OF FOREST-TREES. 67 



insinuating, and running more like liquorice, and apt to emaciate the cHAP. III. 

 soil : I will not therefore commend it for gardens, unless for the variety, "^-^'^(^^•^ 

 of which there are several, some without thorns. They love to be planted 

 in moist ground. 



One thing there is, which (for the use and benefit which these and ^ 

 the like exotics afford us) I would take hold of, as upon all occasions I 



be sown in a welLsbeltered, wsrm border of light sandy earth. If no border is to be found 

 that is naturally so, it may be improved by applying drift sand, and making it fine. The 

 seeds should be sown about half an inch deep ; and they will, foi' the most part, come up 

 the first spring. If the summer should prove dry, they must be constantly watered ; and 

 if shade could be afforded them in the heat of the day, they would make stronger plants 

 by the autumn. A careful attention to this article is peculiarly requisite : for as the ends 

 of the branches are often killed, if the young plant has not made some progress, it will be 

 liable to be wholly destroyed by the winter's frost, without protection ; and this renders 

 the sowing the seeds in a warm border, under an hedge, in a well-sheltered place, so ne- 

 cessary ; for there these shrubs will endure our winters, even when seedlings, and so will 

 require no farther trouble ; nay, though the tops should be nipped, they will shoot out 

 again lower, and soon recover themselves. 



It will be proper to let them remain two years in the seed-bed, before they are planted 

 out in the nursery. The spring is the best time for the work. Their distance should be 

 one foot by two. The earth between the rows should be dug every winter; and, being 

 weeded in summer, the plants may remain, with no other particular care, until they are set 

 out for good. These trees are late in the spring before they exhibit their leaves, but keep 

 shooting late in the aututpn. They should not only join in wilderness-quarters, with others 

 of their own growth, but some of them should be planted singly in opens, where their 

 triple spines, fine leaves, and large pods, will be seen to advantage. 



The False ACACIA is titled Robinia ( psev do-acacia ) racemis pedicellis iiniJloris,foliis im. 

 paripinnalis, stipulis spinosis. Sp. PI. 1043. Tournefort calls it, P^udo- acacia vulgaris; 

 Ray names it. Acacia Americana, siliquis glabris ; and Catesby, Pseudo-acacia hispida, 

 Jloribus roseis. The locust-tree. 



Jt is at the class and order Diadelpkia Decandria. 



This tree is also a native of North America. Its branches are armed with strong 

 crooked thorns, and garnished with winged leaves, composed of eight or ten pair of oval 

 lobes, terminated by an odd one. They are of a bright green, and sit close to the midrib. 

 The flowers come out from the sides of the branches in pretty long bunches, hanging down- 

 ward like those of the Laburnum, each flower standing on a slender foot-stalk : these are 

 of the butterfly, or pea-blossom kind ; are white, and smell very sweet. They appear in 

 June, and when the trees are full of flowers, they make n fine appearance; but they are 



