Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-07-25


WALKING STIcKs.-At the present and for
some time past, pimenta sticks have been in
great demand both for walking and for UNI
brella sticks. For the former purpose they are
manufactured into almost every variety of fam
ciful patterns by staining, carving, and other
processes, and the wood being very strong and
clOse-grained, admits Of its general adaptation
to almost any purpose For umbrellas, pimenta
sticks are very useful, for their rigid nature pre-
vents their breaking or becoming crooked As
imported in their rough state they are about
two or three inches in diameter and from three
TO four feet long; they are the proddce of a
tree known to botanists as pimenta vulgaris
which yields the allspice or pimenta of com
merce. 1t is a native of the West indies, where
it is also extensively cultivated for the sake of
the well known berries which are imported in
such large quantities to this country.
Lately there has arisen a great fancy among
stick connoisseurs for myrtle sticks. These are
principally used for umbrellas, and may be
known by their rustic and knotty appearance.
Some specimens which we have seen have had
singularly fantastic look, and would, we
should think, be well suited for umbrellas in
tended for lending, as the owner could not fail
to recognize his property Myrtle sticks are i'm
ported from Algeria, from whence also are OBJ
tanned various other kinds, some of which cam
not fan, by reason of their names, il not from
their appearance, to command some amount of
interest. Such, for instance would be the
pomegranite and the olive, the names of which
seem to take us back to the east in the times of
old, and bring up many associations connected
Herewith
Perhaps the most priced of all sticks are
those OF the orange and lemon. These are i'm
ported chiefly from the West Indies. and al
though they can be procured without difficulty
in almost any retail shop in London, vet really
perfect specimens are scarce, and fetch enormous
prices. An orange stick is easily known by its
beautiful green bark, with fine white Longitude
nal MARKINGS and fbp lemon cor no h..
the symmetry OF its proportions and the regu-
larity and prominence of its knots. These
sticks are considered in the trade as taking pre-
eminently the first place among walking sticks
very favorite stick, both for the sake of its
appearance and its great rigidity, is the rajah
| cane, and it is largely used for walking sticks,
umbrella sticks, and handles for parasos. Very
| little is known of its botanical origin, except
thatlt is the stem of palm, and in all probable
ity a species OF calamus 1t is grown in Borneo,
and is said TO derive its name of raah in conse-
| quence OF the duties paid for its export to the
| raiah of Borneo.
The celebrated Whangee canes of China.
| known and admired for the regularity of their
joints, which are the points from whence the
| leaves are given off, are the stems of a species
OF phyllostachys, gigantic grass closely allied
| to the bamboo.
Not long since new kind of stick appeared
| in our shop windows, which was sold under the
name OF palm canes. These, instead of being
IOuuuJ orc anu more or less nat. They
are of a brownish color, spotted and quite
straight, without either knob or curled handle.
They are the petioles or leaf stalks of the date
palm (Phenix dactylifera.)
Another new kind of stick lately introduced
from Algeria, and known in the trade as Euca-
| lyptus, is, in reality, the produce of a tree
known 10 botanists by the same name of Euca-
yptus. The true home Of these trees is Austria
ila, where numerous species exist, forming
large forest trees, some growing to between -four
h anu p h hundred feet high. Several species
nave been introduced into The south of Europe
aud found to thrive,
lhese are out few examples of the foreign
lraae 10 TINS branch of manufacture. Large
Ian' .h 81 various kinds of sticks are received
Singapore, &c. The well-known NaIacca canes
the stems Of Calamus Scipionum, a slender
climbing palm, are not found about Malarca. ID
the name would seem to imply, but are imported
Good Words '"'n'O"'