A HUCELip PALM.
OF Atti TRRK.il THR COCOANUT
IS TUB MOST VALUABLE.
The Sea Vehicle ' for Its Wldt
DlstrlhuMnn nnd Propagation
Many true! to Which
It It Tut.
OF the 080 or mors known
palm, the cocoamit palm is
at ouco the moot gtaoeful.the
most picturesque and tho
most useful, It Is to this tree that
Puicbas quaintly refers In his Pilgrim
age, when ba mji: "Jlut of greater
admiration is the conuetree. being the
most profitable tree In the world, of
which in the Island of Maldina they
make and furnish wholo ships." A
farther i('.ca of its numerous uses is
hinted at in the oriental saying that:
,'Tue attributes-of the cocoa would All
Tolume." The Ceylouese claim that
it has as many uses as there are days in
the year, in substantiation of which
they exhibited at the World's Colum
bian Exposition just 805 uses of this
wonderful palm.
With many other plants that bare
been cultivated by man since prebis
torio times the exaot oriniii of the co
coa is not known, though it doubtless
came originally from some group of
islands either in the Taoitio or the In
dian Ocean. The greatest dillleulty
in looating its first home is due to the
wonderful provision nature has made
in its (ruits for the distribution of the
apeoies. The preponderance of fact
and ancient historinl data would seem
to point, however, to an East Indian
rather than n Paoiflo source. Its pres
ence on the east coast of South Amer
ica, on the coast and islands of the
Gulf ol Mexico and the Carribean Sea
nnd on the west coast of Africa is
known to be due to recent introduc
tion by civilized men.
The cocoanut palm varies in height
from fifty to 100 feet. Its slender
trunk is never rigidly erect, like thai
of tho royal palm, but leans in grace
ful curve, ascending in its growth.
Its foliaged summit is o crown of
-drooping and ever waving feathery
leaves, always grandly picturesque.
Although the tree is now cultivated in
all tropical countries, often at quite a
A COCOANUT GROVE.
distance from the sea, it thrives best
nd produces the greatest number of
fine fruits near the beach, where it
requires but sis weeks to mature a
crop ol from five to ten nuts, each
tree continuing this production until
its annual yield aggregates from eighty
to 100 fruits.
The oocoa presents one of the finest
examples of nature's most provident
measures for seed sowing and natural
distribution of teed, the nut being
carefully and uooessfully nurtured to
the end that it may become a floating
vehicle for the germ of a new life that
It contains. The nut, when ripe and
ready to fallYrom its lofty height and
roll into the sea, has a bard, woody
hell, inolosing considerable air space
nd the elements of growth in the
form of thick white albumen- the
meat This nut is surrounded with
mass of lightly meshed fiber, whioh
till further augments its buoyancy,
nd the whole is invested in thin
waterproof akin which enables the
fruit to float abont in the currents for
an indefinite period, until it ia finally
cast np on some far off isle or main
land and, rolled inward by wave and
wind, finds final resting plaoe where
it may germinate, by throwing out and
COOOA1TOT W JTUBK.
upward single leaf and rooted from
one of the three blaok-stoppered boles
in its smaller end. This readily ac
counts for its widediBtribution.aud the
luxuriance and vigor of the ooooa palm
growth that characteristically fringes
ven the smallest and mofct remote
coral islet in the tropio seas.
Eaoh nut, when green, contains
bout a quart of delicious water, afford'
tag when freshly cut from the
tree coolest drink to be obtained in
the dxiei tropio countries; Ia course
of time, as the fruit ripens, this water
becomes id most part of the consis
tence of cream, and finally deposits
within the great embryo sack a thick
layer of "meat" in which the relatively
ftitiv Atnbrrn litis. This nnatincr con
stitutes almost the entire food of the
natives of many countries, and tbat of
fllCRMHf ATTNft COCOA.
their domesticated animals. Even the
skinny, fearsome dog that detects in
his every approach to man an oppor
tunity to receive a cuff or a kick will
rush frantically to your aide should
you pick np a coconut nnd break it,
sure of his poor meal within the shell
yon later cast away.
