132 CONVERSATIONS ON THE 



planks are fastened to the frame with ; the 

 older these trunnels are, the harder they get. 

 It is used, too, in houses ; but it is too good 

 and too costly to be much employed for house- 

 timber. Turners make great use of it in 

 making boxes, and salad-forks, and other 

 small articles for housekeeping. 



" Another great excellence of the locust is, 

 that it grows so rapidly ; more than twice as 

 fast as the oak. It is very hardy, too, and 

 will grow in almost any climate ; but it thrives 

 most in warm countries. 



" The rose-flowering locust is one of the 

 five varieties which I mentioned ; it is very 

 similar to the locust, except that it is never 

 found more than half as large ; that the 

 flowers are of a beautiful rose-colour, and 

 have no smell ; and that the leaves are con- 

 siderably larger : the pods are of the same 

 size with those of the locust, but they are 

 covered with a sort of hair or furze. The 

 wood is equally good, but it is so small that 

 little use can be made of it as timber, and the 

 tree is chiefly admired and cultivated as an 

 ornament to gardens and plantations. It 

 grows wild only in the mountainous parts oi 

 the Carolinas and Georgia. 



