How various the shades of marine vegetation, Thrown here the rough flints and sea-pebbles among ! The feathered conferva of deepest carnation, The dark purple sloke, and the olive sea-thong.-CHARLOTTE SMITH. 1. Under the division of Algae, or Sea-weeds, botanists have included a great number of flowerless plants, inhabiting both salt and fresh water, but chiefly the former. Though simple in structure, and but little known to the world generally, they number several thousand species, and embrace a great variety in size, form, and extent of development, from mere microscopic cells floating on the surface of water, to vast submarine forests of the most luxuriant vegetation. In their lowest forms some of these cellular plants approach so nearly the boundary between vegetable and animal life, that it is impossible to tell where the one ends and the other begins. 2. Most persons have doubtless noticed a green mucous2 substance that collects on the surface of stones constantly moistened by water. This constitutes some of the lowest forms of algal vegetation, consisting of little more than minute vegetable cells. Such sometimes spread over the ocean for miles in extent, giving to it their own peculiar color. The Red Sea has derived its name from a minute fungous plant which sometimes covers its waters, as with a thin layer of fine red dust, as far as the eye can reach. 3. But go to the North Sea, and a great advance in this kind of vegetable structure may be found. There may be seen a thread-like species3 of sea-weed, thirty or forty feet in length, not larger than a pipe-stem, attached at one end to the bottom or shore, and the rest supported by the water; and in the neighborhood of the Orkneys it forms meadows through which a boat forces its way with difficulty. But even this is nothing as compared with the prodigious extent of another thread-like species, which is reported to be more than a thousand feet in length; while still another kind, in tropical seas, attains a length of twenty-five or thirty feet, with a trunk thicker than a man's arm. 4 4. Although most sea-weeds attach themselves to rocks or other solid masses, frequenting the shores or shallows rather than the open sea, there are some exceptions, among which one of the most remarkable is the Sargasso or Gulf Weed, which floats on the surface of the ocean. "Midway in the Atlantic Ocean," says Commander Maury, "is the Sargasso Sea, covering an area equal in extent to the Mississippi Valley, and so thickly matted over with Gulf weed that the speed of vessels passing through it is much retarded. When the companions of Columbus saw it, they thought it marked the limits of navigation, and became alarmed. To the eye at a little distance it seems substantial enough to walk upon. Columbus first found this weedy sea in his voyage of discovery; and it has remained to this day, moving up and down, and changing its position according to the seasons, the storms, and the winds." 5. But, in addition to this "weedy sea," the ocean every where bears on its bosom sea-weeds torn from the rocks by the ever "toiling surges," and driven hither and thither by the winds and waves. Yet even these, although among the lowest forms of vegetable life, have not been found an unfitting theme for the poet, as the following lines will show: 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. When descends on the Atlantic Storm-wind of the equinox, Landward in his wrath he scourges Laden with sea-weed from the rocks; Of some far off, bright Azōre; Surges of San Salvador; Ever drifting, drifting, drifting, Currents of the restless main, All have found repose again. So when storms of wild emotion Of the poet's soul, ere long, From each cave and rocky fastness, In its vastness, Floats some fragment of a song; Currents of the restless heart, They, like hoarded Household words, no more depart.-LONGFELLOW. 11. Of all tribes of plants the Algæ are commonly reputed the least useful. Yet neither in regard to the general economy of nature, nor as to the wants of man, are they to be so considered. They supply food to a large number of marine animals, which browse upon them as those inhabiting the land do upon its most luxuriant pastures. Cattle have been very profitably fed on some species abundant on northern coasts, and have even become so fond of this diet as greedily to seek for it. Many kinds furnish a wholesome and palatable food for man, and are used for this purpose by the poorer classe.. along the shores of the North of Europe, while others are reckoned a luxury by the rich. The ashes of sea-weeds have been in great demand for the soda they contain, which is used in the manufacture of hard soap. Iodine, so useful as a medicine, being the only known cure for scrofula, and indispensable in taking daguerreotype or photographic pictures, is found in the kind called fucus,5 or sea-wort. 12. The sea-wort floating on the waves, or rolled up high along the shore, Ye counted useless and vile, heaping on it names of contempt: Yet hath it gloriously triumphed, and man been humbled in his ignorance, For health is in the freshness of its savor, and it cumbereth the beach with wealth; And by its humbler ashes enriching many proud. And herein, as thou walkest by the sea, shall weeds be a type and an earnest MARTIN FARQUHAR TUPPER. 