﻿34 BULLETIN" 9, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



which grow on some species are locally esteemed as medicines. 

 Salicin and saponin are yielded abundantly by several of the Aus- 

 tralian species. The food and fiber uses of the acacias, while inter- 

 esting, are commercially unimportant, and are mainly confined to 

 the Australian species. Thozet says that the roots of Acacia hid- 

 willii are edible after baking. Wattle seeds require much boiling or 

 roasting to make them palatable, and the seeds of many species give 

 off a most disagreeable odor when cooked. No acacia is cultivated 

 primarily as a food plant. 



PROPAGATION AND MANAGEMENT OF ACACIAS. 



The conditions which govern successful acacia growing are not 

 complex and should be readily understood by any intelligent planter. 

 Nevertheless, there have been many failures in the propagation of 

 acacias and large unnecessary expense. There can be no profit in 

 growing trees of any sort for tanbark, timber,, or fuel unless the 

 expense is far below that of a nurseryman's ordinary outlay, which 

 of course includes the cost of many transplantings and much han- 

 dling of the stock. If healthy trees, well established, can not be 

 obtained at less than half a cent a piece, the forest management of 

 acacias will not be profitable. As a matter of fact, however, trees 

 can be obtained at this low price. 



PLANTING. 



Direct Seeding. 



The simple and natural way to secure an acacia plantation is to 

 sow the seed where it is desired that the trees shall stand. This is 

 the method followed, with local modifications, in South Africa, 

 Algeria, India, and Australia. The method has never been adopted 

 in California, however, except experimentally on a small scale, yet 

 there is little reason to doubt that it will be successful in connection 

 with a careful study of local conditions. In no other way can large 

 plantations be cheaply established. 



The seeds of acacias resemble those of common locust (JRobinia 

 pseudacacia) , though generally smaller, and like them have a thick, 

 hard, protective shell. Their germinative power and ability to 

 grow rapidly is very great, and few classes of tree seeds are so well 

 adapted to make a start and to maintain life under difficult conditions. 

 In nearly all cases the seed has to be prepared for rapid germination. 

 The Australian authorities say that it will somethnes remain dormant 

 in the ground for years. Dr. Hilgard has noted an instance at 

 Berkeley, Cal., where young acacias came up 14 years after the parent 

 tree had been removed. Since no other tree of the same species 

 was anywhere in the neighborhood, it is probable that the seed had 

 lain all that time without germinating. Especially in light soils and 



