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MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL 
that useful substance called cork. This 
species of oak grows in Spain near the 
Straits of Gibraltar. 
In regard to the structure of stems, they 
are divided into Exogens and Endogens, ac¬ 
cording as they are outside or inside 
growers. 
E xogens increase in diameter by deposition 
to the e.xterior: hence such plants and trees 
are called Exogenous, a term applied to the 
structure of the axis of dicotyledonous plants 
in which the newest-formed fibres are de¬ 
posited on the exterior of those previously 
formed, exhibiting, on a transverse section, 
a series of concentric circles or layers, as 
shown in that portion of the above figiu-e 
marked 2. This kind of structure embraces 
all the trees and shrubs of the cooler cli¬ 
mates. 
Endogens arc inside growers: plants that 
increase in diameter by deposition to the 
centre are called endogenous—a term de¬ 
scriptive of the structure of the axis of mo- 
nocotyledonous plants in which the newest- 
formed fibres are always developed toward 
the centre of the stem. That portion of 
fig. 12 marked 3, exhibits an horizontal sec¬ 
tion of an endogenous stem. The Palm 
tree, the American Aloe, the Lilies, the 
Grasses, &c., are examples of this class.— 
The leaves of the perfect endogens are par- 
alelled-veined—of the exogens, net-veined. 
The latter class is far more numerous than 
the former. 
The most obvious function of the stem is 
to convey the sap from the roots to the ex¬ 
tremities of the plant. The sap-wood {al¬ 
burnum^ of the tree performs this function. 
A nutritious fluid called latax is elaborated 
by exhalation and decomposition: this de¬ 
scends by the laticiferous tissues of the bark 
{liber.) These tissues are seen in that part 
of fig. 12 marked 6. The latex in its de¬ 
scent is carried inward by the medullary 
rays, so diffused through the trunk of the 
tree. The medullery rays are seen in that 
part of the above figure marked 1. The 
nutrition elaborated, as specified above, 
nourishes the branches, stem and roots of 
the individual tree or shrub. 
BOTANY. THE STEM-ITS GROWTH, GEN¬ 
ERAL CHARACTERISTICS, &c. 
In Botany, the stem, or ascending axis of 
'growth is called caudex ascendens; the root 
or descending axis, caudex descendens; tlie 
rhizome, a root-stock, or root-like stem, is 
called caudex repens, and emits roots from 
the under side, as in the iris. 
It is an interesting fact that the embryo 
grows, when developing, in opposite direc¬ 
tions. The radicle or descending part of 
the embryo forms the root; the plumule or 
ascending part forms the stem or trunk.— 
The latter seeks light and air, while the for¬ 
mer seems generally to avoid them. All 
Phaenogamous plants have stems. These 
are not equally apparent in all. Some 
plants are thought to be stemless, or acau- 
lescent, when the stem is short, or beneath 
the surface of the earth. When the stem 
trails along the surface of the ground instead 
of growung upward as the oak, it is called a 
runner, as the strawberry; when it supports 
itself on other plants, or on something pre¬ 
pared for the purpose, it is called a climber, 
as the gourd, the grape-vine, &c.; the hop 
and the bean are called twiners — the for¬ 
mer winding round the pole from right to 
left, while the latter revolves from left to 
right. The end or apex of tlie stem is 
crowned with a bud. Buds are both axil¬ 
lary and terminal. From the axillary or 
lateral buds spring branches, as the maple, 
the elm, &c. The stem sometimes produces 
spines or thorns, as the thorn-shrub, the 
honey locust, greenbrier, raspberry, rose, 
&c. Such are said to be armed—all others 
are said to be unarmed. 
The stem is composed of various forms 
of elementary tissue, viz., cellular, vascular, 
and woody or ligneous. The stem of her¬ 
baceous plants is soft, consisting mostly of 
cells or cellular tissue. This kind of tissue 
constitutes the growth of most plants and 
trees: in the tree it becomes hard and woody 
fibre. “ The wood is composed of concen¬ 
tric layers, pervaded and intersected by the 
medullary rays, lines that appear in a cross 
section of the stem radiating from the pith 
to the bark. The first or inner layer with 
the pith and medullary sheath, are the pro¬ 
duct of the first year. One new layer is 
formed each successive year during the life 
of the tree; hence the number of layers in¬ 
dicate the age of the tree. Each w-oody 
layer is composed of ligneous fibre, vasiform 
tissue and ducte. The first gives strength 
and solidity to the trunk and determines 
the direction of the cleavage.” 