The spathe that contains the flowers
yields on iucision a quantity of deli
cious liquid that, when fresh, is called
"toddy." This liquid on fomenta
tion produoos palm wine, a dolightful
drink, as well as a useful yeast for the
baker who is fortunate enough to have
flour. By distillation toddy yields
about tweuty-tlve per cont. of "ar
rack," the true "ittrong drink" of the
native tribes. By boiling it is con
verted into a tolerable sugar, or jag
gery, the ouly hweot known to him.
Eight gallons of t)ddy yiold the Cin
galese two gallons of a dolicions liquid
which they call "pervin," a sort of
thin maple syrup, so to speak.
The shell of the cocoanut takea
high polish, and when cut in two forms
convenient and durable cup or other
needful vessol. lhe husk or coir sur
rounding the nut yields the best fiber
possible for braiding into ropes or
cables, especially as such cables float
and are practically indestructible by
water. One of these cables, four inches
thick and 250 feet long, together with
numerous other coir articles, can bi
seen in the galleries of the Field Col
umbian Museum. Tho Polynesians
twist and braid this fiber into small
cords that serve in house construction
where we would nse nails, while the
whole hnsk needs but to be out in two
lengthwise to form an exoellent pair
of scrubbing brushes. The utility of
the nut does not cease nere, lor the
ripe meat yields, on pressure or heat
ing in the snn, a fine oil for oooking
or illuminating purposes, as well as for
the toilet. Nothing obtainable is
more refreshing under the blazing
tropio sun than anointing the body
with olean, sweet coooanut oil. Large
quantities of this oil are abipped to
various countries, where it is used in
makingpharmaceutio preparations and
in the manufacture of candles and
soaps.
Not only does the fruit furnish the
native with fire, water and food, but
the tee his house and all its comforts.
Tbo wood is oft internally but hard
externally. . Small trees are thus read
ily oonverted into system of water
pipes or other useful tubes. When
old and past fruiting the whole trunk
becomes hard, forming the well-known
poroupine wood of commeroe, and
much used where the trees grow for
corner posts and rafters of dwellings.
The leaves, usually from ' twelve to
fifteen in number, of which from five
to six ere produced each year as the
old ones drop oS, are from eighteen
to twenty feet long, and make an ex
oellent thatching for both the roof and
sides of buildings. Before unfolding
these leaves are inolosed ia fibrous
sheath, whioh ia used as sieve or
strainer, end again for clothing and
bedding, while the yonng unfolded
leaf is oooked and eaten like cab
bage. The base of the old leaveais ex
panded nntil it half clasps the trnnk,
nd the midrib stripped of its lighter
leaf tissue forma hard and durable
shovel or paddle, as need may require.
By splitting np this expanded part an
exoellent broom results, or oy remov
inn it and sharpening the midrib
pear or arrow is readily formed. The
leaves are also made into fans, para
sols and beds, and the sheathes into
flih nets and hammocks, while the
leaflets serve as paper when written
upon with sharpened piece of the
midrib. The smaller ribs are non
verted by splitting into neat hair
combs, white the whole loaf makes an
excellent torch, whose resulting ashes
yield potash that in turn converts
the oil of the nut into ouoof the finest
of soaps.
In the collections In tho botanical
department of the Field Museum may
be found twines, ropes, mtts, cloth,
rugs, brushes and various other utili
sations of the roooa fiber, as well
as many of the nuts in section,
sbowins the various useful port'one of
the fruit, together with other kindred
palm nuts that yield oils and products
of somewhat less extended use. Among
these the most curious are the
quadrangular coooannts of the South
Sea Islands and the great coco de mer,
or sea cocoanut, of the Indian Ocean,
the latter being the largest tree fruit
known, often weighing over fifty
pounds. In shape this sea cocoanut
much resembles s twin growth, and
its peculiar form, as well as its great
size, give rise to many varied and su
perstitions legends among the peoples
of the East African and West India
coast, who found it washed upon their
beaohes centuries before they knew of
its source in the Seychelles Islands.
