GROWING LOCUST IN HUNGARY. 



The good qualities of Locust wood { Robinia pseudacacia) have 

 long been recognized, and, with the need to grow timber, comes 

 a strong desire to plant it. But the borer says no, or rather, he 

 promises to eat up the plantations as fast as they are made. 

 Locust is, perhaps, our most valuable tree species when rapidity 

 of growth, adaptability to soil and climate, and quality of wood, 

 are considered collectively. One of the problems pressing for 

 solution is that of ridding the species of the insect pest which, 

 sooner or later, finds almost every tree in the eastern part of 

 the United States, and destroys it. 



But the object of the present paper is to describe the Locust 

 plantations that have been made on the steppes of Hungary. All 

 Europe has known the Locust for two hundred years; one 

 constantly meets it in the streets, in the parks, and on railroad 

 embankments, yet Hungary has gone farther than any other 

 country in planting the tree on a large scale. With a knowledge 

 of this fact, I visited the chief district in the spring of 1901. At 

 the Forestry Bureau in Budapest no other introduction was 

 needed than the personal statement that I was an American in- 

 terested in forestry. Every facility to see the forests of the 

 Kingdom was offered. The center of the planting district is 

 Szabadka, or Maria-Theresiapol, lying in the Great Danube 

 plain, about one hundred miles south of Budapest, and there I 

 was advised to go. The land is low and nearly level, much of it 

 is exceedingly fertile, but large areas are sandy and poor, the 

 soil sometimes strongly alkaline, and often so light that it is .set 

 in motion by the wind. The annual rainfall averages 21 inches, 

 most of it falling in summer, so that the greater part of the year 

 is quite dry. The temperature is extremely variable and ranges 

 from zero in winter to 95 degrees Fahr. in summer. Here are 

 conditions that in many respects resemble those found in the 

 eastern part of our plains region. Throughout the district there 

 are numerous towns and villages but the population, is chiefly 

 agricultural and the peasant class is very poor. 



The plantations have been established chiefly by the Govern- 

 ment ; primarily to make the poor soil yield something, secondly 

 to employ the people, and thirdly to see if the Locust will not 

 enrich some of the land so that eventually it can be used for 



