22 THE PLANT WORLD 



p. 38): "But at length, in the summer of 1896, there came about a 

 marv-elous change. The compacted hyacinths, covering tens of thousands 

 of acres, so to speak, left the lakes and creeks of the upper St. Johns and 

 started for the lower reaches of the river. Down they came by millions 

 and hundreds of millions. Hundreds of miles of shore were banked deep 

 with drifts of decaying plants. All other aquatic and littoral plants were 

 exterminated. Small boats were blockaded, and it was difficult to navi- 

 gate the river with boats large or small. Jacksonville, a city of 30,000 

 inhabitants, was in a state of alarm. It was expected that the hyacinths 

 would increase from year to year, and many feared that the river would thus 

 be closed to navigation . By the end of fall all the hyacinths were either 

 rotting on the shore or swallowed up by the ocean. It was fully expected 

 that the following year would witness another hyacinth invasion more 

 formidable than the first, but that year had in store another and more 

 agreeable surprise, for scarcely a plant was seen on the river, nor has 

 there been since." 



According to experiments made by the California Experiment Sta- 

 tion, the English oak {^Quercus robur) appears to be one of the most 

 rapidly growing hardwood trees thus far grown in the State. The Asia 

 Minor willow iSalis Salmoiii), planted from cuttings in 1895, was 32 feet 

 high in October, 1897, with trunks 32 inches in circumference. 



The forest reserve of Burma, according to a recent report, now em- 

 braces 17,836 square miles, from which there was an income of more than 

 $2,000,000 during the year 1900-01. The principal forest product is of 

 course teak timber, but other products are coming in. During the year 

 10,000 acres of para rubber (^Hevea brasiliensis) were planted. 



The latest estimate places the total number of apple trees of bearing 

 age in the United States at something over two hundred millions. This 

 is nearly three trees to every person. These trees yield more than one 

 hundred and seventy-five million bushels. Not all these apples are con- 

 sumed at home, for in years of full crop more than three million bushels 

 go abroad. Yet the apples kept at home are more than two bushels for 

 every adult and child. We are a nation of apple-eaters. This fact may 

 not be to our credit, however, when we remember that a good part of all 

 these apples are Ben Davis and other kinds that a refined and cultivated 

 taste would not choose for its desert. Yet probably half our people 

 never raise an apple ; and of the half who do raise them, but a small 

 percentage grows for market ; and of those who grow for market, only 

 a part make a profit from the business. Yet there is money in apple 

 growing. — Country Life in America. 



