Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-01-18
"A CURI Us TREE.
The Pod of the COcoanut Contains Beautiful
Feather Plumes.
Philadelphia Ledger

Inc Iou ol JHe IOcOahut contains Beautiful
Feather PlumeS-
Philadelphia Ledger.
Laying no claims to scientific knowl-
edge as q naturalist, the writer would
speak of trees and flowers simply as ob-
jects Of picturesque beauty, torn AID
color. The visitor will at once be struck
by the splendid masses of foliage which
meet him at every turn. The town, in
deed, seen from any height, appears al
most enveloped Ia green covering of
mahogany, tamarind, silk, cotton, ban
an, white wood and famboyant-wh1ch,
as summer approaches, presents one solid
blaze of crimsou-while above tower the
graceful forms of the cocUanut and the
| tall, perpendicular shafts of the mountain
cabbage palm, viii III seem to stand over
looking the less lofty groves like sentinels.
The shaft of the mountain cabbage,
which Is of avery light gray color, Amos
white in contrast with surrounding YER
dure, terminates in beautiful crown of
Taylng branches, but between the whole
shaft aud the overhanglug mass of
branches there rises green CN Under the
same sIz9 With the shaft, filed with a
pulp which IN appearance aud taste re-
sembles cauhh over. 1t Ia not often used
"a vegetable, as the removal of the CYL
inder des troys the tree.
The cocoanut from numberless points
Is familiar to every reader, but there il
one pecullarity about it which the writer
was surprised to find entirely unknown
to the Inhabitants of Barbados, as we'll as
10 those born and bred in the island of
Santa Cruz, which he visited many Years
ago, This Is the cucoanut pod. just be
meath the branches of the cocoanut tree
the passer by sees a long, round, and
slightly curved green pod, perhaps a
yard in length, aud if he passes by for
many weeks he sees 1T dry up and drop to
the ground, leaving behind few green
nuts, which are the cOcoanuts. Bot if
his curiosity is excited and he sends a
little boy to climb the tree and briur
down the pOd IN is green and perfecr
state and draws his knife along its whole
leAgth be Will find he shell open and re-
veal what seems to lie solid mass of
delicate yellow wax, marked all over with
a pattern of peculiar shape. Removing
the mass from the discHIded shell and
holding lt by Its base and giving it a
shake, 1T tumbies into beautiful Z ince
OF Wales feather plume. The delicate
tracery observed before this motion was
gwen to the mass now proves to be the
form o. seeds, closely packed together
while here and there a small yellow ball
reveals the embryo cocoanut, which
finally, as the fruit natures, becomes
green, the yellow seeds drying and fall.
ing to The ground. The writer recalls
with interest the loudly eX expressed surprise
and admiration of n large party of plan
ters and officials gathered around the
table of the gOve1nOr-generai of the
Dani>h West India islands, when one of
pods was procured and opened for their
lnspe ctiun. Not one one of the large
assembly had ever before seen the cocoa
nut pod thus opened anG exhibited. The
same surprise and admiration have al
ways attended the same exhibition when
one OF these pods was procured aud
opened In the midst of gathered friends
If the pod ls Kept long after being cut
from the tree these seeds become de
tatched and fall from their stems when
the pod is opened. Many superb speci-
mems of the silk cotton tree are found
on the island and in the grounds OF
Queens house, the residence of Gen. Sir
Charles Pearson, is gigantic growth of
African origin, many centuries old, call
ed, we believe, the beobab. Careful az d
repeated measurements of the trunk of
this tree around the narrowest part gave
torty-three feet. Measured around its
buttress like projections at it base II
must have reached nearly twice that. The
cannon ball tree is another curiosity, not
from its sizs but from the fruit and
flower which it bears