328 



The Journal of Heredity 



course, in the vicinity of settlements, 

 and the complete absence of tesota trees 

 from the lower ground along the Gila 

 River for several miles above and below 

 Sacaton may be due to this cause 

 rather than to susceptibility to frost. 

 Like the giant cactus, Olneya does not 

 come down to the river-bottom lands, 

 but appears to be confined to the higher 

 slopes, farther back toward the foot- 

 hills. In both cases human activities 

 and domestic animals may be important 

 factors in reducing the chances of 

 survival and of natural reproduction in 

 the immediate neighborhood of the 

 Indians. 



Cattle may be responsible also for 

 the extreme scarcity of young trees, 

 which are seldom to be found in the 

 Sacaton district, even well back in the 

 desert. Although an abundance of small 

 seedlings sprang up under many of the 

 bearing trees after the August rains, 

 they disappeared completely in a few 

 weeks. No doubt the rabbits and 

 other rodents, as well as the birds and 

 insects, must always have taken a 

 heavy toll of the young plants, but there 

 must have been provision for this in the 

 natural economy of the species. It 

 may be that rabbits have become more 

 destructive to the Olneya seedlings, 

 since Pimas began to keep cattle about 

 the middle of the last century. 



Cattle are said not to range more than 

 3 or 4 miles from water, but the wood- 

 cutters go farther into the desert, so 

 that a general reduction of the seed 

 crop from this cause also has to be 

 recognized, and this again may help to 

 explain why the Indians have ceased 

 to gather the beans in recent decades. 

 The range of wood-cutting depends, of 

 course, upon the price, which often is 

 very high. The use of Olneya wood 

 for fuel has been very extensive, second 

 only to that of mesquite, not only in 

 Arizona but in the adjacent regions of 

 Mexico. Railroads, mines, machine- 

 shops and irrigation pumping plants 

 have often used wood, in default of 

 coal . Lumholtz explains that the easiest 

 way to fell a tree is to make a fire at 

 the base: "It ignites easily and burns 



the whole night through without any 

 further attention." 



It is apparent that only the extreme 

 hardiness and tenacity of life of the old 

 stumps and roots are responsible for 

 the present representation of the species 

 in many localities, and that when the 

 vitality of these relics is finally exhausted 

 a rapid extermination of the species 

 must be expected, not merely from lands 

 that can be brought under cultivation, 

 but in the deserts where no other tree 

 seems as well adapted to grow, except 

 the useless palo verde. The possibility 

 of retarding the destruction of the 

 natural supplies or of propagating the 

 species artificially might be worthy of 

 consideration from the standpoint of 

 fuel supply, even if there were no food 

 or fodder possibilities to attract atten- 

 tion. 



The possibility of making practical 

 use of the natural supplies of the beans 

 by gathering them from the wild trees 

 in the desert is a question that might be 

 raised in localities where the trees are 

 still abundant, as they are said to be in 

 some parts of the Papago country, in 

 southern Arizona. There can be no 

 doubt that the Indians used them 

 formerly, though in recent years they 

 seem to have been entirely neglected. 

 One reason may be that needy Indians 

 could get supplies of flour and other 

 rations issued by the Government, and 

 the increasing scarcity and remoteness 

 of bearing trees undoubtedly would disr 

 courage any habit of relying on them 

 for food. The fact that the bean 

 harvest came at the period of the 

 summer floods when the Indians were 

 busy with their farms might also tend 

 seriously to interfere with the gathering 

 of the beans. The case is different with 

 the mesquite, which has very hard, 

 inedible seeds, and is spread by cattle 

 and horses that eat the sweetish pods, 

 which the Indians also grind and bake 

 into loaves like bread. 



If a systematic effort or test of the 

 possibility of gathering tesota beans 

 from the wild trees were to be made, 

 no doubt the first step would be to 

 cut off the low limbs and clear away 



