A YOUNG NATURALIST. 



"That's true, except that maize has only one stem. Look, 

 there 's an Indian about to cut down the very plant I was show- 

 ing you ; he has severed it through obliquely at a single blow, 

 as near the ground as possible. Now he is stripping off the 

 leaves, and with another blow of his weapon lops away the green 

 top, which is used for fodder. Next, he cuts it in lengths, taking 

 care to sever it between the knots, as they are required for plant- 

 ing new ground." 



" Planting," repeated Lucien ; " the knots are not seed ? " 



" No, Master ' Sunbeam ; ' the seed of the sugar-cane comes to 

 maturity too slowly. It takes four years to produce a plant 

 from it -which is profitable. Now, as young fellows of your 

 kind are rather numerous, and consume a good many preserves 

 and sugar-plums, it is highly necessary to devise some rapid 

 method of supplying the sugar you devour. This method has 

 been found out. Each of these pieces of cane will be stuck into 

 the earth, and the knot, from which in the open air the leaves 

 spring, will send down roots into the soil. Small as it is, it will 

 grow vigorously ; and in a year, or eighteen months at most, 

 it will have produced a dozen stalks quite as fine as the one 

 you have been looking at." 



During this long explanation I'Encuerado, who, on account of 

 his load, disliked standing still, had kept moving, so we had to 

 increase our pace to catch him up. As we were passing on, 

 Lucien saw the Indians planting the very pieces of cane he had 

 just observed cut up. Ere long we came upon a fresh plantation, 

 in which the tender shoots, almost like grass, appeared over the 

 ground. Sumichrast dug a little hole round one of the plants, 

 and showed to his wondering pupil that the fragment of the stem 

 was already provided with small rootlets. 



Suddenly, at the turn of a path, I was saluted by a man on 

 horseback. It was the steward of the estate that we were 

 crossing. 



" Holloa ! Don Luciano, where are you off to with all that 

 train ? " cried the new-comer. 



" To visit the forest of the Cordillera," I replied. 



