614 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
years’ seedlings, are 8 ft. or 10 ft. high. In Dr. Hunter’s edition of Evelyn’s 
Sylva, published in 1786, we have a history of the employment of the robinia 
in ship-building, communicated to the doctor by Joseph Harrison, Esq., of 
Bawtry, in a letter dated July 25.1782. This gentleman had resided some 
time in Virginia; and he states that, about'the year 1733, the first experiment 
was made respecting the application of the locust tree to any purpose in 
ship-building, by an ingenious shipwright, sent over to America by some Liver- 
pool merchants to build two large ships there. This shipwright thought “ that 
the oaks, elms, ashes, and many other timber trees common to both countries, 
were much inferior to the same sorts in England; but frequently spoke of the 
locust tree as of extraordinary qualities, both in strength and duration.” He 
had observed some very old timber in houses in New England, that had been 
built of the wood of this tree, when the country was first settled, perfectly firm 
and sound ; and, after having completed his engagement for his employers, he 
began to build a small vessel for himself; when, being at a loss for a sufficient 
quantity of iron, and having observed the extraordinary strength and firmness 
of the locust tree, he took it into his head that trenails, or tree-nails, that is, 
wooden pins, of that timber, might be substituted for iron bolts in many 
places where they would be least liable to wrench or twist (as in fastening the 
floor timbers to the keel, and the knees to the ends of the beams, which two 
articles take up a large proportion of the iron used in a ship), purposing, when 
he arrived in England, to bore out the locust trenails, and drive in iron bolts 
in their stead. The ship, being finished and loaded, sailed for Liverpool, and 
returned back to Virginia the next year ; and the builder himself being the cap- 
tain of her, he paid particular attention to see the effect of the locust trenails. 
After the strictest examination, he found that they effectually answered the 
purpose intended. It was, however, thought prudent to take several of them 
out, and to put in iron bolts in their room; and this operation afforded an- 
other proof of their extraordinary strength and firmness, as they required to be 
driven out with what is technically called a set bolt (an iron punch), just as 
if they had been made of iron ; whereas oak trenails are usually bored out with 
an auger. This captain afterwards died in the West Indies; and the use of 
the locust for trenails was neglected for some years, till it was revived at the 
instance of Mr. Harrison, by a ship-builder of eminence at New York, where 
it has since been ingeneral use. Till the value of the locust tree for trenails, 
or trunnels, as they are called by Cobbett, was proved in America, they were 
formed in Britain of the best oak timber ; and, as the oak wood grown in Sussex 
is generally reckoned the best in the island, oak trenails were sent from that 
county to every part of Britain; but at present oak is only partially used 
for this purpose, locust trenails being imported from America to a very great 
extent. 
Public attention being thus, about the latter end of the last century, 
powerfully directed to the locust, both in Europe and in America, 
various pamphlets and papers in the Transactions of societies began to 
be published on the subject. A Treatise on the Common Acacia was pub- 
lished at Bordeaux in 1762, and a Memoir on it in Paris in 1786. In the 
latter, it is recommended for planting on the banks of rivers, in order to 
strengthen the banks by its running roots, and the numerous suckers which 
they throw up. The writer also recommends it for pea-sticks, hop-poles, vine- 
props, hoops, wedges, cogs to wheels, &c.; and even as a substitute for saint- 
foin, as a forage crop, to be mown thrice a year, and either used green, or dried 
as hay and stacked mixed with straw for winter use. He mentions its various 
medical properties, and adds that a very agreeable syrup is made from the 
flowers. There is also a paper on the subject in the Memoirs of the American 
Academy of Arts, $c. for 1785, The writer says that the wood, when green, 
is of a soft texture, but it becomes hard when dry. He considers it as dur- 
able as the best white oak ; and states that it is esteemed preferable to the 
timber of that tree, for the axletrees of carriages, trenails for ships, and many 
other mechanical purposes. It makes excellent fuel, being, like the ash, fit to 
