Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 March 1888 — CURIOSITIES OF NATURE. [ARTICLE]

CURIOSITIES OF NATURE.

The Jumping Gall, the Acrobatft Bean, and Seeds that Kxplode. “Here is a curiosity," said a botanist. It was a little ball of wood or fiber that when held in the palm seemed endowed with life, rolling over and over and flying into the air. “I’ve had people come to me with these,” continued the speaker, “andsay they were bewitched. One man believed he had discovered spontaneous generation; another wrote an exhaustive paper which ho tried to read at all the learned societies, allowing that here was the beginning of both animal and plant life. In fact, the little gall, for that is what it is, has attracted a good deal of attention.” “So it is only a plant,” said a reporter. “Not exactly a plant, but the unnatural growth of vegetable matter on trees, bushes, or shrubs, caused by the se retion in the bark of an insect egg that hatches and causes the growth. In this case, you see, the gall is little larger than a mustard seed. * “The gall is produced in this way: The eggs of a very small dark-colored insect, known as cynips, are deposited in the leaf, aud, from some secretion introduced into the wound, the vegetable matter entombs the insect in a hail of fiber separate from tho leaf, from which it finally drops. The larva’s movements in restraint create the carious activity. “There are many kinds of galls, and though they ara injurious to trees they are invaluable to man, and are staple commodities." The ordinary oak galls of commerce are made by a cynips. When they are green, blue, or black, the insect is in them, but when white it has escaped. England is the center of the trade, and receives galls from Germany, Turkey, Egypt, China, and Bombay. The galls are used for a variety of purposes. One sort of blasting powder is made of powdered galls and chlorate, but the most valuable product is ink. This is made from them almost entirely. “Seeds often jump about in the same mysterious way. In Mexico strangers see a curious seed known as devil’s bean, or jumping seed. In appearance it is a small triangular body. The first time I saw these seeds I was sure that they were arranged with mechanical springs, as they not only rolled about, but jumped several inches in the air. But open one of the seeds and the mystery is explained. The shell is hollowed out, containing nothing but a white larva, that has eaten out nearly all the interior and lined it with silk. Its motions occasion the strange movements. “Some seeds more by an entirely different process—that of exploding. A friend of mine got some seeds in India once, and placed them on his cabin table. All at once came an explosion Eke that of a revolver, and he received • blow on the forehead that drew blood, while a looking glass opposite wa* shattered. The seeds had become headed, and all at onee the covering exploded, scattering the seeds in all directions. That is their manner of dispersal, and a large number of plants have a similar method of scattering their seed.” —New York Sun.

Topnoody. % Mr. Topnoody sat at the supper tabls Tuesday evening as his wife cleared away the things, and after a moment’s silence he remarked: “My dear, do you know what day tha day after to-morrqjv will be ?” “Of course I do; it’s Thursday.” “I don’t mean that, my dear. Do you know what anniversary it will be?” " “I don’t recall.” “Why, my dear, don’t you know that it is the anniversary of our marriage? On that day, thirty-five years ago, we were made man and wife and—” “And I’ve had a grudge against that preacher ever since,” interrupted Mrs. Topnoody. “And,” he continued, not noticing it, “since that day, hand in hand, we have gone along the pathway of life, gathering its thorns and flowers, bearing ope another’s burdens and sharing one another’s happiness. Whatever of sorrow we may have had, my dear, has been lightened by dividing it between us, and whatever of joy, has been doubled by a mutual possession.” “That sounds like you had been r*tadinff ft novel. Tonnoodv.” i

“No, dear, it is merely the outgrowth of a pleasant retrospection. Do you know, my dear, it seems to me but yesterday since I saw the orange blossoms in your hair, and heard the music of the mystic words which joined two hearts and two lives in a unity blessed of Heaven. Has time sped on winged feet for you, my dear?” “Not hardly, Topnoody.” “But, my dear, how long have the joyous moments seemed to you ?” “Well, Topnoody, I haven’t figured it out quite as fine as hours and moments, but taking it in a lump, I should say it had seemed about four thousand years. I might throw off an hour or two bn an exact calculation, but not more than lhat, Topnoody.” Mr. Topnoody didn’t ask for an exact calculation. - Merchant Traveler.