In preparing dates to be sent to distant countries, they are gathered a short time before they are quite ripe, dried in the sun on mats, and finally packed in boxes or straw sacks.

Travelers in the deserts of Africa, often carry dried dates with them for their chief food, during a journey of hundreds of miles.

The Arabs grind dried dates into a powder which they call date flour. If this is packed away in a dry place, it will keep for years, and only has to be moistened with a little water to prepare it for eating.

One of the most valuable and productive of tropical trees is the cocoanut palm. It grows largely in both the East and West Indies, and elsewhere throughout the torrid

zone.

It rises to a height of from sixty to one hundred feet, and terminates in a crown of graceful, waving leaves. Some of these leaves reach a length of twenty feet, and have the appearance of gigantic feathers. The fruit consists of a thick thick outward husk of a fibrous structure, and within this, is the ordinary cocoanut of commerce.

The shell of the nut is hard and woody,

and a little over a quarter of an inch in thickness. Next to this shell is the kernel, which is also a shell about half an inch

very use

ful to the natives of the regions in which it grows. The nuts supply a large portion of their food, and the milky fluid inclosed within, forms a pleasant and refreshing drink.

The shell of the nut is made into cups, and from the kernel, cocoanut oil is pressed out and largely used in making soap and for other purposes.

In Ceylon, the tree is cultivated extensively. It is is estimated that there are twenty million trees in that island, and that each tree produces about sixty nuts yearly. The wealth of a native is based upon the number of cocoanut palms he

owns.

Another well-known tropical fruit is the fig, which grows on a bush or small tree about eighteen or twenty feet high.

The fig tree is now cultivated in all the Mediterranean countries, but the larger portion of the American supply comes from western Asia and the south of France.

The varieties are extremely numerous, and the fruit is of various colors, from deep purple to yellow, or nearly white.

The trees usually bear two crops-one in the early summer, the other in the autumn.

When ripe, the figs are picked and spread out to dry in the sun. Thus prepared, the fruit is packed closely in barrels, baskets, or wooden boxes, for commerce.

Oranges and lemons are cultivated in nearly all warm countries. They grow on trees somewhat smaller than apple trees, and must be picked for export while they are hard and green.

They ripen during transportation, so that green oranges put up and sent to us from Sicily or other distant points, change to a golden yellow color by the time they reach us.

Oranges are grown largely in Florida and Louisiana, extensive orange orchards being frequently met with in traveling through those States. The oranges grown there are considered very choice, and are generally sweeter than those brought from Italy.

Language Lesson.-Define the following words, giving the meaning of each part as indicated by hyphens: ex-port-ing, uncommon-ly, dis-trust-ful, pro-vid-ing, un-bear-able, un-hope-ful.

The syllables placed before a stem are called prefixes; those placed after a stem, suffixes.

The words shall and will are used to indicate future time; as, I shall go; you will go; he will go.

The three tenses of an action may in a general way be represented by the words yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow.

Let pupils fill blanks in the following statements, and state the tense of each action.

We
John

go to see them next week.

You and I

last night.

in school at the present time.

THE STORY OF DETROIT.

The early history of Detroit is highly romantic. It was founded in 1701 as а military colony.

It soon became one of the most important of the western outposts of Canada, and as the French and Indians were usually on the most friendly terms, the colony for a long time existed in a state of happiness and contentment.

At the close of the French War, Detroit contained over two thousand inhabitants. Canadian dwellings with their lovely gardens lined the banks of the river for miles.

Within the limits of the settlement were several Indian villages. Here the lighthearted French Canadian smoked his pipe and told his story, and the friendly Indian