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vatedby Miller in i 752 ; flowering in the fpring. The^w 

 is branched, bufhy, and ereft, various in height, from two 

 to eight or nine feet. Leaves different from all the foregoing, 

 confining of four, nearly equal, obovate leaflets, each on its 

 own (hort partial Italk, at the fummit of a rigid, fpinous- 

 tipped, common footjialh, not a quarter the length of the 

 leaflets. Stipulas lanceolate, oblique, combined with the 

 common footltalk, and at length hardened with it into a 

 three-branched divaricated fpine. Floivtrs yellow, their 

 fimple folitary ltalks longer than the leaves. The foliage 

 varies greatly in luxuriance, according to circumltances. 

 The legume is cylindrical. 



21. R. pyqnuta. Dwarf Robinia. Linn. Sp. PI. 1044. 

 Willd.n.20. Ait. 11.12. Pall. Rod', v. 1. p. 1. 71. t. 45. 

 ( Alphalatus frutefcens minor anguitifolius, cortice aureo ; 

 Amm. Ruth. 204. t. 35.) — Stalks (ingle-flowered. Leaves 

 of four linear-lanceolate, fpinous-pointed, nearly fefiile 

 leaflets. — Native of rocky hills in many parts of Siberia. 

 Cultivated by Miller in 1751 ; flowering in the fpring. This 

 has much affinity to thelalt, but the narrow leaflets and their 

 ipinous points, as well as the more evident and pungent 

 thorns of their (hort common footfialh Mid flipulas, readily dif- 

 tinguifh it. The flowers are yellow. Leaves often more or 

 lefs iilky or hairy. 



R. milis, Linn. Sp. PI. 1044, ' s referred by Willde- 

 now to Dalbergia, under the name of arlorca ; Sp. PI. 

 v. 3. 901. Ait. H. Kew. v. 4. 248. This is Pongamia 

 glabra, Venten. Malmaif. t. 28 ; an Ealt Indian tree, of 

 lofty growth, which has not yet bloilomed in our (loves. 

 Ventenat faw its flowers at the garden of Malmaifon. The 

 calyx is purple ; petals white. Legume ovate, pointed, thick 

 and woody. 



We are not acquainted with R. amara and flava of 

 Loureiro, Cochinch. 455, 456, nor dare we adopt them 

 without examination. 



Robinia, in Gardening, comprifes plants of the hardy, 

 deciduous, tree and (lirub forts, with tender kii;ds for the 

 Itove. The fpecies cultivated are moltly thefe : the falfc or 

 common acacia (R. pfeudo-acacia) ; the rofe acacia, or ro- 

 binia (R. hifpida) ; the Siberian abrupt -leaved robinia (R. 

 caragana) ; the fhrubby robinia (R. frutefcens); the dwarf 

 robinia ( R. pygmjea) ; the thorny robinia ( R. fpinofai ; the 

 afh-leaved robinia ( R. violacea) ; and the fmooth Indian ro- 

 binia (R. mitis). 



The firll fort grows very fall whillt young, fo that in a 

 few years from feed, the plants rife to eight or ten feet (light 

 and it is not uncommon to fee (hoots of this tree hx or i > nt 

 feet long in one fummer ; the branches are armed with (Iron; 

 crooked thorns. But there is a variety which has no thorn . 

 on the branches, but which iseafily known at tirll fight by 

 its peculiar appearance. And the echiuated, or prickly- 

 podded American falfe acacia, in which the pods are much 

 (horter, and clofely befet with (hort prickles, but in othei 

 refpe&s agrees with the common lort. 



The fixth fpecies, on account ol the length and toughnefs 

 • if the branches, and its large (lout thorns is admirably 

 adapted to form impenetrable hedges, and is fufficiently hardy 

 to bear our climate. 



Method of Culture. — The firfl fix hardy forts are all 

 capable of being railed from feeds, cuttings, layers, and 

 fuckers ; but the leed method is laid to afford the belt 

 plants. 



