 
 beautiful and interesting parlor ornament. 
 
ARCTIC PLANTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ARCTIC PLANTS VARIETIES" OP CLIMATE AND EFFECT UPON 
 VEGETATION RHODODENDRONS TEA MODE OF PREPARA- 
 TION BARREN PINE PITCHER PLANT SPIKENARD 
 
 SAFFRON CROCUSSES MOTION IN PLANTS SENSITIVE 
 PLANT VENUS FLY-TRAP ROOTS OF PLANTS. 
 
 T is very interesting and instructive 
 to examine into the character of the 
 different plants which are adapted to 
 'various sections of the globe. 
 
 While there is but little doubt 
 that Nature no where displays her 
 gaudy colorings in greater profusion, or to 
 better advantage than in the wilds of South 
 America, yet there are many other lands 
 where the productions of the vegetable king- 
 dom are no less useful and attractive. Even the ice- 
 bound regions of the Arctic Circle can boast of their 
 green mossy banks and smiling flowers, which are 
 certainly none the less remarkable for the fact that, 
 owing to the shortness of the summer season, the 
 process of vegetation is so rapid, that in some species 
 the whole time required to reach maturity is little 
 more than a month. 
 
ALPINE PLANTS. 73 
 
 Many Alpine plants, cradled in perpetual snows, 
 and exposed during a great part of the year to the 
 driving of the wintry blasts, which are so common 
 in Switzerland, Lapland, and other cold regions, are 
 so tenacious of their accustomed haunts and habits, 
 that 
 
 " The raging tempest and the mountain's roar, 
 But bind them to their native hills the more; 
 
 and any attempt to grow them in a milder climate is 
 generally attended with failure. These plants are 
 mostly quite diminutive, although they sometimes 
 produce flowers of considerable size and beauty. 
 
 The most common color among plants which in- 
 habit very cold countries is white, or a light shade 
 of pink or yellow. Thus, the snow-drop, the lily of 
 the valley, the white-flowered wood-sorrel, are all 
 productions of high northern latitudes j while in 
 warmer regions, the flowers are robed in stronger 
 hues. 
 
 It is observed that mountainous places are generally 
 much more productive than the valleys ; but there is 
 scarcely any situation, however unfavorably located, 
 where plants and flowers are not occasionally met 
 with. They are found 
 
 " Springing in valleys green and low, 
 
 And on the mountains high; 
 And in the silent wilderness, 
 Where no one passes by." 
 
 On one of the highest points in Europe, at the 
 elevation of eight thousand feet above the level of 
 
 7 
 
74 EFFECTS OF CLIMATE. 
 
 the sea, is a beautiful and verdant garden, which is 
 entirely surrounded by snows that never melt. This 
 spot is covered with Alpine plants ; and so luxuriant 
 is the growth of the vegetation, that at certain sea- 
 sons of the year the Swiss peasants drive their cattle 
 over the great glacier of Mer de Grlace for the sake 
 of the delightful pasture the valley affords. 
 
 In our own country, where so great a variety of 
 climate is witnessed, it is probable that a greater 
 variety of plants can be enumerated than in any other. 
 Our gardens and conservatories are indebted for many 
 of their finest ornaments to the far-off fields and woods 
 of California, Mexico, and the territories west of the 
 Rocky Mountains, countries which combine within 
 their range a climate varying almost from frigid to 
 tropical, and exhibiting at the same season a corre- 
 sponding difference in their floral productions. In 
 the northern and western States, while the cold earth 
 still lies locked in winter's last embraces, the woods 
 of the south are teeming with life, the fields are 
 clothed with the verdure of spring, and the air is 
 scented with the perfume of flowers. But in the 
 regions of tropical Mexico, and the everglades of 
 Florida, vegetation becomes so entirely changed in 
 its character, as to maintain a more uniform appear- 
 ance at all seasons of the year. 
 
 Most plants, whose roots are perennial, have a 
 period of rest, during which they cease to grow ; in 
 the north, this is usually indicated by the falling of 
 the leaves, and the plant assuming the appearance 
 of being dead ; in the tropics it is marked by the 
 
THE RHODODENDRON. 75 
 
 absence of flowers, and of the fresh and vivid green 
 of the younger growth. 
 
 But in many plants, 
 even in rigorous cli- 
 mates, this period of 
 rest is not attended 
 by the falling of the 
 foliage. The beauti- 
 ful varieties of the 
 Rhododendron, some 
 of which inhabit the 
 mountains of Pennsyl- 
 vania, are examples, 
 among many others, 
 of evergreen shrubs. 
 The greatest variety 
 of these superb flower- 
 ing plants grow on the 
 Rhododendron. woody slopes of the 
 
 Himalaya Mountains, where they may be seen early 
 in the spring loaded with their conspicuous heads of 
 often gay-colored and fragrant blossoms. Occasion- 
 ally large trees become quite embowered in them, as 
 they sometimes fasten themselves to the trunks, and, 
 leaving their hold upon the earth, creep to the very 
 summits, where they grow in the manner of parasites, 
 deriving their nourishment from the bark. 
 
 The flowers of these plants vary much, both in 
 size and color ; some are very large, and appear two 
 or three together j these are mostly white or cream- 
 colored, resembling a lily ; others are brilliant crim- 
 
76 THETEAPLANT. 
 
 son, deep scarlet, rose-colored, yellow, or purple, and 
 hang in large bunches at the ends of the branches. 
 Travellers in the Himalaya Mountains speak of the 
 Rhododendrons as being among the most beautiful 
 of the many vegetable curiosities of that fertile 
 region. 
 
 There are also many plants whose leaves, as well 
 as their flowers, form objects of wonder; and some 
 are rendered peculiarly interesting because of the 
 prominent part they occupy in our domestic economy. 
 Thus, the common, Tea Plant is so well known, that 
 every one should be made acquainted with the mode 
 of its culture, as well as with the method of convert- 
 ing the leaves into that useful article, which takes so 
 conspicuous a place in the commerce of the world. 
 
 This plant grows about eight feet in height, with 
 leaves two and a half inches long, and one and a half 
 wide, and bears a small white flower. The Chinese 
 raise the plants from seed, and when they have grown 
 of sufficient size, they are set out in the ground at 
 intervals of about three or four feet apart ; they are 
 kept cropped close for a year or two, to make them 
 grow thick and bushy. When they are about four 
 years of age, they commence to gather the leaves; 
 this is done several times during the year, and is 
 continued for about six or eight years, when they are 
 removed and fresh ones planted. The leaves first 
 gathered in the spring make the finest flavored teas, 
 while those which are taken subsequently produce a 
 much inferior article. 
 
 What are commonly known as green and black 
 
THETEAPLANT. 77 
 
 teas are the products of the same plant, treated in 
 different ways. The green tea is made by commencing 
 to dry the leaves in the ovens as soon as they are 
 picked, the whole operation of drying, rolling, and 
 roasting, being done very quickly ; while in the black 
 tea the leaves, when picked, are laid in the sun until 
 they become entirely soft and wilted, when they are 
 shaken about in sieves held over hot steam ; this de- 
 prives them of the peculiar properties which belong 
 to the green tea. When the leaves become quite 
 flaccid and watery, they are put into large copper 
 dishes and roasted for a few minutes over a hot fire, 
 when they are taken out and rolled between the 
 hands. In the finer sorts, each leaf is rolled sepa- 
 rately ; after this, the process of drying and baking 
 is commenced by alternately placing them over the 
 fire, and then exposing them to the air for some 
 hours. This is repeated five or six times, when the 
 tea is fit for use. 
 
 Tea leaves possess properties which will produce 
 giddiness, headache, and even paralysis ; these pro- 
 perties are much weakened in the process of drying; 
 and the longer this is in being completed, the more 
 wholesome tea becomes. Both green and black teas 
 act as powerful nervous stimulants upon a system 
 which has not become accustomed to them; hence 
 the benefit often derived from their use by persons 
 in advanced life who have abstained from them when 
 young. 
 
 The tea plant was cultivated, and its leaves used, 
 as early as the fourth century ; and, in the year 763, 
 7 * 
 
78 THE TEA PLANT. 
 
 a duty of ten per cent, 
 was laid upon it by the 
 Chinese government; 
 since which time it 
 has been a fruitful 
 source of revenue to 
 the Empire. The an- 
 nual product of China 
 alone amounts to the 
 enormous quantity of 
 two and one-half bil- 
 lions of pounds 
 (2,500,000,000.) Add 
 to this the vast pro- 
 Tea Plant. duct O f J apall) J ava? 
 
 and Corea, and we may justly be amazed to think 
 what a great tea-drinker the world is. 
 
 Wherever we turn our eyes, and from whatever 
 point we view the vegetable kingdom, we see new 
 wonders ; something new to be learned ; and as we 
 are always forgetting, how well it is that new subjects 
 of interest are always awaiting our notice. And how 
 instructive it is in all these things to observe that 
 Nature adapts herself to the peculiar circumstances 
 in which she is placed. 
 
 The barren pine, so called from its being unpro- 
 ductive, exactly resembles the stem that bears the 
 pine-apple in our green-houses. It is not, however, 
 entirely useless ; for in some species there is a pro- 
 tuberance hanging down resembling a bowl ; in this 
 the rain collects, and remains a considerable length 
 
THE PITCHER PLANT. 79 
 
 of time quite pure and sweet. This, Nature provides 
 for the use of the plant. It grows on the dry stump 
 of a withered tree, and from the sapless wood it could 
 derive no nourishment ; and thus a new mode of sup- 
 plying it with moisture is found. Nor is this all ; 
 the plant generally grows on trees on the tops of 
 mountains, where there are neither streams nor 
 springs, and in hot weather it frequently yields the 
 traveller a cool and refreshing draught, when no other 
 water can be found near it. 
 There are also some 
 plants which spring up in 
 dry and sunburnt soils, 
 whose herbage is of so 
 juicy a nature, as to serve 
 the same purpose as water 
 in quenching the thirst. 
 But perhaps the most re- 
 markable plant yet known, 
 which possesses the faculty Pitcher Plant - 
 
 of secreting pure water, is the Pitcher Plant. From 
 the end of each leaf hangs a large vessel in the shape 
 of a pitcher, and capable of holding nearly a pint 
 of water; each pitcher has a lid fitting closely to 
 the top, and opening wide upon its hinges in damp 
 weather, and again closing when it is dry, to prevent 
 evaporation. But how, it may be asked, is this deli- 
 cately suspended vessel supported when so full ? Na- 
 ture here supplies an adequate provision ; behind the 
 lid is placed a little hook, which, with marvellous 
 sagacity, catches hold upon some neighboring twig 
 
80 SPIKENARD. 
 
 or tendril, and thus the required support is obtained. 
 The liquid is secreted by the plant itself, and is re- 
 markably pure, though it grows in a muddy and un- 
 wholesome marsh. 
 
 The costly and delicious odor, known in ancient 
 times as Spikenard, has been assigned by various au- 
 thors as the product of different plants, and it has 
 not been until recently that any satisfactory infor- 
 mation has been gained respecting it. There now 
 appears, however, to be but little doubt that it is a 
 species of Valerian, which grows in the colder parts 
 of the mountains of India. The plant must have 
 been comparatively rare, as it is always spoken of in 
 Scripture as being very precious Or costly. When 
 Mary anointed the head of Jesus with this sweet 
 perfume, Judas took occasion to murmur at the waste, 
 saying, that " this ointment might have been sold for 
 more than three hundred pence, and given to the 
 poor." It was usually imported in boxes of alabaster, 
 and when the master of a house received his guests, 
 it was customary for him not only to crown them with 
 flowers, but also to bring forth the box of precious 
 ointment, and break the seal which prevented the 
 volatile perfume from escaping, and anoint them with 
 it. So sweet was its fragrance, and so much esteemed, 
 that Horace, speaking of it, says, " that a small onyx 
 box full was equal in value to a large vessel of wine." 
 Its costliness was probably owing in part to the great 
 distance from which it was brought. 
 
 In reading over the books of the Old Testament, 
 one cannot fail to be struck with the fact that per- 
 
SAFFRON. 81 
 
 r&mes were held in great esteem by the Hebrews, and 
 that very large quantities were used by them. 
 
 " Spikenard and Saffron, Calamus and Cinnamon, 
 with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with 
 all the chief spices," (Cant. iv. 14,) seem to have 
 been very prominently useful in the preparation of 
 odors which were then esteemed so important in the 
 performance of many religious rites. It was among 
 these, as above enumerated by Solomon, that we have 
 the first mention of Saffron. 
 
