A BEANSTALK FOR JACK

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 57, 4 September 1937, Page 20

A BEANSTALK FOR JACK

Everybody knows that the story of Jack and the Beanstalk is only a {airy tale, but after visiting certain parts of India one might almost feel inclined to doubt it and to fancy that Jack and his mother and the caw are all there if one only knew the right way to look for them.

The rainfall in these particular parts of India, you see, is very high, and in consequence the great trees In the forests are often half strangled by extraordinary creepers, the biggest of which is known to botanists as Entada Scandens. It has a huge pod, three feet long and more than four inches across at the widest part. As for the stem, it is ntore like the anchor chain of a great ship than anything else! Surely, one exclaims, on seeing it for the first time, this must be the very beanstalk up which Jack climbed into Giant Land)

Speaking of the vegetation of India —■*'country teeming with wonders of every kind—one is reminded of what has been described as the world's most remarkable tree. It is called the Banyan tree, and is really a species of wild fig. The odd thing about it is that the branches grow so strong and become so heavy that they are obliged to drop roots- to support "then* -tremendous weight. Later on these roots thicken and eventually become;trees themselves

If left alone a Banyan tree spreads and spreads until it covers an area of nearly an acre, and has hundreds of trunks besides the main one in the centre. This amazing tree has small red fruit, about the size of a plum stone, which is much appreciated by the Indian bats, generally,:ijcnowjn as ('flying foxes" because of (their ; sharp muzzles and beady eyes.