June 1, 1908 
THE AUSTRALIAN ‘GARDENER. 
THE PIANOLA PIANO 
(WITH THEMODIST), 
The Piano of the Future. 
The Piano that Everyone can play. 
‘Playable by Piano or Pianola Music Roll. 
0: 
We will take your existing PIANO as part payment. 
pores rss Ot 
The time has passed to speculate upon the future of the Pianola Piano.’ It is here 
to-day as the most successful innovation in musical instruments. 
You may have your choice of four old-established Pianos of high reputation. 
THE WEBER 
THE STECK 
WHEELOCK 
STUY VESANT 
As a straight Piano or Pianola Piano. 
PADEREWSKUIS choice of Pianos is THE WEBER, 
RICHARD WAGNER’S choice was THE STECK. 
Manufactured and 
sold only by the 
Pianola Company Propty., Ltd., 
88 King William Street, next Rundle Street Corner. 
The Young Molky. 
The Life Story of the Common 
Arum, or Cuckoo-Pint. — 
By Joun J. Warp, Author of ‘ Minute 
Marvels of Nature,’ ‘ Peeps into Nature’s 
Ways,’ etc. 
The beauties of Nature, the exquisite 
forms aud colors of natural objects. may 
brighten man’s path through life, yet this 
is only incidental to their real function— 
the intere-ts of the real organism itself. 
‘Eveu the green color of the grass has 
its specific function, and, likewise, every 
tiny’ heir or spot of color that accompanies 
a flower or appears on stem or leaf. When 
a flower secrotes rich nectar or honey and 
sends:forth sweet perfumes, at the same 
time developing showy petals to further 
advertise the fact-that the nectar is there 
and: ready for all the winged insects that 
-careity come to the feast, it.is' really doing 
something entirely in its own interests, 
To put the, matter briefly, the plant needs 
the help of ‘the insect to convey its fer- 
tilising pollen from bloom to bloom .to 
make its-seeds fertile, and ibribes:it with 
nectar to gain this end. Beyond that 
point the plant’s interest (if we may 
term it such) in the insect absolutely 
terminates. 
Now, in: our’May rambles we are almost 
sure to find in the.moist woodlands, or by 
the watery ditches, blooms of the curions 
-wild-arum, cuckoo-pint, wake-robin, lords- 
-and-ladies,vas you may: like ,to:eall it. We 
“shall be struck by the quaintness of their 
form and coloring, for the arum is one of 
the most curious plants in the British 
flora. However, before going into details 
regarding this extraordiuary floral struc- 
ture, I want to take you back to the be 
ginning of things, and show you how the 
plant started its career. But, first, I will 
let you into one little secret regarding 
the bloom itself. 
When a bloom is found fully opened, 
it will be observed that it narrows off to 
form a kind of neck just below the central 
portion, and then swells out again, form- 
ing an oval-shaped sac Now, having 
obtained such a bloom, cut a tiny portion 
from the substance of the sac, so as to 
make a small hole. ‘Then turn the hole 
towards the sunlight and watch what 
happens. Through the opening will come 
a tiny midge-fly, which at once takes ‘to 
its. wings and disappears from view. Its 
place, however, is immediately taken by 
another fly, and presently still others 
appear, until at last a veritable army of 
midge flies is trooping through the.hole. 
It.is rarely that one can find a fully- 
developed arum without its army of tiny 
midges within. How came these flies 
there, and what are they doing? These 
are questions I will endeavour to answer 
later; meanwhile, we have to’ learn some- 
thing of the early history of the plant. 
The arum plant as we know it may 
start jlife irom .a+seed, but it more often 
develops after the manner of the culti- 
vated potato, and, instead of producing a 
new plant, simply continues the growth 
of the old. one by means of underground 
tubers. On a.certain April 8 it developed 
I7 
roots below, and above budded out a single 
leaf, The rich stores of nourishment in 
the little tuber gave the plant a good 
start in life, and, as the roots developed 
below ground, growth went on apace above, 
and some eight or nine days later the 
leaf began to assume its permanent form. 
A little later still another leaf was formed 
to accompany it. By early May a third 
leaf had appeared, and, in addition, a 
curious central object that tapered to a 
sharp point. 
The work of the three leaves was then 
to spread themselves out to their fullest 
-extent to the sunlight, for they have the 
power of absorbing energy from the sun’s 
rays; and this energy is largely utilised 
in the building processes of this all-impor- 
tant central object, which meanwhile was 
rapidly progressing. By May 16th it had 
become quite an important part of the 
plant, and was unfolding its structure to 
the light. Within was a curious, purple- 
colored, club-like organ, and the sheath 
or hood surrounding it was of a pale 
green color tinged also with purple. It 
was on May 19th that it reached its 
perfection. 
What did all this mean? What was 
the purpose of this most quaint floral 
stracture? No butterflies or moths were 
‘ever seen to visit this extraordinary- 
looking blossom ; indeed, the whole plant 
looked weird and uncanny. Its glossy, 
dark green, sagitate leaves contrasted 
strongly with the pale-colored hood of 
the bloom, and against this stood out 
conspicuously the purple club; the whole 
plant, too, is very poisonous, and the 
odour from it, although not very power- 
ful, is certainly not inviting. Still there 
are living things that know full well how 
to appreciate that mysterious blossom, 
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