^EW ENGLAND F'^RMER. 



■ ubUshea b y Joh.n ii. Russell at the corne r nf fongross a.ul Lin.lall Str.-rt., (ontrm.co from Lindall Strcot].-Tuo-., a. C. Kkssknoep., fidkorr 



)KIGINAL PAPERS. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1826. 



No. 28. 



lUNIA PSEUDACACIA, Ytllow Locust Tree. 



Ir EuiroR — Much is said on the increasinjr 

 city of fire-wood and timber, especially in the 



iiity of our growing sea-ports, even in this 



iitry, yet in its infancy, and but a few years 

 covered with forests ; and mucli is fell by those 

 liave to give the exorbitant price, that fire 

 1 commands, and already is the attention of 

 St all turned to its substitute, coal. If you 

 to many of our farmers, they will tell you that 

 liave fire wood enough to last as long as they 



I live, and they cannot think of planting acorns 

 alnuts, &c. for tlie time is so far distant when 

 shall rcalixe any profit from tliem, they are 



willing to make the sacrifice of time and mon- 



o the growing of forests. They are looking 



■c.-eiit profits. 



a|>peurs to me that this subject is of sufficient 



irt.ince to justify our State Lejiislaturcs in of. 



15 a bounty on the cultivation of the most val- 



16 kinds of timlier. But should tlicy not be 

 ing to legislate on this subject, would it not 

 ver a valuable purpose in our agricultural so- 



s, which are e.x'ercising such a salutary in- 

 ice, should they offer a premium for the best 

 es, of so many acres each, of oaks, walnuts, 

 St trees, &c. to be awarded some future day, 

 ten or twelve years hence ?* 

 eeling the great importance of encouraging 

 growth of forests, I would beg leave to sutr. 



a few hints on the cultivation of one of the 



profitable and useful forest trees, viz. the one 

 e head of this article. Of this valuable tree 

 lieve there are two kinds, or species, growing 

 ty generally throughout New England, at least 

 r as my information extends, viz. the yellow 

 the white locust. The latter is very inferior 

 ilue to the former. While the white decays 

 oon as the chesnut, or any common forest 

 d, the yellow is superior in point of durability 

 ly kind of timber. 



rhaps an ignorance of this difference in the 

 ties has prevented a just estimate of this val- 

 e tree, and that attention to its cultivation that 

 nerits demand. The two kinds may be easily 

 nguished by pealing the bark, or cutting a 

 from the wood. The bark of the white is 

 3 smooth and peals off more readily, and the 

 d is more sappy than the yellow. The white 

 omparatively worth but little except for fire 

 d. The yellow locust is much used for tr<?n^ 

 and upper timbers ia ships, and commands a 

 er price than any kind of timber. For sills to 

 dings, gate and fence posts it is considered in- 

 able on account of its being almost incorrupt 



I am informed that large quantities of yel- 

 locust ship trends have been made in New 

 k, and exported to England, and at a handsome 

 t. As we are becoming a great commercial and 



The Massachusetts Society for the Promotion 

 Agriculture has offered premiums for raising 

 ^es and Hedges, among which ?.re for Mulb( r 

 ibtits SlOO, for White Oak Trees .$100, for 

 ;ite Ash, Larch or Locust trees .$50, &c. Sop 

 E. Farmer, vol. iv. page 245 Editok. 



j uriiiufiict'iring community, the domund for such du- 

 rable timber will increase; and farmers on whose 

 i land it will grow, will do well to pay attention to 

 I its cultivation. It grows best on wjirm sandy or 

 gravelly land, but does not require n rich soil. 



What IS singular, it seems to improve the soil • 

 so that lands wliich before were barren &, unproduc- 

 tive will be covered with a coat of grass peculiar- 

 ly sweet, wherever this tree is cultivated. Con- 

 si. iering its value in a mercantile, mamifacturing, 

 ora;,ni.-ultural view, it is truly astonishing that no 

 more pains has been taken to encourage its growth. 

 Perhaps there are many acres on most faruis that 

 could not be so profitably appropriated as they 

 may be if devoted to the cultivation of the locust. 



METHOD OF CULTIVATION FROM REEs' CYCLO- 

 PEDIA. 



"It is capable of being raised from the seed, 

 cuttings, layers and suckers, but the seed method 

 is said to afford the best plants. The seeds should 

 be sown about the end of March or beginninn- of 

 the following month on a bed of light moidd,bein" 

 covered to the depth of abotit half an inch. The 

 pknts mostly appear in the course of six or ei'--ht 

 weeks. They should be well weeded and warer 

 ed.and when sufficiently strong should be set out 

 in :he spring or autumn in nursery rows for two 

 or three years, in order to remain "to have a prop- 

 er grovvth for final planting." — Dr Drown says 

 "that the easiest method of raising the locust is 

 ts follows, plant 15 oi 20 trees on an acre and 

 when 12 or 15 feet high, run straggling furrows 

 Jhi-ough the ground, and wherever the rt ots are 

 cui with the plough, new trees will start up, and 

 will soon stock the whole ground with a plentiful 

 growth." — By the baggage wagon V"U will re- 

 ceive a small quantity of YeUuu) Locust seeds, the 

 growth of the past summer, gathered by myself, 

 which you are at liberty to distribute amonj those 

 farmers who feel disposed to cultivate this valua 

 ble tree. Yours, &c. 



