398 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



seventy or eighty feet in height. In form it is usually 

 slender, and its erect branches turn at the summit to 

 form an oblong head. Rough, and of a dingy gray color, 

 its bark exhibits many longitudinal deep furrows, and 

 in these many insects may hide. On the other hand, its 

 twigs are quite smooth, rather downy, and of a liver- 

 brown color when wet. Its heavy, coarse-grained wood 

 is of an ochre color, hard, heavy and wonderfully dura- 

 ble ; even when used as fence posts for years in wet soil, 

 it withstands the treatment and remains sound. Hence it 

 is much used in ship construction, and in the manufacture 

 of many parts of wagons and automobiles. A tonic of 

 some value is made from 

 its bark; and where the 

 tree is abundant, many are 

 cut down for fuel. Locust 

 trees have spread pretty 

 thoroughly over nearly all 

 parts of the United States, 

 and in a great many locali- 

 ties they are planted for or- 

 namental purposes. 



In the middle section of 

 the country, the Locust 

 trees bloom in early June, 

 the drooping racemes being 

 axillary, and the white, 

 pea-Like blossoms extremely 

 flagrant; some of the clus- 

 ters are at least seven or 

 eight inches in length. 



As to the leaves of the 

 Locust, they are so well 

 shown in Figure 9 that, as 

 Doctor Holland says about 

 his moth and butterfly 

 plates, "they need no verbal 

 description." The pods, 

 each containing from four 

 to ten seeds, often hang on 

 the trees all winter, irre- 

 spective of climate; they 

 are of a deep brown color, 

 and very smooth and silky. 

 Early in the autumn the 

 leaves of the Locust turn a 

 bright yellow, and the trees 

 are then very beautiful to behold. Unfortunately, Locust 

 limbs and twigs are exceedingly brittle; so that, when 

 the trees are much exposed to high winds, they snap off, 

 and the symmetry of the tree's outline soon becomes un- 

 pleasing and scraggly. Old wind-driven Locusts are fa- 

 miliar objects in numerous places, where they have caught 

 the full force of many storms. But when a big Locust 

 tree is in full flower, its beauty and fragrance is hard to 

 beat; and it is most delightful to note the good time 

 thousands of honey bees are having, as they revel in the 

 sweets of its generous blossoms. This is its hey-dey; 

 but one would not take it for the same tree to see it in 



winter, with its scraggly limbs and twigs, and to listen 

 to the rustling of its hundred and one dry and rattle-like 

 pods. When evening comes, the leaves of the Locust 

 partly close up, much after the fashion of a sensitive 

 shrub, and this is likewise the case during rainy weather. 

 Julia Rogers tells us that the cultivation of locusts had 

 been introduced in Europe by Vespasian Robin some 

 years prior to 1640, and that Linnaeus, for this reason, 

 named the genus Robinia. "Great plans were made a 

 century ago for the growing of these trees to supply the 

 British Navy with shipbuilding timbers," says Miss 

 Rogers. "The plan never reached the magnitude its 



promoters desired ; yet the 

 locust is to be met with 

 more often in European 

 gardens and forests than 

 any other American tree." 



Insects pests do not seem 

 to injure the locusts to any 

 appreciable extent in Eu- 

 rope ; while, upon the other 

 hand, the locust borer in 

 our country has, in some 

 sections, actually ruined 

 the entire output of these 

 valuable trees, thus render- 

 ing its cultivation useless. 

 When this borer is absent, 

 the tree reaches a very high 

 :)oint in the scale of eco- 

 nomic importance in the 

 lumber market, and it be- 

 comes quite profitable to 

 <^row them extensively for 

 that purpose. 



This locust borer is a 

 very pretty beetle nearly an 

 inch in length. It has 

 knobby antennas and red 

 legs, and the body is black, 

 with transverse, wavy yel- 

 ow lines, some five or six 

 in number. Early ill the 

 autumn this beetle may be 

 collected on the flowers of 

 the goldenrod, and several 

 of them make desirable 

 additions to the cabinet of the young entomologist. 

 Most people are under the impression that the Locust 

 is a thorny tree; but such is by no means the case, as 

 what are supposed to be thorns are merely prickles, like 

 the ones found on gooseberry and rose bushes. If one 

 will examine a perfect locust leaf, a pair of these little 

 prickly stipules will be found at its base, and when the 

 leaf falls in the autumn, these remain with it. Sometimes 

 they grow to be of some size, and cause the handling of 

 locust branches to be a by no means pleasant task. 



This locust tree is not a very suitable one for lawn- 

 planting for the reason that it sends up many suckers 



THE COMMON HORSE NETTLE 



Fig. 7 Horse nettles, of which there are several species, be- 

 long in the Nightshade family; it is found growing in waste 

 places and in sandy soils. The flowers are pale violet, rarely 

 pure white. 



