A writer in the Long Island Star, highly recommends the cultivation
of the Locust Tree, as a profitable business. He says the price of
this timber is about seventy-five cents per cubic foot--that 200
trees will grow on an acre of land--or 20,000 trees to a hundred
acres, which may average 20 feet per tree, which would give the
enormous sum of $300,000. But suppose they amount to only $100,000,
as the nett profits from 100 acres, in what way can the landholder
expect so great a profit in 30 years, with the same probability of
success, as from this? He mentions, that the timber, the seeds of
which were planted by one man in England, was sold for 60,000_l._
sterling.
The locust becomes valuable in 15 years after planting, and in 25
or 30 years of full growth. It is easily raised by planting 15 or
20 trees to the acre; and as soon as the roots have spread, running
a plough through the ground, and when it cuts the roots, new shoots
will spring up.
This tree also invites the grass to grow under it, and the shade
does not materially injure it; and while grass in the field is burnt
up by the scorching rays of the sun, the locust grove will yield a
rich and luxuriant pasture.
From Baldwin's London Magazine.