PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 105 
THE HONEY LOCUST. 
(Gleditschia triacanthos. ) 
It is not the intent of the author to seek popularity by following the drift 
of public opinion when we are convinced that from prejudice or indifference 
upon one hand, or from financial interests upon the other, the public are in 
error. 
We champion the cause of the forests against strong opposition, terrible 
indifference and personal business interests among the public masses, and the 
determination of timber owners to denude the American forests as rapidly as 
possible in order that they may get gain thereby, regardless of the rights of 
the nation, or the consequences to posterity. 
We proclaim the virtues of the catalpa tree, notwithstanding the pre- 
judged opinions of many doctors of the law, professional scientists, and the 
erroneous opinions formed from observations of other trees similar in name. 
And now we present the claims of a tree which has more enemies among 
farmers and the general public than any other American tree. 
Upon a thousand hills, in many a pasture field, along the highways and 
by-ways, the thorny, dwarfish clumps of locusts, growing in clusters, a dozen 
stems from apparently the same root, seldom exceeding twenty feet in height, 
grows the honey locust. 
It catches the fleece and tears it from the sheep’s back, menaces the cat- 
tle and horses in the steep hillside pasture, and effectually guards the verdant 
grass beneath its branches from the intrusion of anxious animals. 
The thorny spines forbid the small boy to climb its trunk in search for 
eggs and nestlings of the songsters, which thus receive protection. 
The farmer boy inherits a decided hatred for the thorn bush ‘neath the 
branches of which the blue grass grows so luxuriantly, yet can not be reached 
by the farm animals. 
The boy grows to manhood, and being unable to discover any merit in 
the thorn bush, causes its destruction, and soon the soil is washed from the 
hillsides for want of its protecting roots and fallen branches. Cattle, how- 
ever, are fond of the honey-like substance in which the seeds are imbedded, 
within the curled and crimpled pods, and thus the hated tree is preserved from 
extermination. 
Within the animal’s stomach the hard horny shells of the locust seed are 
softened, swelled, and the process of germination is begun, so that as the 
seeds are expelled with the excrement, they are prepared for immediate 
growth, and thus instead of one tree a dozen to twenty are found in one spot. 
