Chapter VIII: MISCELLANEOUS.--Dangers from Lightning in Blasting (4)

It is now necessary to pass to the discussion of a widely distinct subject--the long outstanding enigma of the nature and functions of the "yellow cells" of Radiolarians. These bodies were first so called by Huxley in his description of _Thallassicolla_, and are small bodies of distinctly cellular nature, with a cell wall, well defined nucleus, and protoplasmic contents saturated by a yellow pigment. They multiply rapidly by transverse division, and are present in almost all Radiolarians, but in very variable number. Johnnes Muller at first supposed them to be concerned with reproduction, but afterward gave up this view. In his famous monograph of the Radiolarians, Haeckel suggests that they are probably secreting cells or digestive glands in the simplest form, and compares them to the liver-cells of Amphioxus, and the "liver-cells" described by Vogt in _Velella_ and _Porpita_. Later he made the remarkable discovery that starch was present in notable quantity in these yellow cells, and considered this as confirming his view that these cells were in some way related to the function of nutrition. In 1871 a very remarkable contribution to our knowledge of the Radiolarians was published by Cienkowski, who strongly expressed the opinion that these yellow cells were parasitic algæ, pointing out that our only evidence of their Radiolarian nature was furnished by their constant occurrence in most members of the group. He showed that they were capable not only of surviving the death of the Radiolarian, but even of multipying, and of passing through an encysted and an amoeboid state, and urged their mode of development and the great variability of their numbers within the same species as further evidence of his view.

The next important work was that of Richard Hertwig, who inclined to think that these cells sometimes developed from the protoplasm of the Radiolarian, and failing to verify the observations of Cienkowski, maintained the opinion of Haeckel that the yellow cells "fur den Stoffwechsel der Radiolarien von Bedeutung sind." In a later publication (1879) he, however, hesitates to decide as to the nature of the yellow cells, but suggests two considerations as favoring the view of their parasitic nature--first, that yellow cells are to be found in Radiolarians which possess only a single nucleus, and secondly, that they are absent in a good many species altogether.

A later investigator, Dr. Brandt, of Berlin, although failing to confirm Haeckel's observations as to the presence of starch, has completely corroborated the main discovery of Cienkowski, since he finds the yellow cells to survive for no less than two months after the death of the Radiolarian, and even to continue to live in the gelatinous investment from which the protoplasm had long departed in the form of swarm-spores. He sum up the evidence strongly in favor of their parasitic nature.

Meanwhile similar bodies were being described by the investigators of other groups. Haeckel had already compared the yellow cells of Radiolarians to the so-called liver-cells of _Velella_; but the brothers Hertwig first recalled attention to the subject in 1879 by expressing their opinion that the well-known "pigment bodies" which occur in the endoderm cells of the tentacles of many sea-anemones were also parasitic algæ. This opinion was founded on their occasional occurrence outside the body of the anemone, on their irregular distribution in various species, and on their resemblance to the yellow cells of Radiolarians. But they did not succeed in demonstrating the presence of starch, cellulose, or chlorophyl. The last of this long series of researches is that of Hamann (1881), who investigates the similar structures which occur in the oral region of the Rhizostome jelly-fishes. While agreeing with Cienkowski as to the parasitic nature of the yellow cells of Radiolarians, he holds strongly that those of anemones and jelly-fishes are unicellular glands.

In the hope of clearing up these contradictions, I returned to Naples in October last, and first convinced myself of the accuracy of the observation of Cienkowski and Brandt as to the survival of the yellow cells in the bodies of dead Radiolarians, and their assumption of the encysted and the amoeboid states. Their mode of division, too, is thoroughly algoid. One finds, not unfrequently, groups of three and four closely resembling _Protococcus_. Starch is invariably present; the wall is true plant-cellulose, yielding a magnificent blue with iodine and sulphuric acid, and the yellow coloring matter is identical with that of diatoms, and yields the same greenish residue after treatment with alcohol. So, too, in Velella, in sea-anemones, and in medusæ; in all cases the protoplasm and nucleus, the cellulose, starch, and chlorophyl, can be made out in the most perfectly distinct way. The failure of former observers with these reactions, in which I at first also shared, has been simply due to neglect of the ordinary botanical precautions. Such reactions will not succeed until the animal tissue has been treated with alcohol and macerated for some hours in a weak solution of caustic potash. Then, after neutralizing the alkali by means of dilute acetic acid, and adding a weak solution of iodine, followed by strong sulphuric acid, the presence of starch and cellulose can be successively demonstrated. Thus, then, the chemical composition, as well as the structure and mode of division of these yellow cells, are those of unicellular algæ, and I accordingly propose the generic name of _Philozoon_, and distinguish four species, differing slightly in size, color, mode of division, behavior with reagents, etc., for which the name of _P. radiolarum, P. siphonophorum, P. actiniarum_, and _P. medusarum_, according to their habitat, may be conveniently adopted. It now remains to inquire what is their mode of life, and what their function.

