ARBORICULTURE 



103 



grown in certain sandy lands, and these 

 experts, with a work on chemistry in one 

 hand, and a vast amount of inexperience 

 in the other, have certified to land own- 

 ers and railways that such trees could 

 not grow in these soils. Yet ten thou- 

 sand instances are known where the Ca- 

 talpa speciosa trees are growing thriftily 

 in exactly identical loca\ions. 



The Bureau called into session the 

 American Forestry Congress, and se- 

 lected only such speakers as were known 

 to be opposed to the Catalpa speciosa. 

 Some of these speakers had been coached 

 by Forestry Bureau ofiicials, and much 

 misinformation given them in order to 

 be sure of destroying the influence of the 

 International Society of Arboriculture at 

 one blow. No member of this Society — 

 numbering three thousand members — 

 was permitted to say a word in behalf of 

 the Catalpa speciosa, but the secretary 

 was invited to send delegates who might 

 listen to abuse without the privilege of 

 reply or correcting wrong statements. 



HISTORICAL. 



The writer has been engaged activel) 

 in the study and practice of Arboricul- 

 ture for fifty years. During the past 

 quarter of a century he has traveled 

 500,000 miles in this work with special 

 reference to the study of a certain tree, 

 and observation of the habits, growth, 

 range of its adaptability to climatic and 

 soil conditions, character of its wood for 

 economic purposes, and of the possibili- 

 ties of its becoming a substitute for the 

 many forest timbers of the United 

 States which are so soon destined to be- 

 come exhausted. 



The Catalpa speciosa he has found to 

 be growing thriftily in forty States, and 

 in such a variety of soils that soil analy- 

 sis is absolutely valueless. In Great 

 Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, 

 Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, 



Mexico, and elsewhere, the trees planted 

 by members of this Society are growing 

 as well as in their Indiana home. Not- 

 withstanding this, the officials of the 

 Forestry Bureau, studying an entirely 

 different variety of Catalpa, in the city 

 of Washington and on the grounds of 

 the Department of Agriculture, and 

 never having observed the real Catalpa 

 speciosa in its home, the Wabash Valley 

 of Indiana, and unable to distinguish the 

 tree any place, have taken a violent dis- 

 like to the tree of which they are so ig- 

 norant, and have used every effort to 

 prevent their being planted. 

 THE world's Fair. 



When it was determined by the Inter- 

 national Society of Arboriculture to 

 make an exhibit of the Catalpa speciosa 

 for the education of the people, applica- 

 tion was made for space, but this was re- 

 fused, and months were consumed in 

 correspondence with the Forestry De- 

 partment of the Exposition, without re- 

 sults, until after continuous refusal we 

 appealed to a score of railway presidents, 

 whose demands were quickly acceded to. 

 The head of the Bureau of Forestry of 

 the United States was also the head of 

 the Exposition Forestry Department. 



After installing our exhibit, officials 

 of the Forestry Bureau made light of our 

 eft'orts and persuaded many people that 

 the Catalpa was an unworthy tree. Yet, 

 the world saw, and was convinced, and 

 the Grand Prize was awarded this So- 

 ciety for its exhibit. 



We made numerous efforts to have 

 tests of strength of the wood made by 

 the Forestry Bureau which operated a 

 testing plant at the Exposition, but were 

 as often repulsed, absolutely refusing to 

 make any tests of wood which we should 

 provide of true Catalpa speciosa, but 

 tests were made of Catalpa bignonioides, 

 an inferior wood, and these reports were 