The feeds (hould be fown about the end of March or be- 

 ginning of the following month, on a bed of light mould, 

 being covered to the depth of about half an inch. In the 

 firll fort and varieties the plants moftly appear in the courfc of 

 fix or eight week? ; but in the other kinds often not till the 



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next fpring. They Ihould be well weeded and watered, and 

 when fufficiently ftrong, be let out in the fpring or autumn 

 in nurfery-rows, for two or three years, in order to remain, 

 to have proper growth for final planting out. The cuttings 

 (hould be made from the young (hoots, and be planted out 

 in the beginning of autumn, in a fhady border, where the 

 foil is mellow. They are moftly well rooted in the courfe of 

 a twelvemonth, when they may be removed into nurfery-rows 

 as above. The layers (hould be made from the young wood, 

 being laid down in the autumn, when, in the courfe of the 

 year, they moltly become well rooted, and may be taken off 

 and planted out in nurfery-rows, as the fcedling plants. And 

 the fuckers, which are produced in plenty from the two firil 

 forts, may be removed in the early autumn or fpring, and 

 be planted out in nurlery-rows or in beds, to be afterwards 

 removed into them. 



The two lait, or tender forts, may likewife be raifed from 

 feeds and cuttings, but they mult be fown and planted in 

 pots filled with good mould, to have the affiitance of a 

 hot-bed in the (love, by being plunged in it. When ihe 

 plants have attained a little growth, they (hould be lhaken 

 out of the pots, and planted feparately in fmall pots, filled 

 with the fame fort of earth, plunging them in the tan-bed, 

 aflording due (hade till well rooted, managing them after- 

 wards as other tender (love plants. And as the plants are 

 moil tender while young, they (hould therefore be kept in 

 the (love tan-bed till they have acquired (Irength, when they 

 may be preferved in the dry (love, with a temperate heat in 

 winter, and be expofed in the open air in fummer, in a warm 

 Iheltered tituation, when the weather is fine. 



It may be noticed that the hardy forts have a fine effect 

 in the border clumps and other parts of pleafure-grounds, 

 and the tender kinds afford variety in the ftove-collcctions. 



ROBINS, Benjamin, in Biography, a celebrated ma- 

 thematician, was born at the city of Bath in the year 1 ^07. 

 His parents were in very low circumltances, and utterly un- 

 able to give their fon much education. His genius, how- 

 ever, (Irongly urged him to the purfuit of knowledge: he 

 bee une his own intlructor, and made an early and furpriling 

 progrefs in various branches of literature and fcience, par- 

 ticularly in the mathematics. He came to London under 

 the patronage of Dr. Pemberton ; and at the age of 20, he 

 gave a demonflration of the lait propoiition of Newton's 

 Treatife on Quadratures, which was fo ably performed. 

 thai it was thought deferving a place in the Philofophical 

 Tranfadtions for the year 1727 ; and towards the clofe of 

 the lame year he was admitted a member of the Royal 

 Society. In the courfe of the following year he embraced 

 an opportunity of offering to the public a fpeeimen of his 

 acquaintance with natural philofophy. The Royal Aca- 

 demy oi Sciences at Paris, among their prize quellions in 

 1724 aud 1726, had alked for a dcmonltration of the laws 

 oi motion in bodies impinging on one another. On this oc- 

 cafion, John Bernouilli appeared in tlie lift of candidates, 

 but did not obtain the reward. He felt himfelf aggrieved, 

 and appealed to the learned world, by publifhing his demon- 

 ilration in 1727. In the following year, Mr. Robins pub- 

 lished a confutation of Bernoulli's performance, which was 

 allowed to be unanfwerablc. Mr. Robins, about this time, 

 began to take pupils, profelling to teach the mathematics 

 only ; yet he frequently .dlitled them with inltru&ion and 

 advice on other fubjects. for which he was well qualified, 

 by the rich llores of knowledge with which his mind was 

 tuniilhed. After lome time he abandoned the laborious 

 bulinels of education, and devoted his attention to fubject' 

 which required more exercife. Among other things, he 

 made many experiments in gunnery, from a belief that the 

 9 refillance 



