PLEASURES OF GARDENING. 
19 
Plants may be made to grow without light, hut they will not ex¬ 
hibit the verdure, or any of the properties of health. The atmos¬ 
phere which is contaminated by the respiration of animals is restored 
to purity by the vegetation of plants ; but secluded from light, vege¬ 
tables are no longer capable of converting a portion of the fixed air 
to their use or of supplying the atmosphere with the oxygen on 
which its importance in supporting animal life chiefly depends. By 
the action of light, the carbon of the fixed air is interwoven with the 
texture of the plants. The aromatic plants, the clove, cinnamon, and 
the peruvian barb, all owe their chief excellencies to the intense light 
of the Equatorial regions. 
Culture of Yellow Locust .—The Robinia pseudo-acacia, or Yel¬ 
low Locust Tree, is superior to any other kind of wood for ship 
trunnels, mill cogs, and fence posts, as well as for various other pur¬ 
poses. Its culture is very easy and it may be propagated in great 
abundance, by sowing the seed in March or April, in a bed of good 
sandy loam, which is its favourite soil, and covering half an inch 
deep. Previous to sowing, put the seed in a basin, pour in scalding 
water, and let them stand all night; pick out such seeds as are swol¬ 
len, and plant them immediately; next evening repeat the same pro¬ 
cess with such as have not swollen the first night, mix the whole and 
sow them ; they will come up in tbe course of the following month 
numerously ; for no seeds grow more freely, notwithstanding what 
some may say to the contrary. When a year old, transplant them 
out of the seed-bed into nursery-rows, four feet distant, and plant 
from plant one foot in the row. Having two or three years’ growth 
in these rows, they may be planted successfully in any warm and 
tolerably rich sandy ground. They may also be propagated by 
suckers, which they throw up abundantly, especially if some of the 
wide extending roots be cut through with an axe. An acre of these 
trees, planted two feet distant each way, will contain 10,890, at 
three feet distant, 4840, and at four feet distant, 2722 ; and it is 
said that no appropriation of land is more lucrative than that devoted 
to this purpose. The three Thorned Acacia Seed (Gleditschia) 
should be prepared in the same manner. 
