purposes, as much of it is consumed as can be obtained. The aborigines of the south used the wood for bows, on account of its toughness and elasticity. It is used for mill-cogs and for other articles exposed to constant wear.

The leaves are used, in some parts of Europe, either fresh or cured, as nourishment for horses; the seeds are found very nutritious to fowls. The leaves may be made a substitute for indigo in dyeing blue, and the flowers are used by the Chinese 'for dyeing yellow.

The practice of planting this tree by road-sides and along the enclosures of pasture lands has much increased, of late years, but has been checked by the fact that, in such situations, it is exposed to the inroads of an insect, whose worm penetrates to the heart of the tree and destroys its life. An unexpected remedy has, however, been suggested by the success of Joseph Cogswell, Esq., in the cultivation, some years ago, of a large plantation of the locust. He found that when it forms a wood, those trees only are attacked by the worm which form the outskirts, exposed to the sun and free air. Whether it is that the insect parent of the worm delights, as many do, in the sun light, and avoids the shade of the woods, or from whatever cause, it was found that all the interior of the plantation was free from its attacks. If this conclusion should be confirmed by further experience, it will be best, whenever the tree is cultivated for its timber, to plant it in masses of several acres in extent, and to substitute, in the sunny and exposed situations which it has usually held, some of those numerous trees which flourish best in them.

No tree promises better, as a cultivated forest tree, than this. Its very rapid growth, its numerous and valuable properties as timber, and the fact, that the sap-wood is converted into heartwood earlier than in almost any other tree, are very strong recommendations. It is the experience of many persons in different parts of the State, that the locust grows on poor land better and more rapidly than any species of hard wood. On such land, however, large, sound timber of locust cannot be produced, and it would always be good economy to fell it within thirty or forty years, or, at least, not to allow it to grow, for timber, to a

great age. The various kinds of pine are better adapted to the poorest soils. But in rich, sandy loam, locust trees of a moderate timber size may, probably, be produced with greater ease and in a shorter time than any trees possessing the same valuable properties.*

It

As an ornamental tree, it must continue to be cultivated. is true that it is liable to be broken by the wind, and that it never is full enough of branches to cast a deep shade. But the beauty of its foliage is almost unrivalled, and such pendent racemes of fragrant flowers are found on no other tree.

The locust may readily be propagated by the suckers which spring up in great numbers, to some distance, around the tree. But the readiest way is by seed. This, which is ripe in October, may be sown immediately, and will come up the following summer. Cobbett recommended that the seeds should be previously steeped in hot water. He was, however, speaking of seeds which had been sent from this country to England; but he professed to have received the suggestion from those acquainted with the cultivation on Long Island, where it has been planted more extensively than in any other part of this country. If the seed is to be kept over the winter, it should be preserved in the pod, in which it retains its vegetative power much longer than when separated.

It should be sown in a rich, loamy soil, and covered lightly to the depth of one fourth or one half of an inch. The plants will often grow from two to three or four feet high in a single season, and may be immediately transplanted, and with less of root than almost any other tree.-(Loudon, Arb. 624). The most agreeable effect is produced by trees standing alone or in groups of a few together. If planted for the timber, it should be, as has already been said, in plantations of several acres.

In the same family is found the Gleditsia, a native of the south, one species of which, G. triacanthus, the Sweet Locust or Honey Locust, is sometimes found in this State, growing

* William Buckminster, Esq., states, in the N. E. Farmer, of July 16, 1830, that a sprout from a young stump of Yellow Locust grew sixteen and a half feet in one summer; and that it is not uncommon, on good land, to witness a growth of eight and ten feet.

well in a rich soil in sheltered situations; remarkable for its triple thorns, its doubly pinnate leaves, and its pods of twelve or fifteen inches in length.

Two other trees of this family, the Kentucky Coffee Tree, Gymnocladus Canadensis, and the Canada Judas Tree, Cercis Canadensis, grow naturally as far north as this, though I know not that they have been found native in Massachusetts. Both are occasionally cultivated here as ornamental trees. The former is not remarkable for its beauty, though striking by its singular appearance. The latter, often called the Red Bud, is curious from being covered with bunches of flowers of a rose color, before the leaves begin to appear. They give a brilliant appearance to the whole tree except the extremities of the branches. The leaves, which begin to come out while the flowers are expanded, are folded together, before opening, on the mid-rib; they are broad, heart-shaped and pointed, and very smooth above and beneath.

