Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-03-22

The government has been going quite ex-
tensively of late into the propagation Of
whisky shops and lager beer saloons. Its
laboratory employed for this purpose is the
national botanical garden here. For the lager
beer saloons and whisky shops referred to are
purely OF a vegetable nature. They are, in
fact nothing more or less than plants Of q very
extraordinary description. which devote their
attention exclusively to the manufacture and
sale of intoxicants. A STAR reporter learned that
attention is being given to an investigation Of
their manner of doing business and to analyses
of the liquors they dispense, which is expected
to have very important and useful results,
opening up line of inquiry in an altogether
new direction. 80.
The vegetable whisky shop is perhaps the
most astonishing plant in existence. num-
Der OF members of its family are represented
in the greenhouses OF the botanical garden.
Each one does business on its own hook and
most OF them sell differing brands OF liquor,
that supplied to customers at one shop being
unlike what is offered at another. This does
not appear surprising when 1t Is considered
that every vegetable whisky shop does its own
| distilling.
GENEROUS BARS.
You would be struck at once with the curious
appearance OF one Of these vegetable whisky
| shops if you saw it standing in big flower
pot carrying on the end OF each of Its long
green leaves a pitcher-shaped receptacle. II
the plant Is open Tor business you can look into
the pitchers and find them to contain quite a
quantity Of watery-looking liquor. This is the
intoxicant which is offered to customers, each
one being permitted to help himself to as much
as he likes for the stipulated and invariable
price. Maybe you will find the pitchers all
shut up, for each pitcher has "a cover that shuts
down whenever any rain or dew is falling to
prevent the liquor from becoming diluted.
THE CUSTOMERS
Now, the customers spoken of are insects of
all sorts-such as blue-bottle flies, mosquitoes
bug of any sort. apparently, that has not
weakness for the liquor supplied by the vege-
table whisky shop. The insect walks out on
one of the long leaves until he comes to the
enc OF it, and finding there quantity of de-
llclous drink IN the pitcher he crawls in and swigs
and swigs at it until he dies, as is supposed, of
alcoholism. At all events he pays for his
drink with his life and leaves his corpse in the
pitcher to sustain by its absorption the health
full existence OF the plant. And it is just for
TINS obJect-to entrap customers for fOod-that
the plant prepares and places on sale its liquor.
what the said liquor Is composed OF, chemi-
cally speaking. attempts are now being made
to find out by analy ses. So far it is only known
that 1t Is a powerful and paIatable intoxicant.
How much the insects enjoy it you can per-
ceive by looking into the pitchers, where you
Will often find in each receptacle hundreds of
bugs OF all descriptions. Another form OF
vegetable whisky shop has long perpendicular
trumpet-shaped receptacles for the liquor,
with the wide end OF the trumpets at the top,
where the bugs are expected to crawl in. And
when you tear open one of these trumpets-lt
may be foot or moro in length--after it has
survived its usefulness and dried up you will
usually find 1t filled from one end to the other
with flies and ants and such things.
VARIETY OF DRINKS AND PATRONS.
1t has recently been discovered-and herein
lies the expected usefulness of the investiga-
ton now going OIL regarding these plants--that
different vegetable whisky shops, like their
prototypes on the city streets have different
classes Of customers One kind of these shops
Is frequented almost exclusively by cockroaches
tor whose reception unusually large pitchers
are provided-the plant carrying them looking
as if it had suspended from the ends of its
strong leaves a lot of small bath tubs. An
other kind. with pitchers that resemble in APP
pearance great big beans. is frequented only
by red ants: and still another kind is patron
lied by slugs and has the rims of its pitchers
armed with teeth to delay guests who might
wish to depart. So it would appear that these
whisky shops could be propagated for use in
destroying such enemies of the household and
the garden and it is proposed to find out how
far such thing may be practicable There il
no difficulty, certainly, in rearing ana maintain
ing the plants, which are no: tropical eXotics
but natives of this very region about Washing
ton and readily to be cultivated In any temper
ate climate.
THE BEER SALOON.
Quite as interesting in its way as the whisky
shop is the vegetable lager beer saloon re-
ferred to at the beginning of this article. In
general appearance it resembles the whisky
shop strongly, but its pitchers wider at the
mouths and have no tops to them. Thus the
liquor dispensed by the lager beer saloon is
diluted more or less by the dews and rains, SO
that it Is not very Intoxicating. However, the
drink is intended to attract the insect custom
ers and not to poison them. Patrons, crawling
into the pitchers, take a drink and. without
feeling it go to their heads very much, start to
walk out again. But, unfortunately. the whole
inside of the pitcher is lined with strong hairy
projections, all pointing downward toward the
liquor and away from the brim. 1t was easy
enough to walk downward, but when the victim
attempts to go upward and out again the hairs
obstruct his progress effectualy that he
finally tumbles back into the drink and is mis-
erably drowned. That is the way the vege-
table lager beer saloon captures its customers
by drowning.
THE BUTCHER.
Another fascinating plant now being propa-
gated at the botanical garden is the butcher"
which kills the insects and such things that it
feeds upon by crushing them alive, afterward
consuming them at its leisure. This is consid-
cred to be of all vegetables the one exhibiting
an intelligence most nearly approaching that
which animals possess. Its appearance Is not
impressive for its popularity. Growing
along the ground. it has for leaves little green
| things shaped like open clam shells, the biggest
OF them half an inch long, with a row of little
spikes around each edge. As you observe the
plant most of the clam shells will be open
waiting for food-each of them greedy mouth
ready to deyOur anything that may crawl in
Here comes an ant. Perhaps he will walk in
| to one OF these pairs OF yawning jaws. Yes.
! there he goes into tine big one. attracted by the
sugary excretlon the inside Of the minia-
ture clam shell, which serves for a bait The
victim reaches the middle point between the
jaws and comes in contact with six
microscopic hairs that grow inside the clam
shell Leaf and serve the plant AZ feelers I'm
mcdiately the jaws close with snap, the two
rows of spikes folding over the shut edge OF
| the clam shell, SO as to give the prey no
! chance of escape. Ii the insect were much
bigger and stronger than an ant he would be
| quickly crushed to death. 1t may be some
hours before the jaws will open again, the clam
shell leaf being occupied meanwhile in digest
ing the food captured. All the leaves of the
| plant being engaged continually in waiting for
| prey, catching IL aud digesting it, it makes d
| very good living indeed where bugs are plenti-
! full. III the greenhouses there are compare.
| gardener feeds his butcher plant from day TO
! day with such delicacies finely chopped or
scraped beefsteak and earth worms cut up,