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



best acacias thrive in California, and that they will grow on poor 

 and arid soils, where there is little or no frost. Beyond this there is 

 not much information, and some misinformation. For example, 

 they are commonly bracketed with the eucalypts in the minds of 

 many persons, simply because the eucalypts and most of the acacias 

 come from Australia. The place occupied by the acacias, however, is 

 as distinct from that of the eucalypts as both are from oaks or from 

 conifers. 



To successfully develop commercial plantations of acacias in the 

 United States, at least three problems will need to be solved. First, 

 the behavior of the trees under close-planted commercial conditions 

 must be known, and this can be learned only from experimental 

 plantations. Second, the various labor-saving economies will have 

 to be studied, and methods standardized, because American economic 

 conditions are markedly different from those of Natal, Hawaii, the 

 Transvaal, and Australia. Third, and probably most important 

 and difficult, will be the problem of marketing the products in com- 

 petition with those produced cheaply abroad. 



It will probably be very easy for American planters to duplicate 

 the working plans of acacia growers elsewhere, or even to improve 

 upon them as far as American conditions will Induce changes in 

 details. Successful acacia culture depends primarily upon good 

 farm practice. Hard-working, practical men, even without special 

 training in forestry, have created great plantations. It is likely that 

 the same thing will occur in this country. At the same time the 

 true spirit of scientific investigation, the power of observing and 

 drawing correct conclusions are essential to the development of this 

 industry along new lines. 



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