702 Forestry Quarterly 



fifteen thousand acres. Conservatively assuming eighty trees to 

 the acre, and two hundred pounds of nuts per tree, this gives an 

 annual yield of eight tons per acre. Reducing this estimate to 

 five tons per acre the annual crop is 75,000 tons. Considering 

 50,000 tons as the available crop, the extracted oil would amount 

 to 2,375,000 gallons, having a conservative wholesale value of 

 at least $1,187,500. Inasmuch as the importation of Chinese 

 wood-oil into the United States in a single year amounts to nearly 

 six million gallons, and as a single New York firm could have 

 placed orders for an additional 500,000 gallons, had it been avail- 

 able, the market prospects for the Hawaiian kukui oil seem very 

 auspicious. 



The wood is white, soft, coarse-grained, brittle, and lacking 

 in durability. It has no commercial value save as firewood, and 

 as fuel is of low grade. The wood decays easily, and the trees are 

 attacked by various boring insects, notably the longicorn beetle 

 Aegosoma. 



Another important oil-yielding tree is the kamani, (Calophyllum 

 inophyllum L.). It is widely distributed throughout tropical 

 Asia and Polynesia, and is everywhere valued for its oil and wood. 

 It is distinctly a littoral species, like the milo, and was also brought 

 by the first Hawaiians from the South Pacific. It is often fifty 

 or sixty feet high, with a trunk of two to three feet in diameter, 

 and a domed crown of heavy, dark green, glossy foliage. The 

 fragrant, creamy-white flowers are in showy axillary racemes. The 

 fruit is lH-2 inches in diameter, with a hard rind and a very oily 

 nut. In India, Fiji, and other regions the oil is of considerable 

 commercial importance, and like the kukui oil, is used for a variety 

 of purposes. The wood is as hard as oak, close grained, and red- 

 dish brown in color. In ancient Hawaii it was used chiefly for 

 the carved wooden bowls or umeke; in other countries it is utilized 

 for timber, in shipbuilding, and for fine cabinet work. The day 

 will undoubtedly come when this valuable oil tree will be handled 

 as a forest crop, under scientific management. 



The leguminous mesquite, Prosopis julijlora, an introduced tree, 

 has become the dominant lowland tree in many regions, and has 

 proven to be of great economic importance. It thrives in semi- 

 arid regions where other trees are scarce, and ameliorates the 

 poor soil upon which it grows. Its height is twenty to forty feet, 

 with a wide-spreading crown, gnarled, fluted trunk, and small. 



