CHAP. XLI. LEGUMINA‘CEH. GLEDI’TSCH/A. 651 
light shining green : it appears late in spring, the trees in the neighbourhood 
of London sometimes not being fully clothed till the middle or end of June; 
and it begins to turn yellow, and drop off, early in autumn. The flowers are 
inconspicuous; the male flowers being in the form of catkin-like racemes 
of nearly the same colour as the leaves. As far as we have observed, most 
of the plants in the neighbourhood of London produce only male flowers; 
and we have not heard of any plant of this species having produced seeds in 
England, except those mentioned by Miller, which, however, did not ripen; 
though we have seen trees at Alfort, near Paris, bearing their long crooked 
legumes, and retaining them even after the leaves had dropped. « These 
crooked pendulous pods are from 12 in. to 18 in. long, and of a reddish brown 
colour ; they contain hard, smooth, brown seeds, enveloped in a pulpy sub- 
stance, which, for about a month after the maturity of the seeds, is very sweet, 
but which, after a few weeks, becomes extremely sour. The rate of growth 
of this tree, for the first 15 cr 20 years, is generally about the average of a 
foot a year; but in favourable situations it will grow at double that rate. In 
the garden of the London Horticultural Society, and in the arboretum of the 
Messrs. Loddiges, plants 10 years planted were, in 1835, from 20 ft. to 25 ft. 
in height. 
Geography. The sweet locust does not appear to have a very extensive 
range in the United States. It seems to belong more particularly to the 
country west of the Alleghanies ; and it is scarcely found in any part of the 
Atlantic states, unless it be in Limestone Valley, where the soil is generally 
rich, and the situation not exposed. In the fertile bottoms which are watered 
by the rivers that empty themselves into the Mississippi, in the Illinois, and 
still more in the southern parts of Kentucky and Tennessee, it is abundant 
in fertile soils. It is generally found growing with Jiglans nigra and Carya 
squamdsa, U’Imus rubra, Fraxinus quadrangulata, Robinia Psetd-Acacia, 
Negindo fraxinifolium, and Gymnécladus canadénsis. It is never found but 
in good soil; and its presence, Michaux observes, is an infallible sign of the 
greatest degree of fertility. 
History. he tree was first cultivated in England, by Bishop Compton, 
in 1700; and Miller informs us, that it produced pods in the Palace Garden 
at Fulham, in the year 1728, that came to their full size; but the seeds did 
not ripen. In Martyn’s Miller, only one species is described, G. triacAnthos ; 
G. monospérma and G. hérrida being made varieties of it, and G. polyspérma 
the normal form of the species. G. triacanthos was known in France in the 
time of Du Hamel, who recommends it as an ornamental tree, but liable to 
have its branches broken by the wind, more especially when the tree becomes 
forked at the summit, and two branches of equal size spread out on each 
side. In England,it was never recommended to be planted with any other 
view than as an ornamental tree, till Cobbett became a nurseryman, and 
suggested its use as a hedge plant. We do not know whether it has ever 
been tried for this purpose in England ; but Manetti informs us (Gard. Mag., 
vol. xi. p. 643.) that it was used for hedges in Lombardy, but, like the robinia, 
when tried for the same purpose, it was soon given up. (See p. 620.) 
Properties and Uses. The wood of this tree, when dry, weighs at the rate 
of 52 lb, the cubic foot: it is very hard, and splits with great facility, resem- 
bling in this and other respects the wood of the robinia; but its grain is 
coarser, and its pores more open, The tree is most abundant in Kentucky; 
and there only the wood is employed for any useful purpose, though even 
there it is but little esteemed. It is used neither by the builder, nor the 
wheelwright, but is sometimes employed by farmers for fences, when they 
cannot procure any more durable kind of wood. Michaux says that the only 
useful purpose for which he thinks the tree is fit, is for making hedges; but, 
as we have already seen, it has not succeeded as a hedge plant in Europe, 
A sugar has been extracted from the pulp of the pods, and a beer made by 
fermenting it while fresh; but this practice is by no means general, even in 
America, and is quite unsuitable for Europe. In Britain, this species, and all 
