CHAP. XLI. LEGITMINA^CE^. GLEDI'tSCH/^. 6.51 



light shining green : it appears late in spring, the trees in the neighbourhood 

 of London sometimes not being fnlly 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 13 or 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 Loudon Horticultural Society, and in the arboretum of the 

 Messrs. Loddiges, plants 10 years planted were, in 1835, fi-om 20 ft. to 25 ft. 

 in height. 



Geograjyhy. 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 AUeghanies ; 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 e:."posed. 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 Juglans nigra and t'tirya 

 squamosa, f/'lmus rubra, i^'raxinus quadranguliita, Robin/a Pseud-Jcjicia, 

 Negundo /raxinifolium, and Gymnocladus canadensis. It is never found but 

 in good soil ; and its presence, Michaux observes, is an infallible sign of the 

 greatest degree of fertility. 



History. The 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. nionosperma and G. horrida being made varieties of it, and G. polysperma 

 the normal form of the species. G. tiiacanthos 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.) 



Projjeriies 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 fiicility, 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 



