464 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



great age. The various kinds of pine are better adapted to the 

 poorest soils. But in rich, sandy loam, locust trees of a moder- 

 ate timber size may, probably, be produced with greater ease 

 and in a shorter time than any trees possessing the same valu- 

 able properties.* 



As an ornamental tree, it must continue to be cultivated. It 

 is true that it is liable to be broken by the wind, and that it 

 never is full enough of branches to cast a deep shade. But the 

 beauty of its foliage is almost unrivalled, and such pendent 

 racemes of fragrant flowers are found on no other tree. 



The locust may readily be propagated by the suckers which 

 spring up in great numbers, to some distance, around the tree. 

 But the readiest way is by seed. This, which is ripe in Octo- 

 ber, may be sown immediately, and will come up the following 

 summer. Cobbett recommended that the seeds should be pre- 

 viously steeped in hot water. He was, however, speaking of 

 seeds which had been sent from this country to England ; but 

 he professed to have received the suggestion from those ac- 

 quainted with the cultivation on Long Island, where it has been 

 planted more extensively than in any other part of this country. 

 If the seed is to be kept over the winter, it should be preserved 

 in the pod, in which it retains its vegetative power much longer 

 than when separated. 



It should be sown in a rich, loamy soil, and covered lightly 

 to the depth of one fourth or one half of an inch. The plants 

 will often grow from two to three or four feet high in a single 

 season, and may be immediately transplanted, and with less of 

 root than almost any other tree. — (Loudon, Arb. 624). The 

 most agreeable effect is produced by trees standing alone or in 

 groups of a few together. If planted for the timber, it should 

 be, as has already been said, in plantations of several acres. 



In the same family is found the Gleditsia, a native of the 

 south, one species of which, G. triacanihtts, the Sweet Locust 

 or Honey Locust, is sometimes found in this State, growing 



* William Buckminster, Esq., states, in the N. E. Farmer, of July 16, 1830, that 

 a sprout from a young stump of Yellow Locust grew sixteen and a half feet in one 

 summer; and that it is not uncommon, on good land, to witness a growth of eight 

 and ten feet. 



