Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 15.djvu/735

 is sought that seems to require the least manual labor. Clerking in a store will not answer; it requires too much standing, and lifting of goods, etc. Clerking of any sort is not favored; he does not care to enter the professions—so called; and, in casting about, telegraphing seems so easy—nothing to do but sit at a table and write a little while; then, to vary the monotony, send a while with the key. This, to the uninitiated, appears very inviting, and the consequence is the young man becomes an applicant for a position in some telegraph-office, with a view of learning the art. This is not invariably the case, of course; but it is sufficiently so to justify the statement that more young men of delicate health seek telegraphing as an occupation than almost any other profession or trade, and the result is manifest in our mortality list."

We may remark that, just as the calling of the telegrapher seems to be an unhealthy one, owing to causes extraneous to itself, so newly-settled regions, as our Western Territories, often are credited with exceptional healthiness, to which they are not entitled. Such regions attract vigorous, adventurous young settlers, the very "pick and choice," physically, of the older settlements. Of course, among such a population disease is infrequent and the death-rate is low. It is an egregious fallacy, of course, to attribute this low death-rate to the benignity of the climate of their new home.

Discovery of a Remarkable Cave in Algeria.—The "Courier," of Tlemcen, Algeria, describes an interesting discovery, recently made, at the cascades near that place. Some miners had blasted an enormous rock near the cascades, and, on the removal of the débris, found it had covered a large opening into a cave, the floor of which was covered with water. Constructing a rude raft, and providing themselves with candles, the workmen sailed along this underground river, which at a distance of sixty metres was found to merge into a large lake of limpid water. The roof of the cavern was very high and covered with stalactites, the brilliant colors of which sparkled in the light of the candles. Continuing their course, the workmen had at certain places to navigate their craft between the stalactites which, meeting stalagmites from the bed of the lake, formed massive columns which looked as if they had been made expressly to sustain the enormous arches. Thus they reached the extremity of the lake, where they noticed a large channel extending southward. This is supposed to be a large fissure which has baffled exploration hitherto at Sebdon, and which connects the cascades with that locality, and thus with the mysterious sources of the Tafna. It is possible that here they have found an immense natural basin, supplied by powerful sources, and sending a part of its waters toward the lake, while the rest goes to Sebdon. The workmen estimated the distance underground traversed by them at three kilometres, and the breadth of the lake at two. They brought out with them a quantity of fishes, which swarmed round the raft, and which were found to be blind.

The Fodder-Tree.—It is proposed to introduce into India from Jamaica the Calicandra saman, a fodder-yielding tree supposed to be a native of the South American mainland. In Jamaica the tree is popularly known as the guango. It is a lofty tree, in general habit much resembling the English oak. The trunk is thick, generally short, and branched a few feet from the ground. The primary branch divisions are often tree-like in size, measuring nine to twelve feet in circumference at the base. The lower branches spread horizontally, and the upper are erect, spreading, giving the tree a flattish, dome-shaped appearance. Trees are not unfrequently seventy feet high, the diameter of whose branch expansion horizontally is over thirty feet. The shade which this tree affords is always flecked with gleams of sunshine which flit about as the branches wave with the breeze. This characteristic is coupled with the fact, which is of equal importance to healthy vegetation, that the leaves and leaflets rigidly close together at night, thus permitting the fall of dew on the ground under the branches. Grass grows freely within the overshadowing of its ample arms close up to its trunk. On this account alone it should be planted in pastures wherever it will thrive, as a grateful shade for cattle. But, further, it is itself