GLEANINGS. 
A Famous Tree. 
Many a traveler lias inscribed liis name upon the famous syca¬ 
more, known as the virgin’s tree, at Heliopolis, where Arabi threw 
up intrenchments for the defence of Cairo. Tho rude buffets of 
time and tho embellishments of the tourist have dealt hardly with 
its trunk; but its branches are still flourishing. According to the 
legend, the Virgin and tho Child once rested under its friendly 
shade during the flight to Egypt. Another story tells how Mary 
concealed horsclf with the Child in tho hollow of the trunk, and 
that a kindly spider so completely covered the opening with its web 
os to “ screen her effectually from observation.” It was presented 
by tho Khedive to tho Empress Eugenie at tho inauguration of tho 
canal. Tho unfortunate part of the tale is that the tree now shown 
ns the real article was not planted until about 1672, the original tree 
having died a natural death in 1605. 
Living Chessmen. 
Rev. C. C. Chevallicr, the vicar of Hcighiugton, in England, in 
order to raise a fund to provide bells for the parish church, ar¬ 
ranged, says the Pall Mall Gazette , for a game of chess, to be 
played in Redworth Park, by players who were dressed to represent 
the different pieces on the chess-board. There was a considerable 
piece of grccusward roped off in the park, which was laid out in 
squares. The band escorted the opposing forces on to tho ground, 
who marched in procession, and presented a most picturesque ap¬ 
pearance in their flfteenth-century costume. The prevailing color 
of the costume of the players on one side was green and on tho 
other red. The pawns were dressed as pages of the fifteenth cen¬ 
tury, with long-pointed shoes and tights. Tho castles were imita¬ 
tion of the castles known in chess, consisting of canvas in which four 
young ladies were enveloped. Tho bishops appeared in bishops’ 
costumes, those in red being the cardinals. 
The Swiss Good-Night. 
Among the lofty mountains and elevated valleys of Switzerland, 
the Alpine horn has another use beside that of sounding the far- 
famed Ranz dcs Vaches , or Cow Song; and this is of a \’ 9 ry solemn 
and impressive native. When tho sun has set in the valley, and the 
snowy summits of the mountains gleam with golden light, the 
herdsman who dwells upon the highest inhabited spot takes his 
horn, and pronounces clearly and loudly through it, as through a 
speaking trumpet, ‘‘Praise the Lord God!” As soon as the sound 
is heard by the neighboring herdsmen, they issue from their huts, 
take their Alpine horns, and repeat the same w’ords. This fre¬ 
quently lasts a quarter of an hour, and the call resounds from all 
the mountains and rocky cliffs around. All the herdsmen kneel and 
pray with uncovered heads. Meantime it has becomo quite dark. 
41 Good night!” at last calls the highest herdsman through his horn. 
*' Good night!” again resounds from all the mountains, tho horns of 
the herdsmen, and tho rocky cliffs. The mountaineers then retire 
to their dwellings and to rest. 
The Smallest of Birds, Animals and Plants. 
The smallest bird of America is the humming-bird; and of Eu¬ 
rope, the golden-crested wren. The smallest quadruped in the 
world is the pigmy mouse of Siberia. The most diminutive plant 
is tho Arctic raspberry, which is so small that a six-ounce vial 
will hold the whole, branches, leaves and all. 
The New York Ferries. 
Tub ferries of Now York city employ 72 large steamers. The princi¬ 
pal company is that which controls the five most important ferries 
to Brooklyn. It employs about 400 men and 19 boats. About 
00,000,000 passengers are carried by it annually, and the daily earn¬ 
ings are over $2800 in summer and over $2500 in winter. 
The pilots are paid $125 a month each. They are seamen who 
entered tho river service as deckhands, and before promotion they 
have boon required to show thorough familiarity with the treach¬ 
erous current of the river. A countless flotilla is in their path day 
and night, and they must have both discretion and nerve to avoid 
the sloops and schooners which drift, about helpless when the wind 
falls. 
