ARBORICULTURE 



63 



Boston, Oct. 20, 1902. 



Mr. John P. Brown. 



I inclose my check for $10 to cover 

 life membership in your society. Hope 

 the magazine may have long life. 



Regarding catalpa I feel a good deal 

 of interest. 



( I ) Will catalpa do well in rather 

 moist land, provided same is not too wet 

 to work with a plow? 



(2) Will New Hampshire abandoned 

 farm lands require enriching before trees 

 are planted or during first few years of 

 their growth? 



(3) How early in the spring can the 

 young trees be planted as far north as 

 I propose? I. S. N. 



REPLY. 



(i) Yes. The tree is native to a 

 swampy region, growing in what are 

 termed catalpa slashes. However, it 

 grows well on land not wet, as well. 



(2) No. The trees will enrichen the 

 land by annual leaf mold, and more by 

 action of roots beneath the surface. 

 . (3) At corn planting time, or as early 

 in spring as frost is out of the ground 

 and it can be worked. 



I have found Catalpa speciosa to be 

 perfectly hardy at Manchester and Con- 

 cord, N. H., and at Rockland, Me., and 

 have no doubt as to its success in Middle 

 New Hampshire if not at too high an 

 altitude. While the Green and White 

 Mountains are not as great elevation as 

 points in Colorado and Utah, where the 

 catalpa is perfectly at home, yet altitude 

 combined with higher latitude may pre- 

 vent its success in the higher elevations. 

 The experiment should be tried in the 

 valleys and lower levels. 



MORTON'S ARBORETUM. 



Arbor Lodge, the home so long oc- 

 cupied by J. Sterling Morton, together 

 with an ample tract of land surrounding. 

 has been dedicated as an arboretum in 

 'honor of the founder of Arbor Lodge. 



Mr. Morton's sons have set aside a 

 fund to maintain the arboretum, and 

 create a paradise of trees as their father 

 desired it should be. The states of Ne- 



braska and Iowa should take a special 

 pride in this botanical collection, which 

 will be to their inhabitants what Prof. 

 Charles H. Sargent's creation, Arnold's 

 Arboretum, is to all New England. 



But while the home of J. Sterling Mor- 

 ton was in Nebraska, he will always be 

 thought of as a national character, and 

 every child will look upon him as a 

 friend, for his love of trees and having 

 'been the founder of Arbor Day. 



Many states are purposing to send 

 specimen trees from their native forests, 

 to be planted at Arbor Lodge as historic 

 memorial trees. 



It is a beautiful custom among the 

 'Schools to plant on Arbor Day one tree, 

 at least, as a memorial to some person 

 who 'has performed acts of public im- 

 portance. The children of many locali- 

 ties have thus memorized the name of 

 ]\Ir. Morton by planting trees on their 

 schoolgrounds in his honor. 



This plan of sending trees from all 

 portions of America, to be planted at 

 Morton's Arboretum, should be contin- 

 ued. There will be skilled gardeners in 

 charge of the grounds, and each tree 

 will be labeled and recorded, and, fur- 

 thermore, well cared for. 



We have a very beautiful tribute from 

 Charles S. Mann of Pennsylvania, es- 

 pecially prepared for Arboriculture, 

 but unfortunately its length prevents our 

 using it with our limited space. He 

 says : "Every state in the Union should 

 be represented in the plan, and lend a 

 hand to make this beautiful sentiment 

 a reality. Every state that has made 

 Arbor Day a distinguished date in the 

 calendar of its festivals of commemora- 

 tion and jubilee will count it an honor 

 to contribute groups or specimens from 

 among their characteristic native trees 

 and shrubs that shall stand as living 

 monuments, ever increasing in stature 

 and in beauty." 



The ten thousand white pine trees hard 

 by the home, filled with birds ever sing- 

 ing and joyous, the oak forest and Elm 

 Park, donated to the city by Mr. Mor- 

 ton, the groups of Scotch pines. Rocky 

 Mountain conifers and innumerable 

 -trees that were planted by Mr. Morton's 

 hand, make a grand beginning for a na- 

 tional arboretum. 



