File:American forestry (1910-1923) (17522250814).jpg

Title: American forestry
Identifier: americanforestry231917amer (find matches)
Year: 1910-1923 (1910s)
Authors: American Forestry Association
Subjects: Forests and forestry
Publisher: Washington, D. C. : American Forestry Association
Contributing Library: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden
Digitizing Sponsor: The LuEsther T Mertz Library, the New York Botanical Garden

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92 A.\ 1 J:RICAN FORESTRY'
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HOW CHILDREN STUDY TREES Black locust exhibit, illustrating the life history and commercial uses of this tree. The exhibit won a prize in a tree contest in a Washington, D. C., Normal School. flowers and is valuable for conserving rainfall on the dry slopes on which it grows. Honey locust is a title sometimes given to the black locust in New England because of its frag- rant, honey-laden bloom. The true honey locust (Gleditsia tricanihos) differs in so many respects from the Robinias or true locusts that botanists give it a separate classification, but the leaves, fruit and wood show that they are closely related. The honey locust may have a single leaf-stem, 7 to 9 inches long, furnished with 9 to 14 pairs of leaflets, or the leaf-stem may divide into 8 to 14 branches and each branch bear 9 or 10 pairs of smaller leaflets. Honey locust leaflets are in pairs the entire length of the stem, while black locust has a single leaflet at the tip of the stem bearing the paired leaflets. Black locust has oval leaflets with even margins; honey locusts are oblong and the margins are slightly wa\y or notched. Black locust has short, stout spines that are merely at- tached to the bark, like prickles of rose bushes. and drop ofi or are easily broken off. Hone^' locust has long branching thorns that are part of the w-ood of the tree and cannot be easily detached except by cutting. The fruit of the black locust is a straight, dull brown pod, 2 to 4 inches long; the pod of honey locusts is 6 to 18 inches long, bright brown or purplish in color and always more or less cur^'ed and twisted. The pods of black locust split open easily; those of honey locust must be torn apart. The differences between these trees enable one to readih- dis- tinguish them at all times of the year. Honey locust is native from Ontario to Florida, west to Kansas and Texas. Ordinary trees are 50 to 75 feet high and 18 inches to 2 feet in diameter, but in the rich bottom lands of the Ohio valley honey locusts have been known to grow to a height of 140 feet and a diameter of 6 feel. In the forest, it usually does not have a tnmk quite as straight and clean as black locust. In the open it branches low and forms a spreading, rounded top. The lower branches extend at nearly right angles to the trunk, and the twigs droop with considerable grace. The bark of the trunk is very dark colored and may be rather smooth, but on large trees is commonly cleft into very Inroad, thick ridges. The twigs have a zigzag growth, and are covered with shining brown or greenish-red bark. The older twigs frequently have strong, shining brown thorns, and the trunk is usually equipped with still larger weapons of defense. These thorns are specially developed branches. The fact that most of the thorns are branched near the base to form a cross, has caused the tree to be called the three-thomed acacia and the Acacia of the Passion. Four of five buds are found at each leaf scar, but only the upper one of these buds can be seen, and that is exceed- ingly small. The flowers appear late in the spring, in small greenish clusters. They are fragrant and honey laden but not showy, nor arc they pea-shaped, like those of the LOCUST AS A SHADE TREE Honey locust planted as a street tree in Kansas. The honey locust is free from the serious insect and fungous enemies that beset the black locust, and is in every way an admirable tree for shade and ornamental planting. It is one of the hardiest trees for planting in the naturally treeless area of the United States.

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