ol4 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



THE HONEY LOCUST— (GLEDITSCHIA TRIACANTHUS). 

 BY EDWARD H. BEEBE, GENEVA, KAXE CO., ILL. 



A]l the facts in regard to the growth and habit of this beautiful forest tree, 

 — a native of our State, — seem to be as yet undetermined. Last spring the 

 question was discussed in the Prairie Farmer, "Does Honey Locust Sprout?" 

 Mr. Budd, of Iowa, stated that it did not sprout. "A Subscriber," Avritiug 

 from Edwardsville, III., states that it "does throw up veritable sprouts." Here 

 are two direct contradictory statements. May not both be true, and that 

 the difference in the habit of the tree is due to a diflference in the locality and 

 soil ? " Subscriber" says : " My experience with the timber is from observation. 

 I have some posts now that have rotted off inside of four years. I have seen 

 Honey Locust posts sound and fresh after being in the ground over ten years, 

 and have no doubt that they must have lasted, in many instances, from twenty 

 even to twenty-five years. My observation teaches me that Honey Locust, to 

 be valuable for fence posts, should be grown upon high, dry, clay land, and 

 that those grown upon wet soils will not last long enough to pay for setting 

 the posts." If these statements are true, we see that the durability of the 

 timber is affected by the soil upon which it is grown. May not its tendency 

 to sprout in some localities be due to the same cause ? Eighteen months ago, 

 I purchased my present residence, in the village of Geneva, in Kane Co., 111. 

 The lot contains over two acres. I found growing upon it fifteen Honey 

 Locust trees, most of them having been planted thirty-five years ago. Making 

 inquiries of previous occupants and neighbors, I was informed that the trees 

 had never been known to throw up sprouts. In October, 1872, we cut down five 

 of the trees. Two of them, seventeen inches in diameter, were cut two feet 

 above the surface; the other three were cut at the surface. From none of the 

 trees thus cut down have sprouts started; the soil is dry. There are some 

 other facts in regard to this tree that I do not find in the botanical books. It 

 is dioecious, — that is, having the male and female blossoms on different trees. 

 Prof. Asa Gray says of Gleditschia : " Flowers polygamous." — We do not 

 question the fact, if applied to varieties other than G. Triacanthus, — Honey 

 Locust. There are ten trees of this variety on my grounds. All of them 

 have flowers, but four only produce seed. Most of them are thornless, as you 

 may see by these twigs taken from them. There is but one tree on the place 

 that has thorns. The Honey Locust is never materially injured by insects. 

 The locust borer {Chjtus robmi(e) — so fatal to the Black Locust — does not 

 attack the Honey Locust. A brown beetle {Lytta cineria) feeds upon the 

 leaves to a very limited extent, preferring the young and tender leaves. Last 

 spring, some six hundred to eight hundred plants, from three to five inches in 

 height, had come up from seed deposited in a corner of my garden. Observ- 

 ing, one day, that these young plants were covered with insects that were 

 greedily devouring the leaves and young shoots, I called upon my neighbor, 

 Dr. Lel3aron, State Entomologist, to give me an introduction to my visitors. 

 He did so, under the name of Lytta cineria. Thinking their room preferable 

 to their company, I dissolved a table-spoonful of Paris green in a gallon of 

 water, and gave the bugs and plants a sprinkling. The Cineria left instanter. 

 Visiting the plants a few days afterwards, to see if my visitors had returned, I 

 could not find a solitary bug. The remedy proved to be a most effectual one ; 

 it had driven off all the bugs, and Mlled all the plants. "We have no knowl- 



