Richland beacon., 1873-03-22
The Banyan Tree.

The Banvan (Frc,ts H,dica) is Indigenous
To India only. | call it one of the kings
of the forest" because no other Of the
vegetable giants ever measured a 1.-THE OF
five acres in circuit, or afforded shelter
from the tOrrd sun at one time to one
teuth of an army of ten thousand men.
No one who ever spent the long noon
tide OF an Indian day under the capaciOus
shadow of Il banyan-tree, or slept tinln-
iured during successive nights under
the protection from devS and rains OF It's
shingled foliage. or strOllcd lelSurcly for
hours along avenues and fOot-paths Dor
dered by Towering shurbs and cooled by
gur9ling streamlets, all within the boun-
daries of the repeating branches OF sim
gle tree, will he disposed to dispute the
claims of the banyan 10 be counted as one
of the three mOnarchs ot the woods.
When a banyan first springs from IFS
seed. its method of growth is normal.
Like the oak, or elm. or beech, or maple,
it grows progI csSively through its differ
ent stages of shoot, and plant. and shrub.
and saplirg. and tree. There is nothing
about it that is peculiar. 1t observes the
ordinary routine OF vegetable life. Rising
i'm height from year TO year, 1t puts forth
limbs which are clothed in foliage. All
over the Orient there are banyans. still
short of their hundred years OF age. which
are in no respect peculiar. Like other
deniZens of the forest. the stranger would
pass them by unnOticed. But. when its
first century is passed, and its burden of
Successors becomes oppressive. like hale
old fellow OF the human race. 1t seeks sup
port in its children.
Every ore is familiar with the fact that
different trees shoot out their limbs at dif-
ttrent angles TO the trunk. The LOm-
hardy poplar, in this respect. varies widc'
" from the elm, and the larch from the
willow. The English oak branch leaves
the parent stem at so high an angle as 70
he almost horizontal. The banyan does
the same. But the latter has length
that surpasses the former almost as much
as ships cable does cOachman's whip
lash. Now, it is well known law in
mechanics, that the longer the arm the
more powerful is the lever. The branch
OF the English oak ceases to grow be-
yOnd tin point where the lever power
would wrench il from the stem. The
branch of the banyan does not. One
stops at iive-and-twenty feet: the other
not even at five hundred. PrOvisionmust
| be made, therefore, to give the latter sup
port, and its wonderful popularity is.
that nature has made such provision.
In the banyan, when a horizontal
branch has been put forth to such length
as to render it difficult to maintain itseli
without breaking. it lowers down from its
end one or two more roots. which, enter.
ing the ground, send forth rOotlcts, and
| themselves become new stems. III due
time the horizontal branches, which once
were in danger of being destroyed by
their own weight, are as easily support
ed by the pillars as a bridge is by its piers
So the process goes on. Lateral branches
shoot out from the main limbs, which
latter are constantly growing till they
reach gigantic size. These lateral branch
Is also put dOa n stems and shoot on
branchlets. until it comes to pass that, II
place of single tree, there is wondrou
colonnade of stems, supporting as man,
:, .tural rafters, on which repose dens
canopies Of foliage.--N. S. Dodge IN Ap
| nyefous' ,TOikJ7,1I,