 There are few, perhaps, who are not well acquainted 
 with the common Crocus of our gardens, which in 
 the spring, in company with the Snowdrop, fairly 
 pierces the snow and ice, to gain admission to the 
 light, and expand its beautiful blossoms. The Saffron, 
 although it blooms in the fall instead of the spring, 
 is nevertheless a genuine crocus. In some parts of 
 England it is extensively cultivated, and has almost 
 become naturalized, and may often be seen spreading 
 out its bright purple flowers to the sun, in the mea- 
 dows and pasture-fields. 
 
 The article, known as Saffron in commerce, is no- 
 thing more than the dried stigmas taken from the 
 flower ; they are of a very brilliant yellow color, and 
 possess an agreeable odor. 
 
 The power of motion, similar to that of animals, 
 is often seen in the vegetable kingdom. It is very 
 common for climbing plants to bend their stems to- 
 ward some object upon which they may obtain sup- 
 port ; this can hardly be called motion, as the change 
 of position is so gradual as scarcely to be perceptible. 
 F 
 
82 MOTIONIN 
 
 But in some of the species of Mimosa or Sensitive 
 Plants, the slightest touch of the hand will produce 
 a sudden and very considerable change in the posi- 
 tion of the leaves, as they will immediately fold them- 
 selves together, and if the touch be repeated, the 
 leaf-stalks will fall and bend themselves toward the 
 stem. A strong wind or heavy rain will produce the 
 same effect, and those kinds which grow in countries 
 where there is a long continuance of rain, close their 
 leaves upon its approach, and are seldom fully ex- 
 panded until the return of fair weather. 
 
 The leaves of the common sensitive plant will par- 
 tially close at evening, and remain so until the light 
 of day again causes them to expand ; and when ex- 
 posed to sudden cold during the daytime, they will 
 fold themselves face to face, so as to allow as little as 
 possible of the upper surface to remain open to the 
 air. 
 
 The Venus Fly-trap is also an example of motion ; 
 the leaves are very curiously constructed. At the 
 extremities are spread out two wide and rounded 
 lobes, each armed upon the margin with rows of 
 spines, or rather stiff hair -like processes, locking 
 into each other when they meet, which always occurs 
 when irritated. The upper surface of these lobes is 
 covered with minute glands, which evidently con- 
 tain a liquid attractive to insects, as they fre- 
 quently resort to the plants ; but no sooner do they 
 alight upon the leaves, and their little feet irritate 
 them, than the two lobes instantly fold together, 
 squeezing the insect to death. The leaf seldom opens 
 
ROOTS Or PLANTS. 83 
 
 again, unless the prisoner is first set free; and so 
 powerful is the grasp by which it is held, that it re- 
 quires considerable force to liberate it. The plant 
 cannot, however, discriminate between the touch of a 
 straw and the tickling of a bee, as the effect of either 
 is the same. 
 
 The peculiarity of the roots of different plants is 
 as noticeable as that of the leaves and flowers ; and 
 although they possess nothing that is attractive to 
 the eye, they are nevertheless essential to the exist- 
 ence of the plant. 
 
 They have been, for the most part, placed by the 
 Creator below the surface of the ground, yet they 
 are not to be entirely lost sight of on this account. 
 Let us learn from them not to despise those whose 
 circumstances in life are apparently beneath our own, 
 but ever remember that the proud and majestic oak, 
 that waves its tall summit in the breeze, uncon- 
 scious of .the root that bears it, is none the less de- 
 pendent on that root for its safety in the storm. 
 
 All plants have either annual, biennial, or peren- 
 nial roots. Annuals are such as continue but one 
 year, the plant reproducing its species by seed ; bien- 
 nials are such as spring from the seed, forming a 
 plant during the first year which does not mature its 
 seed until the second season ; and perennials are such 
 as live for an unlimited length of time, making fresh 
 growth and producing seed each year. 
 
 The 'most common form of roots is fibrous j these 
 are divided and subdivided into minute filaments 
 which often penetrate the soil to a great distance. It 
 
84 ROOTS OP PLANTS. 
 
 has been said by some authors that the roots of trees 
 spread as much beneath the ground as the branches 
 do above it; but this can hardly be said to hold 
 good in all cases. Fibrous-rooted plants often per- 
 form great service in loose sandy soils, especially 
 along water-courses, where they form a thick and 
 matted mass, thus preventing the washing away of 
 the earth. Tuberous roots are solid and very irregular 
 in their shape, and are often linked together by slen- 
 der fibres. Roots of this form are the most useful, as 
 they are generally edible; the common potato, the 
 turnip, and the radish, are familiar examples. 
 
 Bulbous roots are of various kinds ; some are solid, 
 as in the crocus ; others are composed of fleshy layers 
 placed one above the other, as in the onion ; and others 
 consist of thin scales, as in some species of the lily. 
 They all appear to act as reservoirs for the vitality 
 of the plant during its dormant state. 
 
 A bull) is entirely analogous to the bud upon a 
 tree, each containing within itself the embryo of the 
 future stem or plant. In the bulb of the tulip, the 
 microscope will reveal the entire leaf, stem and flower, 
 all folded up within its layers, and which require no- 
 thing but the action of light, heat and moisture, to 
 expand into perfection ; so in the bud upon the tree, 
 the leaves and blossoms which open in the spring are 
 all encased in miniature in that tiny compass. 
 
TREES. 85 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 TREES. 
 
 USES OF TREES THE OAK VARIETIES OF THE OAK STRUC- 
 TURE OF THE ACORN GROWTH OF THE TREE CIRCULATION 
 OF THE SAP EFFECT OF LIGHT UPON THE FOLIAGE LIVE- 
 OAK CORK-OAK HOLLY-OAK "OAKS OF BASHAN" 
 
 BLACK AND WHITE-OAKS STATISTICS OF THE SIZE AND 
 
 AGES OF VARIOUS OAKS IN AMERICA AND EUROPE THE 
 CHESTNUT AND THE CHESTNUT-OAK AGE AND SIZE OF THE 
 CHESTNUT THE BEECH THE WALNUT THE HICKORY. 
 
 ET us now turn our attention from 
 the beautiful verdure which clothes 
 the surface of the earth, and behold 
 the wonders of creative skill, as dis- 
 played in the majestic Trees of the 
 Forest. How gracefully they bend 
 their waving summits to the passing gale ! 
 How softly murmurs the fragrant breath of 
 summer through their leafy bowers ! How 
 gorgeous are the tints in which sere autumn 
 robes them ! While dark and dreary winter, with its 
 thousand storms, wraps its grey mantle around their 
 naked branches. 
 
 How indispensably necessary to our comfort are 
 trees ! How endless are the uses to which they are 
 8 
 
86 
 
 WOOD. 
 
 applied! To say nothing of their beauty and the 
 charming freshness of their shade, how multiplied 
 are the conveniences which they afford by supplying 
 us with that most useful article, Wood ! 
 
 Without trees for building purposes, and for the 
 manufacture of those many utensils, which seem al- 
 most coupled with our very existence, how changed 
 would life be ! Half the comfort of our houses is 
 due to the wood which forms so large a part of the 
 materials of which they are constructed ; and many of 
 the charms of country firesides are owing to the uncon- 
 scious and unsightly logs that lie blazing upon the 
 hearthstone. 
 
 But however dependent upon trees for the supply 
 of our daily wants, and however they may excite our 
 admiration when we look upon their noble forms, yet 
 how few there are who sufficiently reflect upon the 
 manifold blessings which are conferred upon us by 
 their existence ! 
 
 The forest trees of 
 the temperate zone 
 may be considered as 
 forming the type of 
 the second great na- 
 tural order of plants, 
 called "Exogenous," 
 from the fact that the 
 new growth takes 
 place on the exterior 
 surface of the stem, a 
 new layer of wood be- 
 
 Exogonous Wood, showing th 
 growth of nine years. 
 
WOOD. 87 
 
 ing deposited each year. The leaves of such plants 
 have their veins running in all directions, forming a 
 fine network. 
 
 It is to this class of trees that we principally look 
 for our supply of timber for building and other pur- 
 poses, as they are far more abundant than the endo- 
 genous, and attain to a much greater size, while the 
 wood is more easily worked, and much more durable. 
 
 The most useful woods in supplying our daily wants, 
 both as fuel and building-lumber, are Oak, Chestnut, 
 Pine, Hemlock, Elm, Ash, Hickory, Poplar, and 
 Maple. 
 
 Those which are most useful as fancy-woods for 
 the -manufacture of Cabinet-ware, are Mahogany, 
 Walnut, Rose-wood, (obtained from a species of Mi- 
 mosa which grows in Brazil,) Tulip-wood, (to be had 
 only in small pieces not wider than five inches,) 
 Zebra-wood, (probably the production of a large tree, 
 and beautifully shaded with white, red, and black 
 stripes,) Satin-wood, (a fine-grained wood of a bril- 
 liant yellow color, brought from India,) Sandal-wood, 
 (resembling tulip-wood, and possessed of a very fine 
 odor,) Camphor-wood, (the product of the Camphor- 
 tree,) Ebony, Iron-wood, Canary-wood, and many 
 others of less importance. 
 
 The wood of the Box-tree is also an article of con- 
 siderable importance in commerce ; it is remarkably 
 fine and close-grained, which makes it particularly 
 serviceable for the use of the engraver; and it is to 
 this tree that we owe the facility and cheapness with 
 which many books are illustrated. 
 
88 THE OAK. 
 
 The variety to be observed in trees is not so great 
 as in other plants ; but in the same forest a considera- 
 ble number of kinds may be seen that are entirely 
 different, even of such as are commonly known by 
 the same name. Thus, what is termed Oak, often 
 consists of eight or ten varieties, such as Black-oak, 
 White-oak, Chestnut-oak, Pin- 
 oak, Willow-oak, Red-oak, Scar- 
 let-oak, Spanish-oak, Post-oak, 
 &c. &c. These all differ, not 
 only in the formation of their 
 leaves and fruit, but there is a 
 marked difference in their man- 
 ner of growth, and the wood 
 of each possesses its own pecu- 
 liar properties. Within the limits 
 O f t he United States, there are no 
 less than thirty or forty varieties of this useful tree j 
 some are quite small, growing only to the height of 
 two or three feet ; but by far the largest number are 
 lofty trees, with wide-spreading branches. Let us 
 here stop and pick up an acorn which has fallen from 
 one of these, and examine its wonderful construction, 
 and compare its tiny proportions with the majestic 
 plant that bore it, and the counterpart of which it is 
 destined to produce. Encased within that bony co- 
 vering lie hid all the essential parts of the infant 
 tree, perfect and complete; roots, stem, leaves and 
 buds. 
 
 The germ of the future plant is placed at one end 
 of the acorn, and although of so delicate and fragile 
 
THE ACORN. 
 
 a texture, that a slight rub would 
 
 be sufficient to break it, yet so 
 
 nicely is it fitted to its shell, that 
 
 the nut may be handled very 
 
 roughly without injuring it. This 
 
 germ consists of two parts, the 
 
 plume which rises and forms the 
 
 future stem, and the beak or 
 
 radicle which descends and forms 
 
 the root. How surprising is the 
 
 ascent of the one and the descent 
 
 of the other ! It is, in fact, the Black-Oak. 
 
 effort of the one to get into the air, and of the other 
 
 to enter the earth. Were they to be placed in an 
 
 inverted position, the result would be the same ; each 
 
 would bend itself toward its proper element. 
 
 Clasping the germ are the 
 two lo!:?8 of the kernel, which 
 serve the important purpose of 
 sustaining the life of the plant 
 until it has become sufficiently 
 rooted to derive all its nourish- 
 ment from the soil. 
 