I next exposed a quantity of Radiolarians (chiefly _Collozoum_) to sunshine, and was delighted to find them soon studded with tiny gas-bubbles. Though it was not possible to obtain enough for a quantitative analysis, I was able to satisfy myself that the gas was not absorbed by caustic potash, but was partly taken up by pyrogallic acid, that is to say, that little or no carbonic acid was present, but that a fair amount of oxygen was present, diluted of course by nitrogen. The exposure of a shoal of the beautiful blue pelagic Siphonophore, _Velella_, for a few hours, enabled me to collect a large quantity of gas, which yielded from 24 to 25 per cent. of oxygen, that subsequently squeezed out from the interior of the chambered cartilaginous float, giving only 5 per cent. But the most startling result was obtained by the exposure of the common _Anthea cereus_, which yielded great quantities of gas containing on an average from 32 to 38 per cent. of oxygen.

At first sight it might seem impossible to reconcile this copious evolution of oxygen with the completely negative results obtained from the same animal by so careful an experimenter as Krukenberg, yet the difficulty is more apparent than real. After considerable difficulty I was able to obtain a large and beautiful specimen of _Anthea cereus_, var. _smaragdina_, which is a far more beautiful green than that with which I had been before operating--the dingy brownish-olive variety, _plumosa_. The former owes its color to a green pigment diffused chiefly through the ectoderm, but has comparatively few algæ in its endoderm; while in the latter the pigment is present in much smaller quantity; but the endoderm cells are crowded by algæ. An ordinary specimen of _plumosa_ was also taken, and the two were placed in similar vessels side by side, and exposed to full sunshine; by afternoon the specimen of _plumosa_ had yielded gas enough for an analysis, while the larger and finer _smaragdina_ had scarcely produced a bubble. Two varieties of _Ceriactis aurantiaca_, one with, the other without, yellow cells, were next exposed, with a precisely similar result. The complete dependence of the evolution of oxygen upon the presence of algæ, and its complete independence of the pigment proper to the animal, were still further demonstrated by exposing as many as possible of those anemones known to contain yellow cells (_Aiptasia chamæleon, Helianthus troglodytes_, etc.) side by side with a large number of forms from which these are absent (_Actinia mesembryanthemum, Sagastia parasitica, Cerianthus_, etc.). The former never failed to yield abundant gas rich in oxygen, while in the latter series not a single bubble ever appeared.

Thus, then, the coloring matter described as chlorophyl by Lankester has really been mainly derived from that of the endodermal algæ of the variety _plumosa_, which predominates at Naples; while the anthea-green of Krukenberg must mainly consist of the green pigment of the ectoderm, since the Trieste variety evidently does not contain algæ in any great quantity. But since the Naples variety contains a certain amount of ordinary green pigment, and since the Trieste variety is tolerably sure to contain some algæ, both spectroscopists have been operating on a mixture of two wholly distinct pigments--diatom-yellow and anthea-green.

But what is the physiological relationship of the plants and animal thus so curiously and intimately associated? Every one knows that all the colorless cells of a plant share the starch formed by the green cells; and it seems impossible to doubt that the endoderm cell or the Radiolarian, which actually incloses the vegetable cell, must similarly profit by its labors. In other words, when the vegetable cell dissolves its own starch, some must needs pass out by osmose into the surrounding animal cell; nor must it be forgotten that the latter possesses abundance of amylolytic ferment. Then, too, the _Philozoon_ is subservient in another way to the nutritive function of the animal, for after its short life it dies and is digested; the yellow bodies supposed by various observers to be developing cells being nothing but dead algæ in progress of solution and disappearance.

Again, the animal cell is constantly producing carbonic acid and nitrogenous waste, but these are the first necessities of life to our alga, which removes them, so performing an intracellular renal function, and of course reaping an abundant reward, as its rapid rate of multiplication shows.

Nor do the services of the _Philozoon_ end here; for during sunlight it is constantly evolving nascent oxygen directly into the surrounding animal protoplasm, and thus we have actually foreign chlorophyl performing the respiratory function of native hæmoglobin! And the resemblance becomes closer when we bear in mind that hæmoglobin sometimes lies as a stationary deposit in certain tissues, like the tongue muscles of certain mollusks, or the nerve cord of _Aphrodite_ and Nemerteans.

The importance of this respiratory function is best seen by comparing as specimens the common red and white Gorgonia, which are usually considered as being mere varieties of the same species, _G. verrucosa_. The red variety is absolutely free from _Philozoon_, which could not exist in such deeply colored light, while the white variety, which I am inclined to think is usually the larger and better grown of the two, is perfectly crammed. Just as with the anemones above referred to, the red variety evolves no oxygen in sunlight, while the white yields an abundance, and we have thus two widely contrasted _physiological varieties_, as I may call them, without the least morphological difference. The white specimen, placed in spirit, yields a strong solution of chlorophyl; the red, again, yields a red solution, which was at once recognized as being tetronerythrin by my friend M. Merejkowsky, who was at the same time investigating the distribution and properties of that remarkable pigment, so widely distributed in the animal kingdom. This substance, which was first discovered in the red spots which decorate the heads of certain birds, has recently been shown by Krukenberg to be one of the most important of the coloring matter of sponges, while Merejkowsky now finds it in fishes and in almost all classes of invertebrate animals. It has been strongly suspected to be an oxygen-carrying pigment, an idea to which the present observation seems to me to yield considerable support. It is moreover readily bleached by light, another analogy to chlorophyl, as we know from Pringsheim's researches.

