COMMON LOCUST. 203 
In America, the locust has been planted for ornament, in great abundance 
about farm-houses, and along fences and avenues, for more than fifty years; and 
since the forests were in a measure destroyed by the axe or fire, by the European 
settlers, along the sea-board and navigable waters inland, many persons in the 
middle and eastern states have cultivated this tree with a view to profit, and 
have not only supplied timber and trenails to the shipwrights of the cities or 
commercial towns, but have exported large quantities to England and else- 
where. These plantations seldom exceed an area of thirty acres, notwithstand- 
ing the agricultural societies of several states have offered premiums for their 
encouragement. Though the Robinia had never been known to be injured by 
any insect, towards the end of the last century, in Massachusetts, it was gener- 
ally attacked by the larvae of the Cossus robinise, which gradually extended their 
ravages to the southernmost points where this tree has been propagated. In con- 
sequence of this discouragement, the locust has been but little cultivated for the 
last twenty years in any part of the United States, or in Canada, except for the 
purposes of ornament or shade. In a communication received by us, from Mr. 
Stephen H. Smith, of Smithtleld, in Rhode Island, dated on the 22d of November, 
1844, he states that, in the winter of 1817, he cut from a lot a heavy growth of 
timber, principally chesnut. The soil on which it grew, is a rich loam, or a 
slightly tenacious subsoil. In the following spring, he set out, in the same 
ground, at equal distance, about one hundred good-sized, yellow locust-trees to 
the acre. They kept pace with the natural growth of the forest that sprang 
up about them. In 1S37, twenty years after, all the wood was again cut off the 
same lot, producing twenty cords to the acre, the locusts measuring at the stump 
from nine to twelve inches in diameter, each tree making three posts, seven feet 
long. The sprouts and offsets now occupy one half the ground, to the exclusion 
of a portion of the native timber. The borers have not assailed these trees at 
any time. It may be reasonable to conclude that, the thick underwood has pro- 
tected them from this enemy ; as those standing near, in open, cultivated ground, 
of like quality, have not escaped. 
Poetical and Legendary Allusions. No tree, perhaps, possesses more themes 
for the poet, yet less noticed, than the locust. The poetical ideas connected with 
it, are said, by Philips, in his "Sylva Florifera," to arise from its being, when 
planted in shrubberies, the favourite resort of the nightingale, which probably 
selects it for building its nest from an instinctive feeling of the protection afforded 
by its thorns. He also mentions an instance of a child, who had observed the 
peculiarity of the leaflets of this tree folding themselves up at night, saying that 
" it was not bed-time, for the acacia had not begun its prayers." We are told 
that the American Indians make a declaration of love by presenting a branch ot 
this tree in blossom to the object of their attachment. 
Soil and Situation. The soil in which the locust appears to grow best, is a 
light, and somewhat sandy loam, rich rather than poor ; and to attain any consid- 
erable size, it requires much room, and an airy, but at the same time, a sheltered 
situation, free from the fury of the winds. It has the quality of thriving for a 
lime on poor, shallow soils, which, no doubt, is owing to its power of rapidly 
abstracting whatever nourishment such soils may contain, by its large, succulent 
roots, that run near the surface ; but after a few years it becomes stunted and 
unhealthy, decays at the heart, and never attains a size sufficient for any useful 
purpose, except for fuel. The only trees that will prosper on such soils, and ulti- 
mately become timber, are the resiniferous, needle-leaved kinds, as the pine, the fir, 
the cedar, and the larch. When cultivated for ornament, this tree generally looks 
best planted separately on a lawn, or in small groups in a shrubbery, or along the 
confines of avenues and plantations, where it is allowed to extend " its branches 
