58 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING 



them are being tried. The common coconut has been planted 

 considerably in the extreme lower part of the state as a road and 

 street tree but while it is a most rapid grower, is healthy and free 

 from serious insect pests here so far, and is one of the most mag- 

 nificent objects in nature, I consider it unfit for any such pur- 

 poses. Its stem is almost invariably crooked, oftentimes ex- 

 ceedingly so, hence it never forms a good line and, although 

 experiments have been made with a hope of forcing it to grow 

 straight they have totally failed. Its leaves do not have a suffi- 

 cient spread to shade a broad road properly even if it grew straight. 

 But when the tree has attained a considerable height there 

 would always be great risk frorn falling leaves and nuts along any 

 much frequented thoroughfare. I have seen a woman knocked 

 senseless by being struck with the butt of a leaf which did not 

 fall over ten feet. 



Some of the other Cocos have been used for street and high- 

 way planting, particularly C. plumosa which is a very beautiful 

 tree, but with the same defect as all other palms which we are likely 

 to plant here, their leaves do not spread wide enough to shade 

 an ordinary street or road. Washingtonia robusta is planted to 

 some extent here and it becomes a noble tree; so does the royal 

 palm, but the latter will not do well on dry pine land. This 

 tree is often used for avenues in Cuba but it makes but little 

 shade. Several of the palms are fine for planting along walks 

 or byroads. Our common cabbage palmetto is excellent for 

 this purpose and is hardy everywhere in the state. 



The Australian pine, Casuarina equisetifolia, which is not at 

 all closely related to the pines, is used for street and road shading 

 more extensively than any other tree in tropical Florida. It be- 

 longs to a family whose relationships are uncertain and it inhabits 

 tropical seashores of the Australian region. Although a native 

 of the torrid zone it seems strangely out of place in it, for it looks 

 something like a slender white pine, and one might expect to 

 find it growing wild among the mountains of some boreal country ; 

 however, it has some excellent qualifications for a road and street 

 tree. It is one of the most rapid growers in the world, it flour- 

 ishes in our poor pine land with a limited amount of culture and 

 fertilizer, its slender, wand-like branches and narrow foliage bend 



