THE PLANT WORLD UNDER CARE 



245 



any better proof of their hardiness be 

 found ? 



The quality of the Progressive is su- 

 perlatively good. No richer or better 

 flavored strawberry exists. The great 

 ambition of this variety seems to be to 

 produce fruit early and abundantly. 

 The young plants on the runners often 

 bloom and produce fruit a half inch in 

 diameter even before the plant takes 

 root. 



With all its other good features it is 

 probably the earliest strawberry that 

 we have. At all events it has borne 

 ripe berries ten days earlier than any 

 other I have ever had and I have had 

 quite a number. 



I will only add that these strawber- 

 ries, owing to their constant growing 

 and bearing, require exceedingly rich 

 ground and careful attention. If a 

 drought comes they demand plenty of 

 water or they will take a rest : other- 

 wise they will not stop to rest till the 

 winter fairly sets in. 



Yours for fresh strawberries fives 

 months in the vear. 



A. T. Cook. 



Will the Honey Locust ever Disarm? 



BY ROBERT SPARKS WALKER, CHATTA- 

 NOOGA, TENNESSEE. 



Circumstantial evidence strongly indi- 

 cates that the honey locust — Glediisia 

 triacanthos — is the oldest fruit bearing 

 tree in the world It is difficult to im- 

 agine the creation of a fruit producing 

 tree and then arming it with such a 

 formidable host of thorns — protectors 

 that really make it dangerous for man 

 and all beasts — that it becomes a for- 

 tification which has stood the test for 

 ages and succeeded in defying preying 

 beasts against all advances. Rut why 

 this protection? In the study of all 

 biological species when we come to 

 dealing with certain parts we must put 

 reason to test. Then why did the Crea- 

 tor first make the locust tree with such 

 peculiarities? This is the only route 

 we have to pursue that we may expect 

 to lead to the most reasonable solution 

 of the peculiarities of this remarkable 

 tree. And then follows the question. 

 Why should the honev locust be so for- 

 tified with such horrible jaggers? Tn 

 the natural state no one dares touch the 

 tree, unless it is to slash it with an axe. 

 Accidents from the penetration of these 



THE FRUIT OF THE HONEY LOCUST. 



thorns into the human body have 

 caused death. 



But there certainly is a reason for 

 the honey locust being so thoroughly 

 provided with these spines — just for 

 the same reason that the cactus of the 

 desert is finished up with a prickly 

 coat. At the beginning when the honey 

 locust made its advent by direct cre- 

 ation of the Creator of the universe, or 

 by a reason of evolution, there roamed the 

 land animals of immense proportions 

 like the mammoths and mastodons 

 which are now extinct. The honey lo- 

 cust as a tree begins bearing fruit at 

 a comparatively early age. Being the 

 first tree to be created which produced 

 fruit, it was absolutely necessary for 

 it to be provided with some effective 

 protection against the ravages of any 

 of the monstrous animals now extinct. 

 Without any protection, excepting bv 

 mere chance, the honey locust could 

 never have flourished. But these ar- 

 mors served their purpose well, and 

 even the largest land animal — vegetable 

 feeders — dared not touch its pods un- 

 til they had fallen to the ground. 



A certain plant breeder states that 

 in the search for spineless cactus (me 

 species found growing with spines in 

 sites exposed to wild animals as well 



