614, AllBOKETUM 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 exptriment 

 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 nmch 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 sounil ; and, after having completed his engagement for his employers, he 

 be^an to build a small vessel for himself; when, being at a loss for a safficient 

 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 tlie locust trenails, and drive in iron bohs 

 in their steaii. 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, tliought 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 puncli), just as 

 if they had been made of iron ; whereas oak trenails are usually bored out with 

 an aucer. 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 in general use. Till the value of the locust tree for trenails, 

 or trunnels, as they are called i)y Cobbett, was proved in America, they were 

 formed in Britain of the best oak timber ; and, as the oak wood grown in Sussex 

 is oenerallv 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 17G2, 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 \\ inter 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 oj Arts, .^c. for 1783. 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 



