ARBORICULTURE 



137 



Examination of Catalpa Grove at Balfour, Iowa. 



Balfour, Iowa, May i, 1906. 



With Mr. J. D. Besler, I visited a grove 

 of catalpa trees which the Chicago, Bur- 

 Hngton and Quincy Railway Company 

 had come into possession in buying lands 

 for changing grade and lines in Western 

 Iowa. 



The trees are of mixed, "hybrid," stock. 

 Some show distinctly Japanese (kemp- 

 ferii) origin, the pods being very small 

 and numerous, and the seed quite small, 

 with characteristic pointed filaments at 

 each end. Others were of hignonioides 

 stock, as shown by thin, scaly bark, seed 

 and seed pods, unmistakably those of the 

 Southern catalpa. 



None of the trees were of speciosa, nor 

 do they seem to have any speciosa stock, 

 from all the examinations of trees, seed, 

 pod or bark. 



The trees were planted twenty years 

 ago by a Mr. Pitzer, who is now in Cali- 

 fornia. Evidently the gentleman pur- 

 chased these trees for speciosa, planted 

 them systematically, y yiy feet, cultivated 

 thoroughly, but did not prune the trees of 

 their side branches. 



The average diameter of the tree is 

 eight inches, ranging from five inches to 

 nine inches, the height being twenty-five 

 to thirty feet. 



In the main, the trees are fairly 

 straight, and will now make fence posts. 

 The lower side branches, remaining even 

 within two feet of the ground, are dead 

 from overhead shade, but are persistent. 

 They do not fall away, nor can a man 

 break them, although but one or two 

 inches in thickness. 



In many of the trees these dead side 

 branches have conveyed rains and germs 



of decay into the trunks of the trees, 

 which have thus rotted, the trunks being 

 hollow and the trees worthless. This is 

 characteristic of Catalpa hignonioides in 

 its natural Southern home. 



Very few weeds and no grass exist 

 in this grove ; the leafy tops shading the 

 ground keep down all growths, except a 

 few box elder and dogwood, which have 

 sprung up from seed dropped by birds. 

 There is probably about ten or fifteen 

 acres*in the grove. 



The gentleman who owned this farm 

 also planted large numbers of Scotch 

 pine, white pine, Norway spruce, and 

 some cedar, for protection to his home. 

 These trees are now thirty feet to forty 

 feet high, and beautiful as well as useful 

 in protecting from wind. 



People who see this grove of Southern 

 catalpa, and the unsatisfactory growth 

 which the trees have made, and presuming 

 them to be Catalpa speciosa, for which 

 they were purchased and planted, very 

 readily denounce the planting of catalpa 

 trees, and are hard to convince that Ca- 

 talpa speciosa is a tree worthy of any 

 attention. 



The great injury done by the con- 

 scienceless seed distributor, which can not 

 be rectified in a score of years, is shown 

 here in a prominent manner. 



THE INDIANA STATE FAIR, 



Always full of interest, offers some spe- 

 cial attractions for the season of 1906. 

 Five full days, September loth to 14th 

 inclusive. 



Charles Downing, Secretary. 

 Indianapolis, Ind. 



