^^: 



402 



A TlllI' TO CUn.V AND TIIK SOITUERN STATES. 



a rinp around the stem, which soon assumes the lead color of the bark, the rinp 

 rtMuaiiiiiifr distinctly visiltlo, und iiiiirkinjj^ the successive falls. A l)room-like seed- 

 vessel shoots out, of a pale yellow, from the top of the lead-colored trunk and 



Palm, with swelled trunk, common near Trinidad de Cuba. Height, 25 to 40 feet. 



base of the green sheaths above it ; as this blossom falls, a green berry is formed, 

 and this gradually becomes the small brown drupe forming the principal food of 

 swine. Another and another bunch is produced, and we have blossoms and ripe 

 fruit in perpetual succession, each tree with bushels on it. Here is the food, 

 boards, fuel, and thatching. Palms, taking the whole family, yield, in addition, 

 fibre of great variety, oil, wax, starch, sugar, daily food, a mild and an intoxicating 

 drink, or, as the poet has it — 



" The Indian-nut alone 



Is clothing, meat and trencher, drink and pan, 



Boat, cable, sail, and needle, all in one." 



The Palms belong to the Endogens, the woody matter being constantly deve- 

 loped, in the first instance, towards the interior of the trunk. That Palm-trees 

 grow in this way, was known so long since as the time of Theophrastus, who dis- 

 tinctly speaks of the differences Ijetween endogenous and exogenous wood. The 

 longevity of Palms is inconsiderable when compared with that of exogenous trees. 

 Two or three hundred years are estimated to form the extreme extent of life in a 

 ~ Palm, and in many others. 



e had the " cabbage" dressed for dinner as we dress a cabbage at home 



