34 BULLETIN 9, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
which grow on some species are locally esteemed as medicines. 
Salicin and saponin are yielded abundantly by several of the Aus- 
tralian species. The food and fiber uses of the acacias, while inter- 
esting, are commercially unimportant, and are mainly confined to 
the Australian species. Thozet says that the roots of Acacia bid- 
willii are edible after baking. Wattle seeds require much boiling or 
roasting to make them palatable, and the seeds of many species give 
off a most disagreeable odor when cooked. No acacia is cultivated 
primarily as a food plant. 
PROPAGATION AND MANAGEMENT OF ACACIAS. 
The conditions which govern successful acacia growing are not 
complex and should be readily understood by any intelligent planter. 
Nevertheless, there have been many failures in the propagation of 
acacias and large unnecessary expense. There can be no profit in 
growing trees of any sort for tanbark, timber, or fuel unless the 
expense is far below that of a nurseryman’s ordinary outlay, which 
of course includes the cost of many transplantings and much han- 
dling of the stock. If healthy trees, well established, can not be 
obtained at less than half a cent a piece, the forest management of 
acacias will not be profitable. As a matter of fact, however, trees 
can be obtained at this low price. ! 
PLANTING. 
Drrect SEEDING. 
The simple and natural way to secure an acacia plantation is to 
sow the seed where it is desired that the trees shall stand. This is 
the method followed, with local modifications, in South Africa, 
Algeria, India, and Australia. The method has never been adopted 
in California, however, except experimentally on a small scale, yet 
there is little reason to doubt that it will be successful in connection 
with a careful study of local conditions. In no other way can large 
plantations be cheaply established. 
The seeds of acacias resemble those of common locust (Robinia~ 
pseudacacia), though generally smaller, and like them have a thick, 
hard, protective shell. Their germinative power and ability to 
grow rapidly is very great, and few classes of tree seeds are so well 
adapted to make a start and to maintain life under difficult conditions. 
In nearly all cases the seed has to be prepared for rapid germination. 
The Australian authorities say that 1t will sometimes remain dormant 
in the ground for years. Dr. Hilgard has noted an instance at 
Berkeley, Cal., where young acacias came up 14 years after the parent 
tree had been removed. Since no other tree of the same species 
was anywhere in the neighborhood, it is probable that the seed had 
lain all that time without germinating. Especially in light soils and 
a Nibpabetaticr  Aangsaaimbeayiea hy be tet Ah“ ee. faye 
