10 T)Er.. 1917. 1 The Maaroha Tree. 749 



THE ALGAROBA TREE. 



By Alfred J. Eivart, D.Sc. 



The name of Algaroba Treo was formerly more comnionly applied 

 to the plant known scientifically as Ceratonia siliqua, which bears some- 

 what sweetish edible fruits. At one time these fruits, when dried, were 

 sold in Enjrlanil — at any rate, in Lancashire and in the north of Eng- 

 land — under the name of "locusts," but they seem now to have gone 

 out of fashion as a sweetmeat for children. Similarly in Victoria the 

 pods of the Rohinia pscndacacia are considered a food, or rather a 

 luxury, by the young people of the districts where the tree grows. 



The Algaroba Tree, to whicli so much attention has been recently 

 drawn in Victoria, is the plant known to botanists as Frosopis juliflora. 

 It has been known also as Frosopis dulcis, on account of its sweetish 

 pods. On good soils it becomes a handsome tree, and grows to a height 

 of 50 or 60 feet, with a hard, strong, handsome and dark-coloured wood. 

 Further, it has the advantage of being capable of growth under very 

 varied conditions, and although it will stand a moderate amount of 

 drought, it grows really well only \vhere a steady supply of moisture 

 gets to the roots, or when the roots succeed in reaching a permanent 

 water supply. In these conditions it will thrive in a dry district with 

 a small rainfall; and since it can stand a slight degree of salinity, it 

 would be a useful tree to plant around artesian bores and wells in coun- 

 try subject to drought. 



At the same time, it is necessary to point out that the prevailing 

 idea that the tree would be a valuable standby for cattle in dry seasons 

 is scarcely correct. At any rate, there are many native trees whose 

 foliage would be more useful to keep stock alive when feed is scarce. 

 The value of these native trees has been tested during past droughts, and 

 one result is that some of the species are becoming extinct. Perhaps 

 the most notable instance is that of the " kurrajong," Brachychiton 

 populneus, in the Upper Murray district, but other cases are common. 



It should also be borne in mind that comparatively little fruit will 

 be available at any given time, unless it be stored, and thus the cost 

 will be greater than if, instead of Algaroba Trees, a fodder crop were 

 grown and .stored as hay or silage. Further, it should be pointed out 

 that although a tree may bear a great mass of foliage or fruits, it pro- 

 duces more inedible matter than does a herbaceous plant like lucerne, 

 and comparing yields per acre per annum, lucerne is much superior to 

 any fodder tree. 



It is curious to note how particular plants from time to time come 

 under notice as fodder plants, and are praised to an extent far above 

 their actual merits. For instance, the " Burr Medick " had a boom of 

 this kind nearly ten years ago. It was followed by the King Island 

 Melilot, and then by the so-called Fhalaris conunutata, which was sup- 

 posed to be a new plant, but which was found to be nothing more than 

 an old, long-known plant, P. hiilhosa. At another period Peruvian 

 lucerne became the craze, to the exclusion of equally good, or even 

 better, varieties of lucerne, and at i)resent Sudan grass is attaining a 

 prominence far above its real merits. 



