502 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 356. 



been presented to the public. But certainly here is an 

 inviting field for men of wealth who are studying how they 

 can be wisely generous. It is true that city officials ought 

 to consider it as much their duty to furnish the people with 

 broad stretches of park-land for their refreshment as it is to 

 give them a pure water-supply or a good system of public 

 schools. As a matter of fact, few of our cities do supply 

 the actual needs of their people in this respect, and there is 

 little danger that the authorities will furnish too much land 

 for public recreation. It is to be hoped, therefore, that the 

 example of these patriotic citizens of Hartford will com- 

 mend itself to men of wealth in other cities who wish to 

 do a real service to their cotemporaries, and to leave behind 

 them an unfailing source of health and refreshment for 

 coming generations. 



The Cottonwood for Forest-planting on the Plains. 



THE Cottonwood has been called the pioneer tree of the 

 western plains, and certainly it has formed fully three- 

 fourths of all the plantings thus far made on them. Growing 

 along all the streams, from the Missouri River to the Rocky 

 Mountains, and being propagated without difficulty, both 

 from cuttings and from seed, it has been the most avail- 

 able species in the west. Add to this its rapidity of growth, 

 its promise of forming quickly a protection from wind and 

 sun, and its great popularity is fully explained. In the 

 majority of cases it has proved a disappointment to the 

 planter. It is only at home where its roots are within 

 reach of an abundant supply of water, and hence its true 

 habitat is on the borders of streams or lakes — preferably 

 the former. While its seedlings make dense thickets on 

 the sandbars along western rivers, the great majority of the 

 trees die within a few years, leaving single specimens, 

 remote from one another, to come to full maturity. 



Had these facts been observed by the pioneers of the west 

 much disappointment and consequent discouragement to 

 forest-planting would have been obviated. In point of 

 fact, the Cottonwood has been set in dense plantations, on 

 high and low ground alike, and from frequent failure, the 

 result of a total disregard of the needs of the species, it has 

 been hastily and erroneously inferred that ''forest-tree 

 growing is impossible on the plains." Where planted in 

 single rows, as along highways or division lines, I know 

 Cottonwood-trees in South Dakota, even on high land, that 

 are in fine condition after twenty years from setting. And 

 in low land, where the conditions are favorable, the trees 

 make remarkable growths, even when unmixed with other 

 species ; a splendid example of the growth can be seen on 

 the farm of the Nebraska State University, at Lincoln, and 

 another, equally good, is the Railroad plantation near 

 Hutchinson, Kansas. Under irrigation, pure groves of 

 Cottonwood, ten to twenty years planted, have quite 

 changed the face of the country about Rocky Ford, Colo- 

 rado ; but in all these groves, of from ten to twenty acres 

 in extent, an abundant water-supply was available for the 

 trees. On the other hand, there are a number of groves of 

 similar size in Brookings County, South Dakota, and I dare- 

 say throughout the west, that were in thrifty condition 

 three years ago, which the last two dry seasons have com- 

 pletely killed. 



The Cottonwood may have a place in western planting, 

 but it should be a very small place, for there are many 

 trees, in every way better, that can be as easily grown. 

 Washington. Charles A. Keffer. 



The So-called Florida Sea Beans. 



MOST visitors to Florida have seen the beautiful sea- 

 bean jewelry offered for sale in many of the principal 

 cities and towns, and those who have been to the sea-coasts, 

 especially along the eastern and southern sections of the 

 state, have generally had the great satisfaction of finding 

 some of the beans in their rough state. 



But few persons know what they really are, or where 



they originally came from. In this country they are known 

 as " Florida sea beans," and it is the common belief that 

 they grow on a marine plant, or, at any rate, somewhere 

 on the sea-coasts of the state or among the numerous keys 

 bordering on it. 



The so-called sea beans found on the Atlantic and Gulf 

 coasts of Florida, and. more rarely to the northward and 

 westward, belong to four genera, only one of which grows 

 in this country. Among the objects occasionally washed 

 ashore on the peninsula (see No. 5, Fig. 79) are marble-like 

 seeds of a light gray color, having a natural polish. 

 These are the fruits of a tall spreading shrub, not a 

 climber, known in its native countries as the "Nicker- 

 tree, " Cassalpinia bonducella. There the seeds are called 

 nicker nuts or bonduc nuts. Most of those found on 

 our shores are waifs from the West Indies and Central 

 America, although the species was discovered many years 

 since growing on the extreme southern coast of Florida, 

 some of the nuts washed ashore having taken root and grown 

 to bearing size. The genus contains about forty species, 

 widely distributed in tropical countries of both hemispheres. 

 Many of the species grow on or near the sea-coasts, where 

 the nuts readily find their way into the water, and are thus 

 disseminated far and wide. The nuts are generally about 

 the size of marbles, and nearly as hard. 



The musical name of the Florida species, bonducella, is 

 partially derived from the Arabic, bondog, signifying a 

 necklace, for which purpose, and for bracelets, rosaries, 

 etc., the nuts are commonly used. The leaves of the plant 

 are bipinnate, and its branches and stems bear hooked 

 prickles, like the Locust, generally distributed in pairs. 

 The seed-pods are two or three inches in length, flattened, 

 with rounded ends, and contain two nuts ; they are 

 covered with sharp prickles, like the seed-pods of the 

 common Jimson-weed. The entire plant is used by the 

 native Indian doctors. The nuts are extremely bitter, and 

 are employed as a tonic and vermifuge. They also yield 

 an oil believed to possess great virtue in palsy, etc. Proba- 

 bly their medicinal qualities have never been fully tested 

 in our laboratories. 



Another species, Caesalpinia pulcherrima, is cultivated in 

 gardens on the Island of Barbadoes, where it is known as 

 the " Pride of Barbadoes." I have heard that this species 

 has been introduced into southern Texas, but cannot verify 

 the report. 



The most common beans found on the Florida coast belong 

 to the genus Mucuna, one of the Leguminosse, represented 

 in the illustration by the upright rows numbered 1, 2 and 3. 

 The species, of which there are several, are widely dis- 

 persed in tropical regions, being common to Asia, Australia, 

 the islands of the Pacific, South and Central America and 

 the West Indies. All are twiners or tall climbers, with 

 trifoliate leaves and large purple, white, yellow or greenish 

 flowers. This genus is a great annoyance to travelers, 

 the leathery seed-pods being thickly covered with stinging 

 hairs, resembling the covering of a red caterpillar. These 

 are easily detached from the pod, and if they happen to 

 fall on exposed parts of the person cause great irritation 

 and soreness. 



Row No. 1, Fig. 79, shows Mucuna altissima, more fre- 

 quently picked up than any others. The average size is 

 about one inch in diameter, and usually quite flattened. 

 The raphe, or ridge, corresponding to the eye of a common 

 'bean, from one-eighth to three-sixteenths of an inch in 

 width, extends around one-fifth of the circumference, and 

 in this species is invariablyjet-black. (The lower beans in 

 the illustration are turned on their edges to show the 

 raphe.) The surface of the bean is closely pitted or gran- 

 ular, and of stony hardness. The colors are various, some 

 being light or dark brown, often nearly black, and others 

 of a grayish or fawn hue. They are usually beautifully 

 mottled with black — impossible to show in a photograph. 

 The pods contain from one to three seeds. 



The bean next to the bottom, in Row No. 2, belongs to 

 another species, less common than the one last de- 