 When through the combined 
 influence of heat and moisture, 
 the germ cracks open the case 
 by which it is confined, it sends 
 down a strong radicle, called a Red-Oak, 
 
 tap-root ; then the two lobes of the kernel separate, 
 and the plume springs out from between them. This 
 consists of two leaves, which soon expand and disclose 
 8* 
 
90 CIRCULATION OP SAP. 
 
 at their base a bud from which in like manner addi- 
 tional leaves make their appearance. The functions 
 of the little plant are now as complete as they are in 
 the monster tree. The delicate stem is supplied with 
 its capillary tubes, which carry the nourishment from 
 the root, and distribute it throughout the different 
 parts of the plant. These vessels 
 perform the same part to the 
 tree as the veins and arteries 
 to the human body. One set, 
 comparable to the veins, carry 
 the sap through the trunk and 
 branches to the leaves, where 
 it is spread out in the minute 
 reticulated net-work on their 
 upper surfaces, and like the 
 Post-Oak. blood in the lungs is there ex- 
 
 posed to the action of the light and air, absorbing 
 from the latter a portion of carbon, and at the same 
 time parting with its oxygen. This process purifies 
 the sap, and renders it fit for the nourishment of the 
 tree, when a new set of vessels, similar in their omce 
 to the arteries, distribute it to the different parts 
 where it is required. This sap, thus purified, con- 
 tains all the requisites for the formation of the wood 
 and bark of the trunk and branches, and the cuticle 
 for the formation of the leaves. 
 
 The effect of light upon the sap is very great; 
 those plants which receive the largest amount of sun- 
 light have leaves of a deep green. Light is therefore 
 an essential element in promoting the healthy growth 
 
CIRCULATION OF SAP. 
 
 91 
 
 of trees, as it will be observed that the absorption of 
 carbon, and the giving out of the oxygen becomes 
 less active as the light is diminished, while during 
 the night the contrary process occurs, the oxygen be- 
 ing absorbed, and the carbon released. 
 
 Thus it is by the assistance of 
 these vessels that the little oak- 
 plant becomes a perfect tree in 
 miniature, and continues to increase 
 in size and strength from year to 
 year, until the woodman levels with 
 his axe the sturdy trunk that has 
 defied the storms of a century. Let 
 us here examine the stump that re- 
 mains, and we will observe a num- 
 ber of concentric rings commencing 
 at the bark, and running around Chestnut-Oak, 
 the tree, one inside of the other, until they reach the 
 centre. (See figure of Exogenous Wood on a pre- 
 vious page.) Each ring indicates one year's growth, 
 a new layer of wood being depo- 
 sited every season immediately 
 under the bark. The age of 
 any tree may be determined 
 with considerable accuracy by 
 counting these rings. 
 
 Some species of Oaks retain 
 their foliage during winter, as 
 the Live-oak. This tree in- 
 habits the Southern States, 
 where it occasionally grows to Spanish Oak 
 
92 THE OAK. 
 
 a considerable size. It is probably the most valuable 
 wood known for ship-building, on account of its great 
 durability. In South Carolina the Live-oaks are often 
 hung with the graceful festoons of a beautiful moss, 
 which dangles from their branches in pendent masses 
 of several yards in length. 
 
 The Cork-oak, a native of the South of Europe 
 and the northern coast of Africa, is also an evergreen, 
 and much resembles the Live-oak in appearance. 
 That useful substance, Cork, is the bark of this tree, 
 which grows to a considerable thickness; and, as 
 though designed by Providence for some peculiar 
 purpose, may be removed without injury to the tree, 
 a new coating being rapidly formed ; thus producing 
 a crop of cork about every ten years. 
 
 The Oaks of Palestine are 
 also mostly evergreen. One 
 species, closely resembling the 
 Holly in its appearance, and 
 called the Holly-leaved Oak, 
 is particularly abundant; the 
 scenery of the Holy Land be- 
 ing often varied with its beau- 
 tiful form. 
 
 As the climate of Syria is too warm for the Oak 
 to flourish in the valleys, it is mostly confined to the 
 more elevated positions. Groups of low shrubby Oaks 
 are scattered all over the hills of Hebron ; and many 
 of the evergreen varieties are found in the forests 
 which cover the hills of Canaan. But the tall " Oaks 
 of Bashan," spoken of in Scripture, are more attractive 
 
THE OAK. 93 
 
 on account of their great size and venerable appear- 
 ance, as well as their luxuriant foliage ; and many a 
 weary traveller may repose beneath their refreshing 
 shade upon the spot rendered memorable by the beau- 
 tiful similes of the Prophets Isaiah and Zechariah. 
 Isa. ii. 12, 13. Zech. xi. 2. 
 
 Of all the varieties of the 
 Oak, the black and the white 
 are with us the most abundant 
 and the most useful ; the wood 
 is extensively used in ship- 
 building, as well as for many 
 other purposes equally im- 
 portant, while the bark is not 
 only the principal substance Willow-Oak, 
 
 used by the tanner in the preparation of leather, but 
 is also of great use in dyeing. 
 
 These Oaks often attain a great size, and live to a 
 very advanced age. The " Charter-Oak," so cele- 
 brated in the history of our country, was an old and 
 venerated tree in the Revolution. The " Flushing- 
 Oaks/' the remains of which are still standing, yielded 
 an abundant shade, under which large congregations 
 were accustomed to assemble near two hundred years 
 ago to listen to the preaching of George Fox. 
 
 In England, where antiquity is more venerated 
 than in America, such relics of bygone ages, sentinels 
 that have watched over the destiny of many a 
 monarch, are regarded with deep interest. The ages 
 of some of these have been computed with considera- 
 ble certainty, by reference to data which have been 
 
94 THE OAK. 
 
 preserved on record relating to them, and also by 
 means of some inscriptions which have been found 
 deeply imbedded in the solid wood, and over which 
 the growth of years has been deposited. 
 
 The following description of a few remarkable 
 trees in different parts of England, is taken from 
 London's Arboretum : 
 
 " The Merton Oak stands on the estate of Lord 
 Walsingham. It is 66 feet high, and, at the surface 
 of the ground, the circumference of the trunk is 63 
 feet 2 inches. At one foot [from the ground], it is 
 46 feet 1 inch ; the trunk is 18 feet 6 inches to the 
 fork of the branches ; the largest limb is 18 feet, and 
 the second 16 feet in circumference." 
 
 " The Winfarthing Oak is 70 feet in circumfer- 
 ence ; the trunk is quite hollow, and the cavity large 
 enough to hold 30 persons. It is said to have been 
 called the " Old Oak," at the time of William the 
 Conqueror.* It is now a mere shell a mighty 
 ruin, bleached to a snowy white ; but it is magnificent 
 in its decay. The only mark of vitality which it ex- 
 hibits, is on the south side, where a narrow strip of 
 bark sends forth a few branches, which even now 
 (1836) occasionally produce acorns." 
 
 " The Salcey Forest Oak is described as ' one of 
 the most picturesque sylvan ruins that can be met 
 with anywhere/ It is supposed to be above 1500 
 years old ; and its trunk is so decayed as to form a 
 complete arch, which is 14 feet 8 inches high, and 29 
 
 * This tree is most probably 1500 years old. 
 
THE OAK. 95 
 
 feet in circumference inside. The tree is 33 feet 3 
 inches high, and 47 feet in circumference on the out- 
 side near the ground. This fine ruin is still standing, 
 and, though it has latterly become much wasted, it 
 annually produces a crop of leaves and acorns." 
 
 Th Cbandos Oak. 
 
 * The ' Chandos Oak ' stands in the pleasure- 
 g. junds of Michendon House, near Southgate, and 
 is about 60 feet high. The head covers a space, the 
 diameter of which measures 118 feet. The girth of 
 the trunk, at one foot from the ground, is 18 feet 3 
 inches. It has no large limbs; but, when in full 
 foliage, its boughs bending to the earth, with almost 
 artificial regularity of form, and equi-drstant from 
 each other, give it the appearance of a gigantic tent. 
 It forms, indeed, a magnificent living canopy, imper- 
 vious to the day." 
 
 " The ' Boddington Oak ' grew in a piece of rich 
 grass-land, called the Old Orchard Ground, belonging 
 
96 THE OAK. 
 
 to Boddington Manor Farm, in the vale of Gloucester. 
 The sides of the trunk were more upright than those 
 of large trees generally; and at the surface of the 
 ground it measured 54 feet in circumference. In 
 1783, its trunk was formed into a room which was 
 wainscoted, and measured in one direction 16 feet 
 in diameter. The hollowness, however, contracts 
 upwards, and forms itself into a natural dome. It is 
 still perfectly alive and fruitful, having this yeai 
 (1783) a fine crop of acorns upon it. This tree was 
 burnt down, either by accident or design, in 1790." 
 " Of the Magdalen, or Great Oak of Oxford, Gilpin 
 gives the following interesting notice : * Close by 
 the gate of the water-walk of Magdalen College, Ox- 
 ford, grew an Oak, which, perhaps, stood there a 
 sapling when Alfred the Great founded the Univer- 
 sity. It is a difficult matter to ascertain the age of a 
 tree. The age of a castle or abbey is the object of his- 
 tory. But the time occupied in completing its growth 
 is not worth recording in the early part of a tree's 
 existence. It is then only a common tree ; and after- 
 wards, when it is become remarkable for age, all me- 
 mory of its youth is lost. This tree, however, can 
 almost produce historical evidence for the age it 
 boasts. About 500 years after the time of Alfred, 
 William of Waynfleet, Dr. Stuckely tells us, expressly 
 ordered his college [Magdalen College] to be founded 
 near the Great Oak ; and an oak could not, I think, 
 be less than 500 years of age to merit that title, to- 
 gether with the honor of fixing the site of a college. 
 When the magnificence of Cardinal Wolsey erected 
 
THE OAK. 97 
 
 that handsome tower which is so ornamental to the 
 whole building, this tree might probably be in fhe 
 meridian of its glory j or rather, perhaps, it had at- 
 tained a green old age. It was afterward much injured 
 in the reign of Charles II., when the present walks 
 were laid out. Its roots were disturbed; and from 
 that period it declined fast, and became reduced to a 
 mere trunk. Through a space of 16 yards on every 
 side from its trunk, it once flung its boughs, and 
 under its magnificent pavilion could have sheltered 
 with ease 3000 men. In the summer of 1788, this 
 magnificent ruin fell to the ground." 
 
 " The Cowthorpe Oak, in Yorkshire, measures at 
 its base 78 feet in circumference. The space occu- 
 pied by this tree, where the trunk meets the ground, 
 exceeds the ground-plot of that majestic column, the 
 Eddystone Light-house ; and horizontal slices of Da- 
 morey's Oak would have laid every floor in one piece 
 throughout the whole building." 
 
 The oak and the chestnut are very closely con- 
 nected, not only in their appearance, but also in their 
 general character. The leaves of the chestnut and 
 the chestnut-oak would be mistaken for each other 
 by one unaccustomed to the difference, those of the 
 chestnut being only a little more sharply toothed than 
 the other. 
 
 In California, a species of oak has been discovered, 
 whose mode of flowering, and indeed the whole ap- 
 pearance of the tree, is so similar to that of the chest- 
 nut, as to require the presence of the fruit fully to 
 determine its identity. The wood of each also bears 
 9 G 
 
98 THE CHESTNUT. 
 
 some comparison, the color and grain being much the 
 same; the oak is, however, tougher and heavier, 
 while the chestnut, in consequence of the evenness 
 and regularity of the fibre, possesses the peculiar 
 property of being easily split into long straight pieces. 
 Hence its great utility to the farmer for fencing. 
 
 A close connection is also observable in many 
 of their habits. The chestnut delights in a high and 
 hilly soil, and grows freely in the same positions where 
 the chestnut-oak abounds. If a large tree of each be 
 cut down, strong scions will soon spring up in all 
 directions from the roots, forming bushy clumps, 
 which resemble each other so closely as to be readily 
 taken for the same tree. 
 
 The chestnut also lives to a great age, and in some 
 situations grows to an enormous size. The famous 
 chestnut tree, which grew upon Mount Etna, was pro- 
 bably one of the largest and oldest trees in the world. 
 In 1770, this tree is said to have measured 204 feet 
 in circumference ; its trunk was quite hollow, and a 
 house had been built in the interior, which was in- 
 habited by some country people. The age of this tree 
 of course cannot be estimated with any certainty. 
 
 The old chestnut tree at Tortworth, in England, 
 was probably planted by the Romans, as the tree is 
 not a native of that country. It was evidently old at 
 the time of the Norman Conquest, as history speaks 
 of it as a famous tree in the time of King John. It 
 measured 57 feet in circumference. 
 
 The Beech, in some respects, resembles both the 
 Oak and the Chestnut; and was originally classed with 
 
THE BEECH. 99 
 
 the latter by Linnaeus, the great Swedish Naturalist. 
 The wood, however, differs much from the others in 
 being very close and fine-grained. The fruit is en- 
 closed in a scaly burr, somewhat resembling the cup 
 of an acorn, which, when matured, opens into four 
 sections, and allows the triangular nuts to escape. In 
 France and Germany, an excellent oil is obtained 
 from the kernels, which is said to be superior to that 
 produced by the Olive. 
 
