68 



A DISCOURSE 



BOOK II. do ill this work ; namely, to encourage all imaginable industry of such as 

 -^^^^^ travel into foreign countries, and especially gentlemen who have concerns 

 in our American plantations, to promote the culture of such plants and trees, 

 especially timber, as may yet add to those we find already agi-eeable to our 



of short duration, seldom continuing more than a week in beauty. After the flowers fade, 

 tlie germen becomes an oblong compressed pod, which in warm seasons comes to perfection 

 in England ; these ripen late in autumn. 



Tlie leaves come out late in the spring, and fall off early in the autumn, which renders 

 this tree less valuable than it would otherwise be. 



Tlie False Acacia is best propagated by seeds, which should be sown in a bed of light 

 eai-th about the latter end of March, or the beginning of April ; and if the bed has a warm 

 exposure, the plants will appear in six weeks, requiring no other care than keeping them 

 clear from weeds. In this bed the plants should remain till the following spring, when 

 they should be transplanted into the nursery about the end of March, placing them in rows 

 at three feet distance, and a foot and a half asunder in the rows. In this nursery they 

 should remain two years, by which time they will be of size for transplanting into the 

 places where they are designed to grow. As these trees, when they stand long unre- 

 nioved, send forth long, tough roots, it will be advisable to cut them off when they are 

 transplanted. This operation, however, sometimes occasions their miscarrying. 



These trees will grow well almost upon any soil, but they prefer a light, sandy ground, 

 in which they have been known to shoot six feet in one year. While the trees are young, 

 they make a fine appearance, being well furnished with leaves ; but when old, they are 

 rather unsightly, from the branches being frequently broken by high winds, especially 

 when they happen to stand in an exposed situation. In America, this tree is called the 

 Locust-tree. My excellent friend, Joseph Harrison, Esq. of Bawtry, has favoured me with 

 the following o*bservations, in a letter dated July 25, 1782. " The first experiment that 

 " I know of, respecting the application of the timber of the Locust-tree, to any purposes in 

 " ship-building, was in Virginia, where I resided some time about the year 1733 : and, there, 

 " happening to be acquainted with an ingenious ship-wright, that had been sent over by 

 some merchants of Liverpool, to build two large ships, I had frequent conversations with 

 " him, respecting the qualities of the several principal timber-trees of that country. Being 

 " a person of observation, he had made many useful remarks on that subject ; which the 

 " nature of his employment afforded many opportunities of doing with advantage. He 

 " reckoned the Oaks, Elms, Ashes, and many other timber-trees common to both countries, 

 " much inferior to the same sorts in England : but frequently spoke of the Locust-tree, as 

 " of extraordinary qualities both for strength and duration * ; and used often to say, if a 

 " sufficient quantity could be had, it would be the best timber he had ever met with for 

 " building of ships. After he had completed his engagements with his employers at Li- 



* DuBATiON. This property has been well ascertained by some pieces of Locust-tree, still continuing firm 

 and sound in some old houses in New England, that were built when the country was first settled. 



