POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



427 



perseded. The power of photography to 

 portray the nebula: has been thoroughly 

 demonstrated. The art has been applied to 

 the observation of comets, and may yet be 

 brought into play for the paths of meteors, 

 the discovery of new planets, and other pur- 

 poses now hardly thought of. After re- 

 maining nearly stationary for years, " at a 

 bound it has gone far beyond anything 

 that was expected of it, and bids fair to 

 overturn a good deal of the practice that 

 ha3 hitherto existed among astronomers." 



Indian Villages in Xew Torli. — In his 



American Association paper on " Aboriginal 

 Villages in New York State," Dr. W. M. 

 Beauchamp traversed the famous theories 

 of Mr. Lewis II. Morgan of the " long 

 houses" of the Iroquois. In the highlands, 

 he said, forts were commonly long and nar- 

 row, often two or three times as long as 

 wide, and usually with the houses in the 

 narrow part, leaving the wider portion for 

 public uses and games. The long house 

 was not peculiar to the Iroquois, nor promi- 

 nent among them, and facts in this matter 

 have yielded to theories. Greenhalgh no- 

 ticed these large lodges in only one town, 

 and Morgan's estimate would give that town 

 five times the whole Seneca population. The 

 traveler's account gave but an average of 

 two or three warriors to a lodge through- 

 out the five nations. The form of the forts 

 often afforded but little room for long houses, 

 especially in those examined by the author. 

 Among the Iroquois they do not prove com- 

 munal life. Early writers often refer to 

 ownership of fields, and Sir William John- 

 son said that every nation and tribe had its 

 own district and well-known portion of land. 



Trees for Plantation aronnd nonces. — 



Dr. Charles Roberts, considering the sub- 

 ject from the sanitary point of view, advises 

 that while belts of trees maybe planted on 

 the northern and eastern aspects of houses, 

 on the east side the trees should not be so 

 near nor so high as to keep the morning 

 sun from the bedroom windows in the 

 shorter days. On the southern and west- 

 em aspects of the house isolated trees only 

 should be permitted, so that there may be 

 free access of the sunshine and the west 

 winds to the house and grounds. Pine trees 



are the best of all trees to plant near the 

 house, as they collect the greatest amount 

 of rainfall, and permit the freest evap- 

 oration from the ground. Acacias, oaks, 

 and birches are late to burst into leaf, and 

 therefore allow the ground to be warmed 

 by the sun's rays in early spring. The elm, 

 lime, and chestnut are the least desirable 

 trees to plant near houses, although they are 

 the most common. They both come into 

 leaf and cast their leaves early, so that 

 they exclude the spring sun and do not af- 

 ford much shade in the hot autumn months, 

 when it is most required. Trees are often 

 useful guides to the selection of residences. 

 Numerous trees with rich foliage and a rank 

 growth of ferns or moss indicate a damp, 

 stagnant atmosphere ; while abundance of 

 flowers and fruit imply a dry, sunny climate. 

 Pines and birches indicate a dry, rocky, 

 sandy, or gravelly soil; beeches, a dryish, 

 chalky, or gravelly soil ; elms and limes, a 

 rich and somewhat damp soil ; oaks and 

 ashes, a heavy clay soil ; and poplars and 

 willows, a low, damp, or marshy soil. Many 

 of these trees are found growing together, 

 and it is only when one species predominates 

 in number and vigor that it is truly char- 

 acteristic of the soil and that part of the 

 atmosphere in connection with it. 



The Cross Timbers of Texas. — The 



" Cross Timbers " of Texas are two long 

 and narrow strips of forest region between 

 the ninety-sixth and ninety-ninth meridians, 

 extending parallel to each other from the 

 Indian Territory southward to the central 

 portion of the State, and forming a marked 

 exception to the usual prairie features of the 

 country. They are about fifteen miles wide, 

 and fifty miles apart, and are separated by 

 a timberless prairie region. Both arc lower 

 in level than the country through which they 

 extend. The western strip, because it is 

 higher in position, though geologically lower, 

 is called the upper, and the eastern strip 

 the lower cross timber. The soil in both 

 is sandy, but that of the eastern strip is 

 less siliceous, with some iron, is consider- 

 ably more fertile than that of the western, 

 and shows corresponding differences in its 

 vegetation. Various theories have been 

 proposed to account for the existence of _ 

 these woodlands — among ihem, that they 



