Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1875 — Some of the Venable [ARTICLE]

Some of the Venable

Another characteristic tree of the forests of Northern and Ceiftra! India is the Sal (Shorea robusta), a gigantic tree of the remarkable family Dipteraceas. About fifty species of this family are known, and all are natives of the East Indies, and among the noblest specimens of the tropical fauna. The Sal is a majestic inhabitant of the forest, sending aloft its straight where it spreads out its broad, heavy crown of rich, green foliage. Its simple leaves are long and tapering, and deeply veined, and its flowers are hatadsome and showy. The tree furnishes one of the best timbers found in India, and is used in building ships, Railways, etc. It also yields large quantities of balsamic resin, which is burned in the Hindoo temples, and is much sought by comnferce. Allotthe species of the Dipteracece abound-in balsamic resin. ■ One yields the hard camphor of Sumatra; another a gum called the Indian copafr and another a resin which makes excellent candles that burn with a pure light, diffusing the w’hile an agreeable fragrance. Most of the trees in the ludian forests are distinguishable for some useful property ; but the species affording gums and resins are among those most highly valued. Next to the dhak and dhammer resihs produced by the Diptcrkds are prized tlie gums exuded by the Baboul and the Sired (Acacia Arabica" and Specibsa), caller! gum-arabic in commerce; the astringent cachiou, obtained- from the Rheir (Acatchu)-, and the fragrant resin labatia, which is burned as incense, and is the product of the Salei, a shrub (Boswellia thurifera). It is supposed that this resin is the olibanum or frankincense of tire ancients.

In addition to these natural juices, the resin shell-lac, produced by an artificial process, is deposited in abundance upon the branches of the w’ild-plum and the Pittas. This gum is drawn from the trees by the lac insect (coccus lacca), which lives in vast colonies upon then 1 twigs—generation after generation dwelling in the same spot and accumulating, by means of ptfnctures through the bark, a -mass of resin, often encircling the twigs with a case half an inch thick. The Nim (Melia agiderach) is a noble tree, named, from its stately beauty, the “Pride of India.” It attains a height of about forty feet, and has large bipinnate leaves and showy spikes of very fragrant flowers. Its fruit is shaped like an elongated cherry, is colored a pale yellow, and contains a brown nut. These nuts are" bored ahd used for beads by the Homan Catholics. The Nim has long been cultivated as an ornamental tree in the south of Europe, and has-been introduced into the Southern States, where it is now quite common. The young shoots and leaves are said to have powerful febrifuge qualities, and the seeds, falsely reputed poisonous, yield an excellent oi'l. if The majestic Simoul (Bombax Indicum) is one of the silk-cotton trees belonging to the natural order Sterculacia}. The seeds of these trees lie imbedded in a mass of silky cotton packed around them in the large, woody capsules. The substance cannot beMvoven as the hairs composing it are too short and smooth to be spun by machinery; but it makes luxurious stuffing for pillows, mattresses, etc.—the only fault being that it soon breaks and grinds to powder. The silk of the Bombax nillosun, is of a beautiful purple and is manufactured into cloth and made into articles of dress in New Spain. The Bombax indicum yields a gum which is used by the natives as a medicine. Besides these trees, the mango, with its cooling shade, its fragrant leaves and delicious fruit; the tamarind, a beautiful tree, with pinnate leaves and fragrant flowers and pods filled with a pleasantlyacidulous pulp that is much relished; the teak, which sometimes rises to the height of 200 feet and affords a most durable timber, partfcularly~precious because not liable to the attacks of insects; the Tendon, which produces ebony, so invaluable for cabinet work, and also a pulpy fruit much esteemed by tlie natives; the Strychnoß, which gives the deadly nux-vomica; and various species bf the tig-tree add to the wealth and magnificence of Indian forests. The only palms that grow in the interior of Hindostan are the date-plams, which, occurring infrequently, do not present any greater luxuriance than in the south of Europe. The cocoa-trees are confined to a narrow zone on the coast of India, beyond which they are unknown. The oldest and largest banyan in India stands on the banks of Narbudda, near the village of Broach, in Northern Kohan. Tradition declares that it was planted the sage Kabira, long prior to the Christian era. At one time its spreading branches, supported on constantly-increasing columns, covered a space more than 1,000 yards in circumference. At the commencement of the present century a hurricane tore away a considerable portion of the tree, and now its cjrcujnfereuice is reduced to 666 yards. Tlie main trunk long ago disappeared, and in its place a Hindoo temple has been erected. The tree forms a small forest of itself, apd it is with difficulty that one can penetrate through flic tangle of roots and branches, and find his way in the gloom created by the foliage, to the temple in the eenter. The moist, spongy soil from which the tree springs swarms with scorpions ;while hosts of large bats, called flying foxes, abide under the shelter of its leaves.— M. Rousselet.