The engineers arc paid $90and $100 a month; the fireman $60 and 
the deck hands $50 a month. 
The largest boats are employed on the North river in connection • 
with the railroads which have their termini in Jersey city. Some of 
them are 1000 tons measurement, or as large as the smaller ocean 
steamers, and they are strong enough to crush through the great ice 
floes which often fill the river in winter. 
Cochineal. 
Cochineal, as found in trade, is the dried body of the female 
cochineal insect, which lives on a species of cactus. During life it 
is about the size of a small ladybug. It is rather long, compressed, 
equally broad all over, wingless, and marked behind with deep in¬ 
cisions and wrinkles. The cochineal insect has six feet, which 
nevertheless are only of use directly after birth. It fastens itself 
upon the plant by means of a trunk placed between the forefeet, and 
remains there till it dies. The sap of the plant provides this little 
animal with nourishment. The male cochineal insects resemble the 
female only during the larva state. They change into the chrysalis, 
and soon come forth as small red flies. The female then lays some 
thousands of eggs, aud becomes covered with a white powder. She • 
protects the eggs under her body,*£ind hatches them, so to speak, in 
tills way. When the young insect appears, the mother dies. The 
young are now' in the larva state, and the sex cannot be discerned. 
They lose their skin several times, and the female then fixes herself 
on the plant. The males, after passing through the pupa state, are 
winged. Their whole peridd of life is from two to three months. 
The cochineal iusects are gathered shortly before they lay eggs, and 
they are then very rich in coloring matter. Only sufficient eggs are 
laid as may serve to reproduce the insect. The dead females are 
also collected. They are killed with hot water or steam, and dried 
in the sun, in ovens, or on plates. They have a brown, red, white, or 
black color, and lose in the drying tw’o-thirds of their weight. After 
drying the cochineal is sieved. About 70,000 insects go to make a 
pound of cochineal. 
Curiosities found in Lake Constance. 
TnE shrinkage of Lake Constance ; in Switzerland, owing to the 
extraordinary dryness of the past winter, has brought to light many 
interesting relics. Among them there are bone and flint implements, 
harpoons, potteiy, many specimens of which are intact, clubs, bas¬ 
kets, arrows, field tools, and animal remains. Among the latter are 
skeletons of the bear, the bison, and the moor-hen. The discovery 
also includes a considerable quantity of oats and wheat in a good 
state of preservation, and a remarkably perfect and artistically ex¬ 
ecuted stag-horn harpoon. The relics have all been removed to 
Frauenfeld, and added to the collection of the local historical and 
natural history society, which is now the richest in lacustrine objects , 
in the Helvetic Confederation. 
Magnetize the Bed. 
A German has occupied many years in studying the art of bed¬ 
making, or rather bed-placing. Baron Roichcnbacli, tho painstaking 
German, maintains that improperly placed beds will shorten a man’s 
life. He says: 
“ If a mere magnet exercises an influence on sensitive persons, the 
earth’s maguetism must certainly make itself felt on the nervous 
life of man. 
“In whatever hemisphere you maybe, always sleep with, your - 
feet to tho equator, and let your body lie ‘ true as a needle'fo the 
pole.’ ” 
The baron says the proper direction of the body is of the utmost 
importance for tho proper circulation of the blood, and many dis¬ 
turbances in the human organisms have been cured by simply plac¬ 
ing tho bolster at a different point of the compass from that it had 
occupied. 
Let such as have hitherto been in the habit of sleeping with their 
heads where their feet ought to be, take to heart the example of the 
late Dr. Fischweitcr, of Madgeburg, who died recently at the age of 
109 years. 
The most unhealthy position, we are told, is when the body lies 
due east and west. Some observers assure us that to sleep in such 
a posture is tantamount to committing suicide, and that dis ea ses are. 
often aggravated by deviations from the proper posture. 