Fig. 12. 
Nothing should be tolerated by legisla¬ 
tors that tends to weaken or destroy the 
motives in man to labor. If the fruits of 
toil, industry and economy be taken from 
one man by legislation to provide for chil¬ 
dren neglected by another man equally able 
to labor, but who neglects to do so, because 
too indolent to work, is not an evil done here 
to both ? Is it not easy to see what the ef¬ 
fect will be upon both of these persons?— 
Will not the industrious man lose his chief 
motive to accumulate property ? And will 
not the indolent become more so when he 
sees that he shall be well provided for by 
the State? 
Instead of legislation that tends to des¬ 
troy the motives of industry and economy, 
would it not be better, both for the pros¬ 
perity of the State and individuals, to have 
that whose tendency is to strengthen these 
motives? Provided there was no State 
school fund, suppose that the State should 
require that every boy who should arrive 
at the age of 21, in 1855, should be able to 
read, to write and to cipher sufficiently to 
transact common business, or else be denied 
the exercise of the elective franchise, how 
many in this State would be denied the 
right to vote for this reason ? - The number 
would be very small. There is ability in 
the people of this Commonwealth to educate 
the children, if it could be called into exer¬ 
cise. Shall this be done ? Help such as 
cannot help themselves, and such as can, 
strengthen the motive to do so—not para¬ 
lyze it by freeing them from all personal re¬ 
sponsibility. 
THE DOG-DAY HARVEST-FLY. 
The dog-day harvest-fly, or the Locust, 
as it is generally called, ( Cicada Canicu- 
laris,) was first heard this year on the 23d 
of July. It usually makes its first appear¬ 
ance about the beginning of dog-days— 
hence one of its common names. 
“ During many years in succession,” says 
Dr. Harris, “ with only one or two excep¬ 
tions, I have heard this insect, on the 25tli 
of July for the first time in the season, 
drumming in the trees, between the hours 
of ten A. M. and two P. M. It is true that 
all do not muster on the same day; for at 
first they are few in number, and scattered 
at great distances from each other; new¬ 
comers, however are added from day to 
day, till, in a short time, almost every tree 
seems to have its musician, and the rolling 
of their drums may be heard in every di¬ 
rection. This circumstance does not render 
it any the less remarkable that the first of 
the band should keep their appointed time 
with such remarkable regularity. 
“ The dog-day harvest-fly measures about 
one inch and six-tenths from the front to the 
tips of the wing- covers, which, when spread, 
expand about three inches. Its body is 
black on the upper side; the under side of 
the head, the breast, and the sides of the 
belly are covered with a white substance 
resembling flour; the top of the head and 
the thorax are ornamented with olive-green 
lines and characters, one of which, in the 
shape of the letter W, is very conspicuous; 
the leg's, and the front edge and principal 
veivvs of the wing-covers and of the wings 
are green; there is a dusky zigzag spot on 
the little cross-veins near the tip of the wing- 
covers; and the valves [or drums] beneath 
the body of the males are wider than long. 
“ I am not aware that the females of the 
dog-day harvest-fly prefer to lay their eggs 
in one rather than another kind of tree; for 
I have taken the pupae emerging from the 
ground beneath cherry, maple, and elm 
trees, and it is probable that they could not 
have traveled far from the trees upon which 
they were hatched, and upon the trunks of 
which they finally leave their vacant shells. 
These pupee-shells resemble in appearance 
those of the seventeen-year harvest-fly 
[locust,] {Cicada Sepiemdecim^ but are 
considerably larger. Some individuals of 
this species continue until the end of Sep¬ 
tember. As they are not very numerous, 
injury sustained by the trees from their 
punctures is comparitvely small.” 
A seventeen-year locust or harvest-fly 
was caught in a garden in Alexander street 
about the middle of last June. This species 
differs in color from the dog-day Cicada— 
The females of these species as well as those 
of crickets and grass-hoppers never sing.— 
The sound produced by the dog-day har¬ 
vest-fly, -which has just made its appearance, 
is very sharp and piercing and may be heard 
for two months to come during any hot and 
sunny day. w. 
THE PITCHER PLANT. 
Tins plant abounds in the stony and ster¬ 
ile parts of the Island of Java, from which 
were it not for this vegetable wonder, small 
birds and quadrupeds would be forced to 
migrate in quest of water. At the foot 
stalk of each, is a bag shaped exactly like 
a pitcher furnished with a lid, and having a 
kind of hinge that passes over the handle 
of the pitcher, and connects it with the leaf. 
