RICE PAPER. 



rHE rice paper tree, one of the 

 most interesting of the flora of 

 China, has recently been suc- 

 ssfully experimented with in Florida, 

 iere it now flourishes, with other sub- 

 pical and oriental species of trees 

 d shrubs, says the St. Louis Republic. 

 hen first transplanted in American 

 il the experimenters expressed 

 ubts of its hardiness, fearing that it 

 uld be unable to stand the winters. 

 1 these fears have vanished, how- 

 er, and it is now the universal opin- 

 i that it is as well adapted to the cli- 

 ite of this country as to that of the 

 ned Flowery Kingdom. 

 It is a small tree, growing to a height 

 less than fifteen feet, with a trunk 

 stem from three to five inches in di- 

 leter. Its canes, which vary in color 

 cording to season, are large, soft and 

 wny, the form somewhat resembling 

 at noticed in those of the castor-bean 



plant. The celebrated rice paper, the 

 product of this queer tree, is formed of 

 thin slices of the pith, which is taken 

 from the body of the tree in beautiful 

 cylinders several inches in length. 



The Chinese workmen apply the 

 blade of a sharp, straight knife to 

 these cylinders, and, turning them 

 round either by rude machinery or by 

 hand, dexterously pare the pith from 

 circumference to center. This opera 

 tion makes a roll of extra-quality pa 

 per, the scroll being of equal thickness 

 throughout. After a cylinder has thus 

 been pared it is unrolled, and weights 

 are placed upon it until the surface is 

 rendered uniformly smooth throughout 

 its entire length. 



It is altogether probable that if rice 

 paper making becomes an industry in 

 the United States these primitive 

 modes will all be done away with. 



GOOD UNCLE TO ANTS. 



V KINDLY old English gentleman, 

 Sir John Lubbock, Bart., is no 

 more. He is not dead, but has 

 .sed to be a plain baronet, as were 

 father, grandfather, and great- 

 andfather before him. Now he is a 

 >er of the realm, and he is called Lord 

 vebury. The new honor, lately con- 

 "ed by the Queen, Sir John proba- 

 ^wes to his great services in Parlia- 

 Y r or he is not only the owner of a 

 ^ ink in London, and a dis- 

 N led financier, but also a repre- 

 * * in the English Parliament of 





A 



Fllir- 

 the/ 

 hingA 

 eeder ) 

 ve OIK 



rid needs for its happi- 

 rk, more achievement, 

 s never at rest, sets a 

 , not only of unceasing 

 f exquisite workman- 

 a beetle crawls along 

 has a burnished back 

 ;led green; not a weed 

 goes to seed but hides 



the University of London. In both 

 fields his work for his fellow men has 

 been such as to merit well an honor 

 which all Englishmen are supposed to 

 desire. 



But we in America shall always re 

 member him not as Lord Avebury, but 

 as plain Sir John Lubbock, a man who 

 probably knows more than any other 

 in the world about the habits, nature 

 and instincts of insects, especially of 

 ants, bees and wasps, of which he has 

 written more than one interesting 

 book. 



its promise of next year's blossom in a 

 pod of fairy delicacy; not a spider-web 

 glitters in the sun that is not marvel 

 ous in its structure. If only the world 

 could be more conscious of " the Mas 

 ter of all good workmen " there would 

 be less heartache than there is. 



11 Some little nook or sunny bower, 

 God gives to every little flower." 



239 