The Red Bud is a fine showy tree, early in the season, and not without beauty at all times.

60

CHAPTER VI.

PLANTS WITH MANY PETALS, WHICH GROW, together with the StaMENS, ABOUT OR UPON A DISK SURROUNDING THE SEED-VESSEL.

FAMILY XXX. THE VINE FAMILY. VITÀ CEE. JUSSIEU.

THE Vines are trailing or climbing shrubs, with swollen, separable joints, and alternate leaves with stipules. On the side of the stem opposite the leaves, spring the footstalks which bear the clusters of flowers. When the flowers are abortive, the footstalk is changed into a tendril; and tendrils opposite the leaves are peculiar to this family. The flowers are small, greenish, and commonly perfect; calyx minute, nearly entire, 5-toothed; petals 5, distinct, caducous; stamens as many as the petals and opposite them, inserted on the surface of the disk; ovary 2-celled, with 2 erect ovules side by side in each cell; style short or wanting; stigma simple. Fruit a round, pulpy berry, with 1 or more cells and 1 or more seeds. Seeds erect, with a bony shell. Embryo straight, short; cotyledons flat, lanceolate; radicle inferior.-(Flore Française, V, 857.) Plants of this family have acid properties and yield sugar. They are found in the woods of the milder and hotter parts of both hemispheres. There are two genera in this State: 1, the Grape Vine, Vitis, with entire leaves; and 2, the Virginian Creeper, Ampelopsis, with leaves divided into five parts.

XXX. 1. THE GRAPE VINE. VITIS. L.

This is a small genus, thus characterized: Calyx nearly entire; petals 5, commonly united at the apex, but distinct at base and falling off like a cap; stamens 5; style short, conical, stigma dilated. Peduncles sometimes changed into tendrils. Flowers, in the North American species, perfect or containing only stamens, or only pistils, on the same or different plants.

The wine-producing grape vines of Europe are varieties of one species, a native of the temperate parts of Asia, but introduced, at a very remote period, into Greece, and afterwards into Italy and thence into Central and Western Europe. In its wild state it produces berries not larger than currants. The numerous valuable varieties have been produced by long continued culture in favorable climates and soils. It flourishes best between the parallels of 30° and 45° of north latitude; but is cultivated successfully as far north as 47°, in the west of France; as far as 48° or 49°, in Hungary and on the Don; and on the Rhine as far as 50°. The trunk sometimes attains a great size; in rare instances, even three feet in diameter. The wood is hard, close-grained, smooth, and susceptible of a fine polish. The fruit is wholesome and nutritious, and forms an important article of food in several countries of Europe.

Most of the species of vine native with us produce no valuable fruit. Possibly use might be made of their leaves. Sir James Hall, a distinguished experimental philosopher, father of Capt. Hall, the traveller, ascertained that the leaves of the grape vine, dried in the shade, made an excellent substitute for tea. Treated like malt, they produce a liquor of a vinous quality, which forms a substitute for beer, and which may be converted into a valuable vinegar.

Four, perhaps five, species of grape vine are found in Mas

sachusetts.

Sp. 1. THE Fox GRAPE. COMMON GRAPE. V. labrúsca. L.

This is the common wild grape of Massachusetts, and is found in every part, in rich low grounds, overspreading clumps of bushes, climbing to the tops of trees, and embowering them with its thick and abundant foliage, or covering walls and rocks. It is easily distinguished from the other vines by the tawny down which covers the branches, leaf- and flower-stalks and tendrils. The recent shoots are of a light green, downy, and sometimes dotted with brown dots. Leaf-stalks large, round. Mature leaves heart-shaped, 5-angled, orbicular, sometimes 3- or 5-lobed, sinuses rounded or obtuse, lobes often acuminate; very obtusely dentate, with the teeth mucronate;