LO OUST 
67 
comprised between the Ohio, the Illinois, the Lakes,’ and the Mississippi. 
It is not found in the States east of the river Delaware, nor does it grow 
spontaneously in the maritime, parts of the Middle and Southern States, to 
the distance of from 50 to 100 miles from the sea, all the stocks that are 
seen in these parts having been planted at different periods. 
The dimensions of the Locust vary with the soil and climate: thus in 
Pennsylvania, between Harrisburg and Carlisle, where it begins to appear, 
it is much smaller than in Virginia, and particularly in Kentucky and West 
Tennessee, which are situated 3 or 4 degrees further south, and where the 
soil is more fertile. In these States it sometimes exceeds 4 feet in diameter, 
and 70 or 80 feet in height; 'which is twice the size it attains east of the 
Mountains. 
The foliage of the Locust is light and agreeable to the eye. Each leaf 
is composed of opposite leaflets, 8, 10, 12, and sometimes more, in num- 
ber, surmounted by an odd one. The' leaflets are nearly sessile, oval, thin, 
of a fine texture, and of so smooth a surface that the dust is blown off from 
them as it alights. These leaves are rarely injured by insects. 
Tho flowers are disposed in numerous pendulous bunches : they are per- 
fectly white, and diffuse the most delicious odor. Their fine effect, height- 
ened by the fresh tint of the light green foliage, renders the Locust one of 
the most admired in Europe among ornamental trees. In passing through 
Harrisburg, on the 4th of June, 1808, “I saw the Locust in full bloom*: it 
was in flower at the same season of the year 1812, at Paris, in the latitude 
of 48° 50'. To the flower succeeds a narrow, flat pod, about 3 inches 
long, containing 5 or 6 small seeds, which are commonly brown, and some- 
times black. 
On the trunk and large limbs of the old Locust, the bark is very thick 
and deeply furrowed. The young tree, till it attains the diameter of 2 or 
3 inches, is armed with formidable thorns, which disappear in its maturer 
age. The wood, which is commonly of a greenish yellow* color, marked 
with brown veins, is hard, compact, and susceptible of a bright polish ; it 
has a good deal of strength, with but little elasticity. Its principal value 
in the United States, where the greater part of the houses and of the fences 
of cultivated grounds are of wood, is its power of resisting decay longer 
than almost any other species of wood. 
Though the Locust is multiplied east of the Mountains, in the upper part 
of Virginia and of the two Carolinas, it forms a much smaller proportion 
of the forests than the Oaks and Walnuts, and is nowhere found occupying 
exclusively tracts even of a few acres. For this reason it is the only tree, 
besides the Black Walnut, that is left standing in the clearing of new lands : 
hence these two species, which are not sufficiently multiplied to supply the 
demand for their wood, are frequently seen growing in the midst of culti- 
vated fields. 
