372 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The dwarf palm of Algeria and southern Spain (Chamcerops 

 humilis) is not a profitable sort, but is rather a detriment to the 

 Algerian plains. When it gets possession of a spot, it is very 

 hard to exterminate, and the place becomes little to be preferred 

 to the desert. The palm lands have, however, been cleared to a 

 considerable extent since the French occupation of Algeria. The 

 leaves are used in making brooms, baskets, and minor articles, for 

 paper pulp, cords, and " vegetable hair." 



The tender, plump buds of many species of Indian and Ameri- 

 can palms supply a choice food which is called " palm cabbage." 

 The young tissue, which is very like salad-heart, is eaten raw or 

 cooked and seasoned in different ways, or pickled. The leaves 

 that are large enough are used on the roofs of houses or in the 

 manufacture of a diversity of articles. Hindu characters are 

 sometimes traced with a bodkin on strips of the leaves of the fan 

 palm (Corypha) of the Indian islands, and these are folded like 

 letters and sent in the mail. The flexibility of the leaves adapts 

 them to many purposes of art. From the young leaves of the 

 coco (Lodoicea seychellarum), whose enormous and strange-look- 

 ing fruit is an object of curious interest, the natives of the Sey- 

 chelles Islands make some handsome basket-work. The extremely 

 light and durable hats called Panama are made from the leaves of 

 species of this family. The pellicle of the leaves of the Baphia, or 

 sago palm of Madagascar, from which the natives of that island 

 make fine cloths, is used for ties in gardening and in the manu- 

 facture of artificial flowers, and is good for many other purposes. 



Bridges over torrents and small rivers are made of the solid 

 trunks of palm-trees. When the wood is fine and close, it is split 

 into pieces that are turned and polished. Highly esteemed um- 

 brella-handles called laurel handles are made from several 

 kinds. If the central part of the stem is filled with tender pith, 

 not too much stringy and tough, it is collected as sago ; of which 

 the sago palm of Madagascar and the corresponding regions of 

 Africa affords the most highly prized quality. 



Stems of small diameter are equally desirable. The jungles in 

 the East Indian Archipelago Java, Sumatra, and the peninsula 

 of Malacca abound in climbing palms or palm vines, the stems 

 of which wind among the limbs of the trees to the top. Some 

 have been measured that were a hundred yards long before they 

 became interlocked with the network of the forest. They are the 

 rattans (Fig. 4) which are so handy where a cane or any kind of 

 flexible stick is wanted. Chairs are caned with the outer part of 

 the rattan, and from the rest of the stem children's chairs, baskets, 

 and many useful articles including even dish-cloths are made. 

 The author of this essay has had considerable success in making 

 such ornamental articles as earrings, scarf-pins, etc., out of the 