 The beech is rarely found living to any great age, 
 although occasional specimens are met with which 
 are evidently of great antiquity. A Beech which 
 stood some years since in Windsor Forest, England, 
 is said to have existed prior to the Norman Conquest, 
 which would indicate that it had known the changes 
 of at least 800 years. At the time of the last mea- 
 surement, it was about 36 feet in circumference at 
 the base. 
 
 In America the beech is a beautiful tree, with 
 dense and finely-cut foliage, forming a thick and im- 
 penetrable shade. It sometimes attains a height of 
 100 feet, with a trunk measuring 8 or 10 feet in cir- 
 cumference. 
 
 In connection with the Chestnut and Beech must 
 be mentioned the Walnut and Hickory; trees of great 
 beauty and interest, as well as utility. Of each, there 
 are several varieties. Of the Walnut, the Black is 
 probably the most useful by far, it being used very 
 extensively in this its native country, as well as in 
 Europe, for the manufacture of cabinet-ware. The 
 wood, which is of a fine dark color, and beauti- 
 
100 THE HICKORY. 
 
 fully veined and mottled, is susceptible of a very high 
 polish. Some of our most beautiful articles of fur- 
 niture are made from this wood, and it may be justly 
 ranked among the most useful of our sylvan produc- 
 tions. The black walnut occasionally, though seldom, 
 attains a great size. The trunk of one grown on the 
 south side of Lake Erie, was some years since ex- 
 hibited in London, which was 12 feet in diameter, 
 and was hollowed out and furnished as a sitting-room. 
 The tree was said to have been 150 feet in height, with 
 branches from 2 to 4 feet in diameter, and the bark 
 1 foot in thickness. 
 
 The Hickory, though nearly allied to the Walnut, 
 possesses properties peculiarly its own ; its wood is 
 light-colored, tough, and elastic, which renders it 
 very serviceable to the carriage and wagon builder; 
 and the air of comfort which always surrounds the 
 hearth where the crackling of a good hickory fire is 
 heard, fully attests its usefulness as fuel. 
 
 The Hickory, particularly the variety known as the 
 Shellbark, is a noble and majestic tree, rising to the 
 height of 70 or 80 feet, with a trunk sometimes 5 
 feet in thickness at the base, and varying but little 
 from the straight line almost to its summit, and fre- 
 quently without a branch below the height of 40 feet. 
 The gathering of the nuts of the walnut and hickory 
 affords considerable merriment to the younger part 
 of the farmer's family, while many a city fire-side, 
 cheered by the social gathering, has found a rich 
 treat in the fruits of these noble trees. 
 
THE WILLOW. 
 
 101 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE WILLOW NUMBER OF VARIETIES NAPOLEON'S WILLOW 
 
 CURLED WILLOW ELM BIRCH POPLAR ASPEN 
 
 LOMBARDY POPLAR TULIP TREE THE YEW FLOWER- 
 ING TREES THE MAGNOLIA. 
 
 Y the rivers of Babylon there 
 we sat down; yea, we wept 
 when we remembered Zion. 
 We hanged our harps upon 
 the willows in the midst there- 
 of." Ps. cxxxvii. 1, 2. 
 This beautiful and poetic allusion, 
 undoubtedly refers to the Weeping 
 Willow, which was formerly very abun- 
 dant in the environs of Babylon, whence 
 arises its botanical name, Salix Babylonica. The 
 word Salix is derived from the Celtic, and means 
 near water, referring to the general habit of all the 
 willows of frequenting watery places. They often 
 give a very picturesque appearance to the landscape, 
 as they spread their branches, covered with the most 
 beautiful foliage, over the smooth surface of the 
 water, or gracefully dip their long slender boughs 
 into the stream. 
 
 But we may imagine that, however beautiful was 
 the effect thus produced, it must have possessed but 
 9* 
 
102 THE WEEPING WILLOW. 
 
 few charms for the captives of Judea, as they sat 
 mournfully brooding over their sorrows, with harps 
 unstrung, and weeping at the remembrance of Zion's 
 surpassing loveliness. 
 
 Many of the common varieties of willow are per- 
 haps known to most of our readers. But there are 
 few who are aware of the great difference that really 
 exists between many that appear to be the same. 
 There are probably no less than forty or fifty distinct 
 varieties to be found in the United States, and 
 more than double that number in other parts of the 
 world. 
 
 In the Arctic regions there is a species which is 
 no more than a few inches in height ; and in latitudes 
 nearly approaching the pole, it is almost the only 
 woody plant to be found. The Weeping Willow 
 grows in China, Japan, Syria, and the northern parts 
 of Africa, which appear to be its native localities; 
 but it may also be seen in most of the countries of 
 the temperate zone. 
 
 In the island of St. Helena there once stood a tree 
 of this kind, which was known as Napoleon's Willow. 
 It was planted by the Governor of the island about 
 the year 1810, and grew among the other trees on 
 the side of a valley, near to a spring. Having at- 
 tained a considerable size, it attracted the attention 
 of Napoleon, who had a seat placed under it, and 
 used frequently to resort to its shade, and have water 
 brought to him from the adjoining fountain. About 
 the time of the death of the Emperor, it is said that 
 a storm shattered the tree in pieces. Many cuttings 
 
THE CURLED WILLOW. 103 
 
 were taken from it; and trees propagated from this 
 original may now be found in various parts of the 
 world. By many, this tree was supposed to have 
 been of the variety known as the Curled Willow ; but 
 this appears to be an error. 
 
 The Curled Willow, whose leaves are curled into 
 rings, or twisted up like corkscrews, is nothing more 
 than a curious variety of the Weeping Willow ; it is 
 of rather a dwarf habit, and the crisp and parched 
 appearance of the leaves destroys much of the beau- 
 tiful effect of the drooping of the branches 
 
 Scarcely anything, it may be said, enters so deeply 
 into the beauty of a landscape as the great variety 
 noticeable in the outline presented by different trees, 
 as well as the multiplicity of the shape, size and color 
 of the foliage. The tall spire of the Lombardy Poplar, 
 with its small, opaque leaves, peers far above the 
 rounded tops of the Maples and Lindens ; and the 
 sharp-pointed cone of the Cypress forms a fine con- 
 trast with the irregular outline of the Tulip Tree ; 
 while on the deep, dark back-ground, formed by the 
 large and heavy leaves of the Oak and Hickory, 
 stands out in pleasing prominence the fine, light, and 
 silvery foliage of the Willow. 
 
 The Elm also assumes a very prominent position 
 in the American Landscape j and the eye cannot fail 
 to rest with pleasure upon its beautiful outline. It 
 is in the northern and eastern States that it attains 
 the greatest perfection. The trunk rises to the height 
 of 60 or 70 feet, insensibly diminishing in thickness 
 from the base, until it is lost in the minute ramifica- 
 
104 THE ELM. 
 
 tions of the topmost boughs, which are widely diver- 
 gent, and shoot out on all sides in long, flexible, and 
 pendulous branches, bending into regular arches, and 
 floating lightly in the air. In isolated positions the 
 Elm occasionally grows to the height of 100 feet; 
 the trunk is then sometimes clothed to near its base 
 with its beautiful verdure, which seems to wreathe 
 about it like some parasitical vine or creeper. 
 
 In Europe, the Elm lives to an advanced age, and 
 often attains a prodigious size. The Crawley Elm, 
 situated on the road from London to Brighton, is 71 
 feet high, and the trunk measures at the ground 61 
 feet in circumference. 
 
 At Hampstead, a Hollow Elm formerly stood, the 
 trunk of which measured at the base about 30 feet, 
 and at the height of 42 feet appears to have been 
 broken off. It is entirely hollow from the top to the 
 bottom, in which a staircase had been built, leading 
 to the summit, which was turreted, and provided with 
 seats for six persons. It appeared to be in a thriving 
 condition, and covered with the most luxuriant foliage, 
 which spread to a considerable distance on every side. 
 
 The Birch and the Poplar must also be reckoned 
 among the beautiful trees of our forests. The Paper, 
 or Canoe Birch, and the Yellow Birch, both in- 
 habitants of the Northern and Eastern States and 
 Nova Scotia, are lofty trees, with their trunks mea- 
 suring from 3 to 18 feet in circumference. The 
 former is remarkable for the beautiful texture of the 
 bark, which is capable of being split into thin plates 
 or layers, which have a fine smooth surface, and 
 
THE ASPEN. 105 
 
 when carefully prepared, may be used as a substitute 
 for paper. The thicker plates are made into car.oes 
 by the Indians, which are particularly light and 
 buoyant, and entirely impervious to water. One of 
 these, constructed to accommodate four persons with 
 their baggage, it is said, will weigh only 40 or 50 
 pounds. Their lightness renders them peculiarly 
 serviceable in navigating rivers where the stream is 
 often interrupted by rocky rapids or cascades, as they 
 may be readily carried around them by land, and 
 again launched in the water below. 
 
 In the settlements of the Hud- 
 son's Bay Company, we are told 
 this tree sometimes measures 18 
 or 20 feet in circumference at 
 the base; the bark is used in 
 building tents, it being cut in 
 pieces 12 feet long, and 4 feet 
 wide; these are sewed together 
 with the long pliable roots of the 
 Spruce, and so rapidly is the 
 work done, that, a tent of 20 feet in diameter, and 10 
 feet high, does not, it is said, occupy more than half 
 an hour in pitching. 
 
 No small quantity of Birch-wood was used by the 
 School-masters of the Olden-time, as a means' of in- 
 stilling sound views and correct principles into the 
 minds of their pupils ; but thanks to the progress of 
 civilization, that practice is almost obsolete, and the 
 once-dreaded birch is again consigned to those uses 
 for which it was originally created. 
 
106 THE POPLAR. 
 
 Among the varieties of our native Poplars, perhaps 
 the most beautiful and the most familiar is the Aspen. 
 The leaves of this tree are hung on long and slender 
 petioles, which are flattened at the base/ and attached 
 to the stem in such a manner, as to cause them to 
 rock backward and forward, with the least motion 
 of the air. When scarcely the slightest breeze is 
 stirring, and every other tree seems lulled into com- 
 plete repose, the foliage of the Aspen may often be 
 seen quivering as though shaken by force.. 
 
 The Lombardy Poplar, once so abundant about our 
 farm and country houses, and which shoots above its 
 surroundings, like some tall church-spire, was ori- 
 ginally brought from Italy, where it abounds on the 
 banks of the river Po. Its cultivation is now be- 
 coming much neglected, partly in consequence of the 
 climate or soil not being adapted to its growth, as 
 its beautiful and pleasing outlines are often marred 
 in a single season by parts of the tree being killed, 
 either by the severe cold or other causes. It is much 
 to be regretted that this is the case, as it certainly 
 forms a very conspicuous object, and occupies a posi- 
 tion in our rural scenery which no other tree can 
 supply. 
 
 In Europe, it attains to a great size and beauty, 
 often measuring over 100 feet in height, and 3 to 5 
 feet in diameter at the base. 
 
 The tree, commonly known as the Tulip Poplar, 
 belongs to a very different genera, and is altogether 
 misnamed, as it bears no resemblance whatever to 
 the Poplars. It is, however, one of the most useful, 
 
THE TULIP TREE. 107 
 
 as well as the most beautiful, of our forest trees. 
 The wood is commonly called poplar-wood, and being 
 soft and easily worked, is extensively used in the 
 manufacture of Cabinet-ware. This tree is very con- 
 spicuous in the early summer months on account of 
 the abundance of its large showy flowers, each being 
 the size, and having much the appearance of the 
 tulip. But its appearance is too familiar to need 
 much further description. 
 
