THE PLANT WORI.D 163 



Briefer Articles. 



PLANTS OF UNIVERSAL APPLICATION. 



In certain portions of the world there exist plants which are used 

 by the natives in so many ways that we are led to doubt whether man- 

 kind conld dispense with them. Naturally these useful plants are mainly 

 indigenous to the tropics. In the North there is no one tree or shrub 

 which will supply man with all his needs, food, raiment, and the very 

 home which shelters him. Under the equator, however, where vegeta- 

 tion is so rank and the people, as a rule, so indolent, it is natural enough 

 that there should be those vegetable wonders. Indeed, the very luxuri- 

 ance of life and the ease with which the fruits of the earth may be 

 obtained without exertion engenders that indolence which is so char- 

 acteristic of these countries. 



We of the temperate zones have our oak-trees, pines, and spruces, 

 used in many important ways, it is true ; yet it is conceivable that we 

 might survive without them. Not so with some of the Oriental and 

 South American nations, dependent solely for every want upon the 

 growth of one plant. Even cotton, to whom we pay such loyal homage, 

 is but a tributary prince in comparison to many of the tropical plants. 



One of the most remarkable instances of universal application is afforded 

 by the bamboo, which, in the countries where it occurs, is indispensable 

 to the inhabitants. Of it they construct their dwellings, weave their 

 garments, build their rafts and boats, and even make the sails which waft 

 them. Musical instruments are manufactured from the hollow tubes, and 

 pipes for smoking, or for the transmission of water. It is formed into 

 all kinds of domestic utensils, as chairs, tables, and bedsteads. Even 

 the carts used in the field are constructed of bamboo. It is beaten into 

 a pulp for paper, and is twisted into mats or cordage. Sometimes it is 

 used for a candle-wick ; sometimes a life-preserver is made of it. When 

 young and tender it is used as an article of food, and preserved in sugar 

 is exported to less favored nations. Plantations are fenced in with it, 

 and the dignitary uses it as a baton of office, or as a whip to scourge the 

 offender. 



Not unlike the bamboo in its manifold applications is the banana. 

 This plant has been so long cultivated, or, we might more properly say, 

 has been allowed to grow for his use, by man that all traces of seed are 

 obliterated. Besides its more obvious use as an article of diet, the leaves 

 are employed to thatch houses or to clothe the body, and the stems are 

 used in as many ways nearly as the bamboo itself. Viewed simply as an 



