Manchester, Sfc, Essex County, Massachusetts. 99 



specimen of the yellow locust was lying near by ; the rem- 

 nant of a magnificent individual tree, whose removal by the 

 axe, dire necessity compelled, after it had sheltered many a 

 rood of ground, for many a year. 



The yellow locust, as it may be well known to every one 

 conversant with the habits of destructive insects, has been a 

 difficult subject of cultivation, on account of the ravages 

 committed upon its young and rapidly growing condition by 

 that beautiful coleopterous insect the Clytus pictus. Va- 

 rious remedies have been suggested ; of these, the following, 

 by some person of observation, who found that those trees 

 which were shaded from the direct rays of the sun, gener- 

 ally escaped. It may be the part of wisdom to allow the 

 Robim'a pseudacacia to grow up naturally, as thick as it will, 

 over lands especially appropriated to its culture ; and the 

 casual notice of the fact assumed in the suggested remedy, 

 may suggest some valuable hint, in raising this beautiful 

 and highly useful forest tree, of which it is now rare to meet 

 with specimens of natural size, and of any considerable age. 

 Judging from the vigor of the trees on Mr. Newhall's prem- 

 ises, it is to be presumed that some accidental or natural 

 condition has proved advantageous. 



While on the point of setting out for a botanical ramble, 

 with a number of our party, several of whom composed our 

 corps in the first exploration, we found that old and familiar 

 plant of healing virtues, naturalizing itself on the summit of 

 a high rock, and seeming as much at home in its artificially 

 arranged habitat, as if it were really a part and parcel of the 

 company of Cryptogamic plants which were luxuriating 

 around it. It was, however, none other than a vigorous 

 patch of the homely houseleek, Sempervivum iictorum, 

 which, according to Linnasus, is used in Smoland as a pre- 

 servative to the coverings of the houses ; to which end it 

 may be easily made to serve, by sticking its offsets into a 

 little earth or cow-dung ; and from each parent plant, its nu- 

 merous offspring spread over the entire surface, whether it 

 be of tile, wood, or thatch. I had previously seen the same 

 vivacious plant honored with like care by many painstaking 



