I02 



ARBORICULTURE 



railways to secure enougli cross-ties tor 

 the maintenance of a safe track, bring 

 prominently to every consumer of wood 

 the question': What shall zee do for lim- 

 ber in the future/ 



h has been the custom to take the oak, 

 a tree which is slow to develop, as a 

 standard by which to measure every for- 

 est growth, and thus impatient Americans 

 are discouraged from forest planting. 

 However, in the Catalpa we have a tree 

 combining many of the qualities of oak, 

 besides possessing several features of 

 great value unknown to the quercus 

 family, and. withal, coming quicklv to 

 maturity, producing merchantable sawing 

 timber and several cross-ties in from fif- 

 teen to twenty years. 



The Indian tribes who dwelt in the 

 Valley of the Wabash, or traversed this 

 region, sought such trees as could be 

 easily wrought with their rude imple- 

 ments, and those which were most endur- 

 ing, from which to fashion their canoes, 

 and the Catalpa was their favorite wood. 



Usually those w^oods which are dense, 

 and slow to mature, have great durability, 

 while the quick growing trees with softer 

 wood, soon perish. The reverse is the 

 case with Catalpa, its chemical constitu- 

 ents being pennanent antiseptics pre- 

 serve the fibers from decay. 



The early white settlers in the Valley of 

 the Wabash were instructed as to, the 

 valuable qualites of the Catalpa and they 

 made use of it in constructing their 

 houses, boats and stockade forts, which 

 have endured through more than a cen- 

 tury. 



<jeneral William H. Harrison often 

 .spoke of the Catalpa and urged its culti- 

 Aation, since he had known of its many 

 valuable qualities during his residence at 

 \'incennes. He had seen this wood sound 

 and bright more than a century after it 

 had been placed in the stockades, and he 

 used Catalpa for posts in his fence ninety 

 years ago, some of which are still stand- 

 ing. 



The writer procured one of these ]wsts 

 for the New Orleans Exposition in 1885; 

 it was sound and good for many years' 

 additional service. 



On the line of the Evansville & Terre 



IJaute Railway 1 found a large number 

 of Catalpa posts which were set fully half 

 a century ago, and are still in use. 



h'vidences of the durability of Catalpa 

 wood are numerous and cf>nvincing. 



The earth(|uake at New Madrid, Mis- 

 souri, in 1811, threw down many Catalpa 

 trees and others were killed, but left 

 standing. These were sound and well 

 preserved a few years since — as men- 

 tioned by Mr. Barney in his book. - 



WHY CATALPA IS DURABLE. 



Trees have the capability of appropriat- 

 ing from the soil such ]Mgments as will 

 give them color, flavor or other peculiari- 

 ties. Upon the same soil one tree w'ill 

 take up such materials as will produce 

 a red apple, another green, another yel- 

 low. The butternut stores up a valu- 

 able dye, etc. The Catal])a takes those 

 antiseptic substances which, in concen- 

 trated form, resist the microbes of decay. 

 These are built into the fiber wood, and 

 when once dry are incapable of solution 

 in water. Millions of dollars are ex- 

 pended in chemical treatment of wood to 

 increase its durability. These chemicals, 

 in solution, are forced into the cells of 

 the wood, and for a long period ward oflf 

 the fungii which cause rot or decay, but, 

 in time, the elements dissolve and wash 

 out these artificial materials, leaving the 

 wood unprotected. 



Catalpa is permanently protected be- 

 cause nature has enabled the tree to 

 make these antiseptics a part of the wood 

 itself. Scientists have expended much 

 time in attempting to explain why some 

 Catalpa trees are decayed while still 

 living. It is simply that when the sap 

 is flowing freely, the antiseptic materials 

 are greatly diluted, and. if a limb has 

 died and reinains attached to the tree, 

 the dead wood shrinks away from the 

 living wood built around it. admitting 

 water and air, and with them the germs 

 of decay which successfully attack the 

 woofl at such time. 



A chisel, broad and sharj), upon a long 

 handle, removes branches close to the 

 trunk, smoothly; they soon callous and 

 heal over, thus preventing the decay 

 mentioned. 