When one exposes an aquarium full of _Anthea_ to sunlight, the creatures, hitherto almost motionless, begin to wave their arms, as if pleasantly stimulated by the oxygen which is being developed in their tissues. Specimens which I kept exposed to direct sunshine for days together in a shallow vessel placed on a white slab, soon acquired a dark, unhealthy hue, as if being oxygenated too rapidly, although I protected them from any undue rise of temperature by keeping up a flow of cold water. So, too, I found that Radiolarians were killed by a day's exposure to sunshine, even in cool water, and it is to the need for escaping this too rapid oxidation that I ascribe their remarkable habit of leaving the surface and sinking into deep water early in the day.

It is easy, too, to obtain direct proof of this absorption of a great part of the evolved oxygen by the animal tissues through which it has to pass. The gas evolved by a green alga (_Ulva_) in sunlight may contain as much as 70 per cent. of oxygen, that evolved by brown algae (_Haliseris_) 45 per cent., that from diatoms about 42 per cent.; that, however, obtained from the animals containing _Philozoon_ yielded a very much lower percentage of oxygen, e.g. _Velella_ 24 per cent., white _Gorgonia_ 24 per cent., _Ceriactis_ 21 per cent., while Anthea, which contains most algæ, gave from 32 to 38 per cent. This difference is naturally to be accounted for by the avidity for oxygen of the animal cells.

Thus, then, for a vegetable cell no more ideal existence can be imagined than that within the body of an animal cell of sufficient active vitality to manure it with carbonic acid and nitrogen waste, yet of sufficient transparency to allow the free entrance of the necessary light. And conversely, for an animal cell there can be no more ideal existence than to contain a vegetable cell, constantly removing its waste products, supplying it with oxygen and starch, and being digestible after death. For our present knowledge of the power of intracellular digestion possessed by the endoderm cells of the lower invertebrates removes all difficulties both as to the mode of entrance of the algæ, and its fate when dead. In short, we have here the relation of the animal and the vegetable world reduced to the simplest and closest conceivable form.

It must be by this time sufficiently obvious that this remarkable association of plant and animal is by no means to be termed a case of parasitism. If so, the animals so infested would be weakened, whereas their exceptional success in the struggle for existence is evident. _Anthea cereus_, which contains most algæ, probably far outnumbers all the other species of sea-anemones put together, and the Radiolarians which contain yellow cells are far more abundant than those which are destitute of them. So, too, the young gonophores of Velella, which bud off from the parent colony and start in life with a provision of _Philozoon_ (far better than a yolk-sac) survive a fortnight or more in a small bottle--far longer than the other small pelagic animals. Such instances, which might easily be multiplied, show that the association is beneficial to the animals concerned.

The nearest analogue to this remarkable partnership is to be found in the vegetable kingdom, where, as the researches of Schwendener, Bornet, and Stahl have shown, we have certain algæ and fungi associating themselves into the colonies we are accustomed to call lichens, so that we may not unfairly call our agricultural Radiolarians and anemones _animal lichens_. And if there be any parasitism in the matter, it is by no means of the alga upon the animal, but of the animal, like the fungus, upon the alga. Such an association is far more complex than that of the fungus and alga in the lichen, and indeed stands unique in physiology as the highest development, not of parasitism, but of the reciprocity between the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Thus, then, the list of supposed chlorophyl containing animals with which we started, breaks up into three categories; first those which do not contain chlorophyl at all, but green pigments of unknown function (_Bonelia<, Idotea_, etc.); secondly, those vegetating by their own intrinsic chlorophyl (_Convoluta_, _Hydra_, _Spongilia_); thirdly, those vegetating by proxy, if one may so speak, rearing copious algae in their own tissues, and profiting in every way by the vital activities of these.

PATRICK GEDDES.

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COMPRESSED OIL GAS FOR LIGHTING CARS, STEAMBOATS, AND BUOYS.

We give in the accompanying figures the arrangement of the different apparatus necessary for the manufacture and compression of illuminating gas on the system of Mr. Pintsch, as well as the arrangements adopted by the inventor for the lighting of railway cars and buoys. This system has been adopted to some extent in both Germany and England, and is also being introduced into France.

The Pintsch gas is prepared by the distillation of heavy oils in a furnace composed of two superposed retorts. The oil to be volatilized is contained in a vertical reservoir B, which carries a bent pipe that enters the upper retort, A. The flow of the oil is regulated in this conduit by means of a micrometer screw which permits of varying the supply according to the temperature of the retorts. In order to facilitate the vaporization, the flow of oil starts from a cast-iron trough, C, and from thence spreads in a thin and uniform layer in the retort. The residua of distillation remain almost entirely in the reservoir, O, from whence they are easily removed. The vapor from the oil which is disengaged in the vessel, A, goes to the lower retort, D, in which the transformation of the matter is thoroughly completed. On leaving the latter, the gas enters the drum, E, at the lower part of the furnace. To prevent the choking up of the pipe, R, the latter is provided with a joint permitting of dilatation. The gas on leaving E goes to the condenser, G G, where it is freed from its tar. The latter flows out, and the gas proceeds to the washer, J, and the purifiers, I and I, to be purified. The amount of production is registered by the meter, L.