 A noble specimen of this tree, 
 which recently stood upon the 
 farm of Friends' Boarding-school 
 at West-town, measured at the 
 base about 37 feet in circum- 
 ference, and was about 100 feet 
 in height. It was hollow in the 
 centre, with an opening on one 
 side like a tent-door. Respect- 
 
 Tulip Tree. 
 
 ing its age and history, one of 
 the Principals in the Seminary writes : " We have 
 no data from which to determine its age, but judg- 
 ing from analogy, it must have been in existence 
 long before William Penn founded the colony. The 
 importance with which this tree was regarded was no 
 doubt mainly due to a tradition that it was once oc- 
 cupied as a dwelling by a family of Indians. The 
 tradition most likely had its origin in the circum- 
 stance of numerous relics having been found in the 
 immediate vicinity of the tree, indicating the exist- 
 ence, at some period, of an Indian encampment It 
 had become so much an object of interest to the 
 
108 THE YEW. 
 
 children, that one of the first excursions which they 
 desired to make after coming to the school was a visit 
 to the < Indian Tree/" 
 
 This tree, which must have been at least 300 years 
 of age, was destroyed in 1845. Some of the pupils, 
 either ignorant of the consequences, or with a mis- 
 chievous craving for fun, kindled a fire in the cavity, 
 which soon shrouded its noble form in flames. The 
 news of this catastrophe was received by the scholars 
 with a general outburst of indignation. 
 
 One of the most beautiful and interesting trees 
 which decorates the English landscape, is the Yew. 
 Its tall and majestic figure, as well as its dense and 
 fine foliage, render it an attractive object; while the 
 advanced age to which many have been known to at- 
 tain, would naturally excite in the beholder a feeling 
 of peculiar interest. 
 
 The Elm and the Yew are the favorite trees in the 
 Church-yard, and there appears to be considerable 
 appropriateness in the selection ; the former, with its 
 long pendulous and weeping boughs, harmonizes with 
 the mournful surroundings of the tomb, while the 
 latter, with its perennial verdure, its longevity, and 
 the extraordinary durability of its wood, is emblema- 
 tic of that unfading existence which awaits the spirits 
 of the redeemed. 
 
 Gray, in his beautiful elegy, assigns to these a very 
 prominent place. 
 
 "Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, 
 
 Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap, 
 Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, 
 
 The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep." 
 
THE YEW. 
 
 109 
 
 Perhaps the oldest tree of this kind on record is 
 the " Fontingall Yew/' which stood in a church-yard 
 in Scotland. Its age is unknown, but it is asserted 
 that there is strong probability of its having been a 
 flourishing tree at the commencement of the Christian 
 era. About the year 1790, it measured 56 feet 6 
 inches in circumference at the base of the trunk. It 
 has since become very much decayed, and, in 1833, 
 the entire central part had fallen away, leaving it 
 with apparently two trunks which form a sort of arch, 
 " through which the funeral processions of the High- 
 landers would sometimes pass/'* 
 
 The famous Yews of Fountain 
 Abbey in Yorkshire are well known. 
 "The abbey was founded in 1132, 
 in the midst of a rough piece of 
 wood-land, in which grew seven large 
 Yew-trees. In 1658, these trees 
 were said to be of extraordinary size, 
 the trunk of one of them being 26 
 feet 6 inches in circumference. At 
 that time but six were standing, the 
 largest having been blown down, and 
 they grew so closely together as to form with their 
 boughs a cover almost equal to a thatched roof. 
 Under this shelter tradition tells us the monks re- 
 sided until they had built the monastery."* 
 
 " The Ankerwyke Yew, near Stains, is supposed 
 to be upwards of 1000 years old. Henry VIII. is 
 
 The Yew. 
 
 10 
 
 * London's Arboretuia. 
 
110 THE BUCKEYE. 
 
 said to have made it his place of meeting with Annie 
 Boleyn, while she was living at Staines ; and Magna 
 Charta was signed within sight of it, on the island in 
 the Thames between Runnymede and Ankerwyke. 
 The girth of this tree, at 3 feet from the ground, is 
 27 feet 8 inches. 
 
 In the eastern part of the United States, the Yew 
 is barely more than a small bush, seldom above a few 
 feet high ; while in the west it becomes a fine large 
 tree of some 40 to 60 feet in height, and about 2 or 3 
 feet in diameter. It is here one of the most conspi- 
 cuous trees of the forest. The Indians of Oregon 
 use the wood of this tree for making bows, it being 
 very tough, heavy, and elastic. 
 
 Many of the trees of our American forests at some 
 seasons of the year are laden with the most beautiful 
 blossoms, which are often very conspicuous, and some- 
 times diffusing a rich fragrance around them. The 
 appearance of an apple or peach-orchard in the spring 
 is an object so familiar, that its beauty is not appre- 
 ciated by many. 
 
 The Buckeye, a species of Horse Chestnut which 
 grows in Ohio, whose early blossoms are the resort 
 of the Humming-birds upon their arrival from the 
 South ; the Catalpa, a familiar ornament around our 
 farm-houses; the Kentucky Coffee, a native of the 
 Western States ; and the Pride of India, one of the 
 most lovely objects that adorns the gardens of the 
 South, are all showy and ornamental trees. 
 
 The Locust also is a very valuable addition to the 
 list of our botanical friends ; and its long bunches of 
 
THE MAGNOLIA. Ill 
 
 fragrant flowers, which hang so thickly from among 
 its fine cut foliage, will always entitle it to our admi- 
 ration. 
 
 But perhaps we may consider the Magnolia as 
 standing at the head of the list of flowering trees, 
 for the elegance as well as the great size of its blossoms. 
 One species called the Umbrella Tree, produces flowers 
 in considerable abundance, each measuring about 18 
 inches in diameter when fully expanded ; they are 
 pure white, and possessed of a very fine odor. An- 
 other species, which grows in the Southern States, 
 forms a handsome tree of about 30 or 40 feet in 
 height, and in the early summer months is loaded 
 with its large white blossoms, which are about 5 
 inches in diameter. The fragrance of these flowers 
 is such as to be quite perceptible at some distance. 
 This tree remains green during the winter, and only 
 drops its leaves as a new set are produced to replace 
 them. 
 
112 CONE-BEARING TREES. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CONE - BEARING TREES THEIR PECULIARITIES GIGANTIC 
 
 TREES OF CALIFORNIA LOCALITIES MOST FAVORABLE TO 
 
 THE GROWTH OF EVERGREENS WHITE PINE YELLOW 
 
 PINE LONG-LEAVED PINE BLACK, WHITE, AND HEMLOCK 
 
 SPRUCE SILVER FIR LARCH CYPRESS DURABILITY 
 
 OF CYPRESS WOOD THE CEDAR OF LEBANON. 
 
 E have spoken in a previous chap- 
 ter of the effect produced upon a 
 landscape by the variety observ- 
 able in the different trees, both 
 as to their outline and the cha- 
 racter of their foliage. We will 
 now notice a few of a class which perhaps, 
 above all we have mentioned, exert a great 
 influence in beautifying the face of the earth. 
 They form by themselves a separate group 
 or family known to botanists as the Conifera, or Cone- 
 bearing trees, and their peculiar appearance will 
 at once distinguish them from others. They are 
 mostly evergreens, and their foliage consists of long, 
 narrow cylindrical leaflets, thickly scattered around 
 the stem, as in the various species of Pine, or of 
 short, flat, and prickly appendages, arranged in a 
 double row, one on each side of the stem, as may be 
 
GIGANTIC TREES OF CALIFORNIA. 113 
 
 seen in the Fir and Hemlock ; or sometimes they are 
 placed in tufts at intervals of one or two inches apart, 
 as in the Larch, &c. Often 2, 3, 4, or 5 of these leaves 
 are clustered together in a bunch, and wrapped around 
 at the base with a sheath. With the fruit of these 
 trees most persons are familiar. Some of the cones 
 are particularly beautiful, especially those of the 
 Cedar of Lebanon and the Norway Fir. 
 
 There are perhaps few trees which attain to more 
 gigantic proportions than some of the varieties be- 
 longing to this class. The measurements of some 
 recently discovered in California would be considered 
 almost fabulous, were not the accounts substantiated 
 by the most undoubted evidence. 
 
 A specimen of the Gigantic Wellingtonia, which 
 was recently felled, measured about 300 feet in length, 
 and 60 feet in circumference near the base ; and the 
 following extract of a letter, received from Dr. Wins- 
 low of California, gives dimensions still more extra- 
 ordinary. " There are more than a hundred of these 
 trees which may be considered as having reached the 
 extreme limits of growth which the species can at- 
 tain. One of our countrymen measured one, of which 
 the trunk immediately above the root was 94 feet in 
 circumference. Another which had fallen from old 
 age, or had been uprooted by a tempest, was lying 
 near it, of which the length from the roots to the top 
 of the branches was 450 feet. A great portion of 
 this monster still exists, and, according to Dr. Lap- 
 ham, the proprietor of the locality, at 350 feet from 
 the roots the trunk measured 10 feet in diameter. 
 10* H 
 
114 GIGANTIC TREES OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 Wellingtonia. 
 
 By its fall, this tree has overthrown another not less 
 colossal, since, at the origin of the roots, it is 40 feet 
 in diameter. This, which appears to me one of the 
 greatest wonders of the forest, and compared with 
 which man is but an imperceptible pigmy, has been 
 hollowed by fire throughout a considerable portion 
 of its length, so as to form an immense wooden tube 
 of a single piece. Its size may be imagined when it 
 is known that one of my companions, two years ago, 
 
GIGANTIC TREES OF CALIFORNIA. 115 
 
 rode on horseback in the interior of this tree for a 
 distance of 200 feet, without any inconvenience. My 
 companions and myself have frequently entered this 
 tunnel, and progressed some 60 paces, but have been 
 arrested before reaching the end by means of wood 
 which had fallen from the ceiling. Near these over- 
 thrown giants others still are standing not inferior to 
 them in size, and of which the height astonishes the 
 beholder." 
 
 In reading of a tree 450 feet high, and 30 feet in 
 diameter, we are struck with large figures, but we 
 must have some familiar object with which to com- 
 pare it before we can fully realize the magnitude of 
 such an object. If the tree above described was 
 placed in the chasm of the Niagara river at the 
 Suspension Bridge, it would stand 200 feet above 
 the top of the bridge. By the side of Trinity Steeple 
 in Broadway, New York, it would overtop it by 160 
 feet. It would be 230 feet higher than Bunker Hill 
 Monument, and 270 feet above the Washington Monu- 
 ment in Baltimore. If cut up for fuel, it would make 
 at least 2500 cords, or as much as would be yielded 
 by 60 acres of good woodland. If sawed into inch 
 boards, it would yield about 2,500,000 feet, and fur- 
 nish sufficient 3-inch plank for 25 miles of Plank- 
 road. This is quite enough for the product of one 
 little seed less in size than a grain of wheat. 
 
 By counting the annual rings, it appears that some 
 of the oldest specimens have attained the age of 3000 
 years. If this computation be correct, and there is 
 probably no good reason to doubt it, they must cer- 
 
116 GIGANTIC PINE WHITE PINE. 
 
 tainly have existed in the days of the Prophet Elijah, 
 or even as Dr. Lindley observes of the tree first de- 
 scribed, "It must have been a little plant when 
 Samson was slaying his Philistines." 
 
 On the Pacific coast there is 
 found a species of Pine, very 
 similar in its appearance to our 
 common White Pine, which 
 grows to the height of 200 feet. 
 The trunk of a specimen which 
 had been overturned by the 
 winds measured 215 feet in 
 length, and 57 feet in circum- 
 ference at 3 feet from the base, 
 and at 134 feet from the ground 
 was about 6 feet in diameter. 
 Gigantic pine. These are straight and beauti- 
 
 fully tapering, and sometimes 170 feet without a 
 branch. The cones measure about 16 inches in length. 
 One of the most pleasing 
 characteristics of the Coni- 
 fera is their evergreen fo- 
 liage. When dark winter 
 spreads a sombre veil over 
 the landscape, how charm- 
 ing and enlivening is the ef- 
 fect produced by a few Pines 
 and Firs ! In cold climates, 
 where the winters are long, 
 and the ground is covered 
 
 White Pin* leaves arranged moflt j y ^ Rnow _d r ift S , tho 
 
THE YELLOW PINE. 
 
 11 
 
 general dreariness of the aspect is relieved by the 
 abundance of the evergreens. This appears to be a 
 special provision of Providence to give additional 
 comfort to the inhabitants, as it is observed that these 
 trees delight in cold and elevated positions. 
 
 In the mountainous districts of the Northern and 
 Eastern States; upon the Alleghanies, the Rocky 
 Mountains, the Sierra Nevada of California, and tha 
 Table Lands of Mexico; on the lofty Himalaya 
 Mountains, the snow-crowned hills of Norway, and 
 on the far-famed heights of Mount Lebanon, may be 
 seen in the greatest perfection some of their most 
 beautiful and wonderful forms. 
 
