22 
Sylva, presented to the Royal Society in 1662, and 
recommends it as an eminently ornamental tree 
for shaded walks and avenues. Bradley, who 
wrote in 1720, appears to speak of it as in his 
time a very rare or neglected plart; and Morti- 
mer, who wrote a little later, states that many 
trees of it had been planted in St. James’ Park, 
| and had been condemned to the axe in conse- 
quence of becoming shattered and unsightly by 
the force of storms. Its diffusion throughout 
France seems to have been always steady and 
rapid, and has at last rendered the tree every- 
| where as common as an indigenous plant, and 
| both a characteristic and a very beautiful feature 
of close landscapes; and its diffusion throughout 
Great Britain has at length become somewhat 
general, yet not such as to make it much known 
| beyond the precincts of gentlemen’s pleasure- 
| grounds, or the plots of suburban villas. Many 
| noble specimens of it occur along the banks of 
_ the Thames; some remarkably fine trees, appa- 
_ rently of great comparative age, grow on the Duke 
of Devonshire’s grounds around Chiswick House ; 
' many old trees, and several imposing groups, 
grow in the parks of Sion House; some of the 
finest specimens in England occur on the estate 
of Claremont in Surrey ; some trees, of seven or 
eight feet in girth at two feet from the ground, 
may be seen in Claremont parks; some trees, of 
| eight feet in girth at three feet from the ground, 
may be seen around Sir William Cooper’s seat of 
| Isleworth House; many very fine trees grow in 
| parks and shrubberies in the vicinity of Edin- 
| burgh; one of the finest groups anywhere to be 
seen grows at Niddry-Marshall, in Mid-Lothian ; 
and many handsome and imposing specimens 
| occur in the neighbourhood of Dublin. A greater 
proportional quantity of the acacia-tree seems to 
grow in Middlesex and Surrey than in any other 
British counties, yet even there the tree is con- 
fined chiefly to the lawn and the shrubbery; it 
grows exceedingly wellin many parts of Scotland, 
and forms a decidedly marked feature in the sylva 
around the Scottish metropolis; it grows more 
rapidly in Ireland than in either England or Scot- 
land; and it becomes an exquisitely ornamental 
tree, attains a good height, and firmly resists the 
rigours of winter, throughout many parts of Ger- 
many. 
The acacia-tree, in consequence of its having 
large, spreading, decurrent roots, was at one time 
thought to be a very suitable tree for planting 
along the margins of canals and rivers, to bind 
the soil, and give a firm texture to the ground; 
and, in consequence of its sending up a profusion 
of young shoots, for which cattle show a great 
fondness, it was more recently recommended for 
cultivation as forage. In 1823, Cobbett, in his 
widely circulated publications, strongly urged 
| stock farmers to adopt it; he praised its virtues 
| with astonishing zeal, and in altogether extrava- 
| gant language; and, to prove that his own faith 
_in it was sincere, and his solicitude for its pro- 
| 
ACACIA-TREE. 
pagation disinterested, he imported immense 
quantities of its seeds from America, and distri- 
buted in Great Britain upwards of a million of 
plants. But the enthusiasm for the acacia-tree 
as a pet plant for farmers has passed away, and 
—as well as an extolling of its superior fitness for 
various purposes in the arts—has proved to be, 
in a chief measure, unfounded. 
The acacia-tree very commonly grows to the 
height of from 35 to 45 feet. Its branches are 
covered with a smooth, purplish-coloured bark, 
and armed with strong crooked spines or thorns 
at the buds. Hach bud, especially in young and 
vigorous shoots, is usually guarded by two spines, 
situated on opposite sides. The branches, espe- 
cially in young trees, are very brittle; and, in 
summer, when power is given to the wind by the 
foliage, they often break off during storms. Yet 
the tree, if afforded the shelter of other growing 
timber in its youth, grows steadily up without 
fracture, and eventually becomes as stately and 
apparently firm as any other tree of naturally 
slender proportions ; and had its tendency to con- | 
solidation in age been formerly known, it would 
have found its way more steadily into general 
favour, and not have been condemned on account 
of its inability to resist storms in exposed situa- | 
The leaves do not exfoliate till late in 
spring; but they amply compensate for their late- | 
tions. 
ness by their exceeding elegance and beauty. 
The leaves are large, and are pinnated or winged 
with eight or ten pairs of fine, green, stalkless 
leaflets, and terminate in a point formed by an odd | 
The flowers appear in | 
June; they consist of long, pendulous bunches, | 
hanging down like those of the well-known labur- _ 
and transverse leaflet. 
num; they have the papilionaceous or pea-blos- 
som form, and in general are white, but in one 
variety are of a rose colour; and “when the tree 
blows freely, its head will be enchantingly covered 
with them, for they will hang all over it in a free 
and easy manner, some bunches appearing wholly 
in view, others again half-hid by the waving 
leaves that will sometimes alternately hide and 
show them.” The flowers are also gratefully 
odoriferous; and, though short-lived, they com- 
pensate the brevity of their existence by the re- | 
miniscences which they create of both their 
beauty and their fragrance. The legumes or 
seed-pods are flat, oblong, and one-celled, and the | 
seeds are of a rusty colour and kidney-shaped 
outline, and terminate like a hooked beak. _ 
The acacia-tree, through all its stages, but par- 
ticularly when young, grows with great rapidity. 
A plant raised from seed will usually, in a few 
years, attain a height of eight or ten feet; and 
a shoot from an old stool, or from a vigorous tree 
of middle age, will often, in a single season, grow 
to a similar height. In favourable situations in 
Great Britain, it will, in the course of 40 years, 
attain a height of 60 feet with a girth of six feet 
at the height of three feet from the ground; and 
almost everywhere in America, it attains, in the 