When the gas is to be utilized for lighting railway cars or buoys, it is compressed in the accumulators, T, which are large cylindrical reservoirs of riveted or welded iron plate.

Compression is effected by means of a pump, F or F', which sucks the gas into a desiccating cylinder, M, connected with the gasometer of the works The pump, F, which is used when the production is larger than usual, has two compressing cylinders of different diameters, one measuring 170 millimeters and the other 100. The piston has a stroke of 320 millimeters. The two compressing cylinders are double acting, and communicate with each other by valves so arranged as to prevent injurious spaces. The gas drawn from the gasometer is first compressed in the larger cylinder to a pressure of about 4 atmospheres; then it passes into the second cylinder, whence it is forced into the accumulators under a pressure varying from 10 to 12 atmospheres.

For a not very large production, the small pump suffices. This has a single compressing cylinder connected directly with the piston rod, upon which acts the steam coming from the boiler, K. This pump compresses the gas to a pressure of 10 atmospheres, and is capable of storing seven cubic meters of it per hour.

The carburets of hydrogen which separate in a liquid state through the effect of the compression of the gas are retained in a cylindrical receptacle, V, which is located between the pump and the accumulators, T.

Besides the necessary safety apparatus, there is disposed in front of the condensers a special valve, N, which allows the gas to escape into the air if the retorts or the purifying apparatus get choked up.

When the oil gas is not compressed it possesses an illuminating power four times greater than that obtained from coal gas; and, while the latter loses the greater part of its luminous power by compression, the former loses only an eighth. It is this property that renders the oil gas eminently fitted for lighting cars, and it is for this reason that several large European railway companies have adopted it.

APPLICATION TO CARS.

We show in the accompanying engravings the mode of installation that the inventor has finally adopted for railway purposes. Each car is furnished, perpendicularly to its length, with a reservoir, a, containing the supply of gas under a pressure of 6 or 7 atmospheres. The gas is introduced into this reservoir by means of a valve, which is put in communication with the mouths of supply pipes placed along a platform. The pipes are provided with a stopcock and their mouths are closed by a cap. To fill the car reservoir it is only necessary to connect the mouths of the supply pipes with the valves of the cars by means of rubber tubing--an operation which takes about one minute for each car.

When it is necessary to supply cars at certain points where there are no gas works, there is attached to the train a special car on which are placed two or three accumulators, which thus transport a supply of the compressed gas to distances that are often very far removed from the source of supply.

The reservoir of each car, containing a certain supply of gas, communicates with a regulator, b, the importance of which we scarcely need point out. This apparatus consists: (1) of a cast-iron cup, A, closed at the top by a membrane, B, which is impervious to gas; (2) of a rod, C, connected at one end with the membrane, and at the other with a lever, D; (3) of a regulating valve resting on the lever, and of a spring, E, which renders the internal mechanism independent of the motions of the car. The lever, acting for the opening and closing of the valve, serves to admit gas into the regulator through the aperture, F. This latter is so calculated as to allow the passage of a quantity of gas corresponding to a pressure of 16 millimeters. As soon as such a pressure is reached in the regulator, the membrane rises and acts on the lever, and the latter closes the valve. When the pressure diminishes, as a consequence of the consumption of gas, the spring, E, carries the lever to its initial position and another admission of gas takes place. Communication between the regulator and the lamps is effected by means of a pipe, z, of 7 millimeters diameter (provided with a cock, d, which permits of extinguishing all the lamps at once, and by special branches for each lamp. The lamps used differ little in external form from those at present employed. The body is of cast-iron; the cover, funnel, and chimney are of tin; and the burner is of steatite. The products of combustion are led outside through a flattened chimney, t, resting at o on the center of the reflector. The air enters through the cover of the lamp and reaches the interior through a series of apertures in the circumference of the cast-iron bell which supports the reflector. There is no communication whatever between the interior of the lamp and the interior of the car, and thus there is no danger of passengers being annoyed by the odor of gas. By means of a peculiar apparatus, f, the flame may be reduced to a minimum without being extinguished. This arrangement is at the disposition of the conductor or within reach of the passengers. For facilitating cleaning, the lamps are arranged so as to turn on a hinge-joint, m; so that, on removing the reflector, o, it is only necessary to raise the arm that carries the burner, r in order to clean the base, s, without any difficulty.

On several railways both the palace and postals cars are also heated by compressed oil gas; and lately an application has been made of the gas for supplying the headlights of locomotives (see figure), and for the signals placed at the rear of trains. But one of the most interesting applications of oil is that of

LIGHTING BUOYS,

in which case it is compressed into large reservoirs placed on a boat. The buoys employed are generally of from 90 to 285 cubic feet capacity, affording a lighting for from 35 to 100 days.