 Of those which are most 
 familiar to us as natives of 
 our own land, are the White., 
 Yellow, and Long - leaved 
 Pines ; the White, Black, and 
 Hemlock Spruce; the Silver 
 Fir, the Larch, and the Cy- 
 press ; (the two latter are not 
 evergreen). Besides which, 
 there are many others of less 
 
 * t . TT 
 
 value and importance. Upon 
 the White and Yellow Pine 
 we are dependent for a large amount of the lumber 
 used in building both our houses and ships. The 
 Hemlock also is a valuable tree to the ship-builder, 
 as its trunk is remarkably straight, and gradually 
 tapering toward the summit, which makes it particu- 
 larly serviceable for masts and spars. 
 
 Yellow Pine, leaves 
 
 arranged in twos. 
 
118 SILVER FIR LARCH. 
 
 From the Yellow and Long-leaved 
 Pines we have our supply of turpen- 
 tine; and from the Silver Fir is ob- 
 tained a very useful resinous sub- 
 stance, known as Balm of Gilead, 
 or Canada Balsam. 
 
 The Larch and the Cypress, al- 
 though cone-bearing trees, differ from 
 the rest in being what are called 
 " deciduous," which means that they 
 
 Silver Fir. , ,,.',. 
 
 lose their foliage every year. 
 In the summer season, the Larch is one of the 
 most beautiful trees that graces the forests of the 
 Northern and Eastern States. Its tall 
 straight shaft, sometimes 100 feet high, 
 and 3 feet in diameter at the base, with its 
 minute foliage, which is densely arranged 
 upon its long and slender branches, toge- 
 ther with the perfect symmetry of outline 
 which it often assumes, render it an at- 
 tractive object. It is a comparatively rare 
 tree, and is not known to exist much south 
 Larch ^ ^ e ^ at ^ U( ^ e ^ Philadelphia, except 
 where it has been planted as an ornament. 
 In the warmer parts of the United States, the 
 place of the Larch is supplied by the Cypress. In 
 South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Louisiana, this 
 tree grows in immense quantities in the low swampy 
 grounds contiguous to the large rivers. These " Cy- 
 press Swamps," as they are called, often occupy thou- 
 
THE CYPRESS. 119 
 
 sands of acres. In this rich alluvial soil, upon which 
 a new layer of vegetable mould is every year depo- 
 sited by the floods, the Cypress attains its utmost 
 development; the largest being about 120 feet high, 
 and 30 to 40 feet in circumference. 
 
 The European Cypress is an evergreen : its foliage 
 bears a close resemblance to our common Red Cedar. 
 It grows in various parts of the country adjacent to 
 the Mediterranean Sea. It is most abundant on the 
 islands of Crete and Cyprus, from the latter of which 
 it derives its name. It is also spoken of in Ecclesi- 
 asticus as growing on Mount Sion. The Gopher 
 Wood of which Noah built the ark is supposed to 
 be identical with the Cypress. The great durability 
 of the wood rendered it peculiarly serviceable to the 
 ancients. Pliny, the Roman historian, says that the 
 statue of Jupiter, in the Capitol at Rome, which 
 was of Cypress, had existed above 600 years without 
 exhibiting any signs of decay. Plato, a heathen 
 philosopher, had his laws engraven on Cypress-wood 
 as being more durable than brass. Leon Alberti, a 
 celebrated .Florentine architect of the fifteenth cen- 
 tury, tells us that he found the wood of a vessel 
 which had been submerged 1300 years, and which 
 was perfectly sound, to be principally of Cypress. 
 The Cypress doors of St. Peter's Cathedral at Rome, 
 which were removed by Eugene IV., after having 
 stood the usage of over 1100 years, were entirely 
 sound ; and it was the custom in the middle ages to 
 bury the Popes in coffins of Cypress, under the belief 
 that they would never decay. 
 
120 THE CEDAR OF LEBANON. 
 
 The Cypress is often a long-lived tree, although it 
 will sometimes attain a great size in a comparatively 
 short time. A tree of the American variety, planted 
 by John Bartram, in his botanic garden near Phila- 
 delphia, some 100 years since, now (1859) measures 
 about 9 feet in diameter, and over 100 feet in height. 
 An old and venerated tree of the European species 
 was some years since standing near Somma, in Lom- 
 bardy, which was supposed to have been planted the 
 year of the birth of our Saviour, although it is said 
 that a record exists at Milan which proves that it 
 was a tree in the time of Julius Caesar, B. C. 42. 
 So great was the respect shown for this tree, that 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, when laying down the plan for 
 his great road over the Simplon, diverged from the 
 straight line to avoid injuring it. 
 
 In the Scriptures we find frequent allusions made 
 to the Pine, the Fir, the Cypress, and the Cedar, all 
 of which appear to be natives of Syria. In Isaiah 
 xli. 19, the Pine, the Fir, and the Cedar are spoken 
 of; and again in Ix. 13, "The glory of Lebanon 
 shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and 
 the box together, to beautify the place of my sanc- 
 tuary." But of all the trees of this class, the Cedar 
 of Lebanon seems to have been regarded by the 
 Sacred writers as a tree of uncommon beauty, and 
 was therefore frequently used in the figurative lan- 
 guage of the times to convey the idea of majesty and 
 power. 
 
 In Ezekiel, chap, xxxi., we have the following 
 remarkable expressions : " Behold the Assyrian was 
 
THE CEDAR OP LEBANON. 121 
 
 a Cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches and with a 
 shadowing shroud, and of an high stature, and his 
 top was among the thick boughs: his height was 
 exalted above all the 
 trees of the field, and his 
 boughs were multiplied 
 and his branches became 
 long, because of the mul- 
 titude of waters when he 
 shot forth. The Cedars 
 in the garden of God 
 could not hide him : the 
 Fir trees were not like 
 his boughs, and the 
 
 Chestnut trees were not like his branches ; nor any 
 tree in the garden of God was like unto him in 
 his beauty/' In this beautiful description, two of 
 the principal characteristics of the Cedar of Lebanon 
 are marked; viz., the length and number of its 
 branches, and the wide expanse and density of its 
 shade. Few trees spread themselves so thickly upon 
 every side. This is in consequence of the horizontal 
 growth of the branches, which shoot out in great 
 numbers from the parent stem, forming a deep and 
 quite impenetrable shade. These branches sometimes 
 droop so as almost to reach the ground. 
 
 It is supposed that some of the trees still standing 
 on Mount Lebanon are the remains of the forests 
 from which Solomon obtained the wood for the 
 building of the Temple. These are protected with 
 great care, and are accounted sacred by the inhabi- 
 11 
 
122 THECEDAR OF LEBANON. 
 
 tants. But they are gradually diminishing in num- 
 bers, and almost every few years witnesses the 
 removal of one or more of these interesting relics, 
 which yield to decay that strength which has defied 
 the blasts of ages. 
 
 Of those whose appearance warrants the belief 
 that they are the very Cedars under whose shade the 
 Patriarchs of old have rested, in 1550 there remained 
 about 28, in 1745 there were but 15. Twelve were 
 recently counted by a traveller (Lord Lindsay), who, 
 speaking of them, remarks, that he and his com- 
 panions halted under one of the largest of them, 
 inscribed on one side with the name of Lamartine. 
 The grove was composed of trees of various ages 
 growing together ; " One of them," he says, " by no 
 means the largest, measured 19 \ feet in circumfer- 
 ence, and in repeated instances, .two, three, or four 
 large trunks spring from a single root. Of the giants 
 there are several standing very near each other, all 
 on the same hill; three more a little further on, 
 nearly in a line with them ; and in a second walk of 
 discovery, I had the pleasure of detecting two others, 
 low down on the northern edge of the grove. Lamar- 
 tine's tree is 49 feet in circumference; and the 
 largest of my two on the southern slope is 63 feet, 
 following the irregularities of the bark." 
 
 This Cedar grows not only on the mountains of 
 Lebanon, but also on Mounts Amanus and Taurus, 
 in Asia Minor, in some parts of Africa, and on the 
 islands of Cyprus and Crete. It loves cold and 
 
THE CEDAR OF LEBANON. 123 
 
 x- 
 
 mountainous places, and on Mount Lebanon it grows 
 freely among the snow. 
 
 With some of the inhabitants of the East the wood 
 of this tree has the reputation of never decaying, 
 and it certainly must be possessed of great durability, 
 or it would not have been selected by Solomon for 
 the many purposes in which he used it, where that 
 property seemed requisite. It is described as soft 
 and fine-grained, and sometimes beautifully marked 
 with waving lines. It has an agreeable smell, and 
 indeed everything about the trees has a strong bal- 
 samic odor, giving a delightful fragrance to the air 
 in their vicinity. This is most probably the smell of 
 Lebanon spoken of in Cant. iv. 11, and Hosea xiv. 6. 
 
 Cone of Cedar of Lebanon 
 
124 THEPALMTEEE. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE PALM TREE. 
 
 MANNER OF GROWTH LEAVES FRUIT THE USES OF THH 
 
 PALM COCOANUT TREE DATE TREE SAGO PALM CANES 
 
 FOR CHAIR BOTTOMS DRAGON'S BLOOD THE FIXTURES OF 
 AN INDIAN COTTAGE LOCALITIES OF THE PALM THE PAL- 
 METTO NUMBER OF SPECIES OF PALMS GENERAL CHARAC- 
 TERISTICS THE PALM TREE OF THE BIBLE. 
 
 HE interest which we take in the 
 study of Nature will be found to 
 be much increased, by the com- 
 parison of the productions of one 
 quarter of the globe with those 
 of another. As in smaller plants, 
 so also in trees, each clime is adorned with a 
 growth peculiarly its own. Those trees we have 
 already described are such as are most fami- 
 liar. To these, some of the productions of 
 the tropical forests will form a striking contrast, 
 among which is the Palm, whose lofty summit rears 
 itself far above its surroundings, presenting the 
 appearance, as Humboldt observes, of one forest above 
 another. We can form but little idea of the beauty 
 of this stately tree, or of the multiplicity of forms 
 
THE PALM TREE. 125 
 
 which it -assumes, while they all partake of the same 
 general outline and character. 
 
 It will be remember- 
 ed that in speaking of 
 the growth of trees, we 
 mentioned that the fresh 
 deposits of wood are 
 made on the external 
 surface of the trunk, im- 
 mediately under the 
 bark. This is the case 
 with all the trees, with a Endogenous wood. 
 
 few exceptions, found in the Temperate Zone, and 
 they belong to the Exogenous plants. But the Palm 
 may be regarded as the type of the third natural order, 
 called Endogenous, which has been heretofore de- 
 scribed; and by reference to the adjoining cut, the 
 peculiar arrangement of the particles of the wood 
 may be contrasted with that of the exogenous tree. 
 In the exogenous, the centre or heart-wood is the 
 hardest ; the new growth is more spongy, while the 
 bark is quite soft. In the endogenous, the exterior 
 is hard and tough, and the interior is soft, and often 
 pithy. 
 
 The Palms are lofty and erect trees, with slender, 
 cylindrical stems, simple or rarely forked, and are 
 marked more or less distinctly with knots or rings, 
 which show the position of leaves which have de- 
 cayed and fallen, and also indicate the progress of 
 their growth. The leaves, which are large, often 
 11* 
 
126 
 
 THE PALM TREE. 
 
 Tupati Palm Leaves fifty feet in length. 
 
 gigantic, sometimes measuring 50 feet long and 8 
 wide, are of various shapes ; the largest are pinnate, 
 or divided like a fern into long narrow leaflets ; others 
 are entire, and measure 30 feet long, and 4 to 5 wide. 
 The pinnate leaves often assume the form of an im- 
 mense fan, which, from their size and apparent light- 
 ness, are objects of great beauty. 
 
 The leaves appear in huge bunches or tufts at the 
 summit of the tree, and are seated on long petioles 
 
THE PALM TREE. 127 
 
 or footstalks, and a constant succession is produced 
 from the centre of this tuft, to supply the place of 
 the lower ones, as they decay and fall off. 
 
 The flowers, which singly are small and inconspi- 
 cuous, generally appear in such dense clusters as to 
 render them peculiarly striking, especially when 
 newly opened, as they often emit a very powerful 
 odor. 
 
