Cultivation of the liOcusti 
be suffered to run among the locusts* in the winter 
time, but should be removed before the frost leaves the 
ground, with a view of keeping the ground as light as 
possible. If a plantation should afford no convenient 
place, upon which a sufficient number of old locust 
trees stand, to cultivate locusts upon the plan herein 
explained, then the following system is recommended, 
« Let a piece of ground be selected, or more than one, 
(if more convenient,) so situated as to afford the great¬ 
est possible facilities for approaching it from all parts 
of the plantation, say ten acres, and let it be prepared, 
in all respects as recommended, except that it may be 
sowed with timothy instead of clover, if more con¬ 
venient, and either in the fall or spring, as' may suit 
best. In the spring, after the grass has been sowed, 
plant the whole of the ground with black locusts. 
The trees planted should be of thrifty growth, and from 
three to six years old. They should not be planted 
early in the spring, as is frequently done, for of those, 
so planted, a large proportion will die. The proper 
time to plant them, is after the buds shall have so 
much swollen as that the leaves will begin to be plainly 
visible. This usually happens about the middle of 
April—sometimes not till the first of May. In digging 
the young locusts for planting, care should be taken 
not to bruise the roots. To avoid this a sharp axe 
should be used to cut off the larger roots, and all that 
are bruised should be carefully trimmed with a sharp 
knife. The lateral branches should be cut off, leaving 
only a small part of the top. They should be set firmly 
in the ground, but not more than an inch or two deeper 
than they naturally grew. The holes should be dug 
wide, so as to admit the roots to take their proper po¬ 
sition, taking care not to double or bend them. It is 
best to planf after a rain, and the operation had better 
be delayed till the first leaves are from a quarter to 
half an inch long, rather than plant without rain. The 
trees- should be planted thirty feet apart, each way, 
which will give about forty eight to the acre, or more 
accurately, four hundred and eighty four to ten acres. 
If any should die, their places should be supplied the 
next spring, and at that time several shovels full of 
chip manure, not much rotted, should be put around 
each tree. This will keep the grass from binding the 
young trees, and hasten their growth. The ground, 
thus planted out, may be kept for meadow four or five 
years ; or somewhat longer, if the trees shall not have 
grown thriftily. The ground should now be plowed, 
in the fall of the year, and cultivated carefully for the 
two succeeding years, so as to destroy the grass. 
About the ‘middle of the ensuing February, it should 
be sowed with clover and oats, as herein-before di¬ 
rected, the ground having been previously properly 
prepared for the purpose. About the first of April all 
the locusts should be cut down, the timber removed, 
and the brush burnt; and now nothing remains to be 
done but to pursue the directions, in relation to locusts 
springing up from the stumps and roots of old trees. 
To carry out this plan of rearing locusts will require 
time, and the exercise of patience. But it must be 
recollected, that during the time the husbandman is 
waiting for his young locusts to attain a sufficient age 
to be cut down, he will be annually deriving profitable 
crops from his land; and, at the end of the process, 
he will obtain a sufficient number of stakes, and poles 
for riders, to compensate for all his extra labor. And 
besides, he will have his ground more regularly set 
with locusts than could be accomplished in any other 
way. The roots of locusts extend out laterally to a 
considerable distance, and sprouts will spring up, suf¬ 
ficiently thick, over the whole ten acres, and stand 
more regularly than if reared upon the plan before 
suggested. 
But neither of the foregoing methods of cultivating 
locusts will be practicable in a country where no lo¬ 
custs grow naturally, and hence the necessity of rear¬ 
ing locusts from the seed, in such situations. This is 
quite practicable. New or second year’s ground will 
answer best for this purpose. If there be none such, 
land which has been lying in grass for some years may 
be substituted. It should be prepared by plowing the 
preceding fall, and pulverising the soil as completely 
as possible. In this latitude, (39° north,) the seed 
should be planted late in April. If planted too early, 
the young locusts will sometimes be destroyed by frost. 
They are not as tender as beans, but a pretty severe 
frost will kill them. The earlier they are planted the 
better, so that they are not endangered by severe frosts. 
The time of planting must, therefore, be governed by 
the la 1 itude, and danger of frosts at the place of plant¬ 
ing them. When the ground is properly pulverized, it 
should be checked off, five feet each way. The seed 
must be dropped and covered like corn, except that it 
should not be covered more than an inch, or inch and 
a half deep ; and care should be taken to cover them 
with a light mould. 
The seed must be thus prepared for planting : They 
should be gathered the preceding fall, and kept dry till 
spring.* Three days before the time of planting, they 
should be put in a tight vessel, and boiling water pour¬ 
ed on them, which should be suffered to remain twenty- 
four hours; it should then be poured off, and the boil¬ 
ing water renewed, and suffered to remain the same 
time; boiling water should again be poured on the 
seed for a third time, and continued as in the two first 
instances. Most of the seeds will now have burst 
the hard envelope by which the kernel is surrounded, 
and they will be in a proper condition to be planted.! 
Eight or ten seeds may be dropped in a hill to increase 
the chances of producing at least three plants, but 
they should be somewhat scattered, to prevent them 
from being too much crowded, in case many should 
come up. To facilitate the dropping of the seed, they 
should be stirred in sifted ashes or gypsum to dry them, 
and then all the surplus ashes or gypsum sifted out. 
Locusts should be cultivated the first year with great 
care, suffering no weeds to grow, and thinning them 
so as not to leave more than two or three stalks to a 
hill. The ground should be left as level as possible, at 
the close of the cultivation in the fall, and sowed in 
oats and clover seed in the spring, as hereinbefore di¬ 
rected. Nothing more will be necessary but to pro¬ 
tect them from stock, and to thin them out as it shall 
become necessary. 
If planted five feet apart, each ten feet square will 
contain four hills, and twelve young trees, if three 
grow in a hill. This will be twelve times as many as 
will ultimately grow on the ground, allowing one hun¬ 
dred square feet, to each tree. It will, therefore, soon 
become necessary to thin them, and in the course of 
two years they should be gradually reduced so as to 
leave but one in each hill, taking care always to leave 
the straight and most thrifty plants. The balance may 
be permitted to stand until the more thrifty ones so far 
overtop the others, as to leave no doubt that they have 
not suffered so much from insects as the others. By 
this time many of the young trees will have attained a 
* I apprehend seed of any age will answer if it 
has been kept dry, but I have had no experience on 
this subject. 
f This severe exposure to boiling water may induce 
an apprehension, that the vegetating power of the seed 
will be destroyed. Experience has satisfied me, that 
such apprehensions will be groundless. It only prepares 
the seed for vegetating quickly, and certainly. 