To the upper part of the buoy there is affixed a firmly supported tube carrying at its extremity the lantern, c. The gas compressed to 6 or 7 atmospheres in the body of the buoy passes, before reaching the burner, into a regulator analogous to the one installed on railway cars, but modified in such a way as to operate with regularity whatever be the inclination of the buoy. In the section showing the details of the lantern on a large scale the direction taken by the air is indicated by arrows, as is also the direction taken by the products of combustion. These latter escape at m, through apertures in the cap of the apparatus.

The regulator, B, in the interior of the lantern, brings to a uniform pressure the inclosed gas, whose pressure continues diminishing as a consequence of the consumption. The lantern is protected against wind and waves by very thick convex glasses set into metallic cross-bars, c. The flame is located in the focus of a Fresnel lens, b, consisting of superposed prismatic rings, and adjusted at its lower part with a circle, d, while a conical ring, e makes a joint at its other extremity. This ring is held by the top piece of the lantern through the intermedium of six spiral springs, c' c''. Under the focus of the flame there is placed a conical reflector of German silver, t.

The buoy is filled through an aperture, k, in the side of the upper tube. This aperture is provided with a valve which allows of the buoy being charged by connecting it with the accumulators located on a boat built especially for this service. As soon as the gas reaches 6 or 7 atmospheres the cocks of the buoy and reservoir are closed, and the connecting tube is removed. The consumption of gas in the lantern is. 1,230 cubic inches per hour. This being known it is very easy to calculate from the capacity of the buoy how often it is necessary to charge it.

A large number of buoys on the Pintsch system are already in use.

The oil gas is likewise applicable to the illumination of lighthouses, and among those that are now being lighted in that way we may cite the one in the port of Pillau, near Königsberg. Several large steamers are likewise being lighted on this plan. In such an application of oil gas the management of the apparatus is very easy, and the permanence of the illuminating power of the gas gives every facility for the lighting of the boat, whatever be the duration of the trip.

Although Mr. Pintsch's process of manufacture has been but recently introduced into France, it has received a number of applications that permits us to foresee the future that is in store for it. The Railway Company of the West has contracted for the lighting of 250 first-class cars that run within the precincts of the city; the State Railways have 56 cars lighted in this way running between Nantes and Bordeaux and between Saintes and Limoges; and the Line of the East has just applied the system to 80 of its cars.

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DELICATE TEST FOR OXYGEN.

T. W. Engelmann proposes, in the _Botanische Zeitung_, a new test, of an extremely delicate nature, for determining the presence of very minute quantities of oxygen, namely: its power of exciting the motility of bacteria. If any of the smaller species, especially _Bacterium termo_, are brought to rest, and then introduced into a fluid in which there is the minutest trace of free oxygen, they will immediately begin to move about freely; and if the oxygen is gradually introduced, their motion will be set up only in those parts of the drop which the oxygen reaches. In this way Engelmann was able to determine the evolution of oxygen by _Euglena_ and by chlorophyl granules.

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DETERMINATION OF SMALL QUANTITIES OF ARSENIC IN SULPHUR.

By H SCHÆPPI.

Ten grms. of sulphur, pulverized as finely as possible, are covered with hot water and a few drops of nitric acid digested for some time, filtered, and washed till the washings have no longer an acid reaction. Thus calcium chloride and sulphate are removed, and calcium sulphide, if present, is destroyed. The sulphur thus prepared is covered with water at 70° to 80°, a few drops of ammonia are added, and the mixture is digested for a quarter of an hour. All the arsenic present as sulphide is dissolved, and the ammoniacal liquid is variously treated according to the degree of accuracy required. For perfectly accurate determinations the ammoniacal solution is mixed with silver nitrate, and all the sulphur present in the state of arsenic sulphide is thrown down as silver sulphide, acidified with nitric acid, filtered, and washed. The precipitate of silver sulphide is dissolved in hot nitric acid and determined as silver chloride. From the weight of the latter the arsenic sulphide is calculated. As a less accurate but more rapid method, the ammoniacal solution of arsenic sulphide is cautiously neutralized with pure dilute nitric acid and considerably diluted. It is then titrated with decinormal silver nitrate till a drop of the solution is turned brown with neutral chromate. The arsenic is easily calculated from the quantity of silver nitrate consumed. For very rough determinations it is sufficient to treat ten grms. of finely-ground sulphur with nitric acid, to extract with ammonia, and to add silver nitrate. From the intensity of the color, or the quantity of the precipitate of silver sulphide, it may be judged if the sulphur is approximately free from arsenic or strongly contaminated. The author states that, contrary to the general belief, reddish yellow sulphur is more free from arsenic than such as is of a full yellow color.

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HOW TO PLANT TREES.

By N. ROBERTSON, Government Grounds, Ottawa.