This hinge is a strong fibre, which contracts 
in showery weather and when the dew falls. 
Numerous little goblets filled with sweet 
fresh water are thus held forth, and afford 
a delicious draught to the tiny animals that 
climb their branches, and to a variety of 
winged visitants. But no sooner has the 
cloud passed by, and the warm sun shone 
forth, than the heated fibre begins to ex¬ 
pand, and closes the goblet so fomly as to 
prevent evaporation, precluding a farther 
supply till called for the wants of another 
day. This beautiful and perfect provision 
of nature would afford a fine theme for 
Thompson or Wordsworth, and would af¬ 
ford an illustration of the design of Provi¬ 
dence, such as Paley would have delighted 
to press into his service. 
<; wealth ? Do they belong to parents, whose 
■ legitimate offspring they are, or do they be- 
^ lon^/ to the State ? If to the latter, then is 
> O 
the State under obligation to nurse, feed, 
^ clothe and educate them: if to the former, 
^ then the aforesaid obligations devolve upon 
( parents and not upon the Commonwealth. 
I If this be so, and that it is so. Reason and 
^ Revelation both teach, where, then, is found- 
( ed the obligation that is so often declared 
^ to rest upon the State, to educate all the 
I children within her borders? How can 
( this duty, or these obligations rest upon 
\ both parents and the State ? 
^ It is a well established law of nature 
^ throughout the animal kingdom, that pa- 
l rents—the word here being taken in its 
I widest sense—shall provide for, take care 
' of, and defend their young. Whatever 
^ tends to interfere with or relax in any way, 
( this universally established law of God, 
< should be regarded as a positive and un- 
s qualified evil. 
Let the doctrine be thoroughly promul- 
^ gated that the obligation to educate the 
I children of the Commonwealth, rests upon 
'! the State,—How long, think you, before 
) there will arise those who will "deduce from 
S this proposition that it is, also, the duty of 
NEW PUBLICATIONS, 
The Botanical Text-Book —An Introduction to 
Scientific Botany, both Structural and System¬ 
atic., For Colleges, Schools and Private Stu¬ 
dents. Third Edition ; Re-written and enlarg¬ 
ed. Illustrated with twelve hundred engrav¬ 
ings on wood. By Asa Gray, M. D., Fisher 
Professor of Natural History in Harvard Uni¬ 
versity. New York; George Putnam. 1850, 
This is unquestionably the best Text- 
Book on Structural and Physiological Bot¬ 
any published in this or any other country. 
No one studying the Science of Botany can 
afford to be without this highly valuable 
treatise. It is arranged in two Parts. Part 
I, which is by far the larger, is devoted to 
Structural and Physiological Botany; Part 
II to Systematic Botany. The author 
adopts the natural system. Tlie work is ex¬ 
ceedingly well illustrated. These illustra¬ 
tions will aid the student greatly in prose¬ 
cuting the highly useful, important and 
deeply interesting study of Botany. 
The author is preparing an elaborate work 
on Botany, called the “Genera of the Plants 
of the United States, illustrated by Figures 
and Analyses from Nature.” Two volumes 
have been published. 
The author is also preparing a “ Report 
on the Trees of the United States ” for the 
Smithsonian Institution. The Text-Book is 
for sale by D. M. Dewey, Arcade Hall, 
Rochester. 
Note. —On page 238 of the Rural, first column, near 
the bottom, read Tecoma radioans instead of Teconia 
radicans. Toward the close of the first paragraph in the 
second column, read endosmosis, instead of endosiosis. 
GOLDEN RULES OF LIFE, 
All the air and the exercise in the uni¬ 
verse, and the most generous and liberal 
table, but poorly suffice to maintain human 
stamina if we neglect other co-operatives 
—namely the obedience to the laws of ab¬ 
stinence, and those of ordinary gratification. 
We rise with a headache, and we set puz¬ 
zling ourselves to know the cause. We 
then recollect that we had a hard day’s fag, 
or that we feasted over-bounteously, or that 
we stayed up very late; at all events we in¬ 
cline to find out the fault, and then we call 
ourselves fools for falling into it Now, this 
is an occurrence happening almost every 
day; and these are the points that run 
away with the best portion of our life, be¬ 
fore we find out what is for good or evil. 
