120 SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. LEGUMINOS. 
separate thin-walled compartment. The seeds are suspended transversely in two ranks on short straight 
funicles; they are a quarter of an inch long, ovate, thick, and flattened on the inner surface by mutual 
pressure; the testa is crustaceous, and consists of a thin outer and of a thicker harder and paler mner 
coat ; it is light brown and lustrous on the outer surface, which is faintly marked on both sides of the 
seed by large oval rings. The embryo is pale yellow, with thick cotyledons, and has a straight slightly 
exserted radicle. 
Acacia Farnesiana is now widely distributed through the tropical and subtropical regions of the 
two worlds; it has, however, been so long cultivated and has established itself so completely in many 
countries that it is not possible to determine accurately where it is really indigenous. It is probably a 
native of America from the valley of the Rio Grande to northern Chile ;* it is abundant and probably 
2 it is abundant, too, and 
indigenous in northern central and in the interior of northeastern Australia ; 
possibly indigenous in south-tropical Africa,’ and has become entirely naturalized in the West Indies, 
in Guiana, Brazil,®> and in some parts of the Argentine Republic, in northern ® and northern-tropical 
Africa,’ India,’ southern China,° the Indian Archipelago,” and the islands of the Pacific Ocean.” Along 
the southern borders of the United States Acacia Farnesiana is established in the neighborhood of 
towns from the shores of the Gulf of Mexico” to southern California,’® and in the arid and almost 
uninhabited region between the Nueces and the Rio Grande it grows in places so remote from human 
habitations and apparently so little altered through the agency of man that it is not easy to believe that 
In southern Florida on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and in the 
neighborhood of New Orleans, Acacia Farnesiana has also sparingly established itself as an escape 
it is not indigenous there. 
from gardens. 
The wood of Acacia Farnesiana is hard, heavy, and close-grained ; it contains many evenly dis- 
tributed open ducts, the layers of annual growth being barely distinguishable, and many thin conspicu- 
ous medullary rays, and is a rich reddish brown, with thin pale sapwood. The specific gravity of the 
absolutely dry wood is 0.8304, a cubic foot weighing 51.74 pounds.” 
5 
In India it is used for the knees 
of small vessels and in the manufacture of agricultural implements ;’ 
collected from the trunk.” 
in Mexico in making ink.” 
and a gum of commercial value is 
A decoction of the pods, which contain a large amount of tannin, is used 
Acacia Farnesiana is cultivated on a large scale in southern Europe, especially in France and 
northern Italy, for its fragrant flowers which are used in the manufacture of perfumery ;* it is planted 
for ornament in the gardens of all warm countries, and in India is employed as a hedge plant. 
1 A. de Candolle, Gcographie Botanique, ii. 770.— Bentham, 
Trans. Linn. Soc. xxx. 502 (Rev. Mim.). 
2 Bentham, Fl. Austral. ii. 419. 
3 Bentham, Trans. Linn. Soc. l. c. 
* Grisebach, Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 222.— Eggers, Bull. U. S. Nat. 
Mus. No. 13, 49. 
5 Bentham, Martius Fl. Brasil. xv. pt. ii. 394. 
6 Hooker, Niger Fl. 331. ~ Oliver, Fl. Trop. Afr. ii. 346. 
7 Ball, Jour. Linn. Soc. xvi. 442. 
8 Wight & Arnott, Prodr. Fl. Ind. 272 (Vachellia).— Bed- 
dome, Fil. Sylv. S. Ind. i. t. 52.— Hooker f. Fl. Brit. Ind. ii. 
292. 
® Bentham, Fl. Hongk. 101. 
10 Miquel, Fl. Ind. Bat. i. pt. i. 7. 
11 Hillebrand, Fl. Haw. Is. 113. 
12 Hemsley, Bot. Biol. Am. Cent. i. 352.— Havard, Proc. Nat. 
Mus. viii. 489. — C. G. Pringle, Garden and Forest, ii. 393. 
18 Brewer & Watson, Bot. Cal. i. 164. 
14 Garden and Forest, iii. 344. 
16 Beddome, l. c. 
16 Gamble, Man. Indian Timbers, 150. 
17 Havard, l. c. 
18 Grasse in southern France is the centre of Cassie culture in 
Europe. A sandy soil and the warm slopes of hills open to the 
sun and protected from cold north winds are preferred for the 
plantations, which are often of great extent. On limestone soil the 
Cassie also flourishes and grows to a larger size than on granite, 
but it blossoms later, and flowers which open late in the season are 
less fragrant than earlier ones. 
The seed is sown in March and April in carefully prepared beds 
exposed to the south and frequently watered to hasten germination 
and the growth of the young plants. These are transplanted the 
following year to the ground where they are to stand permanently, 
and are usually set six feet apart each way in order to secure a 
sufficient development of the branches and permit the cultivation 
of the soil between the plants. The plantations are kept free from 
weeds, and the ground is usually thoroughly cultivated every spring 
and enriched with a good coating of manure. The main stems of 
the young plants are generally stopped at a height of two feet 
from the ground to force the development of several main branches, 
