COMMON LOCUST. 201 



men in different parts of Britain, who had cultivated the locust, or who had 

 applied it to practical purposes. The facts collected in this work confirm the 

 rapid growth of this tree, in favourable soils and situations, and of the " suita- 

 bleness and durability of its timber for trenails, posts, and fencing, and also for 

 axletrees of timber carriages;" but none of them afford any evidence either of 

 the tree attaining a large size, or of its timber being applied to the general pur- 

 poses of construction. 



Selby, in his " History of British Forest-trees," published in 1842, says : 

 " From our own observations on this tree, we are decidedly of opinion that it 

 cannot be grown to profit, or at least to equal profit, with many other trees, even 

 for those minor uses for which it is stated to be so well adapted, such as posts, 

 railings, hop-poles. &c., much less as a timber-tree applicable to general purposes. 

 The durability of the wood of the locust we do not deny or dispute ; indeed, our 

 own experience has proved that when mature, it possesses the quality of resist- 

 ing decay in the most trying situations, to an eminent degree ; what we contend 

 for is, that this solitary advantage of durability, (an advantage we believe pos- 

 sessed in nearly an equal degree by the larch, and perhaps the wild cherry,) is 

 not sufficient to counterbalance the disadvantages under which it labours." 

 Among the various objections to which the cultivation of the locust upon an 

 extensive scale, in England, and with a view to profit, is liable, the following are 

 mentioned by Mr. Selby, as holding a prominent place : " 1st, it requires a rich, 

 free soil, and a sheltered situation, to attain a size fit for any useful purpose, and 

 even with these advantages, it seldom attains dimensions to make it generally 

 useful ; 2d, from the succulent and exhausting nature of its roots, it requires a 

 much greater space to reach maturity than many other trees producing timber 

 of a larger scantling and of greater value; 3d, it is not a tree to plant in mixed 

 plantations ; the surrounding species, notwithstanding the rapidity of its early 

 growth, generally overtopping and destroying it before it acquires size sufficient 

 to repay the planter for its occupancy ; 4th, trees equally, or, in some respects, 

 better qualified for the uses for which the locust has been recommended, can be 

 grown upon inferior soil, in less time, and in much greater bulk, both individu- 

 ally and per acre ; such we hold to be the case with the larch, where posts, rail- 

 ings, hurdles, and other enduring articles are required ; and such is the case with 

 the ash, the Spanish chesnut, and the gean, where hop-poles are the object in 

 view. Indeed, with respect to the fitness of the locust for the latter purpose, the 

 evidence adduced by Mr. Loudon is pretty conclusive against it ; as he shows, 

 that at a hop-pole size, it does not last longer than other woods, that the stools do 

 not throw up shoots so freely as those of many other trees, and that the essential 

 requisites of a hop-pole, viz., length and straightness. cannot be produced from 

 the locust even in the most favourable situations, or when drawn up in nursery 

 rows. The growth of the tree precludes the possibibility of a perfectly straight 

 .pole ; for as it never ripens the whole length of its young and rampant shoots, the 

 following year's growth being from a side-bud, is necessarily at an angle with 

 that of the preceding year." 



The largest tree of this species recorded in England, is at Syon, near London, 

 which in 1836, had attained the height of eighty-one feet, with a trunk three 

 feet, four inches in diameter, at one foot above the ground, and an ambitus, or 

 spread of branches, of fifty-seven feet. 



In Scotland, at Airthrey Castle, in Stirlingshire, there is a locust-tree, which 

 attained the height of sixty-two feet in forty-three years after planting, with a 

 trunk two feet in diameter, and an ambitus of thirty feet. It grows in light 

 loam or gravel, and in a sheltered situation. 



In Ireland, at Shelton Abbey, in VVicklow, there is a locust which attained 

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