ARBORICULTURE 



a monthly magazine. 



Published in the Interest of the 

 International Society of Arboriculture. 



Subscription, S2.00 per annum. 



John P. Brown, Editor, 1639 Michigan Avenue. 



Volume II. 



CHICAGO, JANUARY, 190:i. 



Number 1. 



The Hardy American Forest Tree. 



CATALPA SPECIOSA. 



In 1898 the first edition of our booklet, 

 "The Catalpa Speciosa," was printed, the 

 1,000 copies being soon exhausted. A 

 second edition of 5,000 copies fohowed, 

 and the demand increasing, a third and 

 fourth editions were issued. Altogether 

 50,000 copies were sent out, while it has 

 been printed in various daily papers, in 

 whole or in part, so that many thousands 

 of copies have been circulated. 



Inquiries for the booklet have been re- 

 ceived from Rome, Berlin, London and 

 many portions of Europe and from Aus- 

 tralia and New Zealand, besides the de-' 

 mand from America. The last copy has 

 been sent away, and we now reprint in 

 this number of Arboriculture^ the six- 

 tieth thousand, adding to the text new 

 matter, several half-tone engravings and 

 all information obtainable in regard to 

 this most valuable, economic tree, mak- 

 ing it as complete as possible to this date. 



THE CATALPA SPECIOSA. 



There is such a close resemblance be- 

 tween the various forms of Catalpa, both 

 those of Asiatic origin and the American 

 trees, that a close study of the variations 

 has not been made until quite recently. 



The fact that the two principal forms 

 indigenous to the United States are so 

 similar in, many of their characteristics, 

 and the hybrids are so numerous, make 



it a difhcult matter even for experts to 

 determine precisely where to place them 

 botanically, except when they are in 

 flower. 



It is not strange, therefore, that early 

 botanists failed to^ discover and describe 

 Catalpa speciosa. 



In 1 8 18, Thomas Nuttall had heard 

 that there were two varieties of catalpa, 

 but he had never seen speciosa. The 

 southern form, Catalpa bignonoides, has 

 a great range, being found upon hills as 

 well as river bottoms throughout most of 

 our southern states, while Catalpa speci- 

 osa was confined to a very limited tract 

 along the overflowed lands of the lower 

 Wabash river, apparently distributed 

 solely by the backwaters up the nearby 

 creeks, and down the Ohio and Mis- 

 sissippi rivers, as far as New Madrid, 

 Mo. In Southeastern Missouri the two 

 forms meet, both being found growing 

 together with many hybrids. The beauty 

 of the flowers has alone prevented the 

 extermination of the Catalpa speciosa. 

 Its extremely valuable character was 

 known to the earliest settlers of the 

 Northwest Territory and to the Indians 

 before, and as the tree does not easily 

 propagate in nature, and the demand was 

 great for durable timber, the original 

 forests were practically destroyed. Gen. 

 Wm. H. Harrison and a few other enter- 



97 