 The Palm trees are as essential to the comfort of 
 the inhabitants of the countries in which they grow, 
 as our most useful trees are to us. To the Wander- 
 ing Arab they afford both food and shelter ; and, as 
 he sits beneath its refreshing shade, and listens to 
 the tales of luxury and ease enjoyed by the nations 
 of the civilized world, when he is told that they have 
 no Date trees, he turns with a contented heart to the 
 barren sands of his own dear desert, probably won- 
 dering how they endure the privation. 
 
 Perhaps we cannot better illustrate our subject 
 than by quoting a few pages from an interesting 
 work entitled, " The Palm Trees of the Amazon, and 
 their Uses," by Alfred Russel Wallace, who, while 
 on a recent tour of discovery to the tropical parts of 
 South 'America, was so struck with the beauty and 
 grandeur of these noble trees, that he was induced 
 to make many close and interesting observations on 
 their habits and uses. 
 
 " The materials for this work were collected during 
 my travels on the Amazon and its tributaries, from 
 1848 to 1852. Though principally occupied with 
 the varied and interesting animal productions of the 
 
128 
 
 THE PALM TREE. 
 
 country, I yet found time to examine and admire the 
 wonders of vegetable life which everywhere abounded. 
 Huge trees with buttressed stems, tangled climbers 
 of fantastic forms, and strange parasitical plants 
 everywhere meet the admiring gaze of the naturalist 
 fresh from the meadows and heaths of Europe. 
 Everywhere, too, rise the graceful Palms, true 
 denizens of the tropics, of which they are the most 
 striking and characteristic feature. In the districts 
 
 which I visited they 
 Were abundant, and 
 I soon became inte- 
 rested in them. 
 
 "The purposes to 
 which the different 
 parts of Palms are 
 applied are very va- 
 rious, the fruit, the 
 leaves, and the stem, 
 all having many uses 
 in the different 
 species. Some of 
 them produce valua- 
 ble articles of export 
 to our own and other 
 countries; but they 
 are of far more value 
 to the natives of the 
 
 districts where they grow, in many cases furnishing 
 the most important necessaries for existence. 
 
 " The Cocoa-nut is known to us only as an agree- 
 
 The Cocoa-nut Palm. 
 
THE PALM TREE. 129 
 
 able fruit, and its fibrous husks supply us with mat- 
 ting, coir ropes, and stuffing for inattresses; but in 
 its native country it serves a hundred purposes ; food, 
 and drink, and oil are obtained from its fruit; hats 
 and baskets are made of its fibre, huts are covered 
 with its leaves, and its leaf-stalks are applied to a 
 variety of uses. To us the Date is but an agreeable 
 fruit, but to the Arab it is the very staff of life ; men 
 and camels almost live upon it, and on the abundance 
 of the date harvest depends the wealth and almost 
 the existence of many desert tribes. It is truly in- 
 digenous to those inhospitable wastes of burning 
 sands, which without it would be uninhabitable by 
 man. 
 
 " A Palm tree of Africa, gives us oil and candles. 
 It inhabits those parts of the country where the 
 slave-trade is carried on, and it is thought by persons 
 best acquainted with the subject, that the extension 
 of the trade in palm oil will be the most effectual 
 check to that inhuman traffic; so that a Palm tree 
 may be the means of spreading the blessings of 
 civilization and humanity among the persecuted negro 
 race. 
 
 " Sago is another product of a Palm, which is of 
 comparatively little importance to us, but in the East 
 supplies the daily food of thousands. In many parts 
 of the Indian Archipelago, it forms almost the entire 
 subsistence of the people, taking the place of rice in 
 Asia, corn in Europe, and maize and mandioca in 
 America, and is worthy to be classed with these the 
 most precious gifts of Nature to mankind. Unlike 
 I 
 
130 THE PALM TREE. 
 
 them, however, it is neither seed nor root, but is the 
 wood itself, the pithy centre of the stem, requiring 
 scarcely any preparation to fit it for food ; and it is 
 so abundant that a single tree often yields six hun- 
 dred pounds weight. 
 
 "The canes used for chair -bottoms and various 
 other purposes, are the stems of a species of calamus, 
 slender palms which abound in the East Indian 
 jungles, climbing over other trees and bushes by the 
 help of the long-hooked spines with which their 
 leaves are armed. They sometimes reach the enor- 
 mous length of 600 or even 1000 feet, and as 
 4,000,000 of them are imported into this country 
 (England) annually, a great number of persons must 
 find employment in cutting them. 
 
 " Among the most singular products of palm trees 
 are the resins and wax produced by some species. 
 The fruits of a species of calamus of the Eastern 
 Archipelago are covered with a resinous substance 
 of a red color, which in common with a similar pro- 
 duct from some other trees, is the Dragon's blood of 
 commerce, and is used as a pigment, for varnish, and 
 in the manufacture of tooth-powder. A lofty palm, 
 growing in the Andes of Bogotd, produces a resinous 
 wax which is secreted in its stem, and used by the 
 inhabitants of the country for making candles, and 
 for other purposes. 
 
 " The leaves of palms, however, are applied to the 
 greatest variety of uses ; thatch for houses, umbrellas, 
 hats, baskets, and cordage in countless varieties are 
 made from them, and every tropical country possesses 
 
THE PA.LM TREE. 131 
 
 some species adapted to these varied purposes, which 
 in temperate zones are generally supplied by a very 
 different class of plants. The Chip, or Brazilian- 
 grass hats, so cheap in this country, are made from 
 the leaves of a palm tree which grows in Cuba, 
 whence they are imported for the purpose. 
 
 " The papyrus of the ancient Egyptians, and the 
 metallic plates on which other nations wrote, were not 
 used in India, but their place was supplied by the 
 leaves of palms, on whose hard and glossy surface the 
 characters were inscribed with a metallic point. These 
 leaves, when strung together, form the volumes of a 
 Hindoo library. 
 
 " We have now glanced at a few of the most im- 
 portant uses to which Palms are applied, but in order 
 to be able to appreciate how much the native tribes 
 of the countries where they most abound, are de- 
 pendent on this noble family of plants, and how they 
 take part in some form or other in almost every action 
 of the Indian's life, we must enter into his hut and 
 inquire into the origin and structure of the various 
 articles we shall see around us. 
 
 " Suppose then we visit an Indian cottage on the 
 banks of - the Rio Negro, a great tributary of the 
 river Amazon, in South America. The main sup- 
 ports of the building are trunks of some forest tree 
 of heavy and durable wood, but the light rafters over 
 head are formed by the straight cylindrical and 
 uniform stems of the Jard palm. The roof is thatched 
 with large triangular leaves, neatly arranged in 
 regular alternate rows, and bound to the rafters with 
 
132 THE PALM TREE. 
 
 sipds or forest creepers ; the leaves are those of the 
 Caran palm. The door of the house is a framework 
 of thin hard strips of wood neatly thatched over j it 
 is made of the split stems of the Pashiuba palm. In 
 one corner stands a heavy harpoon for catching the 
 cow-fish; it is formed of the black wood of the 
 Pashiuba. By its side is a blow-pipe ten or twelve 
 feet long, and a little quiver full of small poisoned 
 arrows hangs up near it ; with these the Indian pro- 
 cures birds for food, or for their gay feathers, or even 
 brings down the wild hog or the tapir, and it is from 
 the stems and spines of two species of Palms that 
 they are made. His great bassoon-like musical in- 
 struments are made of palm stems ; the cloth in which 
 he wraps his most valued feather ornaments is a fibrous 
 palm spathe ; and the rude chest in which he keeps 
 his treasures is woven from palm leaves. His ham- 
 mock, his bow-string and his fishing-line, are from 
 the fibres of leaves which he obtains from different 
 palm trees, according to the qualities he requires in 
 them, the hammock from the Miriti, and the bow- 
 string and fishing-line from the Tuciim. The comb 
 which he wears on his head is ingeniously constructed 
 of the hard bark of a palm, and he makes fish-hooks, 
 of the spines, or uses them to puncture on his skin 
 the peculiar markings of his tribe. His children are 
 eating the agreeable red and yellow fruit of the 
 Pupunha or peach palm, and from that of the Assai 
 he has prepared a favorite drink, which he offers you 
 to taste. That carefully-suspended gourd contains 
 oil, which he has extracted from the fruit of another 
 
THE PALM TREE. 
 
 183 
 
 species ; and that long elastic plaited cylinder, used 
 for squeezing dry the mandiocca pulp to make his 
 bread, is made of the bark of one of the singular 
 climbing palms, which alone can resist for a consider- 
 able time the action of the poisonous juice. In each 
 of these cases a species is selected better adapted 
 than the rest for the peculiar purpose to which it is 
 applied, and often having several different uses which 
 no other plant can serve as well ; so that some little 
 idea may be formed of how important to the South 
 American Indian must be 
 these noble trees, which 
 supply so many daily wants, 
 giving him his house, his 
 food, and his weapons." 
 
 The Palms may be said 
 to be almost exclusively a 
 tropical production, a few 
 only being found either to 
 the north or to the south 
 of their limits. A beauti- 
 ful species, the "Palmetto," 
 grows in considerable 
 abundance in South Caro- 
 lina and Florida : this ap- 
 pears to be the only one 
 which exists so far north 
 on this continent. The whole number of species yet 
 known is about 600, of which 275 are natives of 
 America. 
 
 The Palms present in their varied forms some of 
 12 
 
 The Palmetto. 
 
134 THE PALM TREE. 
 
 the most graceful and picturesque, and certainly some 
 of the most majestic objects to be found in the vege- 
 table world. They stand out with their light, airy, 
 and sometimes plume-like foliage, in harmonious 
 contrast with the deep, dark, and rank growth of the 
 underwood. Notwithstanding there is much simi- 
 larity in their general character, yet the difference is 
 frequently great. Some species attain the enormous 
 stature of 200 feet, while others have no stems 
 visible above ground, and display nothing but a wide- 
 spreading bunch of huge leaves } some are like reeds 
 and are no thicker than a quill, others attain a 
 diameter of 3 feet. The trunks of some are smooth, 
 and some are rough with concentric rings, " or clothed 
 with a woven or hairy fibrous covering." From the 
 trunks of other species project cylindrical spines 8 or 
 10 inches in length and quite sharp, which it may 
 be supposed often interrupt the progress of the 
 traveller, as well as prove dangerous enemies in the 
 dark. 
 
 The bold and erect posture of the Palm tree is 
 proverbially emblematic of perfect uprightness. Thus 
 David says, "The righteous shall flourish like the 
 Palm tree." 
 
 The branches of the Palm, or rather their long 
 leaves, were also considered as emblems of victory, 
 and were often used as such on occasions of public 
 rejoicing. When our Saviour made his triumphant 
 entry into Jerusalem, some of the people " took 
 branches of Palm trees, and strewed them in the 
 way." And in the vision of St. John, the multitude 
 
THE PALM TREE. 135 
 
 which no man could number, were seen standing 
 before the throne, clothed with white robes, and had 
 palms in their hands. 
 
 In the many places in Scripture where the Palm 
 is mentioned, it undoubtedly alludes to the Date tree 
 which was formerly abundant in Palestine, and still 
 is a tree of frequent occurrence throughout Asia 
 Minor, Arabia, and Egypt. 
 
 Cocoa-nuts. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Acorn, wonders of, 88, 89. 
 Acrogenous plants, 70. 
 African Palm-tree, 129. 
 Air-plants, 42. 
 Alga?, 70. 
 Aloe, 37. 
 
 blooms but once, 37. 
 
 cultivated in tropical America, 
 38. 
 
 fibres of, used in making rope 
 bridges, 39. 
 
 paper made from, by the ancient 
 Mexicans, 39. 
 
 various uses of, 39. 
 Alpine plants, 73. 
 Amaryllis, Yellow, 55. 
 Amazon, 1'alm-trees of the, 127-133. 
 American Daisy, 48. 
 Ankerwyke Yew, 109. 
 Annuals, 83. 
 Anther, 28. 
 Aquarium, 60-63. 
 
 plants best adapted to, 65. 
 Aquatic plants render water pure, 
 
 60. 
 
 Arctic Circle, flowers of, 72. 
 Arctic regions, Willow of, 102. 
 Aspen, 106. 
 
 Barley, 16. 
 Barren Pine, 78. 
 
 how supplied with moisture, 79. 
 Barton on the Passion-Flower, 41. 
 Bashan, Oaks of, 93. 
 Beech, 98, 99. 
 
 Bible, origin of the term, 20. 
 Biennials, 83. 
 Bignonia, 43. 
 Birch, 104. 
 
