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[Entered at the Poarr.OrricB, in Atlanta, Gkoroia, ton transportation through the Unitkh Htatka Mails at Second Class Rates.)
PtTBIilHHEP 1 ttat T
TWICE A JMM(TH./ VOL. 1.
ATLANTA, GA., JULY 1, 1882.
No. 17. | ONI, V^ AR
NI'ON«KS AM) MI’ONGK GATHERING.
Sponges are creatures of a very low organ
ization, concerning which there has been
nipcli difference of opinion among natural
ists. They arc now generally agreed in re
garding'them as animals. They are found
attached, like plants or zoophites, to rocks,
or other Substances in the water. In a living
.state many sponges exhibit bright colors,
from the presence of some coloring matter,
or from iridescence. Their gelatinous sub
stance lias a flsh-like odor. If a sponge is
divided by a knife, the parts placed together
very quickly re-unite, even if not in their
former relation to each other; but parts of
different species never unite in this way,
however carefully put together. Sponges
assume various forms, some lieing nearly
globular, some cup-shaped, top-shaiH'd, coni
cal, cylindrical, thread-like, etc. The air
and organic particles necessary to the exis'
tence of the sponge are imbibed through its
{lores. The wa-
tcrwhichcnters
by the pores
passes out of
some sponges
by a single ori-
tlce, which
serves for the
whole mass;
'others have
numerous ori
fices, from
which, under
the micro
scope, a con
stant discharge
of water may
be seen taking
{ilacc, minute
opaque parti
cles being car
ried along with
itscurrent.
These particles
are not only
fecal matter,
but also gem-
rnules and ova,
by which lat
ter their repro*
dilution takes
place.. Sjionges
derive their
value in gener
al use, from
their elastic
ity, compress!-
bilityand pow
ers of absorp
tion.
Sponges are
found on many
parts of the
British Coast, in the Levant, West Indies,
and on tho coast of Florida. A considerable
trade in sponges is carried on by the Turks
and the inhabitants of the Bahama Islands.
Between four and live thousand men and
about six hundred boats are employed in the
Ottoman sponge-fishery. These find their
chief employment on the coasts of Candia,
Barbary and Syria. There the sponge is ob
tained by diving, the diver taking down with
him a Hat piece of stone of a triangular shupe,
with a hole drilled through one of its corners;
to this a cord from the boat is attached, and
the diver makes it serve to guide him to par
ticular spots. When he reaches the growing
sponges, he tears them off the rocks, and
places them under his arniB; be then pulls
at the rope, which gives the signal to his
companions in the boat to haul him up.
The value of the sponges gathered annual
ly in Greece and Turkey is estimated at
from $450,000 to $500,000. The Greek of the
Mores, os shown in our engraving, Instead
Of diving for the sponges, obtain them hy
the aid of long-handled pronged Instruments;
but the sponges thus collected are often torn
and must be sold at a low price. The
sponges of the Bahamas and West Indies are
obtained in the same manner. To get rid of
the animal matter adhering to them they
are buried for some days in the sand, and
then snaked and washed.
The domestic uses of the sponge are famil
iar to every one. It is also of great value to
the surgeon, not only for removing blood in
operations but for checking hemorrhages.
Burnt sponge was once n valid remedy for
scrofulous diseases and goiter; but iodine
and bromine, from which It derives all its
value, are now administered in other
forms.
Written specially for the Southern World.]
THE ORANGE GROVEM OF FLORIDA
IIY HELEN HARCOURT.
SECOND PAPEB.
The ground set apart for an orange grove,
should be thoroughly cleared, and by this
we do not mean the slovenly mode in which
this process is performed by but too many,
of leaving the pine-stumps standing and
their roots cropping up here and there, an
eye-sore from the first, and in after years a
serious hindrance to the proper cultivation
of the orange trees—true, it adds consider
ably to the work and cost of preparation,
but after the trees are once set-out it is a
dangerous proceeding to burn out the pine
stamps, and an expensive one to chop them
1 out.
! This done, the land well plowed (twice
over is best) with the cultivator or harrow
l following; the space
expect a disinterested person to exercise.
As short a time as possible should elapse
before the trees areagaiu placed in theearth,
but in any case, they must be planted care
fully; it is better to keep them out of the
ground for several days, rather than placo
their roots carelessly; but whether the tran
sition period belong or short, the roots must
be well wrapped in moss, kopt wet, and shel
tered from the sun and wind.
In setting them in their appointed places,
the roots should be spread out carefully, each
one straightened out to its full extent, and
its tiny tendrils, which are the real food-
caterers, laid out upon each side, as nature
intended them to be; every broken or
bruised root should be pruned off, with a
sloping cut from below, upwards.
The surface earth should next be cast
gently upon the roots, so as not to disturb
their proper arrangement, and when they
thus prepared is are covered several inches deep, a plentiful
supply of water
GREEKS GATHERING SPONGES IN THE MOBEA
The San Francisco Journal of Commerce, in
Us last issue, says: “There is a great mislako
abroad as to the need for bags. If the crops
turn out at all, os present indications {mint,
there will be a heavy demand anil high
prices ere long. With 60,000,000 bushels of
wheat, at least 8,000,000 bushels of barley in
California, anil 12,000,000 bushels in Oregon
and Washington Territory, we will have 70,-
000,000 bushels in all, needing 35,000,000
grain bogs, not to speak of other needs of say
3,000,000 more. This would bring the total
up to 38,000,000 bags. It is but a rough esti
mate, but not far from the truth? Now
we have no stock on band, and from
present indications it does not seem likely
that we shall have any such stock, so that
the market may be expected, after the har
vest is well opened, to advance with a boom
that will surprise many.” ‘
marked out in squares of thirty feet, and at
the intersections holes are dug, proportioned
to the size of the trees to be set-out—rather
larger and deeper than the roots require
them to be—so that thoy may bo {lartially
refilled with good surface soil, in place of
the poor subsoil thrown out.
The land is now ready for the trees, being
of course fenced in, which is usually done
with the Virginia or worm fence, though
latterly, barbed-wire is finding much favor.
Every orange grower should personally
superintend the digging up, and transporta
tion of his trees, whether seedlings or “sour
stumps,” if he desires them to flourish, or
to live at all.
To uproot a tree, and with the loss of a
minimum only of its fine, tender rootlets,
is an undertaking requiring no little care
and delicacy of touch, such as one cannot
and a too rapid evaporation.
If the grove is composed of seedlings, it
remains now only to cultivate it, but if of
sour stumps (they must of course, have been
bearing trees when beheaded) they are bud-
dedassoon as their roots have taken hold of
their new anchorage and begin to feed the
tree. The moment a thrifty growth is ap
parent, good, sweet buds from a bearing tree
are obtained, of four or five months’ growth
so that the wood while sufficiently young,
will not be too green to have ihe necessary
vitality; the tree from which theseare taken
must also be in active growth at the time.
The usual method of budding orange trees is
called “pen-budding;” a stick four or five
inches in length is sloped at one end by a
cut two inches long, bringing it to a sharp,
thin point like a pen-knife; the bud thus
prepared, the bark of the sour stump is cut