The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-05-29

with the gardeners OF the Celestial En-
pire. He makes q speciality of the Sage
palm, (Cycas,) whose long fronds are
worked up by Leipsic manufacturers into
all sorts of objects, more or less tasteful,
and sent to market in America and Asia
THE 9SOUVENIR INDUSTRY"
Germany has taken England's place in
| the fabrication of ''local souvenirs, =
which travellers buy in the fond belief
that they are made in the places where
they are sold The polished or partly
polished shells bearing inscriptions such
as ''In Memory of Saratoga" Souvenir
of st. Augustine, &C., not to speak of
thousands of boxes and shells with 1.-THE
names of European spas and seaside re-
sorts upon them, are worked up in Ber-
I'M, Lelpsic, and other places and export
eel TO the devoted spots in order to deco
rate in time the mantelpieces and parlor
tables of the multitude in all climes.
Vast quantities of so-called japanese
goods are also turned ont in competition
With the extraordinary cheap land bad)
objects with which Japan has been
flooding the world since 1870. The Amer
lean sea Captain, if he still exists, is no
longer safe in buying for home presents
what is offered him in the South Seas
and the China ports as souvenirs of dis
tant lands. By signs known only to ex-
perts, these also may have 'smade in Ger
many" written all over them.
BOTANICAL AND GEOLOGICAL
GARDENS.
Berliners who care for their city are
in high dudgeon over the effort to sweep
away the Botanical Garden on the old
highway toward P otsdam, now in
thickly built region, to make room for
blocks of middle-class tenements. Here
are old trees brought from Asia and
America in Humboldt's time, notable
palm, house with palms of enormous
height, rockeries with desert vegetation,
cactuses, and the like, round house
with tank for the Victoria Regia water
lily of Brazil. Though Berlin has more
than one hundred parks, they are none
too many, and efforts are being made to
soften the marble-hearted fiscal tyrants
and cause this charming spot to be kept
as regular city park. The Geological
Garden, a continuation of the Thiergar-
ten across one arm Of the Spree, is great
boon to the quarter where it lies, because
during the day children crowd its walks
with safety, and in the afternoon two
bands discourse excellent light music to
thropgs of older folks.
Germans have always been renowned
for their love of pottted plants. A very
pretty custom is this: Whenever people
know that friend is about to take up
new quarters-and the flat dwelling Ber-
liners comprise huge host of constantly
fitting families-they send a potted flow
er to greet the new corners on their ar
rival. And since weddings, birthdays,
Christmas and Easter are special times
for flower gifts, it is no wonder that the
gardeners here drive thriving trade.
AMERICAN BICYCLES IN DEMAND.
1t is becoming every year harder to find
pleasant suburbs for an outing. On a
Sunday the Grunewald to the'west, and
Treptow Park to the ca st are black with
pedestrians, bicyclists and carriages.
Hitherto great expense has been met to
provide riders with bride paths, because
the officers of the great garrison and mill
tary academies must ride. But the ex-
trao1dinary development of the wheel
maeks the riding paths almost out of
place. Cyclists are compelled to keep the
road, and are 'zealously hunted from side
walk and bride path by the city and
suburban police. If the movement does
not slack, special paths for the bicycle
will have to come.
American wheels are in such favor that
German makers are at their wits end to
stem the tide. AS the sporting papers,
almost without exception, are at the
mercy of German factories, they have
fsswowed a swow and KEEP it true" not
to notice American wheels, and to decline
their advertisements. 1t is a boycott
which the larger papers will presently fol-
low Meantime the competition has forced
the native makers to supply a far better
article than they did last year, so that
the claim TO equal AlueriCtH WHEELS,
while still far from the TRUTH is nearer
true than it was. The cry is loud that
some means should be found to lay on
American wheel an import duty at least
as great as that which meets German ma
chimes in the United States.
The immense boon Of the bicycle to the
people is nowhere seen to greater advan-
tage than here, where one notes of a Sun
day thousands and thousands of Berlin
ers, young and old, men and women, de-
fling through the staid old streets of
Potsdam, having come out to get a
breath of sweet, moist spring air. Each
bicycler carries spray of cherry blossoms
on his handle bar. Discussion of the
make of the wheel is now as maddening
here as it is at home. Many American
wheels can be detected by their smart
lines and easy motion, although their
outward appearance is copied with paint
by German makers of an inferior article,