DENDROLOGY. 297 



The dimensions of the locust vary with the soil and climate : 

 thus in Pennsylvania, between Harrisburgh and Carlisle, where 

 it begins to appear, it is much smaller than in Virginia, and 

 particularly in Kentucky and West Tennessee, which are situated 

 two or three degrees farther south, and where the soil is more 

 fertile. In these states it sometimes exceeds four feet in diameter, 

 and 70 or 80 feet in height ; which is twice the size it attains 

 east of the mountains. On the trunk and large limbs of the old 

 locust, the bark is very thick and deeply furrowed. The young 

 tree, till it attains the diameter of two or three inches, is armed 

 with formidable thorns, which disappear in its mature age. The 

 foliage is light and agreeable to the eye. Each leaf is composed 

 of opposite leaflets, eight, ten, or twelve, and sometimes more in 

 number, surmounted by an odd one. The leaflets are nearly 

 sessile, oval, thin, of a fine texture, and of so smooth a surface 

 that the dust is blown off from them as it alights. These leaves 

 are rarely injured by insects. The flowers, which open in the 

 month of May, are disposed in numerous, pendulous bunches : 

 they are perfectly white, and diffuse the most delicious odor. 

 Their fine effect, heightened by the fresh tint of the light green 

 foliage, renders this tree one of the most admired in Europe 

 among the ornamental trees. To the flower succeeds a narrow, 

 flat pod, about three inches long, containing five or six small 

 seeds, which are commonly brown, and sometimes black. 



The wood of the locust, which is commonly of a greenish- 

 yellow color, marked with brown veins, is very hard, compact, 

 and susceptible of a brilliant polish ; it is possessed of great 

 strength with but little elasticity. Its most valuable property is 

 that of the power of resisting decay longer than almost any other 

 species of wood. In naval architecture the shipwrights use as 

 much locust wood as they can procure. It is as durable as the 

 live oak and the red cedar, with the advantage of being stronger 

 than the one and lighter than the other. It enters, with the live 

 oak, the white oak and the red cedar, into the upper and the 

 lower parts of the frame, though in a very small proportion. It 

 is also used for the trunnels, or the pins destined to attach the 

 side planks to the frame. Instead of decaying they acquire with 

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