ROBINIA, OR FALSE ACACIA. 49 



under the new or little known Anglo-American title of 

 Locust tree, gave it a notoriety that led to its being plant- 

 ed on an extensive scale throughout a great part of Eng- 

 land, and even as far north as Scotland, would of itself 

 seem to require notice in a work like the present without 

 adverting to the additional claim it has of being one of 

 the first North American trees introduced from thence into 

 England, where it has been cultivated for its ornamental 

 appearance for more than two hundred years. During 

 this long period, its qualities as a useful timber-tree in 

 th& extensive application of the term, have, as may be 

 supposed, been frequently tested, and become the subject 

 of discussion. This has been the case particularly in 

 France, where, at a very early period it had been re- 

 ceived, with especial favour, as an ornamental tree, and 

 afterwards, on account of its supposed merits, planted 

 upon an extensive scale ; repeated trials, however, had 

 proved that its merits, as a generally useful timber, had 

 been very greatly exaggerated, and at the time Mr. Oob- 

 bett again brought it into notice, it had, in England, 

 ceased to be much regarded excepting as a tree worth 

 cultivating on a limited scale, for the beauty of its flowers 

 and foliage, but not calculated to repay the expense of ex- 

 tensive cultivation by its produce in timber. It therefore 

 does appear extraordinary, with the previous knowledge 

 we had of this tree, that Mr. Oobbett should, by his writ- 

 ings alone, have had such influence as to have set at nought 

 all prior experience, more particularly when we recollect 

 that his laudatory recommendations were not founded upon 

 any trials or personal experience of its cultivation and 

 growth in England, but were derived from such observ- 

 ations as he had made upon it during his residence in 

 North America, where, we learn, from authentic sources, 



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