A great deal has been written and said about tree planting. Some advise one way, some another. I will give you my method, with which I have been very successful, and, as it differs somewhat from the usual mode, may be interesting to some of your readers. I go into the woods, select a place where it is thick with strong, young, healthy, rapid growing trees. I commence by making a trench across so as I will get as many as I want. I may have to destroy some until I get a right start. I then undermine, taking out the trees as I advance; this gives me a chance not to destroy the roots. I care nothing about the top, because I cut them into what is called poles eight or ten feet long. Sometimes I draw them out by hitching a team when I can get them so far excavated that I can turn them down enough to hitch above where I intend to cut them off; by this method I often get almost the entire root. I have three particular points in this; good root, a stem without any blemish, and a rapid growing tree. This is seldom to be got where most people recommend trees to be taken from--isolated ones on the outside of the woods; they are generally scraggy and stunted; and to get their roots you would have to follow along way to get at the fibers on their points, without which they will have a hard struggle to live. Another point recommended is to plant so that the tree will stand in the direction it was before being moved; that I never think about, but always study to have the longest and most roots on the side where the wind will be strongest, which is generally the west, on an open exposure.

For years I was much against this system of cutting trees into poles, and fought hard against one of the most successful tree planters in Canada about this pole business. I have trees planted under the system described that have many strong shoots six and eight feet long--hard maple, elm, etc., under the most unfavorable circumstances. In planting, be particular to have the hole into which you plant much larger than your roots; and be sure you draw out all your roots to their length before you put on your soil; clean away all the black, leafy soil about them, for if that is left, and gets once dry, you will not easily wet it again. Break down the edges of your holes as you progress, not to leave them as if they were confined in a flower pot; and when finished, put around them a good heavy mulch, I do not care what of--sawdust, manure, or straw. This last you can keep by throwing a few spadefuls of soil over; let it pass out over the edges of your holes at least one foot.

I have no doubt that the best time to plant is the fall, as, if left till spring, the trees are too far advanced before the frost is put of the ground; and by fall planting the soil gets settled about the roots, and they go on with the season.

Trees cut like poles have another great advantage. For the first season they require no stakes to guard against the wind shaking them, which is a necessity with a top; for depend upon it, if your tree is allowed to sway with the wind, your roots will take very little hold that season, and may die, often the second year, from this very cause.

All who try this system will find out that they will get a much prettier headed tree, and much sooner see a tree of beauty than by any other, as, when your roots have plenty of fibrous roots, and are in vigorous health, three years will give you nice trees.--_The Canadian Horticulturist_.

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THE GROWTH OF PALMS.

In a paper (Russian) recently read before the Botanical Section of the St. Petersburg Natural History Society, Mr. K. Friderich describes in detail the anatomical structures to be met with in the aerial roots of _Acanthorhiza aculeata_, these roots presenting a remarkable example of roots being metamorphosed into spines. Supplementing this, E. Regel made the following remarks:

Palm trees, grown from seed, thicken their stems for a succession of years, like bulbs, only at the base. Many palms continue this primary growth (i.e., the growth they first started with) for fifty to sixty years before they form their trunk. During this time new roots are always being developed at the base of the stem, in whorls, and these always above the old roots. This even takes place in old specimens, especially in those planted in the open ground which have already formed a trunk, In such cases the cortex layer, where the roots break through, is sprung off. In conservatories, under the influence of the damp air, this root formation, on which indeed the further normal growth of the palm depends, takes place without any special assistance. When the palm is grown in a sitting room, one must surround the base of the trunk with moss, which is to be kept damp, in order to favor the development of the roots. When the base of the palm trunk has almost reached its normal thickness, then begins the upward development of the trunk, which takes place more slowly in those species whose leaves grow close together than in those whose leaves are further apart. In specimens of many species of Cocos and Syagrus, whose leaves are particularly far apart, the stems grow so quickly when planted in the open ground that they increase by five to six feet in height per annum. The stem of those palms which develop a terminal inflorescence have ended their apical growth by doing so, and wither gradually, In addition to this (withering) in the case, e.g. of _Arenga saccharifera_, new inflorescences are developed from the original axils _(Blattachseln)_ from above downward, so that one sees at last the already leafless trunk still developing inflorescences in the direction toward the base of the trunk. Almost all palms with this latter kind of growth develop offshoots in their youth at the base of their trunks, which shoot up again into trunks after the death of the primary trunk, if they are not taken off before. As to the structure of the palm trunks out of unconnected wood bundles, the assertion has been made that the palm stem does not grow thicker in the course of time, and that this is the explanation of the columnar almost evenly thick trunk. But careful measurements that were made for years have led Regel to the conclusion that a thickening of the trunk actually takes place, which probably amounts to an increase of about a third over the original circumference of the trunk.

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THE FUTURE OF SILK CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES.

Report by CONSUL PEIXOTTO, of Lyons.

In my dispatch, No. 140, dated September 1, 1880, I referred to the fact that new machinery for reeling silk had been invented, which, in my opinion, was destined to be of great importance, and to make this industry extremely valuable and profitable in our country. I beg now to submit some additional observations upon this subject, and for the purpose of being definite, to entitle them

THE FUTURE OF SILK CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES.

Silk reeling is at present accomplished by the use of appliances which differ only in detail from those in use many centuries ago, and which can scarcely be called machines, being rather of the nature of apparatus depending entirely upon the skill and knowledge of the operative for the results produced. In fact, even the most perfect of French and Italian reels bear about the same relation to automatic machinery that an old-fashioned spinning wheel does to our modern spinning machines.

