THE ROYAL FAMILIES OF PLANTS. 479 
America, the Chica, deserves mention, as prepared from 
the sweet pods of a Prosopis; but the manner of making 
it is such as would forever sicken any one not well hard 
ened in savage life. 
Of course these are not all the points of wealth in this 
noble family. Their treasury never is bankrupt. The 
Bauhinias have tough bark that makes good ropes. We 
have in New England a plant called Rattle-pod ; and ano- 
ther of this same genus in India produces the Bengal 
Hemp, very useful fois cheap bagging. Some are effectual 
to destroy vermin, and others Field a juice much em- 
ployed in the manufacture of Indigo in certain parts of 
the process. 
The beasts fare no worse than their human guardians. 
At the head of the list stands Clover, so acceptable in its 
green state to the horse, that it is said that he will eat it 
till he bursts. Closely related to this are the various 
Species of Lucern and Medick, and sundry Trefoils, all 
Sweet and nourishing to every flock and herd. Saintfoin 
and Serradilla stand in the same line of usefulness. In 
the arid deserts of the East grows a stunted bush, the 
tender character of whose herbage has, in those wastes, 
earned it the name of the Camel’s Thorn. Among the 
Afghans this plant is depended on above all others for 
the support of cattle, and if the supply is cut off by war 
at any time, the herds suffer or perish. So the Wood- 
waxen is eaten well by sheep, it is said; and many farms, 
we learn, are pastured in the British Islands at good 
o though they produce little save the prickly “W hin.” 
_ Nor would the kingly rank be well sustained by the 
Pisids if they could not boast of beauty ; but in this there 
is no more lack than in other respects. The most splen- 
didly beautiful tree in the world, when in flower, is said 