LEMUEL W. BRIGGS. 



P. S. It is pretty generally thought in this re- 

 gion that insects have not preyed so much on the 

 locust tree, for the last eight or ten years, as 

 ibrmerly ; and that in groves or forests of these 

 trees, their ravages are less percejAible than or. 

 single trees. L. W. 3. 



Bristol, (R. I.) Dec. 1820. 



By the Editor. — It is observed in the North 

 American Sylva, a celebrated work by P. An.irew 

 Michaux, that " The greatest consumption of Lo- 

 cust wood is for posts, which are employed in 

 preference for the enclosing of court-yards, gar- 

 dens and farms, in the districts where the tree 

 abounds, and the circumjacent country. They are 

 'ransported for the same use to Lancaster, Balti- 

 more, Washington, Alexandria and the vicinity 



When the trees -^rr fpiled in the winter, while the 

 circulation of the sip i? suspended, and these posts 

 are allowed to become perfectly dry before they 

 are set, they arc estimated to last 40 years. Ex- 

 perience has shown that their duration varies ac- 

 cording to certain difterences in the trees from 

 which they are formed : thus about Lancaster and 

 at Harrisburgh, a small town on the Susquehan- 



nah, where a considerable trade is carried on in 

 wood that is brought down the river, those trees 

 are reputed the best whose heart is red ; the next 

 in esteem are those with a greenish yellow heart; 

 and the least valuable are those with a white 

 heart. From this variety in the colour of the 

 wood, which iirohably arises from a difference of 

 soil, are derived the names of Red, Green, and 

 White locust. In the western states there is a 

 variety which is sometimes called Black Locust." 

 It is proh.ible that the locust with a " greenish 

 yellow heart" spoken of by M. Michaux is the 

 same with that which our correspondent calls the 

 " Yellow Locust," and although M. Michaux sup- 

 poses "this variety in the colour of the wood 

 probably arises from a difference of soil, it is not 

 impossible that there may bo permanent specific 

 differences in the several varieties. If so the dis- 

 covery is of importance. 



M. Michaux says, " in naval architecture the 

 ship-wrights use as much Locust wood as thev 

 can procure. It is as durable as the Live Oak and 

 the Red Cedar, with the advantage of being 

 stronger than the one,and lighter than the other." 

 With regard to the insect which destroys the 

 locust M. Michaux says, " within 18 or 20 years, 

 an obstacle has unhappily appeared, which will 

 contribute greatly to prevent the multiplication of 

 the locust in all the anciently settled parts of the 

 United States ; this is a winged insect which at- 

 tacks the tree while standing, penetrates through 

 the bark into the centre of the trunk, and for the 

 space of a foot,muiics it in every direction, so that 

 it is Ci';ily broken by the wind. This inconven- 

 ience is alreaciy^'"':. serious as to induce many peo- 

 pie to forego all attempts to form plantations of 

 Locust. In Virginia I have not learned that trees 

 of the natural growth have been visited by this 

 I'estroyer, but those that have been reared about 

 the plantations have already felt its ravages. This 

 evil, which it appears difficult to remedy, will be 

 more sensibly felt when the destruction of the for- 

 ests now on foot, an inevitable consequence of the 

 nfij-lect of all measures of preservation, shall force 

 ithe inhabitants to have recourse to plantations, 

 which they will wisii to form in a certain propor- 

 tion of tlie locust. Hence it may result, that, dis- 

 appearing successively from the American forests 

 by constant consumption, and not being reproduc- 

 ed on account of the insect, the locusts will be- 

 come extremely rare in their native country, and 

 abundant in Europe, where no similar catastrophe 

 forbids their propagation." 



The Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of 

 Agriculture have offered a premium of fifty dol- 

 lars " For a mode of extirpating the worm that at- 

 tacks the Locust Tree, which shall appear to the 

 satisfaction of the Trustees to be effectual." 



The following, copied from a Report of a Com- 

 mittee of the Essex Agricultural Society, on Farms 

 in Essex County, Mass. [published in the New 

 England Parmer, vol. iii. page 145] places the ad- 

 vantages to be anticipated from the culture of the ~ 

 locust in a fair, and we believe just point of view. 

 " A practical illustration of the advantages of 

 cultivating the locust tree, presented itself on the 

 farm of Dr Nichols. Several acres, that were a 

 few vears since barren and gravelly pastures, are 



