it flourishes in the old world. It is 'bill to end of tail 

 never brought into this country in seven feet 



sufficient supply for any useful pur- 

 poses, being rather an object of 

 curiosity than of utilit} r . But in 

 the countries of its production it is 

 one of the most universally useful 

 plants. "There are about fifty va- 

 rieties, according to Loudon in his 

 Botanical Dictionary, of the Arvndo 

 bambos, each of the most rapid 

 growth, rising from fifty to eighty 

 feet the first year, and the second 

 perfecting its timber in hardness 

 and elasticity. 



It grows in stools which are cut 

 eveiy two years. The quantity of 

 timber funished by an acre of bam- 

 boos is immense. Its uses are al- 

 most without end. In building it 

 forms almost entire houses for the 

 lower orders, and enters both into the 

 construction and furniture of those 

 of the higher class. Bridges, boats, 

 masts, rigging, agricultural and other 

 implements and machinery; carts, 

 baskets, ropes, nets, sailcloth, cups, 

 pitchers, troughs, pipes for carrying 

 pumps, fences for gardins and fields 

 &c. are made of it. Macerated in 

 water it forms paper; the leaves are 

 used in covering tea sent to Europe. 

 It is said to be indestructible by 

 fire, to resist acids, and by fusion 

 with alkali to form a transparent 

 permanent glass. '' 



JOHX B. WllEEJ,EE. 



The Trumpeter Swan. 



The buccixatok, the largest of 

 North American birds, sometimes 

 attains the weight of forty pounds 

 a' id measures five fleet from tip of 



extent of wings, 



The swan has a bill about as long 

 as the head, of equal breadth 

 throughout, higher than wide at the 

 base, with a soft cere, the nostrils 

 placed about the middle; The neck 

 very long arched and with twenty- 

 three vertebrae; the front toes fully 

 webbed, the hind toe without mem- 

 brane. 



They eat about the same quality 

 of food as ducks and geese, their 

 short necked allies; and feed in the 

 same way, their bills and necks in 

 the water and their feet in the air 

 to keep their balance. They eat 

 vegetable substances, as, the seeds 

 and roots of aquatic plants, but also 

 feed on fish spawn of which they 

 are great destroyers. 



Swans have a hissing note like 

 geese, which they emit when offend- 

 ed, and strike with their wings in 

 defense or attack. 



In color they are grayish white, 

 tinged with yellow, except a reddish 

 brown suffusion of the head and 

 cheeks; feet and bills black, and 

 eyes a dark brown. 



The swan has a soft low voice, 

 plaintive and with little variety, 

 which is to be heard when moving 

 around with its young It is hardly 

 necessary to add that their fancied 

 musical ability, either in health or 

 at the close of life, is not confirmed 

 by listening to their vocal efforts, 

 and is contradicted by such common 

 names as "Hooper" for the European, 

 and "Whistler" and "Trumpeter" 

 for the American species. 



CONTINUED. 