Since the date of my previous dispatch upon this subject, the new reeling machine of Mr. E. W. Serrell, jr., of New York (who still continues in Lyons), has been undergoing improvement and development, and it is with the hope of facilitating the introduction and culture of silk, and of enabling our people to adopt the best means to that end, and to avoid errors which have been disastrous in the past and are likely to be extremely expensive in the near future, that I now communicate with the department, which is equally interested in securing new sources of industry and wealth for our people at home as for the promotion and extension of their commerce abroad.

It will be recollected that from about 1834 to 1839 there raged a great speculation in mulberry trees of a certain species (_Morus multicaulis_) destined for feeding silk worms. This speculation led to a total loss of all the time and money devoted to it, partly because of its wild and utterly unsound character, and partly because the little silk which was actually produced could not be reeled to advantage. As a result, silk culture fell into utter disrepute and for nearly a generation was scarcely thought of as a practical thing in the United States. Time, however, showed clearly where the great obstacle lay, and although many may have imagined that other difficulties led to its abandonment in 1839-40, those who have studied the matter are unanimously of the opinion that the want of reeling machinery has alone prevented the success of sericulture in those parts of the Union which are suitable for it. Believing this obstacle to be removed, it remains to set forth in a brief manner some of the points upon which, it appears to me, the successful introduction of silk raising will depend.

For the success of silk culture in our country two things are now requisite--the acquisition on the part of those about to engage in it of sound knowledge of its processes and requirements, and proper organization.

The details of the work of silk culture are of such a nature that they may be readily understood, and I apprehend that there will be little difficulty found by those who engage in it in mastering them, after some little experience. The point at which it seems to me that there is the most danger is at the very beginning.

In order to avoid delays and losses, the person who begins silk culture should have a pretty clear idea of the scale of operations which are likely to be most profitable; of the trees, or rather shrubs, which must be obtained; of the apparatus and fixtures necessary, and of the results which may be reasonably expected from the labor and expense required. All of these items will be found to vary in different parts of the country, and I fear that general rules, broad deductions, and such information as would apply under all circumstances and in all places would be extremely difficult to formulate, and too vague for practical use at any given point.

In fact, as far as information which may be considered perfectly general is concerned, I have, for the time being, only one point to put forward in addition to what has already been published in the United States, which is to repeat and show as emphatically as possible that the use of the reels at present employed for the filature of silk is entirely impracticable in our country, and that the raiser must sell his cocoons.

This has been so often said and so clearly shown that I should consider it unnecessary to repeat it had not my attention been called to the fact that the success of several people and associations in the United States in raising cocoons has again made it a temptation to endeavor to reel silk, and during the past year I have received applications from people in different States for information as to the kind of silk reel employed here which would be most suitable for use by them.

I am aware, also, that estimates have been made and published by some eminent authorities tending to show that this work could be done on a paying basis in some places in America. So far as I have seen them, however, these estimates are fatally defective in that they do not allow for differences in quality of silk reeled by competent or incompetent people, and under circumstances favorable or otherwise, but seem to assume that any silk reeled in our country would be a first rate article, and paid for accordingly.

While this might be true in isolated cases, it could not be true in general, as with present appliances the art of reeling _good_ silk is only to be acquired and retained by years of apprenticeship and constant practice joined to a natural talent for the work. So true is this, that even in districts where the work has been largely carried on for many generations, quite a large proportion of women who try for years find it impossible to become good reelers.

Now, there is a considerable difference in price between well reeled and poorly reeled silk--a difference so great that silk not well reeled in every way is not worth as much as the cocoons from which it is derived. It is, therefore, quite a hopeless task to reel silk unless the reeler is skilled. Even if it could be done to advantage--which I do not think it could--there exists in America no means of training reelers. In Europe they are taught by degrees in the filatures, working first at the easier stages of the operations, and afterward being helped forward under the eyes and guidance of experienced operatives.

Another grave defect in the estimates alluded to is that all the profit is assumed to be paid to the reeler. This can evidently only be the case when each reeler runs her own reel, owns and cares for her own cocoons, sells her own silk, and furnishes her own capital. Now, even supposing that persons so fortunately placed as to be able to fulfill all these conditions should wish to engage in silk reeling, which is in the highest degree improbable, there exists an almost insuperable obstacle to the production of good silk except by an establishment large enough to use the cocoons of many producers.

Nearly every silk crop as raised by the individual growers contains three or four grades of cocoons, and to produce good and uniform silk, these must be separated and each sort reeled by itself, producing several grades of silk.

Without going into detail, it is enough to say that this is not practical for those who attempt to reel their own cocoons, and that for this reason, and many others, hand reels and single basins have been nearly abandoned even in Italy; the women finding so much difficulty that they prefer to sell their cocoons and work in large establishments where the work is done to more advantage.

It is evident, therefore, that, from the estimates made, there should be a considerable deduction for poor workmanship, and another for use of capital, organization, selling expenses, superintendence, insurance, repairs, deterioration, etc. In fact, I do not see in what way the reeling of silk in the United States, by the ordinary method, could be made to bear a much higher charge for labor than that borne by European filatures, which barely pay with labor at one franc per diem of thirteen hours.

