Il6 THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



The word book goes back to the same root as 

 beech. The smoothest bark in the woods was 

 naturally chosen when tribal chiefs sent the first 

 messages, written in crude hieroglyphics, to each 

 other. Unfortunately the tendency to carve on 

 beech bark persists. It is impossible to find a 

 well-grown tree in park or near a high road that 

 has not been scarred with jack-knife monograms, 

 and meaningless symbols. 



OTHER NUTS OF COMMERCE 



Hazelnuts are small and hard-shelled but 

 delicious nuts, that grow on small bushes in the 

 American woods, and come to market locally and 

 in very small quantities. The clearing away of 

 forests has exterminated them in many regions, 

 and thereby we lose a charming shrub. 



The filbert^or: cob nut, is the large hazelnut of 

 Europe. It is imported in considerable quantities 

 but is not grown here for market. 



Brazil nuts are grown on large trees in the for- 

 ests of South America. They are rich in oil which 

 is extracted for the use of watchmakers and 

 artists. The port of Para ships most of the nuts 

 to other countries, where they are eaten with 

 relish by those who do not object to the oily, white 

 meats. Para-nuts and "nigger- toes" are names 



