Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 January 1884 — Air Plants. [ARTICLE]

Air Plants.

plants belong to the order of Bromeliaceie, which also includes orchids, and all are natives of the tropical parts of America. But the genuine air plant differs from the orchid, in j that it is not a parasite; to this class belong the New Orleans moss, or, as it is called in the West Indies, Old Man’s Beard, which is seen in great profusion in our Southern States. When in Mexico I visited at different ; times Chapultepee. the charming country residence of the Mexican President, and in fact it ha 3 been the summer resort of the Mexican rulers from the time of the Monteznmas. But it was the trees —some of them immense—from which trailed this lovely moss; it not only hung from their branches, irat in many cases stretched itself from tree 'tffl‘ r suifiilHlues it was almost like a room, with walls, floors and ceiling of moss, for the ground is covered with it ev rywhere. This mess yields a fiber which is used in place of hair for stuffing mattresses ; while the leaves of some kinds are capable of retaining near their base, for some length of time, a quantity pf water, cool and pleasant to the taste. The variety known as air plants. are not only able to vegre--1 trie a long time without earth, but i also endure long droughts with ease, i Many of them haTe very beautiful and | fragrant flowers, on which account they are highly prized, and are often sns--1 pended in the balcony. When living !in the Argentine Republic, S. A., I saw several, which were either suspended bv astring to theMnranch of an orange tree, or placed in a crotch; the leaves are long, slender spikes and quite often very sharp, while the flowers which usually, I think, appear at the end of the cone-like leaves, are red, pink or yellow. Have had no experience in growing them in this country, but should thunk they would do well in a warm room, requiring as they do, so little aoisture. The best known plant of this order, though, and the only one valued for its fruit, is the delicious pine apple, the fibers of which are made into the finest of white muslin and in the Philippine inland*, where thm kind of muslin is largely made, the very finest kinds almost fabulous *wxm, Of other kinds it v said that the flowers not only emit a somewhat unpleasant odor but are sometimes warmer than the air around them.— American Florist. - ■ - A uxmon woman pleases the eye, fmt a good woman charms the heirt; r "" jjjj