Let any single individual review his past 
life: how instantaneously the blush will corer 
his cheek, when he thinks of the egregious 
errors he has unknowingly committed—say 
unknowingly, because it never occurred to 
him that they were errors until the effects 
followed that betrayed the cause. All our 
sickness and ailments, and a brief life, main¬ 
ly depend upon ourselves. There are thou¬ 
sands who practice errors day after day, and 
w'hose pervading thought is, that everything 
which is agreeable and pleasing cannot be 
hurtful. The slothful man loves his bed;' 
the toper his drink, because it throws him 
into an exhilarative and exquisite mood; 
the gourmand makes his stomach his god; 
and the sensualist thinks his delights im¬ 
perishable. So we go on, and at last we 
stumble and break down. We then begin 
to reflect, and the truth stares us in the face 
how much we are to blame. 
RIGHT OF TAXATION. 
If it be not right that property should 
pay for the tuition of the children, how 
does it happen to be right to tax property 
to build the houses they are taught in ?— 
Free School Clarion. 
If it be right that property should pay 
for making roads for the people to travel 
on, how does it happen that it is not right 
to tax property to pay for the food and rai¬ 
ment necessary for the people who travel 
over these public roads ? This is the logic 
of the Clarion. 
If it be right to tax property to build 
school-houses, says the Clarion, then it is 
right to tax also, to pay for the tuition of chil¬ 
dren. What will be the conclusion if it be 
wrong to tax property to build school-houses ? 
Unless the Clarion use better logic than 
this, there is some reason to fear that it will 
not do very good service for the cause which 
it so warmly approves. 
TRIUMPH OF SCIENCE. 
A VERY interesting story is told of the cu¬ 
rious and exquisitely finished ivories, sent 
home by Mr. Layard, from Ninevah. When 
they reached England, to every appearance 
they seemed about to crumble to dust— 
The keen eye of modern science instantly 
detected the cause of decay. “ Boil them,” 
it said, “in a preparation of gelatine; it is 
that constitutes part of the ivory which has 
perished.” It was done, and the ivories 
are as hard and firm as when first carved; 
they may last another thousand years or 
two. The merit of this suggestion is con¬ 
tested by the Dean of Westminister and 
Prof. Owen; it may probably have occurred 
to both resourceful minds. 
[Fio. 12.— Sections of wood; 1, 2, 3, horizontal; 4, 5, 
vertical. 1, Exogenous stem of one year’s growth; a, pith, 
h, bark, c, medullary rays, d, woody bundles ol fibre and 
vessels; 2, stem of three years’ growth, a, pith, e, bark, 
b, c, d, Butcessive annual layers; 4, a, pith, b, spiral ves¬ 
sels of tlie medullary Bbeath, c, dotted ducts, d, woody 
fibre, e, bark; 3, Endogenous stem, exbibicing the bundles 
of woody fibre, spiral vessels, and ducts, irregularly dis¬ 
posed in the cellular tissue, 5, a, cellular tissue, b, spiral 
vessels on inner side of c, dotted ducts, d, woody fibre on 
the exterior side. 6, Laticiferous vessels of tlie bark.]— 
Wood. 
The sap-wood, {alburnum,) constitutes 
the outer and recent portions of the layers. 
It is usually softer than the heart-wood and 
decays much sooner. 
The trunks of trees are covered with 
bark, called the outer, {epidermis,) and the 
inner, {liber) The inner bark is composed 
of both cellular and woody tissue—the out¬ 
er of cellular only and is sometimes very 
thick, as the oak, generally, and Quercus 
suber in particular, whose bark constitutes 
Prof. Spencer F. Baird, of Dickinson 
College, Carlisle, Pa., (a distinguished na¬ 
turalist,) has been elected by the regents of 
the Smithsonian Institute, at Washington, 
Assistant Secretary of the Institution. 
A Gigantic Reptile.— At a recent 
meeting of the Royal Institution in London, 
Prof. Owen exhibited, among other fossils, 
the arm bone of an extinct species of lizard, 
which was four and a half feet long and 
thirty-two inches in circumference. Prof 
0. remarked that the animal to which this 
belonged must have been 90 feet in length. 
Of all Professions, few can compare in 
importance -with that of school-master, yet 
of all it is the least appreciated by the mass 
of people. 
Sense vs . Wit. —Prefer solid sense to 
wit: never study to be diverting, without 
being useful; let no jest intrude upon good 
manners, nor say any thing that may offend 
modesty.— Foster. 
The Daisy.— The word daisy is a thou¬ 
sand times pronounced 'without adverting 
to the beauty of its etymology,—“ the eye 
of day.” — T. Campbell. 
He who is reckless of the Future, must 
have had a desperate Past. 
