1879.1 



A NI) 110 R TIC UL Tunis T. 



219 



briefly hintoil at the abnormal forms under 

 notice, let lue add for the information of those 

 less fortunate than you, or I, who have seen 

 and said so much about them that they are by 

 no means floral frauds. When in bloom, their 

 flowers are as i2;ay and beautiful as anything in 

 the vegetable kinirdom, and are as easily managed 

 as any plants in cultivation. Admiring them as 

 I do, I can well understand Mr. Sargent's enthu- 

 siasm while gazing upon the vast and unique 

 collection of succulents in the great gardens of 

 Kew, England. As 1 occupied so much space 

 during 1877, in the July, August and October num- 

 bers of the Monthly, with " The Rhymes and 

 Recollections of a Cactus Man," I must forbear 

 to say any more about them, although I feel 

 sorely tempted to go on. So in conclusion, will 

 only state that between the " vegetable mon- 

 strosities " before me, and the fact of their hav- 

 ing come safely through the post office there are 

 about equal comments made upon the curiosities 

 of nature and the mysteries of the mail bags. 



NOTES ABOUT TREES. 



BY ETHEL ALLEN. 



The natives of the island of Otaheite, relate 

 a touching legend in regard to the origin of the 

 breadfruit tree. Once upon a time, when there 

 was a famine in the land, a father assembled 

 his numerous children upon the mountains, and 

 addressed them as follows : "You will inter me 

 in this place, but you will find me again on the 

 morrow." So the children complied with his 

 wish, and coming on the following da}', as had 

 been commanded, they were astonished to find 

 that the body of their father was transformed 

 into a great tree. His toes formed the roots, 

 his body the trunk, while his outstretched arms 

 were changed into branches, and his hands into 

 leaves. His bald head had dissappeared, and a 

 delicious fruit took its place. 



The Cedar of Lebanon was not introduced 

 into France until the year 1737, when Benard 

 de Jussieu brought over from the Holy Land a 

 little seedling of this plant, which he had with 

 great difficulty succeeded in keeping alive dur- 

 ing the voyage. Owing to severe storms, and 

 contrary winds, the passage was prolonged until 

 the supply of water began to fail. The passen- 

 gers were each allowed a half-glass daily, and 

 Jussieu shared his portion with his plant, which 

 by this means he kept alive until they reached 

 Marseilles. Having no flower pot he had plant- 



ed it in his hat, which strange proceedings so 

 excited the suspicions of the custom house 

 officers, that they at first insisted upon empty- 

 ing the naturalist's chapeau, in order to ascer- 

 tain whether or not contraband goods were con- 

 cealed therein. But Jussien managed to pre- 

 serve his precious bantling, and carried it to 

 Paris, where it flourished in the Jai'din des 

 Plantes until one hundred years old, and eighty 

 feet high, when it was cut down to make room 

 for a railway. 



It would take fifteen men with their arms ex- 

 tended, to embrace the trunk of a boabab tree. 

 Boababs do not attain their full size until eight 

 hundred years old. In the village of Grand 

 Galarques, in Senegambia, stands a boabab, the 

 hollow of which the negroes have oi'namented 

 with carvings cut in the wood. Many African 

 tribes entomb poets and musicians in the trunks 

 of boababs, believing them to be in communi- 

 cation with spirits. Sometimes the natives en- 

 camp in these enormous trees, and frequently 

 use them as stables. 



Near Lake Geneva stands one of the most 

 famous chestnut trees in the world. Ever since 

 the fifteenth century it has cast its shadow over 

 a modest hermitage. Its trunk measures at the 

 base forty-six feet in circumference. 



Cos, the celebrated island of the Sporades, 

 contains in the centre of its public square a 

 plane tree whose branches cover the whole park. 

 These branches would have broken of their own 

 weight long ago if they had not been supported 

 by marble columns. 



In Nuremburg there is an aged linden tree 

 which was planted by the Empress Kunigunde. 

 In the year 1445 the patrician Philip Pirklcimer 

 was married under this same old tree. Four 

 statues surround it now, representing four an- 

 cient emperors of Germany. 



Among the highest trees in the world are the 

 marsh gum trees of Van Dieman's Land. One 

 of these attained the height of three hundred 

 feet and yielded wood to the amount of 1,540,758 

 pounds. 



The village of Allonville, France, can boast a 

 most famous oak. It stands in a graveyard, and 

 the peasants from all the country around come 

 to pray beneath its branches. The hollow 

 trunk was fitted up as a chapel in the seven- 

 teenth century and dedicated to the Virgin. 

 Above the chapel lives a rustic hermit, while 

 still higher in the tree is a small belfry sur- 

 mounted by a cross. During the Revolution 



