VARIETIES. 
375 
Acclimation  of  the  Deodar. — In  England  they  are  trying  an  experiment 
on  a  large  scale  worthy  of  notice.  At  the  instigation  of  the  Government, 
the  East  India  Company  have  brought  home  one  ton  of  seeds  of  the  Deodar, 
■which  were  gathered  on  the  Himalaya  mountains,  and  which  are  intended 
to  plant  on  the  hills  and  ground  of  the  unproductive  land  of  Great  Britain. 
The  deodar  is  the  cedar  of  the  Himalayas.  The  horticulturists  are  well 
acquainted  with  it,  but  up  to  this  time  it  has  been  used  as  an  ornament  of 
the  garden  merely.  The  rare  elegance  of  this  noble  tree  is  appreciated  by 
every  one;  it  attains  a  height  of  sixty-five  yards,  to  two  or  three  yards  in 
diameter.  The  wood  is  very  hard,  and  almost  incorruptible,  as  the  monu- 
ments of  traditionally  many  years  old  have  not  been  in  the  least  degree 
injured  by  time ;  it  resists  the  action  of  water  to  an  almost  indefinite  time. 
When  England  shall  have  replenished  their  ancient  forests  with  this 
magnificent  tree,  she  will  have  gained  immense  assistance  to  her  maritime 
interests.  It  is  supposed  that  the  seeds  brought  by  the  East  India  Com- 
pany will  germinate  and  produce  six  million  trees. — K.  Y.  Journal  of 
Pharmacy. 
Artificial  Wood. — MM.  Barthe  and  Potin  of  Paris,  have  invented  a  new 
process  for  making  artificial  wood,  by  the  aid  of  which  products  are  ob- 
tained whose  beauty  is  superior,  and  so  like  the  natural  substances  as  to 
deceive  many.  The  many  varieties  of  native  woods  which  the  inventors 
make  are  all  composed  of  gelatine  and  sawdust,  which  are  worked  together 
and  solidified  by  means  of  a  peculiar  process  of  tanning.  This  product 
being  brought  into  a  pasty  mass  can  receive  all  kinds  of  stamp  and  variety 
of  form.  These  stamped  articles  are  on  view  in  Paris,  and  the  eye  can. 
scarcely  distinguish  them  from  fine  specimens  of  carving  in  wood. — Ibid. 
Effect  of  Intense  Cold. — The  following  account  of  an  Arctic  climate  upon 
food  is  drawn  from  Dr.  Kane's  account  of  the  Grinnell  Exploring  Expedi- 
tion, lately  published. 
Such  latitudes  seem  eminently  adapted  for  experiments  upon  the  conden- 
sation of  gases.  We  should  think  that  oxygen  itself,  after  a  few  night's 
exposure  with  Dr.  Kane,  and  then  treated  with  solid  carbonic  acid  and  ether, 
would  be  found  melting  into  tears,  and  suspect  that  this  would  be  the  legit- 
imate use  of  a  North-west  passage : 
"  All  our  eatables  became  laughably  consolidated,  and  after  different 
fashions,  requiring  no  small  experience  before  we  learned  to  manage  the 
peculiarities  of  their  changed  condition.  Thus,  dried  apples  become  one 
solid  breccial  mass  of  impacted  angularities,  a  conglomerate  of  sliced  chal- 
cedony. Dried  peaches  the  same.  To  get  these  out  of  the  barrel,  or  the 
barrel  out  of  them,  was  a  matter  impossible.  We  found,  after  many  trials, 
that  the  shortest  and  best  plan  was  to  cut  up  both  fruit  and  barrel  by  re- 
