174 
THE A 
mehican OABT ^ 
[SEPtijv 
XHE BAHTAN-TEBE. 
fFictis Jndica.) 
One of the most remarkahle 
ing to the genus J*’ic»s—the six ^ 
species of ?vhich comprise climbing s ui 
and trees of great diversity of ®l'f “ ^ 
the famous Banyan, whose " ‘ ^ 
habit of growth and enormous 
so much astonish those whose idea of a la g 
tree has been formed from what wo con¬ 
sider giant forest trees. The Banyan, whose 
spreading, bowery roof, beneath which whole 
villages of huts find shade and shelter, is sup¬ 
ported by gigahtio pillar-like props, formed 
by descending aSrial roots, which, on reach¬ 
ing the gi-ound, assume the appearance and 
perform the functions of separate trunks. 
The following extract from Tennant’s 
“Ceylon” gives an interesting account of 
the peculiar habits of tliis ti-ee, which in 
many parts of India is held sacred by the 
natives: 
“As we ascend the hills, the Banyans, a 
variety of figs, make their appearance. They 
are the Thugs of the vegetable world; for, 
although not necessarily epiphytic, it may 
be said that, in point of fact, no single tree 
comes to perfection, or acquires oven partial 
development, without the destruction of 
some other on which to fix itself as its sup¬ 
porter. 
“ The family generally make their appear¬ 
ance as slender roots, hanging from the 
crown or trunk of some other tree, generally 
a Palm, among the moist bases of whose 
leaves the seed, carried thither by some bird 
which had fed upon the fig, begins to germi¬ 
nate. This root, branching as it descends, 
envelops the trunk of the supporting tree 
with a net-work of wood, and at length, 
penetrating the gi’ound, attains the dimen¬ 
sions of a stem; but, unlike a stem, it throws 
out no buds, leaves, or flowers. The true 
stem, with its branches, its foliage, and 
fruit springing upward from the crown of 
the tree, whence the root is seen descending, 
and from it issue the jiendulous rootlets, 
which on reaching the earth fix themselves 
firmly and fonn the marvelous growth for 
which the Banyan is so celebrated. In the 
depth of this gi'ove the original ti-ee is incar¬ 
cerated, till, literally strangled by the folds 
and weight of its resistless companion, it 
dies, and leaves the Pig in undisturbed pos¬ 
session of its place. 
“ It is not unusual to find a Pig-tree in the 
forest which had been thus upborne till it 
became a standard, now forming a hollow 
cylinder, the center of which was once filled 
by the sustaining tree, but the empty walls 
form a circular net-work of interlaced roots 
and branches fiimly agglutinating under 
pressure, and admitting the light through 
interstices that look like loop-holes in a 
turret.” 
Deep twilight always prevails under the 
shade of the spreading foliage, through 
which not a ray of bright light can pierce, 
and the awe and dread with which the 
Buddhist villages regard this sacred tree is 
very intelligible. In the Wood Museum, at 
Kew, there is a fine specimen of a Palm 
trunk, upon which the strangling gi-owth of 
a Banyan’s roots is well shown. The re¬ 
markable way in which the roots become 
united to each other at every point where 
they touch'is observable in the specimen 
just named.— Mcntific American, 
OUEAOOA. 
Consul Barnes has written ^an ^nteies 
^^fS^r^i-e.ardtothat tropical 
island paradise: Gaining the eap- 
“ Cmaeoa, the isian iju.gest 
ft, to 
of the islands, its lengt -mg its breadth 
about eight miles, an ^ i 
and sixty-four square ’“'I®®- the 
there sufficient forage produced P 
animals in condition, because of the cii.y 
climate, and the forage is notsuch as to ma 
the animals tempting food for ^ 
There are but two small streams m the slancl 
of Cura 9 oa, one issuing from a cave 1 
plantation by the sea-side, and only 
for its use, and one, also small, issiung i 
the hills in the north-west and unoccupied 
end of the island. A rainy day is a meteoro¬ 
logical phenomenon. 
“ The fruit product of Cura^oa shows much 
diversity, and in favorable locations in many 
varieties it is nearly perfection. The fruits 
can generally be depended upon for steady 
crops. The principal fruit, however, that 
has made the name of Cura^oa luiown to the 
world is tlie Orange grown there. Citrus vul¬ 
garis, there called Naranja cajera. Both the 
tree and fruit are small, and the latter is of 
a deep-gi'ecn color. No other tree receives 
such care and cultivation as this. The fruit 
itself is only used, irith syrup, to make a 
sweetmeat, or dulce, as it is called. The 
skins are what are harvested for a constant 
market. At that stage of development of the 
fruit when the rind contains a maximum of 
oil, the fruit is picked and peeled in quarters, 
and the quarters are dried and pressed, and 
packed in half barrels for export. 
