The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1874-11-14

reign. This Is the ordeal poison plant or tree
! OF great beauty in its appearance, and which
was administered TO those subjects Of tho
queen who were suspected Of being Christ
ians, in the lowing manner: The fruit Of
the plant praised and boiled whole
q fowl and the broth set aside
and tire the skin of the fowl were
cut and T. ne broth. A cupful Of the
poison ,lvcn followed by another
OF the / aiming the three pieces OF
skin ag did not speedily set in the
poison ed; but if it did, it was kept
up by {, exhibition of the broth and
warm til the three pieces Of skin
were cj, Should these obstinately re-
main, ii Id as evidence of guilt and an
other dos nc poison was administered.
What is evcd to be the ugliest looking
plant in cX nee, as well as Stucturally the
most pCculi ,ver yet seen, was discovered
some tine 90 beyond the limits of Cape
Town, southern Africa. It's stunted look
ing kind of growth, whose summit never
reaches more than two feet above the level of
the ground whilst its short woody trunk
never possesses more than two leaves These
extraordinary leaves are, in point of fact, the
expanded see.lobes, which make their appear
ance as soon as the young plantrises out OF the
the ground, and, what is still more as tonish-
lbE, llltSC ISi'NS ii'N) Sip" 'ht ~ A'i'i az
tachcd to the stumpy trunk during the entire
life Of the tree, which, it is represented, lives
at least one hundred years. 1t Is also stated
that these two persistent toiar organs spread
out latcrally, in some instances attaining each
of them, a length Of nearly SIX feet. The
Towering axes shoot up from the summit OF
stumpy trunk, which is flattened at the top,
and, like folded card table, is Ovid ed by a
central line into two equal halves. The root
is cuniaal and longer than that part of the
trunk which appears above ground.
In recent number of Gali9aahi, a dcscrip-
ton is given by VI NJ. Rabuteau and Pcyre,
the well known 6otanlsts, of famous plant
which grows in the vicinity of the French
settlement Of Gaboon, and which Is called by
the name of vi BOIndoo. 1t is very difficult
to procure, because the sorCerers of the coun-
try have always concealedthe plant with great
care from the pfofane, so that its properties
are still in a great measure a sacred mys'ery
These botanists, however, succeeded in find
ing it themselves, in a moist soil, in the neigh
borhood of the river Como, at thirty leagues
from the frontier. The roots vary in thick.
ness, from about one-half of an inch to one
end q quarter, and their length is from
twelve To eighteen inches. The rind, whether
fresh or dry, is reddish outside and a vivid
red within. Both root and bark are exceed
ingly bitter.
There is remarkable plant, peculiar to-
New Grdncda, which, if ink makers could
only grow in sufficient quantity in tins coun
try, would doubtless prove profitable enter
prise The plant in question is commonly
known us the ink-pant and it is simply the
Juice that is used, without any preparation.
It's properties seem, according to tradition
which there prevails, to have been discovered
-
during the Spanish administration. y mum
Der Of written documents, destined for the
mother country, We're embarked in a vessel,
and transmitted rrund the cape. The voy-
age was unusually tempcstuouS, and the doc.
umcntS got wetted with salt water; those writ
ten with common ink lecamc nearly iIlcgi-
Die, whereas those written with "chanchi'-l
The name of the juice--remained unal,crcd,
4 decree was therefore issued that all gov
ernment communications should in future be
written with the vegetable juice, instead OF
the prepared article. This vegetable ink is OF
Il reddish color when freshly written, bccom
ing perfectly black after Il few hours, and II
has the recommendation of not corroding a.
steel pen so readily as ordinary ink.
Quite recently some of the English papers
have described plant Of most novel charac.
terstic, in the possession of gentleman re-
siding in Clcrkcawell, and who is said To have
been offered large sums for the rarity. 1t Is
about the size of an ordinary gooseberry bush,
and. although living and growing, exhibits
no sembance To vitality. 1t has no foliage
" whatever, but hitlc pclliclcs of fire flint bud
out of the twigs and stems, which latter like
wise cncircled with rings OF flint at every
oint Id some places the flint which, cap
pears, has cSuded from the plant ITSELF cases
he stem like pipe. The plant looks alack
lnd dead, bat the twIgs, instead of being brit
lie like dead wood, are tough as leather
hongs. Ii seems as though the flint, which
'O.ms 81 Large a component of plant life, had, !
by some freak of nature beer eliminated
rom the natural vcsicles OF the plant, and de-
selopcd outwardly.
one Of the most gigantic plants in the veg
,ablrkincdom is iouad in Nicaragua. Ii isl
loosely allied Ia the we!l-known heGgeplant
called arumS, or lord and ladies' bur. until
ne present time, has wholly escaped the no
ice of travelling botaniSts. Ii produces but
me leaf. which is abpat fourteen feet in length
on a stalk some ten feet long f.
rhc STEM of a flower is "a foot in circumirr.
nee. and the spathc or flower is two feet I
onr purpli,h blue in color, with powerful I
.arIion like odor rs this extraordinary /
plant is quite ncw Ia science, i, has n We; no
name.
The plant which bears the so-callCd "ap-I
nl,> Of Sldom" has been Vari nusly described
jy historians and travellers. The iirstuuliCcI
ii il is by JbscphuS, who says that they have
4 color as IL To be eaten, but iipluckcd, they
li>Olve into smoke md ashes. Taciius men
ions them, as does De Chartres IN lle0, and
,ihcrS of later date. Yet many have here
oiorc dcr;ded their acconnis as fabulous,
Ind, Among those who believed them 10 bel