DECIDUOUS ORNAMENTAL TREES. 171 



extrait which greatly resembles orange-flower water, and 

 is used for the same purposes. 



As an ornamental tree we do not esteem the locust 

 highly. The objections to it are, 1st, its meagreness and 

 lightness of foliage, producing but little shade ; secondly, 

 the extreme brittleness of its branches, which are liable to 

 be broken and disfigured by every gale of wind ; and lastly 

 the abundance of suckers which it produces. Notwith- 

 standing these defects, we would not entirely banish the 

 locust from our pleasure-grounds ; for its light foliage of a 

 fresh and pleasing green may often be used to advantage 

 in producing a variety with other trees ; and its very fra- 

 grant blossoms are beautiful, when in the beginning of 

 summer they hang in loose pendulous clusters from among 

 its light foliage. These will always speak sufficiently in 

 its favor to cause it to be planted more or less, where a 

 variety of trees is desired. It should, however, be re- 

 membered that the foliage comes out at a late period in 

 spring, and falls early in autumn, which we consider objec- 

 tions to any tree that is to be planted in the close vicinity 

 of the mansion. It is valuable for its extremely rapid 

 growth when young ; as during the first ten or fifteen years 

 of its life it exceeds in thrifty shoots almost all other forest 

 trees : but it is comparatively short-lived, and in twenty 

 yea is' time many other trees would completely overtop and 

 outstrip it It is easily propagated by seed, which is by 

 far the best mode of raising it, and it prefers a deep, rich, 

 sandy loam. 



The locust can be cultivated to advantage as a timber 

 tree, only upon deep, mellow, and rather rich, sandy soils ; 

 there, its growth is wonderfully vigorous, and an immense 

 number may be grown upon a small area of ground. 



There are but two distinct species of locust which attain 



