96 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



Carya tomentosa, Nuttall.* 



The Mockernut-Tree or White Heart-Hickory. Eastern North- 

 America, extending to Canada, replacing C. alba on drier and 

 poorer ground [B. E. Fernow]. A large tree ; likes forest-soil, not 

 moist. Heart-wood pale-colored, remarkable for strength, elasticity , 

 heaviness and hardness, yet fissile ; used for axles, spokes, felloes, 

 handles, chairs, screws, sieves and the best of mallets ; the saplings 

 for hoops and wythes. Hickory is the most heat-giving amongst 

 all North- American woods. Nut small, but sweet ; very oily. A 

 variety produces nuts as large as a small apple, which are called 

 King-Nuts. 



India. One of the hardier Palms, ascending the Himalayas to 

 an altitude of 5,000 feet, according to Dr. Thomas Anderson, yet 

 even there attaining a considerable height, though the temperature 

 sinks in the cooler season to 40 F. Drude mentions, that species 

 of this genus ascend to an elevation of 7,500 feet, where the tem- 

 perature occasionally approaches the freezing point. The trunk 

 furnishes a sago-like starch. This palm only flowers at an advanced 

 age, and after having produced a succession of flowers dies away. 

 From the sap of the flower-stem, just as from "that of the Cocos- 

 and Borassus-Palm, toddy and jaggeri-sugar are prepared, occasion- 

 ally as much as 12 gallons of liquid being obtained from one tree 

 in a day. The fibre of the leaf-stalks, knowoi as " Kitton," can be 

 manufactured into very strong ropes, also into baskets, brushes and 

 brooms. It also serves the Indian races as tinder. The outer wood 

 of the stem answers for turnery. Several allied species exist, one 

 extending to Nor th-E astern Australia. 



Casimiroa edulis. Llav and Levarz. 



Mexico, up to the cool heights of 7,000 feet, This finally tall 

 tree comes into bearing in abou^ en years. The kernel of its fruit is 

 deleterious [Hernandez], but ti..3 pulp of a delicious, melting, peach- 

 like taste [Garner], partaking of which is said to induce sleep. 

 The tree thrives well in a clime like that of Santa Barbara, Cali- 

 fornia [Capt. E. Cooper], and proved also hardy in Provence [Prof. 

 Naudin] . The fruit is from 1 to 4 inches in diameter, pale yellow, 

 of a rich subacid taste, and most palatable when near decay 

 [Dr. Seemann]. Efforts to propagate it from cuttings were not suc- 

 cessful, and seeds do not seem to reach perfection in California 

 [Calif. Hortic. Magaz. 1880 J. Attains a great age. 



Cassia Absus. Linne. 



Intra-tropical regions of the eastern hemisphere. The seeds are 

 since ancient times in Egypt used to produce a counter-inflammation 

 of fermentive growth in various forms of eye-diseases, particularly 

 pannus [Dr. Schweinfurth]. 



