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HARDWOOD RECORD 



AMERICAN FOREST TREES. 



Honey Locust. 

 Gleditsia triacan Ihos — I.inn. 

 The honey locust is found ou the western 

 slopes of the Allegheny mountains in Penn- 

 sylvania, westward through southern Ontario. 

 along the shores of Lake Erie; in the south- 

 ern part of Michigan, in eastern Nebraska 

 and Kansas and some portions of Indian ter- 

 ritory: in Georgia and Alabama, Mississippi 

 and Texas on the South, particu- 

 larly almig the Brazos river. These 

 locations are the natural habitat of 

 the tree, although it is found else- 

 where in cultivation, sometimes in 

 large stands, owing to the facility 

 with which it reproduces itself. 



The tree is known as honey locust 

 in Vermont, New Hampshire, Mas- 

 sachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, 

 New Jersey, Pennsylvania. Dela- 

 ware, District of Columbia, Vir- 

 ginia. West Virginia, North Caro- 

 lina, South Carolina, Georgia, Flor- 

 ida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisi- 

 ana, Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky, 

 Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, 

 Kansas, Nebraska, Michigan, Iowa; 

 it is called black locust in Missis- 

 sippi, Texas, Arkansas, Kansas and 

 Nebraska ; sweet locust in South 

 Carolina, Louisiana, Kansas and 

 Nebraska; three-tnorned acacia in 

 Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Lou- 

 isiana, Texas, Nebraska, Michigan 

 and- Ontario ; thorn locust in New 

 York", Indiana and Louisiana; 

 thorntree in New York, Indiana 

 and Louisiana; thorny locust in 

 New Jersey; locust in Nebraska; 

 honey tree in Rhode Island, New 

 Jersey and Iowa; honey shucks -in 

 Rhode Island, New Jersey. Virginia, 

 Florida and Iowa; thorny acacia in 

 Tennessee; honey-shucks locust in 

 Kentucky; piquant amourette in 

 Louisiana; confederate pintree in 

 Florida. 



In height the honey locust ranges 

 from 75 to 140 feet ; in diameter its 

 trunk is from one to six feet, al- 

 though the latter size is rare. The 

 bark of the tree is grey and rough, 

 sometimes nearly three-fourths oi 

 an inch in thickness, and is divided 

 by long, deep fissures, making it 

 very ragged ; the surface has small 

 scales. Young- branches are reddish 

 brown in color and have wart-like 

 proturberances upon them. As the branch- 

 lets grow older, they produce spines two to 

 four inches and more in length; these spines 

 or thorns are stout and sharp, sometimes 

 three-forked; they are bright red when 

 young, but turn brown with age. Occasion- 

 ally they are absent on this species, but are 

 usually plentiful. 



The flowers of honey locust are greenish- 



FORTY-X1XTH PAPEK 



whin-, and appear in June, when the leaves 

 have nearly matured. The stamiuate flow- 

 ers grow in short, hairy racemes two or more 

 inches long, while the pistillate ones form 

 in long, graceful, fewer-flowered racemes. 



The fruit is a slender pod, twelve to eigh- 

 teen inches lung, dark brown in color, grow- 

 ing with other pods in a cluster. They are 

 reddish-brown, and flat; as they mature they 



rXPICAL FOREST GROWTH HONEY LOCUST, INDIANA 



curl up and dry in a queer, cork-screw shape 

 and fall from the tree late in autumn. They 

 contain oval seeds, separated by a sweet pulp 

 from which the honey locust tree derives its 

 name. 



The leaves are eompound and alternate; 

 they grow from seven to eight inches long, 

 and are pinnate, having from ten to twenty- 

 six or more long slender leaflets, each taper- 



ing tow-ards the apex and rounded at its 

 base. They are shiny and dark above, green- 

 ish-yellow beneath, very thin and glabrous. 

 They appear in late spring, after most of the 

 other trees are in full leaf. 



The wood of the honey locust is heavy, hard, 

 strong and durable when in contact with the 

 soil, although this quality is a variable one — 

 depending largely upon the richness of soil 

 in which the tree was embedded, 

 rapidity of growth, and other in- 

 fluences which would tend to affect 

 its timber. Thus it is well adapted 

 for fence-posts, rails, etc., and is 

 valuable in making wagon hubs, and 

 for rough, general construction 

 work; it is very scarce in the mar- 

 kets, however. A cubic foot of 

 honey-locust timber weighs forty- 

 two pounds. The heartwood is 

 bright brown or reddish, and the 

 snpwood has a yellow tinge. The 

 annual layers are easily detected, 

 as are the coarse pores and medul- 

 lary rays. Its handsome appear- 

 ance should commend it as a cabinet 

 wood. 



In general appearance this tree 

 is exceedingly large and handsome. 

 Its slender spreading branches, 

 though often pendulous, form a 

 broad, somewhat flat-topped head, 

 and its abundance of fine, grace- 

 fully undulating foliage adds great- 

 ly to its attractiveness. It is well 

 known and useful to the landscape 

 gardener, and is much used as an 

 ornamental and shade tree and for 

 hedges, under cultivation. In some 

 of our cities, notably Washington, 

 may be seen avenues planted with 

 honey locust, and it is an ideal tree, 

 as regards beauty, for this purpose. 

 It is now extensively planted 

 through the North, and strong 

 points in its favor are that it with- 

 stands the onslaughts of insects, is 

 not subject to any particular dis- 

 ease, and is hardy all through the 

 United States. 



' ' Under cultivation the tree grows 

 rapidly, but when neglected, its 

 progress is indifferent as is the 

 • :ise with farm crops," says John 

 P. Brown in Practical Arboricul- 

 ture, in defending a tree which has 

 more enemies among farmers and 

 the general public than any other 

 in the country. 



Often a dozen or more honey locusts are 

 found in one spot, where a number of ger- 

 minating seeds have been deposited. Under 

 these conditions it is essential that one tree 

 outstrip its neighbors and destroy them, in 

 order to continue its growth sufficiently to 

 become anything like a merchantable timber 

 tree. This process may require many years, 



