1902. 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



451 



the pods and hard seeds being win- 

 nowed. From this meal a palatable 

 mush and cakes or bread is made. The 

 bread will not motild or harden, and will 

 keep for months. In Mexico the na- 

 tives carefully select the pods from trees 

 which bear fruit, having a flavor suited 

 to their taste. What is made from 

 these, either into cakes or gruel, is con- 

 sidered a great delicacy among them 

 and is known as ' ' pechitas. ' ' Parched, 

 it forms a substitute for coffee. 



The notorious "tiswin," the use of 

 which, by the Indians of the south- 

 west, the government has tried to sup- 

 press during many years, was usually 

 made from mesquite beans. The 

 Apache warrior imbibed freely of this, 

 his favorite beverage, relying upon it 

 to stimulate him to not only deeds of 

 valor, but cruel torture and even mur- 

 der. 



The beautiful olla basketry so much 

 sought after by eastern tourists and 

 curio hunters are tiswin jugs. In these 

 large ollas the pulp of the bean-pods are 

 covered with water and there allowed to 

 ferment and thus is brewed a drink, 

 which is said to contain all of the devilish 

 characteristics of beer, wine, and whisky 

 of more civilized concoction. 



Every stockman in mesquite coun- 

 tries figures on the bean crop as an im- 

 portant forage. Cattle and horses grow 

 fat on it and his profit or loss depends, 

 in many localities, upon its success or 

 failure. The beans are often gathered 

 and stored, ranchers preferring them 

 to oats or barley. 



The tree usually produces two crops, 

 the first ripening during July and the 

 second in September. In Mexico there 

 is often a third crop. The leaves also 

 form a valuable forage, and the budding 

 mesquite thickets in April and May fre- 

 quentl}^ afford the only sustenance for 

 thousands of emaciated cattle. It is 

 not unfrequently the only safeguard 

 against starvation where summer rains 

 fail and there is no grass. Stock do 

 not thrive upon the leaves alone, but 

 the bean crop may usually be relied 

 upon to prepare them for the market. 



The bark of the tree contains a high 

 per cent of tannin, but on account of the 

 difficult}' of removing the bark and its 



small body it has never been used ex- 

 cept by the natives. A gum forms on 

 the branches which makes a fine mucil- 

 age, and this in a small way is made a 

 commercial article in Mexico. It is 

 used by the Indians to fasten sinew upon 

 their bows, thus giving them strength 

 and elastic coil. It is also used for 

 mending pottery and various other pur- 

 poses. From the sap an indelible black 

 dye is made, which is used in preparing 

 material for blankets, baskets, and dec- 

 orating pottery. 



Enough has been said to show that 

 the mesquite tree is a very valuable 

 plant, and that it will bear a closer ac- 

 quaintance. Doubtless experiments will 

 develop new characteristics and new val- 

 ues, and that it will at no distant date 

 occupy its proper position in the list of 

 economic plants. 



Pages might be written concerning the 

 value of this tree as a stay against ero- 

 sion. Its long roots sink deep into the 

 earth and bind the loose detritus, soil, 

 and silt in canyons, wash, and valley, 

 where, without such protection, would 

 be only boulder fields. In this respect, 

 unaided by cultivation, it surpasses the 

 willow and cottonwood, its rooting being 

 deeper and stronger. It is a long-lived 

 tree, specimens examined in Mexico and 

 near Tucson, Arizona, showing as high 

 as two hundred annual rings. The life 

 of the tree under ground is from 20 to 

 40 years, and above, exposed to the 

 weather, 50 to 75 years. 



Coppice reproduction or regrowth 

 from stumps left in harvesting the wood 

 is comparatively rapid and sure. The 

 second growth is a better class of wood, 

 and matures in from ten to twenty 

 years. Having a large, vigorous root- 

 stalk, coppice is formed from supernu- 

 merary buds, and thrifty, strong shoots 

 are thrown out. As with closely pruned 

 fruit trees, the second growth is much 

 straighter than the original growth, 

 and consequently more valuable. It is 

 this class of wood which is in great de- 

 mand for fence posts. The seasoned 

 wood has an enemy in a common beetle, 

 the larvae of which eat their way 

 through the hardest specimens. The 

 work of the beetle may be circumvented 

 by charring the timber soon after felling. 



