^IESQUITE, CAROB, AXD HOXEY LOCUST BEANS. 6 
beans in a day {26). Since the pods weigh but 21 pounds to the 
bushel (8), however, the man gathered only 8§ bushels, not a very 
strenuous day's work. In a northwestern province of India, a good 
tree may yield more than 200 pounds of ripe fruit a year (5). 
In 1917 mesquite beans were gathered and shipped by the carload 
in Texas {26) and in the preceding year mesquite meal to the value 
of about $225,000 was fed to livestock in Hawaii. Wilcox states 
that mesquite beans, gathered by women and children in Hawaii, 
have been sold for from $7.50 to $10 a ton {24). 
The yield of fruit, of course, varies with the type and size of the 
tree or bush. It has been stated that 1 acre of land well covered 
with the trees may produce 100 bushels of fruit per year {4 and 20). 
Two crops a year have been produced in Arizona {23) and in Texas, 
the early crop ripening during the first half of July and the second 
during the first half of September. Near Yuma, Ariz., the fruit 
begins to mature early in July. The dry, ripe fruit is said to keep 
well in storage (-5) . 
HONEY LOCUST (Gleditsia triacanthos L.). 
Like the mesquite, the honey locust is classed as a member of the 
order Leguminosse, but it belongs to the family Csesalpiniacese. 
It grows in western New York and over a large area south from that 
region. The fruit ripens from the middle to the last part of autumn. 
The pods and the young trees are relished by livestock. The ripe 
pods, with their sirupy pulp, are popular with human beings, especially 
children. Because of the richness of the fruit in sugars and protein, 
this plant may prove to be of economic value. 
CAROB (Ceratonia siliqua L.). 
The carob, or Saint-John's bread, tree is also a member of the 
family Caesalpiniaceae. 
Because of its sensitiveness to frosts, the carob tree is not grown 
extensively in the United States outside the citrus fruit belts. Condit 
(6) has studied thoroughly the climatic and soil requirements for the 
successful cultivation of the tree. 
The importation of carob beans into the United States through the 
Atlantic seaboard is of some consequence. Approximately 400 tons 
of pulverized beans are consumed annually to flavor chewing tobacco, 
and the ground pods are utilized to some extent as an ingredient of 
proprietary calf meals, which they are supposed to make more palata- 
ble and attractive. Carob pods grown in southern Europe are exten- 
sively used for stock feed, and some of the highly esteemed varieties 
for human consumption. 
According to Condit {6), the older trees should yield from 450 to 
550 pounds of fruit annually. Yields as high as 3,000 pounds a tree 
have been reported from southern Europe. In southern California 
the estimated yield per tree from 15 to 30 years old ranges from 20 to 
400 pounds. 
FEEDING VALUE. 
MESQUITE. 
A trial feeding of ground dried mesquite fruit to ei^ht grade 
Duroc- Jersey pigs is reported by Foster {8) and by Garcia {10) of 
the New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station. The production 