Chicago Times-Herald.
HOT AIR HEATIXO.
1'ractlcal Suggestions for This Method
of Warming Houses.
(Copyrltfhtoi! 196.)
When a man starts out to build
house, after having settled the ques
tion of location, size, price and gener
al stylo, tho most important matter
that remains to be decidod is the
method of heating. The larger pro
portion of dwellings make use of the
air system, nnd, nil things considered,
there is nono that is more ratisfnetory.
Hot air furnaces offer very convenient
means of communicating warmth to a
dwelling of almost any dimensions
its spocinl advantage being that if it
is properly managed it constantly
brings into tbo bouse a large body of
fresh air, and so contributes most ma
terially to the ventilation of the build
ing. This is effected by furnaoe plaoed
in the lower portion of the house,
which being duly provided with flues
aud registers, heats and distributes
through all parts of the establish
ment quantity of fresh air in pro
portion to the dimensions and capac
ity of the air chamber in whioh it ia
placed. A fundamental point of this
system is the supply ot pure air to
this air chamber, which should bo
provided by duct or air passage
from that sido of the house on whioh
the air is likely to be the most pure,
lint tho objections cited agaiust stoves
when made with thin plates of metal
without any lining to protect thom
Irom becoming red hot apply with
equal force to a vast majority of hot
air furnaces now in use. Air deliv
ered from furnace should never ex
ceed tho temperature indicated by 120
degrees Fahrenheit? where tho beat
reaches 150 degrees to 180 degrees at
tbo point of delivery, tbo ouects are
undoubtedly pernioious.
Tho prinoiple to be attended to in
construction of all hot air furnaoes is
to generate and communicate tho
greatest amount of heat with a given
quantity of fuel, without producing
any change in the breathing property
of the air. A common fault is tbat
the water pan is allowed to become
empty, so that the heated air has tbat
dry and stuffy quality of whioh many
people justly complain. But with
water constantly evaporating in tbe
furnace, with cold air drawn from out
doors, and with suoh an arrangement
of pipea that every room will reoeive
its due proportion of beat, there ia no
system more satisfactory for ordinary
houses, nor is any more economical
an important consideration.
Many house-holders urge objeotion
to the hot air system that at first
glanoe seem to be well founded. They,
themselves, have these furnaoes and
they never tire of reconuting their
tribulations with them. They aay
tbat there are certain rooms in their
houses that never get particle of
heat, although they force the furnaoe
so that it eats np coal by the ton and
makea the rest of the bouse unbear
able ; and often an impression exists
that oertain pipes and registers will
always be favored, and that one or
BOUSS HEATED BX HOT AIR.
more (generally the one to the north)
ia bound to go without heat. Such
people will at onoe dispute the auer
tion tbat eaoh pipe can be made to
draw as well as its fellows, and tbat
every register, properly managed, will
throw out its quota of heat.
The one prime fault with moat hot
air heaters is that the cold air box is
very muob too small. The size of this
is generally left to the judgment of
the carpenter and bnilder, and is
made small ao aa not to be in the way,
It ia simply pbysioal faot tbat no
more hot air can be sent out of the
furnaoe than cold air goes in. If the
cold box has an aperture of five
sqnsre feet, and . the hot air
pipes aggregate ten square feet,
it standi to reason that half of
the hot air pipes will be starved, At
easy test of the matter ia this : Wail
nntil yon have hot fire in your fur
naoe, and then open all the register!
nd hold lighted candle before each
' JL Kitthsu I
lflllllilH' iq CWM R'
Par lei I 1
Vrand Btv J ' f
Pi rat rLoor"
one in turn. If there is down
draught through one or morn of tti
registers, the furnaoe, starved for oold
air, ia drawing through one of
those with the least upward draught
in order to disoharge it when heated
through the others. If your hot air
furnaoe fails to give satisfaction, and
is of a reliable make and in good con
dition, investigate yonr cold air sup
ply first of all ; then see that eaoh of
the hot air pipea ia taken only from
the crown of the furnaoe; that eaoh
pipe has a distinct pitch tthe greater
the better) aud finally it may bn welt
to cover the pipes with asbestos in or
der to prevent them from losing beat
by radiation. If you have good fur
nace to begin with, do not give np un
til you have mastered theproblem and
obtained the results you should ob
tain. The accompanying plnn is for a
house with hot air heating.
