The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-10-14

- A;sg - 4:as q Y y Asg@sg $50
/ ply because its actions at some period
of its life seem idiotic. Professor Will
| liam Trelease tells of the rock-growing
| fig-trees of Mexico. High up on the
| side of a precipice, rooted in a tiny
crevice, a fig-tree some two or three
feet high may be seen.
The seed was carried there by birds
| and as soon as the infant plant looked
| about and spied it's surroundings it
| began to take thought for the morrow.
1t would have saved itself no end of
| trouble by quietly dying and so ending
| it's misery, but it did not think so.
| 1t pushed it's roots into the crevice.
| then along the shelf, and when once
firmly established it began to grow, not
up. but down. It's yellow roots crawl
ed down the surface of the cliff, dig
ging their fingers and toes into every
crack and Granny they found, holding
on like grim death, parched by the
sun, dried by the wind; still they per-
severed, kept on catching hold and
crawling, until finally they reached
the ground, dived into it, and COM
menced to reward the labors and pa
thence of their old parent at the top.
The parent aforesaid spent years of
poverty, giving everything to the roots,
but after the rich mold at the bottom
Of the cliff was reached joyful news
was sent Up that abundance was as
sured, and the stunted tree at the top
began to sprout new and richer foliage.
and to give itself as many airs as the
mother of son who went West with
his other shoes on a stick across his
shoulder and came back the owner of a
gold mine.
FTG-TREE WORKS OVERTIME.
1t seems idiotic for the fig-tree to do
much work on it's roots, but then the
fig is a destroyer among plants the
boa-constrictor of the vegetable world.
/ A seed deposited on a palm, however
high above the ground, terminates al
most Immediately. Little by little, it's
roots envelope the supporting tree until
finally the palm is killed. Its woody
fiber soon decays and the fig-tree sur
wives with hollow chimney straight
through the heart of it's trunk.
Here again is displayed another idi-
otto trait of the fig. It was shrewd
enough and strong enough to outgrow
the palm, but has not sense enough to
fill up the chimney left by the dead
trunk, and so, when itself little along
in years, it falls victim to overcon-
fidence in it's own strength.
To state the case mildly, a fig-tree
is deficient in judgment rather than
Astounding in idiocy, or 1t would not do
so much work on it's roots. In this re-
spect it has two idiotic rivals in the
asparagus plumosus and sprengheri.
Every greenhouse man who has grown
these two has tale of woe concerning
his troubles when it became necessary
to remove the plants in order to patch
up the bench.
If left for a year, the earth on the
bench is one matted tangle of roots;
separation is impossible, save by main
force. so the problem is generally solv-
ed with the aid Of an old butcher knife
by cutting squares in the soil with
plant in the center of each and lifting
them out with whatever pieces of board
are caught and held by the rootlets
which crawl through the cracks in
search of new earth to conquer.
In this connection. the cypress-tree
does not display the best of judgment
in the matter of root growth. 1t grows
in marshes and after sending its roots
abroad in the ooze, it develops here and
there an eXcrescence which soon be
comes a hump, and then lifting itself
above mud and water, develops into
the well-known cypress knee" from
two to three feet high, hollow and COW
cred with bark similar to that which
protects the roots.
Botanists talk in learned strain of the
cypress knees being a marvellous provi-
sion of nature for the aeration of the
roots, but it is perfectly plain that the
tree ought to have the sense to grow
more leaves. If it had leaves enough,
they should be able to provide all the
aeration the plant needs for both root
and branch.
THE MANGROVE'S WAY.
Tt is semi-idiotic, to say the least, for
there is the example of the rice-plant
and the Watershed, the lotus. the
water-1ilies the cat-tails, together with
/ the water-hyacinth that cumberss the
ground, or rather the water, of Florida
and Louisiana. Does it grow great
humps of wood on it's roots to provide
begums for farmers? Not it,
This pestiferous plant and it's aquatic
associates would laugh, if plants could
/ laugh, at the idea of aerating it's roots
by growing Jumps of wood. When
down through canals in the trunk and
without making any fuss or parade
about the matter. They are teetotalers,
want nothing but water and what they
can get out of it, and scott at the idea
of aeration.
| %v5Y s;~ssva ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~