50 FIRST STEPS IN GENERAL KNOWLEDGE. 



"Even in England," said Henry> "the cocoa- 

 nut palm is very useful ; for we get the nut to eat, 

 and the shell polished for cups, and the fibres made 

 into beautiful matting." 



"And mamma says that soap and candles are 

 made of palm-oil ; and that the little box on the 

 chimney-piece, which we call vegetable ivory, is 

 made of the kernel of a sort of palm," added Mary. 



"I have seen pictures of palm-trees," said 

 Kobert, " and they seem to be very tall trees, with 

 a single stem and large tufts of leaves at the top." 



" That is their common appearance ; but there 

 are at least four hundred distinct species of palms 

 (and perhaps many more) ; and among these there 

 is considerable variety: so that palms are oc- 

 casionally met with that are of a shrubby or 

 branched growth, or are armed with stiff spines. 

 Quite in character with the immense size of the 

 leaves in palms, is the enormous cluster of blos- 

 soms contained in each spathe ; for these trees, 

 like our common arum, have a large spathe for the 

 protection of their fruit. Here is a drawing of a 

 palm blossom, which will show you how the florets 

 are clustered together : they sometimes amount to 

 two hundred thousand in a single spathe." 



