256 NATURAL HISTORY. 



Dutch Pink, and used also in painting as yellow, and, 

 mixed with Prussian blue, green. Tastes very bitter. 2. 



The Locust (Kobinia pseudacacia), also called the 

 Acacia, is a large tree, often measuring forty feet in 

 height, and of varied circumference, sometimes two or 

 three feet in diameter. The wood is yellowish, hard, 

 and brittle ; therefore it is seldom planted in places ex- 

 posed to gusts of wind, as the branches are easily broken. 

 The small branches are rod-like and furnished with 

 thorns. Leaves oval, flowers very fragrant, white, and 

 hang in clustering tassels. This beautiful tree deserves 

 more favor than it receives, as it is not only ornamental 

 but valuable ; its hard wood, enduring for years, is par- 

 ticularly useful for making posts, railroad ties or sleep- 

 ers, and its sweet-smelling flowers, containing much 

 honey, are great favorites with the bees. There are 

 several species, the most remarkable of which are the 

 Honey Locust or Threethorned Acacia (Gleditschia 

 trircanthos), the Clammy Locust, with branchlets and 

 leaf-stalks clammy ; flowers crowded in oblong clusters, 

 tinged with rose-color, nearly inodorous ; and the Crown 

 Locust, the branches of which are so arranged that the 

 top of the tree resembles a crown. ] i. 



Lentils (Ervum lens), Tourne., are everywhere culti- 

 vated in kitchen gardens ; about one and a half feet 

 high ; stalks weak ; leaves oval and numerous ; hang on 

 climbing stems ; flowers pale blue ; pods short and two- 

 seeded. The whole plant is esteemed good food for 

 cattle; the seeds are used as a vegetable. O 



Vetch or Tare (Vicia sativa), Tourn., Endl., has a 

 short flower stalk, with oval, oblong leaves; bears two 

 upright pods with round seeds ; grows among grain as a 

 troublesome weed, although it is sometimes cultivated as 



