286 EDWARD W. BERRY 



branches early and tops irregularly and is not over 50 or 60 feet 

 tall and about 20 inches in trunk diameter. The leaves, in 

 common with nearly all the other members of the leguminous 

 alliance, are what are known as compound, that is they consist 

 of many separate leaflets. There are, in the locust, from 7 to 9 

 opposite pairs of elliptical slightly stalked leaflets and an odd one 

 at the end terminates the slender stalk of the leaf, which is from 

 8 to 14 inches in length. At the base of the leaf-stalk a pair of 

 short subulate stipules or accessory leaflets soon become trans- 

 formed into straight or slightly recurved spines which persist 

 for many years, often becoming an inch or more in length. 



The flower clusters, which appear after the leaves toward the 

 end of May, convert the tree into a creamy white bower of in- 

 cense, since they are filled with fragrant nectar. The fruit, 

 which ripens late in the autumn, is a red-brown pod, 3 or 4 

 inches long and h an inch wide with. 4 to 8 smooth brown seeds, 

 which are shed from the opened pods during the winter or early 

 spring before the pods let go their hold on the parent tree. 

 The locust is one of our most prolific trees in sending out sprouts 

 from the roots, hence a tree will spread rapidly and is difficult 

 to eradicate. It grows rapidly when young and thrives in the 

 fertile soils of the Appalachian mountain valleys, but will also 

 make a good growth on sandy or rocky soils. 



The wood is heavy, exceedingly hard and strong, and very 

 durable in contact with ground or air, hence it is highly valued 

 for fence posts and rails, cross arms and insulator pins for tele- 

 phone and telegraph lines, carriage hubs and similar turnery, 

 tree nails, etc. It is also valued for fuel and construction pur- 

 poses, but does not enter largely into the general lumber industry 

 because of the scattered supply and its special uses. 



A tree that has been cultivated for so long a time has naturally 

 given rise to numerous horticultural varieties of the parks and 

 gardens. There are also six or seven additional species of 

 Rohinia, all confined to North America and very similar to the 

 preceding except that they are smaller trees or even shrubs. 

 The only one of these that is generally known is the clammy 

 locust, Robinia viscosa Vent., which may be readily distinguished 



