﻿30 BULLETIN 9, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



sea salt. Tt is, however, not particularly frost hardy and is a tree for 

 low, moist situations. 



It has one great advantage for forest management as a timber 

 tree, and that is its power of reproduction over large areas from root 

 suckers. When a tree is cut down many such suckers spring up, 

 even at a distance of from 30 to 40 feet from the parent stem, and 

 these eventually make sturdy trees. 



Acacia fcvrnesiana was found at some of the California missions 

 when the Americans came from the East and while it is not a large 

 tree it should he valuable in California not only for its timber hut 

 for its perfume. Koa has not been sufficiently tested as yet in Cali- 

 fornia, but its record in Hawaii points to great usefulness if it can be 

 grown in commercial plantations. 



Nearly all of the hardwood required by the makers of agricultural 

 implements, wagons, carriages, railway coaches, street cars, furni- 

 ture, and cabinets, or used in the interior finish of houses and boats 

 is imported into California and becomes year by year more costly 

 and harder to obtain. The eucalypts, because of the difficulties of 

 seasoning and working, are not filling the bill and the acacias may 

 be expected to help out considerably. 



OTHER ECONOMIC USES OF ACACIAS. 



FOUAGE. 



The acacias as legumes have value as browse for wild and domestic 

 animals. Those which contain a large proportion of tannin are, of 

 course, not particularly relished by animals, but since the tannin 

 content of the different species varies greatly, there are a number 

 which do not have this drawback. In the great African and Asiatic 

 deserts the leaves and young shoots of acacias form the principal 

 browse of goats and camels. In Australia certain species are of con- 

 siderable value for cattle, sheep, and other live stock. Since some 

 of the most useful forage acacias are also valuable for the fixation 

 of drifting sands, seacoast thickets of these shrubs have a douhle 



economic \ alue. 



The Australian "scrub,'' locally known as "myall" and "mulga," 

 consists of BOme ■"-II species of acacia, many of which display great 

 drought-resisting qualities. The four best forage species, in the 

 opinion of Dr. Maiden, are Acacia ancura, A. </ oca ton /Jon, A. pendula, 

 and A. saligna. To these might be added Albizzia lopliantha, still 

 catalogued by many California nurserymen as an acacia, which is 

 particularly well adapted to seacoast conditions. 



Australian cattlemen say that, saltbush (Atriplcx semibaccafa) and 

 myall make the best beef products on that continent. The best 