13. Algæ are mostly of an olive-green, gray, or red color; and their little capsules or air-chambers often have the appearance of berries. Corals are sometimes found attached to them. It is an easy task for those who live near the seashore, especially in the New England States, to make beautiful collections of these "flowers of the ocean." Although they at first appear like little uninviting bits of red scum, they may often be spread out, by floating them in a basin of water, so as to show the expansion of the plant. A piece of paper may then be inserted under them, and when the plants have been carefully lifted up by it, dried, and pressed, they will present something like the annexed representation. These are accurate copies, of full size, of specimens of a beautiful red color, which were obtained at Nahant, near Boston. 14. A weary weed, tossed to and fro, Drearily drenched in the ocean brine, Lashed along without will of mine; Growth and grace in their place appear. 15. I bear round berries, gray and red, 14 The Macrocystis pyrifera. C. G. FENNER. 6 SPÖÖM, foam; probably from spume, 1. Cy'cas revolu'ta, a Cycad, a plant intermediate in form between palms and ferns: it is cultivated in the E. Indies for its fruit, and also for the sago which is obtained from the pith. 2. Aphelan'dra crista'ta, an Acanthad. 3. Ech'mea ful'gens, a plant of the same family as the Pine-apple. 4. Littee'a geminiflo'ra, or Buonapar'tea jun'cea, an Amaryllid. 5. Loa'sa pentland'ica, a handsome annual, with yellow flowers. 1. By domestic flower-culture we mean the endeavor to grow rare and ornamental varieties of flowering and other plants in every available situation connected with our dwellings. Be it window-recess, balcony, staircase, porch, or tiny front plot, it matters not, provided there be sufficient exposure to light and sunshine. Some such place is at the disposal of almost every one who enjoys the shelter of a roof, whether he is an inhabitant of the open country or the crowded city, the tenant of a single apartment, or the proprietor of a lordly mansion. The culture thus alluded to forms one of the most delightful recreations in which the enlightened mind can engage; it is innocent and cheerful; can be cheaply obtained; and, like other rational pastimes, may lead to pursuits of a more profitable nature. 2. The beauty and variety of flowers, the fragrance and freshness which we are insensibly led to associate with them, have long been themes for the poet and naturalist, but really not more so than the subject deserves. The endless forms in which plants appear, their adaptations to certain situations, the peculiar properties which many species possess, though all grow on the same soil, the wonderful metamorphoses which they undergo from seed to plant, and from plant and flower to seed again, not to speak of the amenity1 and beauty with which they invest the landscape, or of the utility they confer as articles of food, medicine, and clothing, are all subjects of never-failing interest to a reflective mind. 3. But every one has not the opportunity of enjoying this contemplation in the field; and even if he had, the produce of one climate differs so widely from that of another, that his own district would furnish him with a mere fraction of the numerous vegetable families. Knowledge, however, has overcome this difficulty; for, by the aid of the sheltered garden, the conservatory, and hot-house, the genera of any country can be brought within the compass of a few superficial acres. What can be thus accomplished by the scientific gardener may be imitated on a small scale by domestic culture, and with comparatively less expense, as our apartments yield that shelter and temperature which it costs the gardener so much to obtain. 4. The individual therefore who can rear in his window-recess, in his lobby, or around his porch, the shrubs and flowers of other lands, has always a subject of contemplation before him; something to engage the attention, and to preserve the mind from the listlessness of ennui,2 or from positively pernicious pursuits. Any member of a family who has a little stand of plants to water, to clean, and prune, has always a pleasant daily recreation before him; his love and care increase with these objects; the simple duty becomes necessary to his existence, and he has what so many are miserable for the want of, something to occupy hours of listlessness or leisure.3 5. Again, plants are objects of beauty and ornament. Why is yonder lowly cottage more lovely and inviting than the large farm-house on the other side of the river? Simply because its walls are trellised with the rose and honeysuckle, and its porch with the clambering hop, whose dark green contrasts so finely with the whitewashed front; while the latter is as cold and uninviting as bare stone walls can make it. So it is with any apartment, however humble. The little stand of flowers in the window-recess, with their green leaves and brilliant blossoms, adds a charm and freshness to the place; and we will answer for it, that wherever these are, the furniture, though mean, will be clean and neatly arranged. |