218 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



Frequently a whole village will unite and plant a grove 

 in common. Then not even the berries that fall to the 

 ground are allowed to be picked till a proclamation is issued 

 by the head man of the village or the governor of the prov- 

 ince. A tree yields from ten to fifteen gallons of oil, and 

 the profits are about one hundred dollars to the acre. It is 

 claimed that the tree bears only every other year ; but this 

 is due probably to the vicious manner of gathering the fruit, 

 — beating the branches with long poles to shake ofi" the 

 berries, and, in so doing, bruising and destroying the tender 

 buds that are setting for the next year's crop. 



The husks with which the prodigal son would fain have 

 filled his belly, and which Scripture says the swine did eat, 

 were not after all such very poor fare. Many a repentant 

 sinner might go farther and fare worse. They are the fleshy 

 pods of the locust tree, a leathery brown when fit to eat, 

 some eight to six inches in length, containing a spongy, 

 mealy pulp, of a sweet and pleasant taste in its ripened state, 

 and in which are imbedded a number of shining brown seeds, 

 very hard, and somewhat resembling a split pea. These 

 seeds are of no value whatsoever, on account of their bitter 

 flavor ; but the sweet pulp of the pod, when dry, is exten- 

 sively used as an article of food, particularly among the 

 laboring classes. In Syria it is ground up into a coarse flour, 

 and a species of molasses made, which is used in the prepara- 

 tion of different kinds of sweetmeats. As food for horses it 

 is exported in large quantities into the south of Europe. 

 Into this country and Great Britain it finds its way, under 

 the name of locust beans or St. John's bread, receiving both 

 names from the ancient tradition that they are the ' ' locusts " 

 which formed the food of John the Baptist in the wilderness. 

 The tree is cultivated extensively in all the countries bor- 

 dering the shores of the Mediterranean, both for its food- 

 producing qualities and its wood, which is hard, and sus- 

 ceptible of a fine polish. In size and manner of growth it 

 resembles an apple tree, but is more bushy and thick-set. 

 It yields a prolific harvest, and it is not unusual to see a tree 

 bearing over half a ton of green pods. 



One other tree deserves mention, not on account of its 

 food-producing qualities, but for its importance in a com- 



