CHAPTER VI
A STOCK-FOOD AND MAN-FOOD TREE—THE CAROB
AN INDUSTRY. AGE-OLD AND WIDESPREAD
The carob,[1] the food of the Prodigal Son, of Mediterranean people, of the Mediterranean farm animals, and of the calves and dogs of America, also fed the cavalry of Wellington in his Peninsular campaign and that of Allenby in Palestine during the World War.[2] Carob beans are sold in many American cities where Mediterranean peoples live. They are eaten from the hand as are apples, peanuts and chestnuts. In Sicily they serve as candy. Almost any American child will cat them if he gets a chance.
The tree has been cultivated in the Mediterranean region from an unknown antiquity and both the wild and cultivated trees still grow throughout that region. I have seen carobs in South Portugal overlooking the Atlantic; in Valencia, eastern Spain, overlooking the western Mediterranean; in Majorca, overlooking the northern Mediterrancan, in Algeria, the south Mediterranean. On the stony slopes of Mount Carmel I saw gnarly old specimens and young newly grafted trees overlooking the eastern Mediterrancan. Because the carob is easily injured by frost, it hugs close to the sea shore in Mediterranean lands and is especially important in Mediterranean islands—Sardinia, Cyprus, and Sicily—(90,000 tons per year). It even rises to the point of chief export of the