“The total product of the orchards in 
Orange rind is shipped to Amsterdam, and 
the price paid varies from SO cents to $2.00 
per Dutch pound —a tenth more than the 
pound avoirdupois. By distillation the oil is 
extracted from the skins or peel, and is used 
to flavor the celebrated liqueur, “Ciu’a 9 oa.” 
As oil may bo extracted from the skins of all 
kinds of Oranges, so they may bo used to 
flavor liquors;.and perhaps this accounts, to 
some extent, for the fact that “Cura^oa” 
is manufactured in Germany and France 
and that the supply in the principal cities of 
the world is never behind the demand.” 
THE DIMOEAL COCOA-NUT. 
The worst thing about the Cocoa-nut Palm 
Huyn Onml Alhu, the missionarios always 
say, IS the fatal fact that, when onco fairly 
started. It goes on bearing fruit uninterrupt¬ 
edly for forty years. This is very immm'a, 
and wiong of the ill-conditioned tree be 
cause It oiicourages (he idyllic Polynesian to 
be under the palms all day long, cooling his 
limbs in the h®"- occasionally, sporting will, 
Amaryl IS in the shade, or with 
Niera s hair, and waiting for the nuts to droi 
down III due time, when he ought (accord' 
to Kuropean notions) to he kil , ,i 
«itt I,.,,1 work 
Colto,,, Soj,.,, IioliBo, 
irnmediato benefit of the white me,, i ’ 
and the ultimate advantage o |1, p /'"i 
public. It doesn’t ouforce h. ii r 
industry and persovoranco, the goo, 
^0 feel that burning desire for Manoh 
piece-goods and the other blessings of ^ 
ization which ought properly to aeeoiT,r‘*‘ 
the propagation of the missionary in 
parts. . 
You stick your nut in the sand; yon g-,, 
a few years and watch it growing; yonl- 
up the ripe fruits as they fall from the t 
and you sell them at last for iHimitableTi 
cloth to the Maneliester piece-goods 
chant. Nothing could be more simple*'" 
more satisfactory. And yet it is difficult T 
see the precise moral distinction betwee* 
the owner of a Cocoa-nut grove in the South 
Sea Island and the owner of a coal-mine or a 
Ijig estate in commercial England. 
lomigos decorously through life after his 
own fashion ; only the one lounges in a 
Russia-leather chair at a cluh in Pall Mall 
while tlie other lounges in a nice soft dust- 
lieap beside a rolling surf in Tahiti or the 
Hawaiian Archipelago. 
OAENIVOEOUS PLANTS. 
Although physiologists have universally 
accepted the facts originally proposed hy 
Darwin as correct, yet there has been a dis¬ 
position in some quarters, says the Gardeno^s 
Chronicle, to question the fact, at least to 
doubt its utility. Mr. Francis Darwin under¬ 
took some e.xperiments to satisfy the latter 
point, and now we have to record the results 
of some experiments made by M. Busgen. 
This gentleman commenced his expei-iments 
with seedling Droseras, and ascertained that 
the digestion of nitrogeiions matter begins 
with tlio appearance of the first leaf. The 
experhnents were continued for two years, 
with the result that those plants “fed” 
with nitrogeiioiisdiet in the shape of aphides 
and small insects were the more vigorous. 
Fourtooii plants so treated produced seven¬ 
teen flower-stalks and ninety seed-pods, 
while sixteen plants not so treated produced 
only nine flower-stalks and twenty seed- 
pods. 
More eoiiclusivo still were the results of 
analysis, given in the Aiinalcs Jgroiwmiqucs, 
which show for the first seta total weight of 
dry matter (roinaiiiiiig after the expulsion of 
water by heat) of 0.352, while the unfed 
plants yielded only 0.1 I 0 parts of a granuue. 
POISONOUS OOFPEE. 
Most people think if they'buy Coffee in 
tho berry, roast and grind it at home, they 
are sure of haring obtained a liealthy article 
— the Siiiioii-piiro Java. But it may bo they 
Imvo boon both deceived and,poisoned. In 
Brooklyn, tho Scionlifw American states, the 
hoaltli inspoctors rocontly found several 
well-known cofl'oo-dealors wlio wore in the 
liabit ol; (.leetoriiig clicap Central Ainorican 
ColToo, HO as to make it rosoinblo and sell 
foi' I 111) I,,.,,!) .lava. This was aeconipliabcd 
by polishing I ho ColToo berries in rotating 
cylimlcrs, with tho addition of such stutfs a® 
cliroinnto ol! load, SiUisian blue,yellow oehoij 
Voiiethm rod, drop black, bnnit umber, olnu'- 
coal, soiipsloiio, chalk, and Prussian blue. 
Borne ol; Mmso substances oontaiu lend, coP' 
pot, and arsenic, and when tho doctore 
ColToo was snlijooted to ohomioiil tost those 
metals were I'oniid in poisonous quantitic®' 
'I’ho Heiiitii Board promptly ordered tho dis- 
oontiiuui,n(!o of tliis raotlo of Coffoo ndnltorft' 
tion, to tlio boiiollt of the public. 