The width of this house inoluding
veranda Is 40 ft. 4 ins. ; its depth, in
cluding front veranda, 40 ft. 6 ins. Its
foundation is of stone and brick. The
first story, Clapboards; the second
story, gable, dormers, roofs and ver
anda cnolosuro, shiugles. Th cellar
measures 7 ft. 0 ins. in bight ; the
first story, 0 ft. ; seoond story, 8 ft. 6
ins., and the nttio, 8 ft. "It is finished
throughout with three-coat plaster.
The flooring is of North Carolina pine ;
the trim, white wood ; main atairoase,
ash; kitchen and bath room, wain
scoted. The laundry is in cellar un
der kitohen, and the kitchen has
portable range.
SecorvJ floor-
The first impression of this house iv,
if built in the northern part of the
United Stater, some people might say
tbat, the chimney being on the out
side of the house instead of being rnn
up through the centre, that the open
fireplace In the parlor would not give
heat ; it is not so. If the house facea
the north the furnaoe should be about
under the centre of the parlor, draw
ing through the ohimney nearest it;
if the bouse faces the south it should
be about under the kitohen where the
word "down" is shown in the floor
plan, drawing principally through the
chimney shown in the floor plan run
ning through the kitohen and the bod
room in second floor, and if tbe oold
air dnct is as large in tbe aggregato as
in the hot air pipes every room should
be suttioiently warm enough to beat
the house seventy degrees in zero
weather.
Tbia house would cost about 843C0
inolnding the heating apparatus,
range and mantel built within 10.
miles of New York City, although ia
many seotions of the country tbe cost
should be much less where labor or
materials are cheaper.
The Chluaman anil the l'lano,
Tbero was Chinamen who has
laundry on Market street, who went
to musical a few daya ago. Tbe
press agent for the show atruok up
quite an accquiantance with John and
gave him a ticket, so John went.
I bappeued to be in tbe laundry
when John returned from the enter
tainment. He and his partner have
not been in this country very long,
and it was tbe first time John had
heard piano, I won't attempt to
give the dialect, but this is the way he
described the instrument to his fellow-countryman
:
"They had four-legged beast
which the people could make sing at
will. A man, or woman, or even
feeble girl aits down in front of the
nimal and step on its tail, while nt
tbe aame time hitting ita white teeth
with his or her Sogers, and then the
oreaturea begin to sing. The singing,
though much louder than eird, ia
pleasant to listen to, Tbe beasts does
not bite, nor does it move, although it
was not tied no during the whole even
ing." Louisville (Ky.) CommeroiaL
Maine's Tallest Man.
Tho tallest man in Maine is W. H.
Kelley, of Phillips. He ii six feet ten
inohea tall, and of symmetrical build,
weighing mora tbau 200 pounds. Ha
rides bicyole, whioh ba had to have
mado expressly for bia own use, be
cause of the length of hia lege. He ia
leader of tbe local cornet baud,
i W
J , E I
clc ijjnii.fH" cioM Bed ft. U
, . I Bed (?. U . Bed P.
JL
1 1
CHILDREN'S DRESS.
BKASOArjLR OARMRMTS WORN
BY TUB UTI LE ONES.
A Girl's Dress of Trench Wool Challle
Little (ilrl a .Jacket of Gray
Boa Cloth-Hoy's Sailor
Mouse Suit.
