LOCUST : Rdbinia pseudacada 



IN varying localities this tree is respectively called 

 Yellow, Black, Green, and Red Locust, with several 

 other prefixes, but the lumber trade and general public 

 know it as " Locust." It presents an interesting illustra- 

 tion of the possibility of spreading a tree far beyond its 

 natural range. Its original home was in the Alleghany 

 Mountains, reaching from northern Pennsylvania to north- 

 ern Georgia, with its best development on the western 

 slopes of the mountains of West Virginia. It has been 

 spread by cultivation through most of the states lying 

 north of Georgia from the Atlantic Coast westward to be- 

 yond the Mississippi River, and has recently been intro- 

 duced into California. This wide extension has been brought 

 about, in part because of its usefulness through the dura- 

 bility of its wood when exposed to the soil, only Red 

 Cedar and Hardy Catalpa rivaling it in that, in part for 

 its rapid growth when young, but largely for ornamental 

 purposes, consequent upon its profusion of white, fragrant 

 blossoms. 



Because it will thrive in certain localities peculiarly suited 

 to it, it has been too frequently deemed adapted to all in that 

 vicinity, which, in many cases, is not the fact. In its native 

 home it may be found growing vigorously on moist, fertile 

 soil, especially on rich bottom lands along mountain streams 

 and at the foot of hills, while on high mountain slopes and 

 ridges but a few miles away it may be of much less econo- 

 mic value ; although in such situations it may, now and 

 then, grow tall and slim, but barely large enough for fence 

 posts, and in many cases it may die before reaching that 

 size, or grow branched and crooked. It is a very capricious 

 and much overrated tree, and before planting it extens- 

 ively for any purpose, except small poles and posts, great 



