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ARBORICULTURE 



Republican 



Springfield, Mass., Sept. 2, 1906 



A VALUABLE BOOK FROM CONNERSVILLE, IND. 



Zeal for a cause, that has gathered with years 

 of thought and study and unflagging devotion, 

 burns in every page of "Practical Arboriculture," 

 a book of exhortation, persuasion, advice and 

 practical facts, by John P. Brown, published by 

 himself at Connersville, Ind. It is a volume of 

 value, and that it is needed any thinking person 

 must admit, for the wasteful destruction of our 

 timber is to be seen in every part of the country, 

 accompanied by a lethargy of conscience and a 

 lack of business sense that are equally apparent 

 to the ordinary observer. Mr. Brown, with 

 excellent moderation, avoids calling the average 

 American a fool, yet it is the only word which 

 fits his case in this regard, and as we are all con- 

 cerned in the matter, and are all fools together in 

 our neglect of the subject, the wonder is how the 

 writer is able to keep his tone of patience. The 

 book is made up of more or less loosely strung 

 chapters, some of which have appeared as single 

 contributions to the press on specific subjects 

 relating to the topic, others have been delivered 

 in many states, and are not without some repeti- 

 tion in consequence. They deal with the effect 

 of forests upon climate, soil and water supplies, 

 and the results in these and kindred directions of 

 forest destruction, the question of cloudbursts, 

 floods and drouths under the opposing conditions 

 in this country, the problems relating to special 

 sections such as the lowlands of Florida, the 

 western deserts, the headwaters of the great 

 river systems, are treated with emphasis as not 

 matters for those regions alone to consider, but 

 for the nation to deal with as of general and vital 

 importance. Mr. Brown shows no prophetic in- 

 sight, but simple common sense when he says: — 

 Manufacturing interests representing many 

 million dollars have ceased operations, while 

 others will soon close down from the exhaustion 

 of timber supplies. Several million laborers de- 

 pendent upon the continuance of the wood 

 industry are obliged to find other occupations. 

 The inland commerce of the nation is borne upon 

 1,000,000,000 railway cross-ties. While 200,000,- 

 000 are required annually to renew those exhaus- 

 ted from decay. In a quarter of a century 500,- 

 000,000 ties will be demanded for such renewals. 

 It is time for America to stop and think what we 

 are going to do when the forests have become 

 exhausted and this after the first one-third of the 

 century has passed. 



Tree-planting on a large and intelligent plan 

 must be undertaken as a national enterprise: 

 what is now being tried in a tentative and small 

 way, must be practiced extensively, and immedi- 

 ately in order to provide a continuance of supply, 

 for we now face a famine of oak and pine, we 

 have already suffered the loss of black walnut, 

 and nothing but prompt measures can cope with 

 the situation. Of course Mr. Brown urges 

 national reservation of the mountain ranges 

 where planting is impossible, and barrenness 

 results from our axes and our annual great fires, 

 but even if this destruction should be controlled, 



the supply of wood in the near future will be 

 inadequate to our necessities without a widespread 

 interest in arboriculture. For quick growth Mr. 

 Brown favors extensive planting of catalpa; 

 nearly half of his book is taken up with interest- 

 ing reports of the plantations of this tree, now 

 established in various parts of the country, of its 

 progress and mode of growth, its culture, and its 

 uses. These he finds to be sufficiently varied 

 and valuable to merit unqualified approval, and 

 the international society of arboriculture made a 

 special exhibit of articles made from the catalpa 

 speciosa, in the forestry building at the Louisiana 

 purchase exposition in 1904. This exhibit proved 

 that "firm, straight telegraph poles may be 

 secured in a dozen years," that it is strong enough 

 for cross-ties and mine timbers, desirable enough 

 for fence posts, excellent for furniture, suscep- 

 tible of high polish, and altogether is a good sub- 

 stitute for many sorts of timber that take much 

 longer to produce. It also included some speci- 

 mens of railway ties that had been in use on the 

 main trunk lines for 25 years, and were still 

 sound. This exhibit obtained the grand prize 

 from the exposition jury. 



For catalpa speciosa Mr. Brown is an enthusi- 

 astic advocate, but it must not be confounded 

 with the catalpa bignonioides, a variety greatly 

 inferior in several essentials, chief of which is 

 the fact that it is dwarfed and crooked in growth, 

 though beautiful in bloom and fruit. There has 

 arisen a widespread confusion in the minds even 

 of forestry experts and at government stations 

 between the speciosa and other varieties, and also 

 in regard to a Japanese variety, the Kempferi, 

 while many worthless hybrids have been culti- 

 vated under the mistaken belief that they were 

 speciosa. Mr. Brown devotes a great deal of care 

 to a minute discussion of the differences between 

 these varieties, and gives plates to illustrate his 

 points, among them a color-plate which shows the 

 blossoms of the different sorts. He says seeds of 

 this bignonioides variety have been widely dis- 

 tributed as the speciosa; and it is his assertion 

 that "no specimen" of the valuable catalpa is to 

 be found in the agricultural department grounds 

 or the botanical gardens of the capital; "this 

 solves the question of such violent opposition to 

 the catalpa by the United States forestry bureau, 

 whose observations have been confined to the two 

 varieties which are so abundant in Washington." 

 The international society of arboriculture is mak- 

 ing every effort to distribute seeds of the speciosa, 

 and endeavor to supply European countries as 

 well as our own. Mr. Brown finds the careless- 

 ness of the government department to this matter 

 due to the fact that inferior varieties bear many 

 more seeds than the valuable kind, and are much 

 easier to gather, being produced by low-growing 

 trees. The cost of collecting seed of the pure 

 speciosa is from $3.50 to $5 a pound: the inferior 

 kind may be gathered for about 10 cents a pound. 

 The society of which Mr. Brown is so earnest a 

 member, has induced several railway companies 

 to make plantations of this useful tree for their 

 own consumption. Being a civil engineer, the 

 needs of the transportation interests have been 

 especially evident to him, and he is satisfied that 

 the rapid, straight growth of the catalpa, with its 

 peculiar natural immunity to fungus, and its tough 

 grain fiber, makes it the ideal timber for this use. 



