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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



vary glands first, extends from them through 

 the whole organism. When the indulgence 

 passes beyond the bounds of "moderation," 

 disorders set in, which first affect the teeth ; 

 and even young Annamites are not infre- 

 quently found toothless in consequence of 

 excess. Medical properties are claimed for 

 the areca by the Chinese doctors. It is said 

 to help digestion, to drive away the deleteri- 

 ous miasms that ferment in the body, to be 

 an efficient vermifuge, to prevent flatulence, 

 to heal ulcers, and to be a prophylactic 

 against malarial influences. The people of 

 marshy regions use it instead of tea, on ac- 

 count of its properties as a febrifuge. When 

 taken in strong doses, it produces intoxica- 

 tion. A Chinese poet. Sou Tong, who lived 

 in the eleventh century, celebrates this prop- 

 erty in his verses, but adds that when one is 

 drunken with wine he has only to chew 

 areca to be relieved of his heaviness and 

 brightened up. The nut has the other prop- 

 erties of assuaging hunger, of being an ex- 

 cellent eupeptic, of drying up suppurations, 

 for which the Annamite doctors use it pow- 

 dered, and above all as a remedy for worms, 

 particularly the tapeworms ; and it has other 

 uses in Indo-Chinese medicine. 



Trees in Teonessee. — But few States in 



Xorth America can show a greater variety of 

 valuable timber trees than Tennessee. Al- 

 most every tree to be found in the United 

 States grows in that Commonwealth. The 

 fact is ascribed by Colonel J. W. Killibrew, 

 in a paper he read before the American 

 Forestry Association, partly to the great 

 diversity of soils, partly to the great diifer- 

 ences in elevation and consequently of cli- 

 mate, and partly to the abundant rainfall. 

 Colonel Killibrew has collected a hundred 

 and thirty kinds of wood, eight or ten of 

 which are, however, exotics. Among the 

 indigenous trees are four varieties of ash, 

 three of birch, two of beech, two of magno- 

 lia, five of elm, two of fir, four of gum, eight 

 of hickory, four of locust, three of mulberry, 

 three of maple, four of poplar, six of pine, 

 three of sycamore, fourteen of oak, three of 

 willow, and two of walnut, besides many 

 single valuable kinds, such as red cedar, 

 chestnut, cypress, Cottonwood, pecan, linden, 

 spruce, dogwood, tiswood, etc. Nearly all 

 the western counties of the State were origi- 



nally covered with heavy forests, in which 

 many species are nearly evenly distributed. 

 The tulip tree, the white oak, red oak, hick- 

 ory, gum, black walnut, wild cherry, bass- 

 wood, ash, elm, and beech are interspersed 

 with one another, while cypress abounds in 

 the swamps. In Middle Tennessee, the sup- 

 ply of good timber is very scarce in the 

 richer agricultural districts ; but in a few 

 counties in the southwestern part of this 

 district is a large area of virgin forest. The 

 most valuable timber trees in East Tennessee 

 are the tulip, pine, chestnut, and white oak. 

 The timbered tracts throughout the State 

 consist largely of woodlands attached to 

 farms. In some parts of East Tennessee 

 there are, according to Mr. George H. Sud- 

 worth, dendrologist, hundreds and in other 

 parts thousands of acres of standing white 

 pine which would yield very large amounts 

 of timber. The bulk of it lies in the northern 

 half of East Tennessee, but it extends in a 

 more or less scattered growth clear down to 

 the southeastern corner of the State. Much 

 of it is old, and in some localities it has 

 ceased to grow. The bulk of this pine oc- 

 curs alike in the narrow valleys and on the 

 long, steep, sharp mountainlike ridges. The 

 destruction of the forests is growing with 

 alarming rapidity. The State, however, still 

 has a large supply of timber; and in the 

 future forestry of East Tennessee the regen- 

 eration of the white pine must be an impor- 

 tant feature. Fortunately, the conditions are 

 such as to make it comparatively easy. 



North Americau Grasshoppers. — The 



common short-horned grasshoppers oae sees 

 every summer day — constituting a group 

 which is described as forming the prevailing 

 type of orthopteran life throughout North 

 America — is the subject of an elaborate es- 

 say by S. H. Scudder which is printed in the 

 papers of the United States National Muse- 

 um (Revision of the Orthopteran Group Me- 

 lanopli (Acrididce)). These active insects, 

 whose gymnastic feats cheer and enliven our 

 summer walks through fragrant meadows, 

 are of considerable economical importance, 

 as may be realized when we recollect the de- 

 struction inflicted several years ago by the 

 Rocky Mountain locusts, and the careful in- 

 vestigations and elaborate reports of which 

 they were the subject. This voracious acrid- 