IN tbe first double-column illustra
tion French wool challle having
leaf green dots on a pale pink
ground is dafntly trimmed with
bttorre-colored, narrow Inoe edging and
lusertion, over green satin ribbon.
The dress is exceedingly sirnplo in its
construction and stylish In effect, so
prettily pointed on ita edges. The
plain waist has a box plait in centre
front that is decorated oi eaoh edge
with lace edging. The leg-o'-mutton
aleevee are fashionably full they are
gathered at the top end finished at the
A mETTY 1KESS TOI". CIKLr.
wrists with pointed, flaring ouffs. A
standing collar completes tho neok.
The full, round skirt is gathered at
the top and sewed with a oord to the
lower edge ot waist, a plaokot being
finished at the baok, where it is lapped
deeply witb the closing in centre,
Dresden, taffeta and wash ailks, cash
more, orepon and mixed woolen novoi
ties, percale, grass linen, batiste,
dimity, gingham, cambric, or other
wash fabrics will make extremely be
coming and sweetly simple snmmor
drosses by tbe mode.
The quantity of material 44 inohes
wide required to make this dress for a
girl eight years of age is 2 yards.
Design and hints are by May Mnntou.
JACKET Or GRAY BOX CLOTH.
In the seoond large illustration light
gray cloth ia aimply deoorated with
silk soutacho braid in a darn or ahade,
handsome lanoy smoked pearl buttons
closing the loose fronts in double-
breasted style, 'ibe jxoket is of fash
ionable length, tho baok being olosely
adjusted by side bat-k gores and a
ourved centre seam that are sprung
below tbe waist line to give tbe fash
ionable rippled effect. The stole sailor
oollar ia inoluded in the eesm with the
rolling oollar and oloses comfortably
at tbe neck in oentre front. Fall puffs
re gathered and stylishly arranged
over ooat shaped sleeves that have deep
caff facings of cloth trimmed at the
wrists with a double row of braid.
Jackets in this atyle are aervioeable
OIRL'8 JACKET
and comfortablo after heavy onats are
laid by, and can be made from plain
or fauoy oloths in any becoming color
or of material to match the dress.
The quantity of material 44 inohea
wide required to make this reefer for
child eix years of ag ia 3 yarra.
ailobnctt roa Bora.
Nay blaa oloth made thia attrac-
tive suit, the broad aallor collar, cuds
and shield being of white serge, deoo.
rated with rows of narrow blue braid.
The blouse ia fitted with shoulder and
under-arm seams, an elastic being in
serted in the hem 'that finishes tho
lower edge lo adjust it in true aallor
style. The fronts are closed invisibly,
but buttons and bnttonbolea can be -used
if so preferred. The broad sailor
oollar ends in pointed lapels that aro .
joined to the cut-away neck in front,
the shield portion being simulated by
a facing on the underwsist, which ia
disolosed between the lapels. A pocket
is inserted on the left front. Tbe
sleeves are gathered top and bottom
and finished with round cnlTs at the
wrists, neatly trimmed with rows of
braid. The knee trousers are shaped
by inside and outside leg eeams.small
hip darts fitting them closely at the '
top. The closing is at the aides, where
pookets are mado, and a hip pocket
can be inserted on the right bip if '
wanted. Buttonholes are made in an-
tier wcist-'unnds, and plaood on the top
to attach the trousers to the nnder
waist, or buttons for suspeuders can
bo put on if so preferred. Pretty suits
cot a SAtLon B&onaa suit. :
are thos made up in various combina
tions of materials and colors, black and
red, brown and fawa.or tan with cream
being very atylish. Tbe mode ia suita-
OF GHAT BOX CLOTH.
ble for wash suits of pique, Galatea,
duok, grass linen, or flannel ; braid,
embroidery or insertion all being used
to trim suits in thia style.
The quantity of material 27-inohee
wide required to make this suit for
boy eight years ot age ia 31 yads.
A ohuroh now stands on tbo site ot
the former slave mart ia Zanzibar.