The Pod-bearers 



covers trunk and larger branches. The twigs show no sign of 

 buds. These trees have a fashion of hiding their winter buds in the 

 wood of the twig, as the sumachs do. The pods hang on all 

 winter, chattering in the wind, and calling attention to the hope- 

 lessly untidy appearance of the tree as a feature of the landscape. 



Whatever may be urged against it — and it surely has its 

 faults — the locust redeems itself in the late spring. The delicate 

 leaf spray is silvery as it unfolds, changing to dark green as the 

 masses of white fragrant bloom are shaken out. From a little 

 distance the green leaves are obscured by the flowers; it is as if 

 a white cloud rested on the treetop, heavy with perfume and 

 alive with bees. One rarely sees, even in spring, a sight more 

 beautiful. It is the supreme moment in the life of this tree. 



A very interesting habit of the locust is the folding of its 

 leaflets and the drooping of its leaves on rainy days and on the 

 approach of evening. The sensitive plant, a near relative, shrinks 

 away and folds its leaves whenever it is touched. It is believed 

 the locust's habit of "cuddling down" avoids excessive loss of 

 moisture and heat. Parkinson, writing of the tree in 1640, 

 noted "each leaf foulding itself double every evening upon Sunne 

 setting, and opening again upon the rising." Some years before, 

 the cultivation of locusts had been introduced in Europe by 

 Vespasian Robin, whose name the genus bears. Great plans 

 were made a century ago for the growing of these trees to supply 

 the British Navy with shipbuilding timbers. The plan never 

 reached the magnitude its promoters desired; yet the locust is to 

 be met with more often in European gardens and forests than any 

 other American tree. The leaves are a common forage for cattle. 



Unfortunately for us, the locust borer has put an end to 

 raising this valuable timber in any but the mountainous parts 

 of its natural range. Lumbermen well know there is no more 

 profitable timber crop, except when the locust borer attacks it. 

 The wood is riddled by these, even to the twigs, and no effective 

 means of combating them is known. For this reason, the cultiva- 

 tion of the tree has been abandoned in the regions where this 

 insect has appeared. In Europe, locusts seem to be comparatively 

 free from insect injury. 



The extreme hardness of locust wood is due to crystals, 

 called rhaphtdes, formed in the wood cells. These hard mineral 

 deposits soon take the edge off of saws and chisels. 



340 



