io THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



word that the profit by willows will buy the owner a horse before that 

 by other trees will pay for the saddle." The basket-willow, well cul- 

 tivated, will yield a net income of $150 a year to the acre. On the 

 whole, therefore, it would seem that the various kinds of willow, the 

 economic value of which has been hitherto entirely overlooked in our 

 country, are eminently deserving, of attention, and will amply reward 

 those who cultivate them. 



The ailantus and the catalpa are also deserving of much more 

 attention than has been given them. They are both quick-growing 

 trees, soon attaining a size fitting them for use as fuel or in the form 

 of lumber, while they are also very tough and durable. They combine 

 solidity with rapid growth in an unusual degree, which gives them 

 great value to the tree-planter. The ailantus is a native of China. It 

 was brought to this country about a hundred years ago and planted as 

 an ornamental tree. It was for a time very popular as a shade-tree in 

 the streets of many of our cities, but the disagreeable odor of its 

 flowers soon destroyed its popularity, and it was cast out of good 

 society. But, although it may not be a desirable tree for the street or 

 the vicinity of houses, it has, as we have said, qualities which com- 

 mend it to the forest-planter. The French have planted it extensively 

 because its leaves have been found to be a welcome food to the silk- 

 worm. We may find it advantageous to plant it for the same reason, if 

 the silk-culture is to be established in this country. The ailantus, while 

 it grows as rapidly as the cotton-wood, produces a wood of a spe- 

 cific gravity nearly equal to white oak, which it resembles in color 

 and structure, and above that of black-walnut. It has a beautiful 

 grain, takes a high polish, is easily worked, and is an admirable 

 wood for cabinet-work or the interior finish of houses. It will grow 

 on almost any soil, and is easily propagated by seed or from suck- 

 ers, which it throws up very abundantly. It is quite hardy as far 

 north as a line drawn from St. Louis to Boston, and is well fitted for 

 planting in exposed positions. Professor Sargent, of the Arnold Arbo- 

 retum, Harvard University, says of it : "A careful study of the ailan- 

 tus from an economic point of view, and as a subject for sylviculture, 

 forces on me the conclusion that no other tree, either native or for- 

 eign, capable of supporting the climate of so large an area of the 

 United States, will produce, in so short a space of time, and from land 

 practically useless, so large an amount of valuable material valuable 

 alike for construction and for fuel." 



TheWestern catalpa (C. speciosa), formerly little known beyond 

 the region of the lower Ohio, except as a few specimens have been 

 grown for the sake of their beautiful flowers, which resemble somewhat 

 those of the horse-chestnut, has lately been found to be one of our 

 most valuable trees. AVhat chiefly commends it, in addition to its 

 very rapid growth, is its remarkable durability. ~No tree is known to 

 be equal to it in this respect. It seems to be almost imperishable 



