6*20 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 



Mr. B. Couch, late timber and store receiver at Plymouth Dockyard, 

 writing to Mr. Withers in January, 1834, says, " I recollect that, about 30 

 years since, certain ship-owners in Scotland, considering that locust trenails 

 were very durable, with great lateral strength, were in the habit of sending to 

 the United States for a supply. I have reason to think that, in consequence 

 of my mentioning the circumstance to a gentleman high in office, they have 

 been contracted for and employed in the [English government] dockyards, 

 where they have attained a very high character." He adds, " I speak of 

 locusts the growth of the United States. I have had no experience, neither 

 have I obtained any intelligence, respecting locusts the growth of England." 

 ( Withers' s Treatise, p. 302.) Sir Robert Seppings also bears witness to the "ex- 

 cellent properties of the locust tree for the trenails of ships," which, he says, 

 " have long been known and appreciated by the people of this country." 

 (Ibid., p. 267.) Writing to Mr. Withers in June, 1829, from the Navy 

 Office, he observes, " We have for the last two or three years imported *a 

 considerable number of locust trenails from America." (/?W., p. 268.) 



In civil architecture, in America, the locust is chiefly used for sills and 

 wall-plates. The sills of doors, and the wooden framing of the half timber 

 houses, which are placed immediately on the ground, are found to last 

 longer, when made of locust wood, than those made from any other tree, 

 except the red mulberry (Morus rubra). Michaux states that the locust 

 wood is not employed in America for staves and hoops,or for making hedges, as 

 it has been asserted to be by some writers ; but that it has been extensively 

 used by cabinet-makers ; and that it is substituted by turners and toy-makers 

 for the box. These are all the uses of the wood of the locust tree in America. 

 In France, it has been extensively cultivated in the Gironde, in copses, which 

 are cut at the age of 4 years for props to vines ; and these props are found 

 to last more than 20 years. Old trees, in the same district, are pollarded, and 

 their heads cut oft' every third year, for the same purpose. The great incon- 

 venience attending these props is in the prickles with which they are armed ; 

 but this may be avoided by the use of either of the strong-growing thornless 

 varieties, viz. R. P. inermis and R. P. spectabilis. In Paris, many small 

 articles are made of the wood ; such as salt-cellars, sugar-basins, spoons, forks, 

 paper-knives, &c. Michaux observes that the locust should never be grown 

 in a poor soil, for any other purpose than for vine-props or fuel; for both 

 which uses the plants, he says, should be cut over every fourth year. Even 

 in that case, he adds, they will, in a few years, cease to grow vigorously; and 

 will ultimately prove less profitable, on such soils, than the common birch. 



Italy, and the southern departments of France, Michaux considers the 

 countries where the greatest advantages ma)' be expected from the rapid 

 growth of the locust. In good soils, in such climates, at the end of 20 or 25 

 years, he says that a mass of wood may be obtained from the locust, twice as 

 great as from any other species of tree. In Lombardy, the wood of this tree 

 is used for many rural purposes. Young plants of it were formerly much 

 employed in forming hedges; but this is now abandoned, because the tree 

 was found to impoverish the soil ; and, as it grew old, it lost its prickles ; 

 besides, from being continually pruned to keep it low, the hedge becomes thin 

 and open at bottom, and the plants end in being little more than mere stumps. 

 (See Gard. Mag., vol. xi. p. 642.) 



In countries with an agriculture in which clovers and root crops do not enter 

 into the rotation, the leaves of the locust may form a substitute for these articles 

 as provender for cattle. When the tree is cultivated for this purpose, it ought 

 either to be treated like the furze, and mown every year ; or the trees allowed 

 to grow to the height of 8 ft. or JO ft., and kept as pollards, the branches being 

 cut off every other year. This cutting should take place in the middle of 

 summer, at which time the branches can be dried for use during winter ; and 

 one or two shoots should be left on the tree to keep up vegetation, which 

 shoots must be cut off during the following winter. In France, the green 

 shoots, when cut off, are immediately tied up in little bundles ; and, after 



