COMMON LOCUST.^ 203 



In America, the locust has been planted for ornament, in great abundance 

 about farm-houses, and along fences and avenues, for more than fifty years; and 

 since the forests were in a measure destroyed by the axe or fire, by the European 

 settlers, along the sea-board and navigable waters inland, many persons in the 

 middle and eastern states have cultivated this tree with a view to profit, and 

 have not only supplied timber and trenails to the shipwrights of the cities or 

 commercial towns, but have exported large quantities to England and else- 

 where. These plantations seldom exceed an area of thirty acres, notwithstand- 

 ing the agricultural societies of several states have oficred premiums for their 

 encouragement. Though the Robinia had never been known to be injured by 

 any insect, towards the end of the last century, in Massachusetts, it was gener- 

 ally attacked by the larvte of the Cossus robinia?, which gradually extended their 

 ravages to the southernmost points where this tree has been propagated. In con- 

 sequence of this discouragement, the locust has been but little cultivated for the 

 last twenty years in any part of the United States, or in Canada, except for the 

 purposes of ornament or shade. In a communication received by us. from Mr. 

 Stephen H. Smith, of Smithfield, in Rhode Island, dated on the 22d of November. 

 1844, he states that, in the winter of 1817, he cut from a lot a heavy growlii of 

 timber, principally chesnut. The soil on which it grew, is a rich loam, or a 

 slightly tenacious subsoil. In the following spring, he set out, in the same 

 ground, at equal distance, about one hiuidred good-sized, yellow locust-trees to 

 the acre. They kept pace with the natural growth of the forest that sprang 

 up about them. In 1837, twenty years after, all the wood was again cut off the 

 same lot. producing twenty cords to the acre, the locusts measuring at the stump 

 from nine to twelve niches in diameter, each tree making three posts, seven feet 

 long. The sprouts and offsets now occupy one half the ground, to the exclusion 

 of a portion of the native timber. The borers have not assailed these trees at 

 any time. It may be reasonable to conclude that, the thick underwood has pro- 

 tected them from this enemy ; as those standing near, in open, cultivated ground. 

 of like quality, have not escaped. 



Poetical and hegendary Allusions. No tree, perhaps, possesses more themes 

 for the poet, yet less noticed, than the locust. The poetical ideas connected with 

 it, are said, by Philips, in his " Sylva Florifera," to arise from its being, when 

 planted in shrubberies, the favourite resort of the nightingale, which probably 

 selects it for building its nest from an instinctive feeling of the protection afforded 

 by its thorns. He also mentions an instance of a child, who had observed the 

 peculiarity of the leaflets of this tree folding themselves up at night, saying that 

 ' it was not bed-time, for the acacia had not begun its prayers." We are told 

 that the American Indians make a declaration of love by presenting a branch oi 

 this tree in blossom to the object of their attachment. 



^Suil and Situation. The soil in which the locust appears to grow best, is a 

 light, and somewhat sandy loam, rich rather than poor^ and to attain any consid- 

 erable size, it requires much room, and an airy, but at the same time, a sheltered 

 situation, free from the fury of the winds. It has the quality of thriving for a 

 time on poor, shallow soils, which, no doubt, is owing to its power of rapidly 

 abstracting whatever nourishment such soils may contain, by its large, succulent 

 roots, that run near the surface ; but after a few years it becomes stunted and 

 unhealthy, decays at the heart, and never attains a size sufficient for any ns(>lul 

 purpose, except for fuel. The only trees that will })rosper on such soils, and ulti- 

 mately become timber, arc the resiniferous, needle-leaved kinds, as the pine, the fir, 

 the cedar, and the larch. When cultivated for ornament, this tree generally looks 

 best planted separately on a lawn, or in small groups in a siu-ubhery, or along the 

 confines of avenues and plantations, where it is allowed to extend "its branches 



