The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1904-02-26

ments. A tree twenty years old may
have a bole twelve or fifteen feet in
girth. and cover with its shade circle
hundred feet in diameter The sa-
mang obviously, like the banyan, also
occasionally seen i'll Honolulu, is a tree
for the wealthy man. For the poor--and
for the rich as wel-there is the alga-
roba, the tree that more than any other
gives character to the Honolulu land
scapes. What the elm is to those in the
| Northern states, the algaroba is to the
kamaaina in Honolulu. Its lank, law
less, often contorted. branches are too
conspicuous, but they have picturesque
ness of their own, and if we have
been inclined to take oifense at them
on artistic considerations. there is a
grace i'll the poise OF its slender branch
lets and witchery in their swaying
| to the breeze, and ightheartedness and
abandon with which the living tree gives
| itself to play with sunlight and shower,
with gale and zephyr, that makes ire
sistible appeal to that in the human life
that reflects the life universal.
Not on sentimental grounds only is
the algaroba favorite. 1t is tree
easily propagated and of rapid growth.
Its diaphanous shade moderates the heat
of the tropical sun, yet permits the grass
of the lawn beneath it to grow perfectly
well, in dry seasons indeed saves it from
scorching. 1t supplies fuel for the
Kitchen fodder Tin its saccharine pods)
for the horses, and honey of finest quail
ty for the beehive. Finally its roots go
SO deep that they find water for vigor-
GUS growth where other trees can be
kept alive only by irrigation. The arid
lowands on the lee coasts OF OAHU
Molokai and Hawaii have been convert
ed from desert to forest by the algaroba
tree. And the parent tree from which
these forests have sprung still stands,
not yet an old tree, near the Roman
Catholic Cathedral" on Fort street.
In driving out into the country near
Honolulu, you are surprised to find how
few wayside flowers there are. You
look in vain for anything corresponding
with buttercups, daisies, sunhowers,
goldenrods, asters or gentians. You may,
very rarely, see a forlorn May weed-the
plant was introduced long ago, but does
not thrive and multiply-the bright col
ors are almost absent.
Yes, there are white poppy thistles,
coo ,,,,,vbere-,nd over rocty ledoes
Vol, NAV see snread , mantle of convol-
y,,lrs With nrofue;o,, rs blossoms ner-
laps white striped with pink, perhaps
blue, pale, but vivid, changing to pink.
Here and there the sand near the shore
may be carpeted with nohu-ZygopliSi
lum tribulun-and surely nothing could
be more gay than the bold of its deli
,,;olats ,ha,: aro co1lad Ion,1,,, p,,t far
the most 9,rt the eowers bv the n'' WOW ,U
side ,re Observation-Disclosures and ~ d,ll coIo-s
Rrt Won have FORGOTTEN la,t,na NJ
"tL,t / ,,nt1,or stor,," ,,,ta,, oat,
NOT he counted nc y v,ys;de Wild Hou,-
or II has t,Len noesess;on rs al, tho
land and would leave no road at ali Il
nerne,n,l v,ariare We're not waacd ,,non |
+ CAV, eno,,ab il i brt with &c cai;cn
coIors coverinr hilI and dale and Seld
Won loci, IN vain for The ;1J;,,;d,,al NC
which Won could hr;nr home nc =, Viii
flower For once ,at,,re has n1,cod i,
IN this nIont b,rsLI,, IN.
conprrors colo-s but who co,,1d have
ir,aoi,,ed ,lirtv vcars AGO that the c,ra-
frIly tended Garden ,,eyeItv soon hero
and there in Honolulu, world v;tb,, =
generation convert into imnenetrab1e |
Thicker half the astnre and pf OAHU
Those Who have seen onlv the l;ttle
plants which in temperate Clines mnst
he kent in nots half he ve,r for Gar 81
;n;urv iron frost can hardly rndarst,.d
what 7 mean when I sneak of tl;s nl,,,t
as in comnlete nossession bnt on 6al,,,
if is not frost brt drouoht that il has r.
with and il Seems imnoss;ble
70 scorch the life ont nj the nlant In
! tron;cal climate lie orovth ;s aston;sb'
inplv robust Three mr. four feet in
height is minimum. excent in marched |
regions FIVE 70 eipht feet i mora com
mon and in the borders of the forests
where moisture is ai,und,nt il hecon,es
almost tree 7 havk niece nj one ~
the trunks that measures frIlv four
inches in diameter. the nlant s,innorted
as il was by ne;phbor;np forest frees
~ - S1