462 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



economy of an East Indiaman is hardly more 

 complete. Poultry, pigs, and other animals, are 

 to be found on board, and several butchers are 

 attached to the suite. A well supplied boiler is 

 at work night and day in the kitchen. The din- 

 ner hour is announced by a basket stuck on a 

 pole, at which signal the pilot gives the word of 

 command, and the workmen run from all quar- 

 ters to receive their messes. The consumption 

 of provisions in the voyage to Holland is almost 

 incredible, sometimes amounting to forty or fifty 

 thousand pounds of bread, eighteen or twenty 

 thousand of fresh, besides a quantity of salted 

 meat, and butter, vegetables, &c., in proportion. 

 The expenses are so great, that a capital of three 

 or four hundred thousand florins (about £36,000) 

 is considered necessary to undertake a raft. 

 Tlieir navigation is a matter of considerable skill, 

 owing to the abrupt windings, the rocks, and 

 shallows of the river ; and some years ago the 

 secret was thought to be monopolized by a boat- 

 man of Riidesheim and his son." 



These rafts are not of modem invention, and 

 are not confined to Europe. Evelyn, on the 

 authority of Le Comte, says, that the timber 

 merchants of China transport immense trees or 

 floats, upon which they build huts and little 

 cottages, where they live with their families. 



The followina: passage from Planche's "Descent 

 of the Danube," gives a description of the method 

 of floating timber on a branch of that river; and 

 the practice appears to be common in Germany : 



" At the mouth of the Erlaf is a Rechen or 

 Grate, where the wood collects that is floated 

 down this stream from the forests in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Maria-Zell, in the Steyermark, near 

 which it takes its rise. It is customary in Ger- 

 many to place one of these gratings at the mouth 

 of any tributary stream, or in the bed of any 

 river where a line of demarcation is drawn natu- 

 rally or artificially between two kingdoms, two 

 provinces, or even two parishes ; so that the 

 branches and tninks of trees blown down by 

 high winds, and swept away by inundations into 

 the current, should not be carried beyond the 

 frontiers, or boundaries, of the state or property 

 to which they belong, and which derives from 

 them no inconsiderable portion of its revenue. 



"The timber, also, regularly felled by the 

 woodcutters is thrown thus carelessly on the 

 mountain-streams of Germany, and floats down 

 to the Rechen or Grate, where it is afterwards 

 collected by its 0"\vners, who are thus saved the 

 trouble and expense of land carriage ; and the 

 drifting property is protected from plunder by 

 the severity of the laws relating to it." 



In many parts even of Europe, the timber of 

 pine forests is useless for purposes of commerce, 

 from their inaccessible situations, and the conse- 

 quent difficulty of transport. The rugged flanks 

 and deep gorges of Mount Pilatus, in Switzer- 



land, for instance, had been covered with impene- 

 trable forests for many centuries, till an enter- 

 prizing individual conceived the daring idea of 

 conveying the pines from the top of the mountain 

 to the lake of Lucerne, a distance of nearly nine 

 miles, by means of an inclined plane, extending 

 the whole distance. This extraordinary contri- 

 vance, which was completed in 1812, became an 

 object of wonder to all Europe, and was called 

 the Slide of Alpnach, from the name of the Com- 

 mune in which it was situated. The Slide was 

 a trough, formed of 26,000 pine trees, six feet 

 broad, and from three to six feet deep ; this was 

 kept moist. Its length was 44,000 English feet. 

 It had to be conducted in an undeviating line 

 over the summits of rocks, or along their sides, 

 or under ground, or over deep gorges, where it 

 was sustained by scaffoldings; and thus innu- 

 merable difficulties presented themselves in its 

 construction. The perseverance of the engineer, 

 M. Rupp, overcame all obstacles ; and in eighteen 

 months his work was finished. The trees 

 descended from the mountain into the lake with 

 an incredible rapidity. The larger pines, which 

 were about one hundred feet long, ran through 

 the space of eight miles and a third in about six 

 minutes. A gentleman who saw this great work 

 states, that such was the velocity with which a 

 tree of the largest size passed any given point, 

 that he could only strike it once with a stick as 

 it rushed by, however quickly he attempted to 

 repeat the blow. The markets of the Baltic 

 being opened by the peace, the speculation was 

 abandoned as unprofitable; and the Slide of 

 Alpnach fell into ruin. 



All the species of the pine, fir, and larch fami- 

 lies, with the exception of one or two, as yet 

 rare in this country, are raised from seeds. The 

 cones are gathered in the winter season, and 

 exposed to the sun, or to a gentle heat on a kiln, 

 in order to facilitate the separation of the seeds. 

 The cones of the cedar should be kept for a year 

 at least after they are taken from the tree, before 

 the seed be attempted to be taken out. This is 

 necessary on account of the soft nature of the 

 seeds, and the great quantity of resinous matter 

 which the cones contain when growing, and 

 which is discharged by keeping. Cedar cones 

 are generally imported from the Levant, and the 

 seeds retain their vegetative powers for many 

 years. The cones of the Scotch pine, spruce, and 

 larch, are the principal kinds which are opened 

 by kiln heat. The cones of the Weymouth 

 pine, silver fir, and balm of Gilead fir, give out 

 their seeds with very little trouble. April is 

 the best season for sowing all the species. The 

 soil should be soft and rich, well mellowed bv 

 the preceding winter's frost and snow, carefully 

 dried, and raked as finely as possible. The rarer 

 sorts are generally sown in pots ; but the more 

 common in beds. The seed of the Scotch pine 



