196 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



mm 





'^3^V*: 





Roots of the Rubber Tree. 



THESE WIDE, SPREADING TREES IN THE BERMUDAS REACH A HEIGHT OF ABOUT FORTY FEET. 



broad leaf of the palmetto and sur- 

 rounded by a banana plantation sug- 

 gests a scene from the West Indies. 

 Cacti have spread all over the islands, 

 the candelabra sometimes fifteen feet 

 high like a branched candle stick, the 

 Snake winding its sinuous tentacles 

 through the branches of a supporting 

 tree, the prickly pear with its ever 

 ripening fruit for the indigent native, 

 the medical or green aloe of commerce, 

 the century plant, Spanish bayonet 

 and night blooming cereus. 



Among the oddities are the giant 

 rubber tree of forty feet in height; the 

 sleeping mimosa the fern like leaves of 

 which at night or in dark days close in 

 sleep; the calabash tree, which is 

 covered with the gourds from which 

 pipes and dishes are made; the screw 

 palm with its many down shooting 

 roots; the monkey-puzzle tree with a 

 bark so thickly covered with sharp 

 thorns that no monkey can obtain a 

 hand hold to climb up and disturb the 



birds nesting in its branches, and the life 

 plant whose leaves pinned to the wall 

 keep green for months and even send 

 out new sprouts. 



As commercial possibilities orange 

 and peach trees increased rapidly over 

 the islands to the advantage of the 

 inhabitants, until attached by a de- 

 structive fly, that unfortunately has 

 greatly interfered with the quality of 

 the fruit. Lemon trees are in alDun- 

 dance. The Australian or South Sea 

 pine grows rapidly and is an addition 

 to the beauty of the gardens. The 

 original Fiddle Wood tree, introduced 

 some eighty years ago, can be seen. 

 Small tamarisks, locally called spruce, 

 with their feathery drooping branches, 

 form pleasant hedges along the sides of 

 the roads. One would not give a fair 

 idea of the Bermudas without mention- 

 ing their wide fields of growing onions 

 and Easter lillies in little sheltered 

 valleys of rich red soil, of the great 

 masses of oleander bushes growing 



