SHADE TKEES AND CATCH CROPS. 73 



There is some reason to doubt, however, the superiority of the latter over the 

 former, and personally I am inclined to the belief that the claims ot the saman are 

 much higher from every standpoint. The tree can be seen in the botanic gardens 

 shading nutmegs, cacao, coffee, tea, and other products to the greatest advantage; it 

 is, besides, a treeless liable to fall and injure the plantation than the bois immortel, 

 and being of the same family it possesses the power of becoming a real madre de 

 cacao just as well as the bois immortel or Erythrina. For Guinea-grass pastures the 

 tree gives a fine shade, and it is also an excellent one for planting in ordinary " low- 

 bite " pasture, both for the benefit of the herbage and also as a shade for the cattle. 



In Nicaragua the wood of this tree is used to make Avheels for ox carts, solid sec- 

 tions being sawn through the trunk for the purpose. It gives a splendid dark-colored 

 wood with excellent grain, which takes a fine polish. The legumes, or beans, as 

 they fall from the tree are greedily eaten by cows and horses, although they are apt 

 to give internal troubles of a minor character to the latter. Professor Harrison, of 

 Demerara, who analyzed the pods, observed that the beans have about the same 

 average composition as "carob" beans obtained from Ceratoniasiliqua, butas the seeds 

 of the saman invariably pass through the stomach of a cow without being digested, 

 the food value of the seed must be eliminated to obtain the true value of the legume 

 as a cattle food. I understand that Professor Harrison, who published the original 

 analysis, will shortly complete it by a separate examination of the seed. "Whatever 

 may' be the result, it is certain that the pods or beans are a very suitable food for 

 milch cows, as is shown by the character of the milk afforded by animals fed regu- 

 larly upon them. In some places Pithecolobium saman has obtained the name of 

 "rain tree" — for what reason is not clearly apparent — but it is certain that much 

 larger crops of Guinea grass can be grown under its shade than in the open. It is 

 one of those trees in which, like some of the Mimosas, its leaflets are possessed of 

 the power of movement and close together at sundown, thus allowing the dew to fall 

 upon the crops beneath, while when the sun is high the foliage is spread out in a 

 form which securely screens off its rays and protects the ground beneath from exces- 

 sive evaporation. In the gardens we have large examples of these trees, planted, it 

 is supposed, between the years 1818 and 1824, so that they are over seventy years of 

 age, and are probably the finest in the "West Indies. The spread of the branches of 

 several of them reaches a diameter of considerably over 140 feet. For all purposes of 

 shade, so necessary in a moist tropical climate, the saman is certainly an excellent 

 tree, and it grows at a rate which would satisfy any but the most impatient. A tree 

 with a trunk of 12 inches diameter can be grown in good soil in about ten years, and 

 large enough to shade cacao and other shrubby trees in from four to five years. 



In islands subject to cyclonic storms the tree suffers considerably owing to the great 

 weight and size of the branches, but in Trinidad our trees have never suffered in this 

 way, as we are fortunately outside the common cyclone or hurricane area. 



The Porto Rican specimen shown in PL XVI stands near the oil refinery behind 

 Cataiio. The leaves are much smoother than those of another specimen collected by 

 Sintenis between Manati and Arecibo, but the latter was in flower while ours had 

 half-grown pods and the leaves may have become smoother with age. In any case 

 our specimen seems to be exactly the same as another from St. Croix supposed to be 

 saman. The pods are quite straight in both cases, and it is difficult to understand 

 how a flat pod could become curved, as stated by Grisebach to be sometimes the case. 



The present species has, according to "Watt's Dictionary, been introduced in the 

 neighborhood of Calcutta and in other parts of British India as an ornamental shade 

 tree of quick growth. It is also in use in the Coorg district as shade for coffee plan- 

 tations, for which purpose it has been especially recommended by Thwaites. 



In Colombia, Saenz mentions the saman among the trees recommended for plant- 

 ing in coffee plantations at low elevations. The distance suggested is 10 meters, but 

 the long horizontal branches would cover a much larger space. Alternate trees of 

 this or some other species would need to be removed. Very recently further com- 

 mendation for this species has come from the Philippine Islands, where it is con- 

 sidered by Senor Sanchez to be superior to Glirici'dia maculata, Erythrina ovalifoiia, 

 and E. indica, the first of these being especially objectionable, the coffee apparently 

 suffering by being alternately heavily shaded and then exposed to full sunlight and 

 rendered specially liable to the attacks of a longicorn beetle. The following good 

 points of Pithecolobium saman are enumerated: Rapid growth, attaining 15 meters in 

 eight or nine years; horizontal branches 7 meters or more long; leaves evenly dis- 



