BIG VEGETABLES.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 2, Issue 60, 23 November 1878, Page 2

BIG VEGETABLES.

,, - The latest til.■« of Australian papers (] furnish us with nn item of news which ~ will create a feeling of jealousy amongst , our Amerieau cousins. Their predilection for "big" things well known; " ( size is with them a prime reconimenda- ' tion; they are proud of their big hotels, In,; fwtunos, li : g r.'.vin l ! es I:!.- trcs, : ■.-. ' waterfalls, mid big tr '. To meet a , Yankee at one of The groves of Sequoia Jj gigantea in t.'nlifoniia, and to watch him casta self-satistied glance up the 300 fl feet of trunk of one of the giants, . and then remark, "I guess, stranger, , this is a bigger vegetable than you've got in your little island," is amusing to an 'English traveller. Wo have always wondered why some enterprising American company has not purchased the Great Eastern fthe fact of own- j ing the biggest steumship in the world would, we should fancy, more than . counterbalance the disadvantage of a somewhat unprofitable investment. It will, we fear rather disquiet Americans to hear that they can no hmger truthfu'ilv boast that their eountrv produces the"'-biggest vegetable" in' 'ho world Toe t.-ii.'.c _em..t,;y-„„.a,urcd Scipmiu : —or Wolli Vmii a- ti: gen 'rally ailed , ;; '■: uglaii ■— n w :■ ~. 1 .'Mig s ; 1 t e ■ Calaveras Grove, Stoektom Cal !' ruin. ; and measures imt :> - 27 feet in height, •■' , mi equal height to that of the Clock , Tower at Westminister. There arc other , fallen monarchs of the forcM in tins and ; other groves which must have been of j still greater altitude before decay and . forest lircs compassed tie ir destructions ; ] liltt, i!S !' r lis ' !l ' j'-ld e.|, no S. |UO;U | , ; <■■■ oi ..»• tree wn :: . ■j gi .*,.,;■ .., e-u.u/.ie..; a' j;i->rc than ."'Hi ; feet. This tree, however, wi,.- dead, and though there is no doubt that it was , 1 once far loftier than iho loftiest Segtioia, ' we are now dealing with 'living trees in • ; drawing a comparison, and we come to ' that recently discovered near Fernshaw, in the Dandenong district, Victoria—a j : specimen of the Eucalyptus amygdale- : sia, or almond-leafed gum, measuring IiSO feet from the ground to the first • branch, and -!•.">() fi ct to the topmost twig! . ■ This tree, if planted at Wustininster, \ t would overtop the Clock Tower and the ; tallest living Sequoia hy 120 feet. Its , , girth is SO feet, which is less than that . of many Sequoias, lml it must vet iiu , considered the biggest living tree 'in the world. And so, at least in the matter of " big vegetables." the I'likcd Stales , must "knock under" to our great continent in the Southern Sea. Europi an Mail.