ARBORICULTURE 



11 



proud. Each tree is tall and symmetrical, 

 without any special pruning, and each has 

 a diameter equal to one inch for each year's 

 growth. 



Several large trees at Hutchinson, Kansas, 

 have similar records. 



I recently visited, in southern Illinois, the 

 noted big catalpa, "The last of the 

 Mohicans," lOlJ feet high, six feet diameter, 

 150 years old at time of its death. It had" 

 ceased to grow many years ago. It was 

 hollow, but its thin shell made 247 very 

 large posts. When it was yet sound it would 

 have made 1 14 ties or 4,500 feet b. m. of lum- 



ber. Note illustration big catalpa halftone. 

 Another tree growing in a swamp I found 

 to be twenty-four inches diameter, thirty- 

 five_ feet to first limb and sixty-five feet tall. 

 Estimated to be twenty-five years old. It 

 could be sawed into twenty-five ties. 



I have found C. speciosa growing in 

 Massachusetts, New Hamphire, California, 

 Utah, Michigan, Texas and Florida, and 

 almost every state between, having records 

 of measurements bearing out the rule of one 

 inch diameter growth per annum. Even on 

 bleak Cape Cod, Massachusetts, it was grow- 

 ing thriftily in poor sandy soil. 



TO FORM A CATALPA PLANTATION. 



If desirable to sow the seed, make rows 

 three and one-half or four feet apart, with 

 broad shallow drills. Use fifty pounds seed 

 per acre, cover very slightly. Hoe care- 

 fully until fourth leaves appear, then horse 

 cultivation. It would be far preferable to 

 buy the trees if obtainable. 



These should be transplanted in spring; 

 never in autumn, where freezing occurs. Lay 

 off ground eight by eight feet, deep furrows 

 one way, plant at intersection. Each man 

 should set 1,000 trees per day. Cultivate 

 as for corn which may be grown between 

 rows of trees and thus pay expense of 

 cultivation. After eighth year begin taking 

 out alternate trees for posts, continue this 

 as convenient, leaving trees finally sixteen 

 by sixteen feet, one hundred and seventy 

 per acre, 510 trees having been removed 

 for posts. Cultivation should be continued 

 at least once or twice a year, until ground is 

 shaded sufficiently to keep down grass. Very 

 shallow harrowing is best not to injure roots. 



With good treatment trees at twelve 

 years will make one tie each. At sixteen 

 years three ties each, or 510 per acre. 



At twenty years they will make six ties 

 per tree, 1,020 per acre, while at twenty- 

 five years twelve per tree or 2,040 per acre. 



It is evident that trees are of far greater 

 value at twenty-five years than at twelve. 



The evidence of many experiments 

 demonstrates that a road tied with catalpa 

 is good for a third of a century. 



MININCx TIMBERS. 



Many railways have also mining interests 

 in which the young growths, removed in 



thinnings, will be of value as props, and 

 mines may be supplied with mine ties and 

 props from special plantations at very 

 moderate cost. 



The catalpa naturally is found among 

 other forest trees, seldom alone, and may 

 succeed in cut-over tracts with little or no 

 cultivation, overcoming other slower 

 growths. 



Complete directions for growing trees 

 from the seed to the mature forest, will be 

 given from time to time, and questions 

 answered as they may occur. 



PETROLEUM AN ALLY OF ARBORI- 

 CULTURE. 



It has been the practice in California for 

 the lumber companies to cut the market- 

 able trees of redwood and pine from the 

 mountain slopes, and to leave inferior and 

 smaller trees, which practice would permit 

 natural seeding of the cut-over tracts, and 

 enable nature, in due course of time, to pro- 

 duce a new forest. But the scarcity of 

 coal upon the Pacific Coast has made cord- 

 wood the only available fuel. 



Cheap Portuguese labor is employed to 

 finish up the trees left by the lumbermen. 

 The fuel for railway engines, manufactories, 

 steamboats, as well as household use, has 

 been principally wood. The result has been 

 to niake barren hundreds of square miles 

 which were formerly forest-covered, and 

 which is non-agricultural in character. 



In places the soil has been eroded from 

 these mountains since removal of the tim- 

 ber growths, and it is worthless for any 

 purpose whatever. 



_ The introduction of oil for fuel, its adop- 

 tion by railway companies to replace wood , 



