50 WORCESTER COUxNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1904. 



adapted to ship-building; and large quantities of it were used 

 in the construction of warships before the substitution of iron. 

 Since the Civil War the reservations have been neglected, and 

 occupied by people who cleared the ground for planting. In 

 1895 all the reservations, except those in Florida, were trans- 

 ferred from the Navy to the Interior Department and opened 

 to the public. 



The Sabel palmetto, which makes the traveler feel at a 

 glance that he is approaching the tropics, grows singly or in 

 groups in the sandy soil of the islands and along the coast 

 of South Carolina to Florida, but seldom grows more than 

 thirty or forty feet high. 



The leafstalk is connected with the trunk by a series of threads 

 or fibres. These descend in curves through the whole trunk 

 of the tree, a structure peculiar to palms, interlacing with 

 fibres from the other leaves in such manner as to produce 

 great resisting power. 



In May, 1777, the soldiers under Captain Moultrie were 

 obliged hurriedly to construct a fort to protect themselves 

 from an attack by the British fleet. For this purpose they 

 used the trees that were growing on the shore, and the balls 

 of the enemy either passed over or lodged in the spongy wood. 

 Thus the small garrison within were enabled to repulse the 

 foe. To commemorate this event, the state seal shows an oak 

 without branches, at the foot of an upright palmetto, signifying 

 the victory of the palm over the oaken British fleet. Ever 

 since then South Carolina has been known as the Palmetto State. 



It is commonly called cabbage palmetto because the growing 

 tips are cut off and eaten as a vegetable by the negroes. From 

 three to four feet of the top are taken off, and after removing 

 from the centre the tender young leaves, the remainder is 

 boiled, shredded by machinery and made into scrubbing brushes. 

 A factory in Jacksonville has converted as many as 7,500 of 

 these buds into scrubbing brushes in a single week. The 

 leaves serve as a thatch covering for roofs; are made into 

 hats, mats, fans and baskets; also used for green on Palm 

 Sunday. One Boston firm receives 200,000 leaves annually. 



