308 Memoirs of the Caledonian Horticultural Society. 



got rid of. A very intelligent friend of Mr. Beattie's washed 

 trees with boiling water with the garden engine in frosty 

 weather, and the trees sustained no injury. Mr. Beattie tried 

 boiling water on trees in the peach houses infested with the 

 white bug, and found it completely successful. He therefore 

 considers the efficacy and safety of this simple application as 

 completely established. 



II. Remarks on the Locust Tree recommended by Mr. Cobbett, tvith 

 Notices of other more desirable Forest and Ornamental Trees. By 

 Thomas Blaikie, Esq. C.M.H.S. and C.M.C.H.S. 



Mr. Cobbett's locust is the Robin ia Pseud- Acacia, and he 

 affirms that " no man in America will dare to say that he ever 

 saw a bit of the wood of this tree in a decayed state." Mr. 

 Blaikie, however, has seen it in a rotten state in France •. and 

 he adds that in that country the RobimV is very apt to be 

 injured by the wind, and that a tree with a straight stem 

 of 20 ft. is seldom to be met with ; he therefore advises gen- 

 tlemen not to destroy " the villanous Scotch pine and the 

 infamous elm, and plant nothing but locust," as Cobbett 

 recommends. 



" In the year 1807, M. Francois de Neufchateau published 

 a little book, entitled, Lettre sur le Robinia connu sous le nom 

 impropre de Faux Acacia. In this book he speaks with en- 

 thusiasm of the Acacia, recommends the planting of it in all 

 soils and situations, and even the making hedges of it ; and 

 he enlarges on the many uses the wood can be applied to. 

 This high character enticed many people to plant Acacias both 

 in the gardens about Paris and in many avenues ; so that 

 abundance of seeds of the Acacia could be procured within a 

 few leagues of Paris. Most of those I have seen are bushy, 

 low, or broken trees, often disfigured, and not comparable to 

 either elm or oak, or any of our common forest trees. The 

 branches are covered with strong prickles, so that where wood 

 is wanted (which is a great article in this country), the wood- 

 men exclaim against that of this tree, as they cannot handle 

 it without danger. Few people, therefore, at present think of 

 planting the locust tree." 



Some plantations of Acacias in the park of Guiscard, of fifty 

 years' growth, are for the most part disfigured, the branches 

 split or broken, and lying upon the other trees. Locust trees 

 could not serve to shelter a country seat in a northern climate. 

 The small roots of R. Pseud-^cacia y viscosa, hispida, and 

 spectabilis are sweet, and resemble in taste and smell the 

 liquorice root. 