 Birch-bark canoes, 105. 
 12* 
 
 Black Oak, 93. 
 
 Black Walnut, 99, 100. 
 
 Bloom, how to prolong, 33. 
 
 Blossoming trees, 110. 
 
 Boddington Oak, 95. 
 
 Box-wood, 87. 
 
 Buckeye, 110. 
 
 Bud contains the entire plant in 
 
 miniature, 84. 
 Bulbous roots, 84. 
 Bulrush of the Bible, 19. 
 Butterfly Orchis, 43. 
 
 Cabinet-ware woods, 87. 
 
 California, large trees of, 113-116. 
 
 Calla, 55. 
 
 Calyx, 27. 
 
 Canada Balsam, 118. 
 
 Canes for chair-bottoms, 130. 
 
 Canoe Birch, 104, 105. 
 
 Carolina rice-fields, 19. 
 
 Catalpa, 110. 
 
 Catkins, 27. 
 
 Cauline leaves, 35. 
 
 Cedar of Lebanon, 120-122. 
 
 spoken of by prophet Ezekiel, 
 
 120. 
 Cedars of Lebanon, 121. 
 
 number of, now remaining, 122. 
 
 properties of the wood, 123. 
 Century Plant, 37. 
 Cereal grasses rapid in growth, 15. 
 Cereus, Night-blooming, 30, 31. 
 Chandos Oak, 95. 
 Charter Oak, 93. 
 Chestnut, 98. 
 
 its resemblance to the Oak, 97, 
 
 98. 
 
 China Aster, 48. 
 Circulating fluid of plants, 58. 
 (137) 
 
138 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Cocoanut, 129. 
 Compound flowers, 49. 
 Cone-bearing trees, 112. 
 
 enlivening effect of their foliage 
 
 in winter, 116. 
 Conifera, 112. 
 Convolvulus, 44. 
 Cork Oak, 92. 
 Corolla, 27. 
 Corymb, 29. 
 
 figured, 31. 
 Cowthorpe Oak, 97. 
 Crawley Elm, 104. 
 Crocus, 81. 
 Curled Willow, 103. 
 Cyme, 29. 
 
 figured, 32. 
 Cypress, 118. 
 
 a long-lived tree, 120. 
 
 swampa of the South, 119. 
 Cypress-wood, durability of, 119. 
 
 supposed to be the gopher-wood 
 of Scripture, 119. 
 
 Daisy, 47, 48. 
 
 a compound flower, 48, 49. 
 
 Michaelmas, 48. 
 Date, 129. 
 Date-tree, the palm of Scripture, 
 
 135. 
 Dog-wood, flowers of, 30. 
 
 Egyptian Water-Lily, 64. 
 
 venerated by the Hindoos, 54. 
 Elm, 103, 104, 108. 
 Endogenous plants, 13. 
 
 trees, 125. 
 Epiphytes, 43. 
 European Cypress, 119. 
 Evening Primrose, 31. 
 Evergreens, 75, 116. 
 Exogenous trees, 86. 
 
 Fascicle, 29. 
 
 figured, 30. 
 Ferns, 70, 71. 
 
 seed-vessels of, 71. 
 Fibrous-rooted plants, use of, 84. 
 Filament, 28. 
 Fir, 113, 117, 120. 
 Flowers, 25, 26. 
 
 abound in mountainous places, 
 73. 
 
 common form of, 28. 
 
 different arrangement of, 29. 
 
 of Arctic countries, 73. 
 
 Flowers of the grasses, 13. 
 
 parts of, described, 27, 28. 
 
 seed-producing organs of, 27. 
 
 various shapes of, 28. 
 Flushing Oaks, 93. 
 Fly-trap, 82. 
 Fontingall Yew, 109. 
 Food-plants, their power of repro- 
 duction, 14. 
 Fronds, 71. 
 Fruits, 34. 
 
 Garden 8000 feet above the sea, 74. 
 Grass, meaning of the term as used 
 in Scripture, 12. 
 
 many varieties of, 12. 
 Grasses, abundance of seeds, 14. 
 
 formation of, 13. 
 
 order of, in creation, 11. 
 Great Water-Lily, 51. 
 Gopher-wood, 119. 
 
 Hemlock, 117. 
 Hickory, 100. 
 
 Himalaya Mountains, rhododen- 
 drons of, 75, 76. 
 Hindoo paper, 131. 
 Hollow Elm at Hampstead, 104. 
 Holly-leaved Oak, 92. 
 
 Indian Corn, 17. 
 Insect-catching plants, 82. 
 Involucre, 30. 
 
 figured, 34. 
 Ipomaea, 45. 
 
 Jacobean Lily, 56. 
 
 curious process of fertilization, 
 
 56. 
 Jara Palm, 131. 
 
 Larch, 118. 
 
 Large trees of California, 113-116. 
 Leaves, breathing-organs of plants, 
 58. 
 
 of endogenous plants, 13. 
 
 of the fir, 112, 
 
 of the larch, 113. 
 
 of the palm, uses of, 130, 131. 
 
 of the pine, 112. 
 
 of various species of oak.figured, 
 88-93. 
 
 varieties of, 35. 
 
 various shapes of, 35, 36. 
 Lebanon, cedars o 121-123. 
 Lichens, 70. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 139 
 
 Light not essential to all flowers, 30. 
 Lily, the emblem of purity, 50. 
 
 many varieties, 51. 
 
 of the New Testament, 55. 
 
 of the Old Testament, 54. 
 Live Oak, 91, 92. 
 Locust, 110. 
 
 Lombardy Poplar, 103, 106. 
 Lotus, 54. 
 Loudon's Arboretum, quoted, 94-97. 
 
 Magdalen Oak, 96. 
 
 Magnolia, 111. 
 
 Maize, 17. 
 
 Marine plants, 65. 
 
 Marvel of Peru, 32. 
 
 Meadow-grass, recuperative power 
 
 of, 23. 
 
 Merton Oak, 94. 
 Michaelmas Daisy, 48. 
 Milfoil, 66. 
 Mimosa, 82. 
 Morning-Glories, 44. 
 Mosses, 70. 
 Mould, 70. 
 Mount Etna, famous chestnut-tree 
 
 of, 98. 
 
 Mummy wheat, 15. 
 Myriophyllum, 66. 
 
 Napoleon's Willow, 102. 
 
 Nature's power of adaptation, 78, 
 
 79. 
 
 Nectary, 27. 
 
 Night-blooming Cereus, 30, 31. 
 Night-blooming flowers, 30. 
 
 Oak, growth of, described, 89, 90. 
 in Syria, confined mostly to ele- 
 vated positions, 92. 
 its resemblance to the chest- 
 nut, 97, 98. 
 varieties of, 88. 
 Oaks, several celebrated English, 
 
 described, 94-97. 
 Oats, 17, 18. 
 Old trees, 94, 96, 98, 99,108, 109,120, 
 
 122. 
 
 Orchids, 42, 43. 
 
 Orders of the vegetable kingdom, 12. 
 Ornamental trees of American 
 
 forests, 110. 
 Ovary, 27. 
 Oxygenation of air by leaves, 60. 
 
 Palestine, oaks >f, 92. 
 
 Palm, 124-135. 
 
 almost exclusively tropical, 133. 
 
 emblem of uprightness, 134. 
 
 leaves of, 126. 
 
 of Scripture, 135. 
 
 utility of, 127. 
 Palm-branches emblems of victory, 
 
 Palms, leaves of, formerly used in 
 India as paper, 131. 
 
 of South America, 131, 132. 
 Palmetto, 133. 
 Pampas Grass, 22. 
 Panicle, 29. 
 
 figured, 32. 
 Paper Birch, 104. 
 Paper of the ancients, 20. 
 Papyrus, 19-21. 
 Pashiuba Palm, 132. 
 Passion-Flower, 40, 41. 
 
 Barton's verses on, 41. 
 Peduncle, 29. 
 Perennials, 83. 
 Perfumes highly esteemed by the 
 
 ancient Jews, 81. 
 
 Period of rest in plants, how indi- 
 cated, 74. 
 Petals, 27. 
 
 Picture-writings of the Mexicans,39. 
 Pines of the United States Pacific 
 
 coast, 116. 
 Pistils, 27. 
 Pitcher Plant, 79. 
 Plants adapted to air and water, 66. 
 
 evolve oxygen in daytime, 59. 
 
 of cold countries usually have 
 white flowers, 73. 
 
 power of motion in, 81-83. 
 
 resemblance of their functions 
 to those of animals, 58. 
 
 respiration of, 58, 59. 
 
 their season of rest, 74. 
 Plato's laws engraved on cypress- 
 wood, 119. 
 Pollen, 28. 
 Pond Lily, 54. 
 Poplar, 103, 106, 107. 
 
 Lombardy, 103, 106. 
 Pride of India, 110. 
 Primrose, Evening, 31. 
 Pulque, 40. 
 
 Raceme, 29. 
 
 figured, 30. 
 Radical, 35. 
 Reflected flowers, 28. 
 
140 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Respiration of plants, 58, 59. 
 
 Rhizome, 71. 
 
 Rhododendron, 75. 
 
 Rice, 18. 
 
 Rice-fields of Carolina, 19. 
 
 Ringent flowers, 28. 
 
 Rings in exogenous wood denote 
 
 years of growth, 91. 
 Roots, 83, 84. 
 
 Rope bridges of Mexico, 39. 
 Rose, 45-47. 
 
 cultivation of, in India, 46. 
 
 wild, 47. 
 Rose-wood, 87. 
 
 Saffron, 81. 
 
 Sago, 129. 
 
 Salcey Forest Oak, 94. 
 
 Samphire, 68-70. 
 
 Sandal-wood, 87. 
 
 Sap, circulation of, 90. 
 
 effect of light on, 90. 
 Satin-wood, 87. 
 Scriptures, allusions to cone-bearing 
 
 trees in, 120. 
 Sea-Aquarium, 68. 
 Sea- Weed s, 67, 70. 
 Sensitive Plant, 82. 
 Shapes of leaves, 35, 36. 
 Shellbark Hickory, 100. 
 Silver Fir, 118. 
 Sleep of plants, 32. 
 South American Indians, usefulness 
 
 of the palm-tree to, 132. 
 Spadix, 56. 
 Spike, 29. 
 Spikenard, 80. 
 Spruce, 117. 
 
 roots of, used in making birch- 
 bark tents, 105. 
 Stamens, 27, 28. 
 Starwort, 66. 
 Stems of the grasses, 14. 
 Style, 27. 
 Sun-flower, 49. 
 Sweet Potato, 45. 
 
 Tea, annual product of, in China, 78. 
 Tea-leaves, properties of, 77. 
 Tea-Plant, 76. 
 
 green and black tea product of 
 
 the same plant, 77. 
 Tents made of birch-bark, 105. 
 
 Thyrse, 29. 
 
 figured, 33. 
 
 Tortworth, chestnut-tree at, 98. 
 Transformation of an insect, 63-65. 
 Trees add to beauty of a landscape, 
 103. 
 
 contrast of, afforded by different 
 climates, 124. 
 
 3000 years old, 115. 
 
 uses of, 85, 86. 
 Trumpet-Flower, 43. 
 Tuberous roots, 84. 
 Tulip, 55. 
 Tulip Poplar, 107. 
 
 Umbel, 29. 
 
 figured, 31. 
 Umbrella Tree, 111. 
 United States, variety of plants of, 
 74. 
 
 Vegetable kingdom, orders of, 12, 
 Vegetative power of wheat, 15. 
 Venus Fly-trap, 82. 
 Victoria Regia, 51-53. 
 
 Bridges's account of discovery 
 of, 51, 52. 
 
 Walnut, 99. 
 
 Water Buttercup, 66. 
 
 Water-Lily, 54. 
 
 Wax from palm-trees, 130. 
 
 Weeping Willow, 101. 
 
 Wellingtonia of California, 113. 
 
 Wheat, 15. 
 
 not found wild, 15. 
 White Pine, 116, 117. 
 White Lily, 55. 
 White Oak, 93. 
 Whorl, 35. 
 Wild Roses, 47. 
 Willow, varieties of, 102. 
 Winfarthing Oak, 94. 
 Woods used in the arts, 87. 
 
 Yellow Amaryllis, 55. 
 Yellow Birch, 104. 
 Yellow Pine, 118. 
 Yew, 108. 
 
 in the United States, 110. 
 Yews of Fountain Abbey, 109. 
 
 Zebra-wood, 87.