Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/813

 HONEY LOCUST ion toward the nearest wild bees' nest, now id then perching and looking back to see if person follows ; arriving at the tree or de- 3d ant hill containing the honey, it hovers over it, pointing toward it with the bill, and, HONEYSUCKLE 795 Honey Guide. alighting on the nearest branch, anxiously and noisily awaits its share of the spoil. It some- times attacks the nests on its own account when pressed for food, and is occasionally found dead within them, stung to death by the bees, and covered in by a vault of wax to prevent the inconveniences caused by decay. It will sometimes lead to two or three nests in succession. The natives of South Africa trust implicitly to their guidance in search of honey, and will leave almost any occupation to follow their course, uttering as they go sev- eral sentences which they believe have magic power. The unwary traveller, however, in- stead of wild honey sometimes finds a con- cealed crocodile or a crouching lion. Persons following it should answer its twitter by a constant whistle. The natives obtain the honey by first stupefying the bees by burn- ing grass at the entrance of the nest. The flight of the bird is heavy, and for only short distances at a time ; the nest is made in the holes of trees ; the e^gs are three or four, and both sexes assist in incubation ; the birds are usually seen in pairs. HONEY LOCUST, the common name for Gle- ditschia triacanthos, a leguminous tree, also called three-thorned acacia, found in the great- est abundance in the southwestern states, and sparingly in the Atlantic states from Pennsyl- vania to Florida. The tree grows to the height of 80 and even 100 ft., with branches spread- ing somewhat horizontally ; the young stems are armed with stout, often triple thorns, and upon the trunk and larger branches are produced numerous clusters of long, much- branched thorns, which often give the tree a formidable aspect. These thorns are really branches suppressed in their development, and may frequently be seen asserting their real nature by bearing leaves. The foliage of the tree is exceedingly light and graceful ; the leaves are compound, 6 to 10 in. long, and of numerous leaflets which are less than an inch long. The small flowers are in racemes 1 to 2 in. long, and, as in most of the suborder to which it be- longs (C(Ksalpiniece are not papilionaceous, but nearly regular ; staminate and perfect flowers occur on the same tree ; the fruit is a narrow flat pod, 1 to 2 ft. long, and so contorted as to have been compared to a large apple paring; the numerous hard brown seeds are imbedded in a pulp, which when the pods first ripen s sweet, but soon becomes sour; this pulp is much relished by swine and other domestic animals. The wood of the tree is hard and coarse-grained, and splits readily, but is not of much value except for fuel. As an ornamental tree the honey locust has its merits and de- merits ; while its foliage is too thin to aflbrd a satisfactory shade, its graceful character and the very distinct habit of the tree render it useful in landscape gardening. It is not suited for a lawn tree or to be planted near dwellings, as accidents are liable to happen from its fierce thorns ; the clusters of these, produced so abundantly upon the trunk, are often easily detached, and hidden in the grass may pro- duce a serious wound upon the foot of the ani- mal or person who treads upon them. There is a great difference in the thorniness of the specimens, the variety inermis being nearly thornless ; in a quantity of seedlings plants al- most without thorns may be found, and these should be selected for ornamental planting. The honey locust is chiefly valuable as a hedge plant. (See HEDGE.) In Illinois, and more Honey Locust (Gleditschia triacanthoa). common southward, is found the water locust, G. monosperma, which has smaller thorns and an oval, one-seeded pod without any pulp ; its timber is of even less value than that of the preceding. HONEYSUCKLE, the name of several kinds of twining and erect shrubs of the genus Lonicera, in the order caprifoliacea. They have tubular
 * this effected, it flies in a certain direc-