| ence of three inches. 
same period, a height of from 70 to 80 feet. No 
other trees grow more rapidly than this, except- 
ing some species of the willow and the poplar. 
In the arboretum of the Horticultural Society of 
London—which was formed with the express de- 
sign of introducing all available exotic trees, and 
of ascertaining their relative values and their re- 
spective habits—the acacia-tree was planted as 
an individual of a great and splendid and very 
diversified collection; and, after a period of 
about twelve years, it was found to have grown 
better than either oak, ash, elm, maple, or any 
other hard-timber within the walls. An instance 
occurred at Chiswick of a strong shoot or sucker 
being staked for its protection and assistance, 
and of its attaining, in a single season, the ex- 
traordinary height of 20 feet, with a circumfer- 
The suckers of the tree are 
few and infrequent when it stands isolated and 
| exposed, and numerous and frequent when it 
stands in a shrubbery or wood; they rise, not in 
masses or in groups or with slender and attenu- 
ated form, but in single stems and with bold out- 
_ line and vigorous growth; they soar up, even in 
the most sheltered or umbrageous situation, to 
the height of from twelve to fifteen feet in one 
| season; and so long as they are permitted to re- 
main attached to the root-bud whence they 
sprang below the ground, they very rarely suffer 
displacement or any other serious accident. When 
a full-grown tree is felled, numerous suckers start 
up everywhere from its roots, with the same free- 
dom and power as if a new plantation had been 
carefully made; so that a succession of either 
single trees upon the lawn, or of a group of trees 
in a clump or grove, is obtained with the utmost 
possible cheapness and facility. 
The acacia-tree will grow well upon almost any 
soil, but it prefers a rather rich sandy loam, and 
succeeds best in the deep, fine soil of a properly 
prepared garden. It may be propagated either 
by cuttings, by suckers, or by seeds, but flourishes 
most when raised by the last of these methods. 
The seeds do not preserve their vitality more than 
two years; and such as are sown ought always to 
be from America, as those of plants in Europe 
seldom acquire full ripeness. The seeds should 
be sown, about the end of March or the beginning 
of April, in a bed of light earth; they will send 
the young stem to the surface about six weeks 
after they are sown; and the seedlings may be 
transplanted, in the following summer, into their 
final situation; but they ought rather, when a 
twelvemonth old, to be transplanted into a nur- 
sery-ground, in rows at distances of 14 foot and 
3 feet, and allowed to remain there during two 
years. No plant, however, should be longer out 
of its final situation than three years after the 
sowing of the seed; for if lifted at a more ad- 
vanced period, it will have unmanageably long, 
tough roots; and as it must be divested of a por- 
tion of these, it will be seriously enfeebled, and 
perhaps absolutely killed. 
ACACIA-TREE. 
The acacia-tree, as grown in Great Britain, is 
almost always too profuse in its branches and too 
slender in its stem, to be serviceable for any pur- 
pose as timber; but, as grown in America, it has 
long been known to furnish a very hard, durable, 
and useful wood. It is sent in large quantities 
from America to Great Britain, and especially to 
Plymouth, to be used for trenails or fastening 
belts in ship-building ; andin America itself, it is 
extensively used for posts, and is sometimes found 
sufficiently large to be employed as timber in the 
construction of ships. Its tendency, at all ages, 
to ramify itself in numerous branches, unfits it 
to be used, as recommended by Cobbett, for hop- 
poles; and its general character renders it more 
or less unsuitable for most of the numerous pur- 
poses for which it has been recommended, ex- 
cepting the tasteful ones of ornamenting hedge- 
rows, lawns, shrubberies, and villa-grounds. Yet 
the following uses of it mentioned by our con- 
temporary, C. W. Johnson, Esq., and by other 
writers, deserve attention ;—the wheel-wright and 
the coach-builder have employed it for axle-trees 
of carriages; the turner has used it for various 
purposes of his art, and has been delighted with 
its smooth texture and beautifully delicate straw 
colour; fence-makers have used it for rail-fenc- 
ing, and have found it to stand wet and dry near 
the ground better than any other timber in com- 
mon use, and to be as durable as cedar; land- 
scape gardeners have planted it for a combination 
of ornament and utility, and have found its shade 
to encourage the growth of grass; and farmers 
might try it for the formation of hedges, and, 
were they to transplant it from the nursery when 
it has a height of about four feet, they would 
find it forming a hedge quite equal in compact- 
ness, strength, economy, and manageableness to 
hedges consisting of some tried and approved 
plants,—and a hedge available as a fence far 
earlier than any other, and capable of being raised 
to the very greatest desirable elevation. The 
flowers of the acacia-tree, we may state in con- 
clusion, are used in St. Domingo for making a 
distilled liquor; and its roots and leaves and 
juices contain a considerable proportion of sugar. 
The species of Robinia called the Rose acacia 
—botanically, Robinia hispida—is a remarkably 
beautiful shrub, much smaller than the Robinia 
pseud-acacia, and attaining an extreme height, 
in favourable situations, in its native region, Caro- 
lina, of about twenty feet. A sort of prickly hairs 
cover its young branches, and the footstalks and 
cups of its flowers; and occasion it to be called 
hispida or hairy. Its flowers bloom in June, and 
frequently again in July and August; and they 
are large, odourless, of a beautiful rose-colour, 
and of very handsome appearance. Its shoots of 
each year, or newest and freshest twigs, carry the 
flowers; so that its old wood may be annually 
pruned away to any extent which the taste of 
the cultivator or the situation of the plants may 
require. The Rose acacia thrives best in a rich 
a ae rn errr 
