The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1899-12-01
rlontinc Garden, In tho sen.

Floating Gardens in tho sea.
Not only the mainland, but the IS
lands Of California. which rise from
the sea like submerged mountain
peaks, have wonderful floating gar
dens through which vessels often pillow
with difficulty in entering the small
harbors which dot the coast. At Santa
Barbara, the entrance of the bay is
maze of floating vegetation, and the
islands off the coast, especially Santa
Catalina, are more or less surrounded.
The floating gardens are formed of
long streamers of kelp which, at
tached to the bottom, grow upward to
a distance of fifty to 500 feet, throw
ing out broad leaves and air-bulbs,
which act as so many balloons to sup
port them. The effect of this is to give
a perfect forest of broad green leaves
rising upward and presenting a sharp
contrast to the blue water in which
they grow.
Graceful in appearance they turn, at
every within of the tide; now floating
directly upward, their leaves high above
water. and caught by the breeze; again
reaching away in long streamers, they
are among the most striking and beau
tiful objects of the submarine world.
When in shore the huge plants assume
a vertical position, and become float
ing gardens in reality. In the bay of
Avalon they present so many attrac-
tions that boats have been constructed
especially to float over them and af-
ford the occupants an opportunity to
observe the wonders of the ocean
world.
These boats are all provided with
large plate glass windows set into the
bottom, so the observer can sit in the
boat and gaze down through the win
dow and see intensified small animals.
The glass as suggested magnifes OBJ
jects, and in floating alor., one can al
most imagine himself under the water
and roaming at will in these gardens
of the sea. Each leaf or frond is
covered with patches of color, which
represents varied animals or plants;
some are purple, red, green or yellow.
Here are delicate sea anemones, which
so resemble blooming flowers that they
can scarcely be distinguished from the
true flowers OF the land. At the
slightest noise they close up, with
drawing their many colored tentacles,
then slowly blooming out again.
Here are minute plant-like creatures
that are really animals, though grow
ing in a shrub-like form, and among
the wonders OF this floating garden are
some that give birth to minute young,
which become jelly fishes, to float away
and at night fill the ocean with won
derful phosphorescent light.
Strange shells crawl upon the great
leaves crabs that mimic their colors
perfectly. and fishes of the exact tint
cling to them, safe in this resemblance
from many enemies. The long leaves,
when unaffected by the current rise
directly upward and form n maze Of
arches down among which many
strange forms are to be seen.
Directly on the bottom a large octo-
pus comes limping along, throwing out
its eight sucker-lined arms, moving in
a strange fashion, waves of color pass
ing slowly over it, that seem to adapt
it to the color Of the bottom over
which it is passing. Near by we catch
glimpse of a cousin, the argonaut or
nautilus, crawling along, holding its
delicate shell over its head.-C f. Hol-
der in Sunset.