INDIANA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 31 T 



the posts, the osage posts, and the administrator told me they brought 

 $100. Now will you all^w me to say something about the catalpa. I will 

 say that I believe that the catalpa is a good timber, but I do believe that 

 from a point of durability it is overrated. Why do I believe this? Be- 

 cause I was down in Gibson County, and Posey County, where it natu- 

 rally grows, and I had been requested by Dr. Furnas to find a post that 

 had lasted ten or twelve years, and 1 did not succeed, although I was 

 there two or three weeks among the people who raised them. There were 

 car loads of posts. Now all the stories that we have heard here about the 

 durability of the catalpa post is all bosh. You will hear about the catalpa 

 foot bridge at Vincennos. but I will stake all I have that the bridge is not 

 catalpa. It is Mulberry, for 1 chipped a piece and brought it home with 

 me. After Dr. Furnas had made a speech at A'alley Mills and expounded 

 on the catalpa I embarrassed him by telling what I knew. Before I began 

 an investigation I l)elieved the catalpa was all that it was represented to 

 be, but after an investigation I found that it was not. I was over in a 

 town in Ohio not long since waiting for my train and I got into conversa- 

 tion with the section boss, and he told me that they put in catalpas once 

 for crossties, but they proved to be too soft and they took them out. 



Mr. Teas: Brother Little is a very good fellow, but he knows but 

 little about some things. 1 want him to understand that I am responsible 

 for everything I said in that paper, and I believe that he can not prove 

 many things that he has said. He is mistaken, that is all. 



A Member: I was speaking with a professor in Franklin College 

 about these woods. He told me that he did not think the catalpa very 

 good for posts. I had twelve very good posts and set them out for a 

 grape arbor. They did not last six years, 'riicy all rotted off at the top 

 of the ground. If they will only last this long you might as well have an 

 ash or a peach post. 



Joshua Russell: I don't exactly know whether this discussion is con- 

 fined to membership or not, but I have a few words that I would like to 

 say. I listened to the paper and I enjoyed it very much. I enjoyed all 

 that was said about the catalpa, and it was all true so far as I know. 

 As to its durabilitj' I can't speak from personal experience. However, this 

 is a tree that is not destroyed by stock, and there are few trees that the 

 stock will not browse. This is a great advantage. What I say about the 

 tree I speak from personal experience, investigation and observation. 

 Now there is another thing about the catalpa. It will endure excessive 

 moisture, even to long continued submerging in water. I have seen 

 catalpa trees sul)merged in water .so that the water was two or tliree feet 

 above the top of the trees, and this was in the month of June and in a 

 warm climate. This was caused by the overflow of the river. This con- 

 tinued for several weeks. They grew so much that summer that 1 



