Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 02.djvu/261

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BUITENZORG
229
RIGHT

this coloration being due to the presence of iron as an oxide or carbonate. The sandstones mostly used in the United States are the Ohio freestones, or Berea grits, from the Subcarboniferous formation of Ohio, and the red and brown free-stones of Triassic formation on the Atlantic coast. A blue-gray sandstone, containing a large amount of alumina, occurs in New York State, and on account of its thin stratification, it is split in slabs and used for flagging purposes.

Serpentine.—This stone is composed of silica and magnesium in about equal portions. It is a greenish color and of massive structure. It is rather soft, and is not very durable; but is used to a large extent in interiors and in the trimmings of churches and other places where a pleasing color effect is desired.

Trap—Trap, or basalt, is one of the most durable stones known; but, on account of its extreme hardness, is little used in building. It is of igneous origin, and will withstand great changes in temperature and extreme frost. It ranges from gray to black in color, is massive in structure, very heavy, and of irregular cleavage. It occurs in almost all parts of the world.

Besides these commoner stones, many others are employed for interior and ornamental work, among them various colored slates, onyx, alabaster, and a great variety of artificial stone, brick, and tile.

Government reports estimate the value of the best known building stones quarried in the United States during 1918 as follows:

Granite $14,360,000
Limestone 39,000,000
Marble 5,500,000
Sandstone 4,360,000
Trap Rock 7,430,000
Miscellaneous 990,000
Total $71,640,000

BUITENZORG ("without care"), a favorite residential town in the island of Java, about 40 miles S. of Batavia, with which it is connected by rail. It contains a fine palace of the governor-general, celebrated botanic gardens, etc. Pop. about 25,000.

BUKOWINA, a former Crownland of Austria-Hungary, bounded on the N. by eastern Galicia, on the E. by Russia and Rumania, on the W. by Hungary, and by Rumania on the S. It has an area of 4,030 square miles and a population of about 800,000. Its capital is Częrnowitz (pop. about 90,000). It was the scene of severe fighting during the World War and after the conclusion of the conflict was claimed by Rumania on racial and political grounds. It is chiefly an agricultural country and has considerable mineral resources. Since the end of the World War it has been under Rumanian rule.


BULB, a scaly body, formed at or beneath the surface of the ground, send- ing roots downward from its lower part and a stem upward from its center. It bulbs in the axils of the scales, of which propagates itself by developing new it is formed. There are two kinds of bulbs: (1) A tunicated bulb, literally a coated bulb, that is, a bulb furnished with a tunic or covering of scales, the outer series of which is thin and mem- branous, example, the onion; and (2) a naked bulb, or one in which the outer scales are not membranous and united, but distinct and fleshy like the inner ones; example, the lilies. The so-called solid bulb of the crocus is, properly speaking, not a bulb at all, but an underground stem with buds upon it, technically called a corm, whereas a proper bulb is analogous not to an underground stem, but to a bud only. Bulbs placed in water tend to rot; they flourish best when fixed in very light soil or even in the air an inch above water, into which their roots enter. They should have abundance of light.

BULACAN, a town in Luzon, Philippine Islands, in the province of the same about 225,000), about 22 miles N. W. of name (area 1,173 square miles; pop. Manila, with which it is connected by railway; pop. about 15,000. The town has factories in which silk matting is made. Sugar boiling is also an industry of importance.

BULAWAYO, the principal town and chief commercial center of Matabeleland, in southern Rhodesia, south Africa. It is connected by railroad with Cape Town and other parts of south Africa, to which point the railroad from Cape Town was completed in 1897, a total distance of 1,360 miles. The place has a white population of about 5,000; several hotels, good business blocks and residences, and is rapidly growing in size and importance.

BULBUL, the Indian name of any bird belonging to the pycnonotinæ, a sub-family of turdidæ, or thrushes. The bulbuls are admired in the East for their song, as are the nightingales. Some species are found in Africa. P. jocosus, which can be easily tamed, is kept for this end, and P. hæmorrhous for fighting purposes.

BULGARIA, a kingdom of southeastern Europe, bounded on the N. by the Danube and Rumania, on the S. by Turkey and the Ægean Sea, on the E.