FARMERS' REGISTER. 



£45 



private commercial benefit. As it ie, it has been 

 long aalied lor in vain, even though there would 

 actually be a great national benefit secured by the 

 government, in t!ie more speedy transportation ol 

 the great southern mail. 



A sandy desert. 



.Pre-hce.ous and carnivorous 

 plants. 



The country adjoining Wilmington had to rae 

 an entirely novel and very remarkable appear- 

 ance. The original large growth of pine trees 

 had been cut down for fuel or limber, and had 

 been succeeded by an almost unmixed growth ol" 

 thinly set dwarfish "shrub" oaks which rarely 

 rose higher than six feet. The surlace of the 

 earlh was but half concealed by the liillon leaves, 

 and the scattered tufts of coarse grass ; and pure 

 and perfectly white sand was visible in so many 

 places on the surface, amidst the green vegeta- 

 tion, that the general appearance was as if a snow 

 had recently covered all the ground, which had 

 melted in some places, while it still remained on 

 others. I never saw any land so nearly approach- 

 ing a sandy desert. This worst appearance here 

 does not extend lar back irom the town. 



But this barren and unsightly soil, and the ad- 

 jacent country which is not greatly belter, is the 

 paradise of botanists. 1 was inlbrmed that there 

 are I'ound more species of plants growing natural- 

 ly within ten miles of VVilmington, than in all 

 Massachusetts; and one-third as many as are 

 given in Elliott's catalogue of all the plants of 

 South Carolina and Georgia. I had new cause 

 to lament my ignorance of botany, when in a re- 

 gion so interesting to the better inlbrmed. Still, 1 

 did not lose all the gratification to be derived from 

 some of the most remarkable of these beautilul 

 works of nature. 



In the grounds around Wilmington is found in 

 abundance the wonderful predatory (if not actu- 

 ally carnivorous) plant, called "Venus' fly-trap," 

 ( Dionatainuscipula,) of which a description was 

 published in a Ibrmer volume ol" the Farmers' Re- 

 gister. This plant is very small, and was not yet 

 grown, and the largest of the traps were scarcely 

 more than half the size they will be hereafter. 

 Still, though not yet possessed of their full degree 

 of sensitiveness which I hope to see, (as I had 

 dug up and sent home a box of growing speci- 

 mens,) they closed with a quickness, and operat- 

 ed with a degree of eff'ect, far beyond my previous 

 conceptions. The catching apparatus is an ex- 

 tension of the leaf. It is in shape much like a 

 very diminutive steel trap, set open for catching, 

 except that the valves are close in the plant, and 

 open frame work in the artificial trap. The teeth 

 around the circumference (Ibrming a circle when 

 lying open,) are long, and when they meet, inter- 

 lock regularly and perfectly. All the interior is 

 not sensitive. It is only three small and short fila- 

 ments, on each side, which are scarcely perceptible, 

 that serve as triggers. I saw every other part of the 

 valves touched with a blade of grass, and even 

 with some force, without its afiecting the plant. 

 But as soon as one of these filaments was touch- 

 ed by a small bug, the valves instantly and quick- 

 ly closed together, (heir surrounding teeth inter- 

 locked, and enclosed completely the unlucky in- 

 truder, and will remain so closed until its strug- 

 gles cease with its life. Then, or after the pur- 



pose of the death of the insect has been effected, 

 the trap opens, and is ready to make another cap- 

 ture. I cannot believe that this wonderful and 

 admirable apparatus has been contrived by nature, 

 and kept at work, without some object, i cannot 

 but believe that the deaih of the insect furnishea 

 some benefit to the plant, and that, so far, it may 

 be said to feed upon its prey. These plants grow 

 on the borders of the wet places among the sands. 

 Formerly it was supposed that they were found 

 only in the neighborhood of Wilmington; but 

 they have been smce found in Florida, and else- 

 where. 



There is another bug-catching plant which 

 grows abundantly hereabout, which though not 

 possessing the power of animal motion, and not 

 seizing its prey by an act of mental volition and 

 design^ as" almost seems to be the case with the 

 other, yet this one is scarcely less curious in ita 

 mechanical structure, and its adaptation of form 

 to its object. This is the plant which bears the 

 beautiful yellow flower vulgarly called " side-sad- 

 dle " or "trumpet-flower," ('sarace?imyZata.^ It 

 is a large pendent flower, on an upright stem of a 

 foot to eighteen inches high. The very singular 

 and beautiful form ol the flower could not be de- 

 scribed by me so as to be understood, and there- 

 fore will not be attempted. The trap is the leaf of 

 the flower, and of a later growth, for the flowers 

 now are generally fully blown, and some even on 

 the decline, and none of the trap appendages are 

 more than half grown, though the structure is 

 fully shown in them, and also in the old and dry, 

 but still v/ell preserved leaves of last year's growth, 

 which remain, and nearly all of which contain 

 the scaly wings of small beetles, and other unde- 

 composed remains of their insect prey. This leaf 

 is in the shape of a slender trumpet ; of very thick 

 toueh texture, which is closed at the ground and 

 ijradually enlarges to an inch in diameter at about 

 fifteen inches high. On one side of this mouth of 

 the trumpet, a part of the leaf extends and spreads 

 over the mouth, so as effectually to keep out any 

 rain water; and (or greater precaution, in the 

 middle of this umbrella is a de'ep groove, which, 

 as a gutter, conveys the rain water off. The low- 

 er and closed end of the trumpet is always filled 

 some inches deep with a limpid and tasteless wa- 

 ter, secreted by the plant, which seems to attract 

 insects. They descend into the trumpet easily; 

 but can never return, as the sides are beset with 

 numerous mi-nuie hairy filaments, which point 

 downward, and effectually prevent any progress 

 upward of the insects enticed to enter the recep- 

 tacle. 



This magnificent and curious plant is said not 

 to be found much farther north. There is how- 

 ever another of very similar general structure, the 

 purple saracenia, which grovvs as far north as New 

 England. However, ["never saw it belbre, and 

 it vvould have been considered as admirable for its 

 beauty, and its curious mechanical structure of the 

 flower, and its water-holding and insect-catching 

 apparatus of the leaves, but for the infeiiority in 

 all these respects to the more common saracenia 

 fiava. 



As little knowledge of and taste for botany as I 



have, a longer residence in this neighborhood and 



sufficient leisure would tempt me to begin the 



studj'. It is surprising that this region is not more 



[visited by the lovers of curious plants and beau- 



