298 SYLVA AMERICANA. 



time an extreme hardness, and they are used, to the exclusion of 

 all others, in the ports of the Middle and Northern States. In 

 the construction of houses, even of such as are wholly of wood, 

 the locust is not extensively employed in those parts of the 

 country where it is the most multiplied : the use to which it is 

 more particularly applied is to support the sills or the beams on 

 which the frame rests. These sills are of oak, and if they were 

 placed immediately on the ground, they would decay more 

 rapidly than the locust. From the hardness of the wood when 

 seasoned, from the fineness of its grain, and its lustre when 

 polished, it has been extensively substituted by turners for the 

 box wood in many species of light work, such as small domestic 

 wares, toys, etc. Tt is highly esteemed for posts of fence and 

 for fuel. This invaluable property of durability, which is 

 possessed by this tree in a great degree far superior to that of 

 any other except the red mulberry, sufficiently indicates the 

 purposes to which it may be advantageously applied ; but its use 

 is limited to the objects which we have enumerated. 



There are said to be several varieties of the locust growing in 

 the United States ; those trees are reputed the best whose heart 

 is red ; the next in esteem are those with a greenish-yellow heart ; 

 and the least valuable are those with a white heart. From this 

 variety in the color of the wood, which probably arises from a 

 difference of soil, are derived the names of Red, Green and 

 White Locust. In the Western States there is a variety which 

 is sometimes called Black Locust. 