To be able, then, to reel silk by the ordinary reels, it would first be necessary to find a sufficiency of highly skilled operatives willing to labor in a factory thirteen hours per day for twenty cents each. I sincerely believe and hope that this can never be done. I have enlarged somewhat upon this difficulty for the purpose of showing that the growers, or at any rate individual growers of cocoons, should not attempt to do the reeling, but by no means with an idea of discouraging the raising of silk worms, which is and should be an entirely separate matter. To use a rough comparison, I should esteem it as wasteful, even if possible, for each grower to attempt to reel his own cocoons as for each farmer to grind his own wheat upon his farm and endeavor to sell the flour.

It is, therefore, clear that the object of the sericulturist should be to raise and market as good a crop of cocoons as possible to the best advantage, and with the least possible expense and risk.

After what has been said, it may be very properly asked, if, seeing that the hopes which have been entertained of reeling by the usual method have proved fallacious, and as no radically new system of raising silk worms is under consideration, it is not very possible that all hopes of profit from rearing the worm may prove fallacious also.

In fact, not only has the question been asked, but an argument of great apparent strength and much plausibility has been formulated and extensively circulated, tending to show that the difficulty of cheap labor, which it has been shown stood in the way of reeling without improved machinery, will make the raising of cocoons also a hopelessly unprofitable task.

Briefly summarized, this argument may be stated as follows:

First. To raise silk worms to advantage much time and attention are required.

Second. Time and attention are more costly in the United States than in other countries.

Third. Consequently, cocoons can be more cheaply raised in other countries than in the United States.

Fourth. The United States possess no special advantages as a market for cocoons, and therefore they must be sold as cheaply as elsewhere, and the labor costing more, there is less profit.

Fifth. The profits made by raisers in Europe are not very great, and as they would be less in the United States, it is not worth while to try to raise cocoons in that country.

It must be acknowledged that upon the surface this all appears to be very sound and almost unanswerable, but I hope to be able to show that there is in reality not the slightest real foundation for the conclusion to which this argument points.

Taking the points cited in order, I would say, as regards the first and second, that although labor and time are required to raise cocoons, I am convinced that the labor and time of the kind necessary will not be found more expensive in our country than in Europe, for the following reasons:

The work is a home industry. It can be carried on without severe manual labor except for a few days, at the end of the season, when large crops are raised.

Now, nothing is better known than that there exists in many of our States an enormous number of wives and daughters of country people of a class entirely different from any to be found elsewhere, except, perhaps, to a limited extent, in England. I refer to the "well-to-do" but not wealthy agricultural and manufacturing classes in small villages.

One or two generations ago the farmers' and mechanics' wives and daughters found plenty of work in spinning, weaving, dyeing, cutting, and making the linen and clothes of the family. This has entirely ceased as a domestic industry with the exception of the "sewing" of the women's clothes and men's underwear. As a consequence, the women of the family are condemned to idleness, or to the drudgery of the whole household work.

Upon a proper occasion I think that much might be said of the evils and dangers which are likely within a short time to arise from the fact that perhaps a large majority of American women find themselves, because of the present organization of society and industry, almost unable to contribute to the family income except by going away from home, or in doing the most menial and severe labor as household workers from one end of the year to the other. I shall at present, however, only point out that in hundreds of thousands of homes in the country an opportunity of gaining a very moderate sum in addition to the present income by the expenditure of some weeks of care and light work would be hailed as a Godsend, and that, too, in families where the feeling of self-respect and the desire to keep the family together are far too strong to permit the women to go away from home in any way to earn money.

Let any one who doubts this consider the dairy work and similar industries, and try to calculate how much per diem the women thus occupied at home gain in money. It may be said with entire accuracy that, as a rule, anything in which the women can engage at home, by which something may be earned, will in general be regarded as net profit through out many sections of the land. In the silk districts of Europe, agricultural machinery is very much less employed than with us, and in general every woman who can possibly be spared from other work is a field laborer and valuable as such. So that time taken for raising silk must be deducted from her other productive work and charged to the cost of the silk crop. I think that there can be no doubt that this one fact is quite sufficient to make the question of the cost of caring for the worms really as much in favor of the United States as at first glance it appears to be the other way; it being the case that in our country many who would be glad to do the work have spare time to give to it, whereas in Europe every hour that is given to silk worms would otherwise be spent in the field.

In the South there are very large masses of inhabitants who are unable to work in the fields, both men and women, and who would also find in a yearly crop of silk worms a very comfortable addition to their yearly gains, and one which could be derived from time not otherwise convertible into money. Land is very much dearer, and taxes are higher in the European silk districts than with us, and every little crop of cocoons has to pay its share, which adds a considerable percentage to its cost.

The buildings possessed by peasants and used for the raising of silk worms are, in general, small, close, and miserable. Throughout America the roomy barns which are empty at the cocoon season, will, with little preparation, be much preferable, and enable the raisers to work to very much better advantage.

In Europe diseases of several kinds have become more or less prevalent, and in some cases have diminished the production of whole districts.

Notwithstanding the fact that many experiments have been made in America, and in Georgia particularly, and silk has been raised continuously for over a century, these diseases (_maladies des vers a soile_) have never made their appearance.