ARBORICULTURE 



43 



Correspondence and Inquiries. 



This department will be open for correspondence and inquiries upon subjects pertaining to Arboriculture in its 

 broadest sense and will be a special feature. Address, Editor Arboriculture, 1639 Michigan Avenue. 



Editor Arboriculture : Six years ago I secured 

 a quantity of catalpa seed and planted in my garden. 

 Next year I placed them along fences to grow into 

 fence posts, but they grew crooked and branched near 

 the ground. Some I cut off and the sprouts grew up 

 straight fourteen feet and attained a diameter of two 

 inches by fall. Now, after four years growth, they 

 are five inches diameter, twenty -four feet high. Those 

 planted by the fence now are low, snarly and unsight- 

 ly. I fear I have the Southern catalpa. How am I to 

 tell ? Please give the information in October Arbori- 

 culture. W. D. S. 



Zionsville, Ind., September 29. 



If the trees were in bloom they would be easily 

 distinguished. Speciosa, the large forest catalpa, has 

 much larger flowers than any other variety, are nearly 

 pure white, and bloom two weeks before the Southern 

 catalpa. The pods of speciosa are few in number. 



usually one or two, seldom three in a cluster. They 

 are long, often eighteen inches, heavy, thick pods. 

 Bignonoides has shorter pods, thinner shell, and more 

 in a cluster. The oriental sorts and their hybrids 

 have from a dozen to twenty in a cluster, about the 

 size of a lead pencil. The seed of speciosa has a 

 broad square pencil of filaments or hairs at each end, 

 those of other varieties being pointed. The bark of 

 the Wabash tree is thick, heavy, furrowed like the 

 ash ; that of the Southern tree is thin, flaky, or 

 scaly, resembling the spruce tree. 



All catalpa trees are improved by cutting them off 

 in winter, when not frozen, and confining the growth 

 to one shoot. This having the force or vitality of the 

 whole root system, pushes up straight and rapidly. Of 

 course the true speciosa has a more upright tendency 

 because of its greater vitality, and very naturally 

 makes an upright growth. The catalpa family 

 hybridizes readily, and it is impossible to determine, 

 without critical examination, just what W. I). S. has; 

 probably a mixture of hybrids. 



Book Reviews. 



BIRDS OF THE ROCKIES. 



In June, 1900, this Society made an ex- 

 amination of the pine forests of the Black 

 Hills, S. D., and reported to the Govern- 

 ment the conditions of the trees destroyed 

 by the bark beetles. 



We recommended the sale of all affected 

 timber, requiring that the bark be removed 

 and burned to destroy the insects. Our 

 estimate of the loss, at that time, was 100,- 

 000 acres and 100,000,000 feet of timber 

 destroyed. Commenting on the scarcity of 

 woodpeckers, we urged the importation of 

 these birds. 



In July, of the present year, the Society 

 issued a Special Rocky Mountain Bulletin, 

 on the Destructive Bark Beetles of the Pinus 

 ponderosa, in which we renewed our appeal 

 for speedy action by the Government in 

 dealing with these insect pests. 



The Entomological Division, Department 

 of Agriculture, has just issued Bulletin 

 No. 32, upon the subject, by Professor 

 A. D. Hopkins, of West Virginia. Both 

 our contentions have been confirmed by 

 Professor Hopkins, who reports a remark- 

 able scarcity of woodpeckers and birds 

 capable of reaching the insects within the 

 inner bark. The yellow or bull pines of 



the west have very thick, heavy bark which 

 only the long-billed birds, such as sap- 

 suckers, can reach. 



We still have a few copies of our Rocky 

 Mountain Bulletin to spare. 



Through the courtesy of Messrs. \. C. 

 McClurg & Company, Chicago, we are per- 

 mitted to use the half-tone of Williamson's 

 Sapsuckers, '' chiseling grubs out of the 

 bark of the pine trees," taken from Birds 

 of the Rockies, just published by them. In 

 this remarkably handsome work Rev. 

 Leander S. Keyser makes many mentions of 

 the woodpeckers in Colorado, confirming 

 our statement as to their scarcity. How- 

 ever, their presence, even in small numbers, 

 is plain evidence that they would be abun- 

 dant even in these high altitudes, if men 

 and boys could know their value and protect 

 them. 



Dr. Keyser vividly describes the rugged 

 regions about Pikes and Grays peaks, and in 

 an enjoyable manner writes of the birds 

 found in each locality. 



A novel amuses the reader and enables 

 time to pass quickly, but such books as this 

 gives an equal enjoyment and leaves the 

 mind stored with much useful information. 

 Dr. Keyser writes so that a child can under- 

 stand, yet full of interest for mature reader.-^. 



