C-ffiSALPINIA PLUVIOSA. 313 



cast-iron vessel, the air exhausted, and a mixture of dissol- 

 ved glue and molasses, at a boiling heat, poured over it, 

 which fills up all the pores. The turf is-then subjected to 

 the pressure of an hydraulic press, by which the superfluous 

 fluid is expressed, and its substance reduced to about three 

 eighths of an inch in thickness. It is, moreover, worthy of 

 remark, that the kind of turf suited to the above purpose, is 

 precisely that which is rejected for fuel.* 



MRS. F. 



Thank you, Esther. Should further experiments establish 

 the promise held out by this account, the bogs, which are 

 already the magazines of the richest manure, and of an inex- 

 haustible store of fuel, may yet become in Ireland another of 

 the most fertile resources for enriching the country. But it 

 is almost time for our walk. 



ESTHER. 



Before we leave off, mamma, I wish to ask you about the 

 tree which drops water. 



MRS. F. 



You allude to the Cassalpinia pluviosa, a Brazilian tree, 

 which is said to produce a shower of drops of water resem- 

 bling rain, which are discharged from the points of the leaves 

 of the plant; but one of the newest vegetable curiosities 

 among the water-holding plants is described by Dr. Lindley 

 as a native of the woods of Demerara. The plant is called 

 Coryanthes maculata, and is of the natural order of Orchideae. 

 It is not uncommon in the woods of Demerara, where it is 

 found hanging from the branches of trees, and suspending in 

 the air the singular lips of its flowers, like fairy buckets, as 

 if for the use of the birds and insects that inhabit its 

 foliage. 



* The above account is from the report of a paper read by Mr. 

 Mallet at the meeting of the British Association, as given in the 

 Dublin Penny Journal for November, 1835. 



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