CHAP, XLI. LEGUMINA CEE. ROBI/NIA. 623 
admirers of Cobbett, and appear very reluctant to give any evidence that may 
impugn his statements. Most of them will be found included in an article 
entitled, “ Results of a Correspondence to ascertain the Durability of Locust 
Hop-poles,” in the 12th volume of the Gardener's Magazine. 
The locust, though it may be grown as copse-wood, for being cut over 
every 5 or more years, or in a close wood, for being cut down or rooted 
up, at the end of 30 or 40 years, for its timber, can never be grown for under- 
growth under any circumstances, for it will not endure the shade and drip of 
other trees. As an ornamental tree, it well deserves a place in every park, 
lawn, or shrubbery; but not in any quantity, because it is not calculated to 
produce effect in masses, but rather singly, in rows, or in small groups. 
Poetical and Legendary Allusions. Perhaps no tree possesses more mate- 
rials for poetry than the locust, and yet has been less noticed by poets. The 
poetical ideas connected with it arise from its being, when planted in shrub- 
beries, the favourite resort of the nightingale, which probably chooses it 
for building its nest from an instinctive feeling of the protection afforded by 
its thorns. (Syl. Flor., vol. i. p.40.) In its native country, we are told that 
the American Indians make a declaration of love, by presenting a branch of 
the locust tree in blossom to the object of their attachment. (Le Langage des 
Fleurs, p. 114.) This tree is less injurious than any other to plants growing 
under its drip, from a singularity in the habit of its pinnated leaves; the 
leaflets of which fold over each other in wet weather, leaving the tree ap- 
parently stripped of half its foliage. The leaflets also fold up at night; and 
Philips mentions an instance of a child, who had observed this peculiarity 
in the tree, saying that “ it was not bed-time, for the acacia tree had not 
begun its prayers.” (Sy/. Flor., vol i. p. 47.) 
Soil and Situation. A sandy loam, rich rather than poor, is generally 
allowed to be the best soil for the robinia. Lord King truly observes that it 
requires a good garden soil to attain any size; though Mr. Blackie of Holkham 
says that there are innumerable locust trees growing at Holkham, upon “ infe- 
rior sandy soils, where other forest trees barely exist.” He adds, however, 
“ They, no doubt, thrive best upon good land, and so do other trees; but they 
are inestimable in the quality of thriving where other trees will not grow.” 
(Withers’s Treatise, p. 283. and 233.) Their quality of thriving on poor soils 
is, no doubt, owing to their power of rapidly abstracting whatever nourishment 
such soils may contain, by their running roots ; but, for the same reason, on 
such soils, they would soon become stunted, and good for little as timber trees. 
The only trees that will thrive, and ultimately become timber, on poor shallow 
soils, are the resiniferous needle-leaved kinds; such as the pine, the fir, the 
cedar, and the larch. In rich soils, the plants will produce shoots 6 ft. or 8 ft. 
long, ‘for several years after planting; while in wet or poor soils they will not 
produce shoots above a fourth of that length. The situation ought to be at 
once airy and sheltered; as the tree is not fitted for being employed in 
exposed places, or as a screen for protection against wind. In general, it 
looks best planted singly on a lawn, or in small groups in a shrubbery, or on 
the margin of a plantation, where it is allowed to spread out its branches 
freely on every side, and to assume its own peculiar shape; feathering, ’s 
Gilpin says, to the ground. 
Propagation and Culture. The locust may. with difficulty, be propagated by 
cuttings of the branches; but with great facility by cuttings of the roots, and 
also by large truncheons, and by suckers, as the latter are thrown out in great 
numbers, and to a great distance round the trees ; but, in general, the simplest 
and best mode is by seed, whieh is procured in abundance, either from 
America, or from trees grown in England or France. The seed is ripe in 
October, and, being gathered, if not sown immediately, should be kept in 
the pods till ‘the following spring. When sown in the autumn or spring 
it comes up the following summer; and the plants, at the end of the season, 
will be fit either for tr ansplanting where they are finally to remain, or into 
nursery lines. The seeds, if exposed to the air, as we have already observed, 
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