THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 155 



sufficient rarity to be novelties, but that the plant may fruit 

 abundantly on occasion is shown by a bvinch of the pods sent 

 us by W. M. Buswell from Bartow, Florida. The pods are 

 about four inches long and a quarter of an inch wide and con- 

 tain half a dozen brownish seeds. Like most species of Le- 

 guminosae the groundnut pods split in halves at maturity after 

 which each half twists spirally thus pushing out and scattering 

 the seeds. 



Our DepIvETEd Forests. — Time was when in many parts 

 of America, timber was cut and burned to get rid of it, Hit 

 that time has long passed. Now we are cutting more timber 

 annually than is added to our forests by growth and unless 

 something is done quickly it will be too late; our forests will 

 disappear. Before the war, this country exported every year, 

 nearly four thousand million board feet of lumber in addition 

 to manufactured articles that used many millions more. The 

 chief woods exported are white oak, walnut, hickory, white- 

 wood, basswood, and yellow pine. The yellow pine is especial- 

 ly valuable since it is the source of the turpentine so exten- 

 sively used. At the present rate of cutting, these timbers 

 will be exhausted in from ten to twenty years. In view of 

 this fact, it may be questioned whether it is wise to try to 

 develop foreign markets for our timber. Government officials 

 report that if we adopt a rational forest policy it will be pos- 

 sible in time to supply all our timber needs and to export more 

 than we are now doing, but this is only in case we begin im- 

 mediately to conserve. 



