Among my boughs disdain to perch and sing.

--JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL.


WHAT ONE TREE IS WORTH.

It will help us, perhaps, to appreciate properly, the value and
manifold uses of trees if we consider the uses to which a single one
of the many species is put. A Chinese gives us the following account
of the Bamboo.

"The bamboo plant is cultivated almost everywhere; it is remarkable
for its shade and beauty. There are about sixty varieties, different
in size according to its genus; ranging from that of a switch to a big
pole measuring from four to five inches in diameter. It is reared from
shoots and suckers, and, after the root once clings to the ground, it
thrives and spreads without further care or labor. Of these sixty
varieties, each thrives best in a certain locality, and throughout the
whole empire of China the bamboo groves not only embellish the gardens
of the poor, but the vast parks of the princes and wealthy. The use to
which this stately grass is put is truly wonderful. The tender shoots
are cultivated for food like the asparagus; the roots are carved into
fantastic images of men, birds, and monkeys. The tapering culms are
used for all purposes that poles can be applied to, in carrying,
supporting, propelling, and measuring; by the porter, the carpenter,
and the boatman; for the joists of houses and the ribs of sails; the
shafts of spears and the wattles of hurdles, the tubes of aqueducts
and the handles and ribs of umbrellas and fans. The leaves are sewed
upon cords to make rain-cloaks for farmers and boatmen, for sails to