64 , Pleasantries of ^ural literature. 



pairs, alone, or in large companies, the winged inhabitants : these, from little dusky 

 flies, for such only the naked eye would have shown them, were raised to glorious, 

 glittering animals, stained with living purple, and with a glossy gold, that would 

 make all the labors of the loom contemptible in the comparison. I could, at leisure, 

 as they walked together, admire their elegant limbs, their velvet shoulders, and their 

 silken wings — their backs vying with the empyrean in its blue ; and their eyes, each 

 formed of a thousand others, out-glittering the little plains on a brilliant ; above 

 description, and too great almost for admiration." 



Hoiv Tree Planting is Encouraged in Europe. 



The success of national legislation in behalf of general tree planting, has never 

 been so well illustrated as in Egypt and Algiers. 



Egypt, well known for its dry climate after the destruction of its forests, olive and 

 other plantations, had about six rainy days every year on an average ; but so many 

 millions of useful trees have again been planted there are now about twenty-four 

 rainy days per year recorded. 



There is a man who deserves the greatest esteem from all civilized nations — 

 Napoleon III; who, with all his faults, has given the world an example which, at 

 least, in France, will render his name forever immortal. Convinqcd of the great 

 benefit the barren and swampy districts would derive if planted with trees, by his 

 command many millions have been planted in vast districts of the country. By his 

 command thousands of acres of the desert in Algiers have been transformed into 

 forests, with trees suitable to the climate, and with surprising results. By their 

 rapid growth a great change of the climate is observable, and twice more rain and 

 dew has fallen in the neighborhood of the young forests than before. By his com- 

 mand, more than sixteen geographical square miles of the swampy and unhealthy 

 country along the coast of the Bay of Biscay, in the Department of the Landes, 

 where swamp fever was prevalent, have been planted with millions of trees, especially 

 the cork-oak and swamp-pine, with surprisingly beneficial results. Not only have 

 these trees drained the land, but they have changed it into a healthy country with 

 fine forests. In Japan a law exists that whoever cuts down a tree is obliged to plant 

 another instead. In Biscay every proprietor plants two for one which he cuts down, 

 and the law compelling this is severely executed. 



A. Jtfinarhable Tree. 



A few years ago, a new species of tree was brought from Australia to Algiers. 

 The ex-Emperor I^apoleon, in a recent visit to the Jardin d' Acclimation, at Algiers, 

 was much struck with the rapid growth of this tree, the Eucalyptus Besinifera, or 

 Australian gum tree, which has attained a height of 30 feet and a diameter of six 

 inches in two years. This remarkable tree in its native soil — Australia — sometimes 

 reaches the height of 340 feet, and has been found more than 19 feet in diameter at 

 about a yard from the ground. It often yields planks 200 feet long without a single 

 defect. The wood, notwithstanding its rapid growth, is hard and heavier than oak. 

 It also presents beautiful colors, and is consequently well adapted for cabinet work. 

 An astringent gum, known in commerce as " kino," is obtained by making incisions 

 into its bark. The Eucalyptus is an evergreen ; its leaves have nearly the same shape 

 as the laurel. The development of its lateral branches is no less wonderful than its 

 stems. They are small until the trunk attains the height of about 100 feet, when 

 they shoot out almost horizontally, sometimes to the length of 90 feet, giving the 

 tree the appearance of an enormous umbrella. The seed, strange to say, is very 

 small, and not unlike that of the tobacco plant; the flowers are white, of a most 

 agreeable smell, and much liked by bees, which extract from them a most delicious 

 honey. 



