378 THE FLOEAL WORLD AND GARDE N aUIDE. 



are compelled to say that the theory held by Lindley, and others, of the identity 

 of tlie locust bean Avith the " akris " of Matt, iii, 4 rests more upon conjecture than 

 on philological evidence. The descendants of Jacob had learned to eat the winged 

 locust in the desert, and this food was sanctioned by the Mosaic code — "Ye may 

 eat the locust aftsr his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after 

 his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind " (Lev. xi. 22). To suppose any vege- 

 table aliment to be intended here would be absurd. If conjecture were to be freely 

 indulged in, it might be suggested that if the locust of Jolm was a flying insect, 

 appreciated to this day as an article of food, the wild honey might at least have been 

 the carob bean. But sucli a conjecture is, upon the face of it, worthless, because 

 the text always directs us to the product of bees unowned, as David says in Psalm 

 Ixxxi. 16, "He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat : and with 

 Tioney out of the rode should I have satisfied thee." There is just another view of 

 the case that has not occurred to the critics. It is probably not intended by the 

 evangelist to describe the Baptist's food with scientific accuracy, or with even tiie 

 precision of a modern bill of fare, though something of the kind is looked for in the 

 text by the scholastic hair-splitters and exegetical dumbfounderers. We may pos- 

 sibly obtain a clue to the exact purport of the words by the analogous case of Matt, 

 vi. 28, " Consider the lilies how they grow." In this we are directed to observe the 

 perfections of the works of God; and to search for any particular species of lily as the 

 one which the Saviour may have referred to, is to put common sense under foot, and 

 degrade all learning to the level of superstition. Why may v/e not, in like manner, 

 understand by " locusts and wild honey," that the Baptist subsisted on whatever the 

 desert aff"orded him, whether locusts proper, or honey from \\\q xock^ ov wliatever 

 else ? His portrait is driiwn in a brief but graphic sketch, comprised in the first four 

 verses of Matt, iii., and we are not to receive in the sense of a broker's inventory the 

 description of his attire, " camel's hair and a leathern girdle," or as a " carte" of a 

 modern feast the description of his food. But we are to understand that he despised 

 soft raiment, and avoided kings' houses ; that he renounced the refinements of settled 

 society, and loved the ascetic life, because of the peculiar earnestness of his nature, 

 and the awful magnitude of his mission. The carob-tree is very nearly hardy in this 

 country ; but as we have never seen it growing in the open air, we cannot say if it 

 may be planted out with safety. When met with under cultivation, it is as a green- 

 house tree ; and as it is quite destitute of beauty, and emits an unpleasant odour when 

 in flower, we do not consider it worthy of cultivation at all, save and except as a curi- 

 osity. Another *' locust" tree is the HymenoR of Madagascar and West Indies, three 

 species of which have been grown in this country. They are all evergreen stove trees. 

 Yet another " locust " is the Rohinia pseudacacia, a Xorth American forest tree, once 

 made famous by William Cobbett, who so overrated its merits as a timber tree, that 

 nis advocacy of its cultivation proved to be the greatest mistake of a life strangely 

 chequered by successes and blunders. The Robinia is undoubtedly a capital tree for 

 5 gate-post, or for any kind of rustic furniture, but it is fjxr more valuable as an 

 ornamental tree, and one of the very best of that class ever planted in a garden. 

 One of the finest specimens in England, probably, is one at Stoke Newington, the 

 now leafless branches of which almost touch the windows of the room in which this 

 note is written. It is a tree of noble stature, branching freely and gracefully, pro- 

 ducing a rich light-green leafage and an abundance of racemes of white flowers, 

 which the bees are extremely fond of. We have several other species and varieties 

 of Robinia, which are of great service to the landscape gardener. Of these, we 

 may particularize as especially valuable the " Rose acacia," Robinia hispida rosea^ 

 a number of which are planted on the second terrace, in connection with the famous 

 ^'ribbon line" of flower-beds, at the Crystal Palace. Of the common Robinia, one 

 of the most beautiful varieties is the one lately obtained from a sportive branch in a 

 French garden, and which produces rose-coloured flowers. 



SuB-TiiopicALS.— J". 5. S. — By the aid of a hot-bed in January, a number of 

 fine things may be raised from seed. March or April will do for the first sowing of 

 castor oil plants, as they grow very fast. The following are a few of the best varie- 

 ties in the several classes named, which may all be raised from seed. We make a 

 short list, under the impression that it will be more useful than a long one. 

 Carinas: *Annei, *Mus£efoli£e, *limbata (this is the one that has stood out winter 

 and summer several years past at Battersea Park), floribunda, nigrescens, raetallica. 

 Solamims : giganteum, *auriculatum, ^marginatum, amazouicum, *robustum. 



