The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-06-28
Wonders Gathered in the Ma
tiOnal Botanic Garden.
A VEGETABLE WHISKY SHOP.
Frogs Made Drunk and Then Devoured-
Insects ~ servants-Curiosi-
ties In Cacti.
WASHINGTON CIrY, June %.

uIluhiils IL. Although the sWettlsn HulO
is powerful lntoxicant the batrach-
ian customer, however wildly over
stimulated; would certainly jump
out again, were it not that two
very sharp, dagger-like thorns project
downward from the lip of the vessel in
such manner that Mr.. Frog, in trying
to escape, is thrust through the body by
them at every leap, until he falls dead in
the Liquid refreshments"-an appropri-
ate object lesson to all Incorporate per-
sons. Whereupon the plant absorbs his
substance, as the ordinary whisky-shop
consumes that of its frequenter, and is
thus supported
This species is tropical and has to be
kept in the greenhouse devoted to
plants of the equatorial belt. Nat
uraliy, there are no frogs in the
conservatory, and so Superinten-
dent Smith is obliged to feed this eccen-
trio vegetable with raw meat chopped fine,
on which it thrives excellently. For lack
OF insects likewise. he supplies with the
same artificial sustenance the other sorts
OF whisky-shops that find in bugs of vari-
GUS descriptions their chosen prey
They will all eat beef, although
each variety seems to have in
nature its particular line of customers,
one capturing cockroaches, another ants,
and so on. Doubtless they all could live
on any animal food but there seems to be
difference of taste among the insects as
to the liquors. One species will only
touch the drink served by certain repre-
sentative of this carnivorous plant family;
another selects by preference a different
brew, and so on. Thus but one sort of bug
is ordinarily found in each set of pitchers,
those designed for the accommodation of
large beetles and cockroaches being
as big as small shoes. 1t is
very curious to cut open one
of these vessels after it has become with
cred and dead, being merely formed at one
end of the leaf and to find what a wonder
full collection of victims it has gathered in
and not finally digested, often numbering
many hundreds, if the prey is small. The
whole structure of each trap is beyond
measure curious, the inner surface of some
coated with little bristles that project
downward and prevent the guest so hospi-
tably received from walking out again.
This is particularly feature of what the
superintendent calls the vegetable lager
beer saloons, which prepare
liquid of much less Intoxicating
quality in tall, chaiice-shaped vessels in
stead of pitchers, depending upon drown
ing their customers rather than upon
making them SO drunk that they cannot
get away. A deplorable thing it seems,
by the way, to find such bad habits preva-
lent among bugs, the opinion having been
always held that only man. the most no.
vices, to the elaboration and invention of
which he has given so much attention.
So far as can be ascertained, no analysis
has ever been made of the liquors dis
pensed by these vegetable ginmills, chiefly
owing to the fact that such an experiment
would involve very difficult problem in
organic chemistry. 1t is known, however,
proportion of alcohol. Persons hard up
for stimulants have often achieved a max
imum of intoxication by swal-
lowing the contents of few
of the pitchers, which sometimes
hold more than quarter of pint each,
without bothering about the insects in the
fluid. Why may it not be that from this
origin the term bug juice" is derived?
How appropriately. is such beverage
adapted to the convivial uses OF the trop-
ical tramp, who, while pursuing his leis-
urely travels. can literally pluck his drinks
bp the wayside
A novelty in the botanic garden is a
executed caricature of the Duke of We'll
lington, all done in veining; but in the in
terest of visitors it does not seriously rival
either the ''mother-in-law plant" a scrap
OF which swells up your tongue SO that
you cannot speak for days, or the famous
.butcher plant" of Maryland, that has,
instead OF leaves, so many pairs OF toothed
jaws, that close upon any insect venturing
between to get at the sweetish bait within.
This butcher plant" which grows no
where in the world save in the vicinity of
Wilmington, \. c., suffers for its carniy-
orous habits, being a chronic victim of
indigestion. Each stomach trap, having
used up most of the gastric juice which it
secretes in digesting the first living prey
caught, usually finds the second victim it
captures disagree with it, and the third it
is unable to assimilate satisfactorily. Then
the trap turns from green to brown and
dies, like any leaf, other fresh ones de-
yeloplng meanwhile to take up the work
of gobbling. After all, this greedy veg
etable is not nearly so bad as the 'cruel
plant, as it is called, whose flowers won't
only capture unsuspecting butterflies that
ahght to sip honey, but hold them until
they are dead, when the grasp of the ruth
less petals is reinQuished and the luckless
visitor is dropped on the ground
1t is astonishing what intelligence many
vegetables exhibit. Naturalist have come
to be much inclined toward thinking that
a plant really has thoughts. Its mind as
they conceive, is situated in the rootlet,
which knows so well what path TO pursue
through the soil in search of water.
Plants even employ insects as their ser
wants in the work OF reproducing their
species, paying them wages in honey.
Most vegetables combine the two sexes in
one flower; but breeding in and in" is no
more healthy for them than il is for an
imals. One blossom must marry with an
other if the species is to be continued in a
healthy way. So young Mr.. Honeysuckle
dresses himself in spring suit OF bright
yellow and perfumes himself deliciouslv
for the purpose of attracting the CAV
butterflies that fiutter around. He also
provides a small store of nectar in
golden cup 10 offer any insect guest that
may come his way. Presently butterfly
pauses to take a sip OF the sweet liquor;
but, in doing SO, she cannot avoid getting
some of the pollen on her head, and this
she carries to another honeysuckle, where
she stops for a second bit of refreshments
and incidentally rubs Oft some of the poI-
len upon its stigma. Thus is accom-
piished the marriage of the flowers
But the bee is the Cupid of the vegetable
world, 70 whom is assigned most of this
marrying and giving in marriage among
the blossoms. There is one kind of orchid
that depends altogether for the continu-
ance OF its species upon fights among bees
To moral delinquency on their part il
may be said TO owe its survival entirely.
The petals of each OF its flowers are so bent
as TO form a sort of little tunnel, and TO
get at the honey the bee must go in at one
end or the other. If nothing in
terferes, it will never come into
contact with any of the pollen;
but now and then it happens