ARBORICULTURE. 



257 



THE CATALPA SPECIOSA FOR MICH- 

 IGAN. 



I have been very conservative in advising 

 the extensive planting of the catalpa in far 

 northern regions. The trees are indigenous to 

 such a small tract between latitudes yjy2 and 

 38^^° North that only after thorough investiga- 

 tion would I advise the planting, except as a 

 matter of experiment, so far north as the lower 

 peninsula of Michigan. I had found how suc- 

 cessful the tree had proven in the Gulf States, 

 and even in the tropics of Mexico, but how 

 about the Northern States? 



Recent correspondence with residents of 

 Michigan has settled the question most thor- 

 oughly. Seeds have been received from trees 

 twenty years old at Big Rapids, almost lat. 

 44° N., where speciosa is quite hardy, yet the 

 temperature was 22° below zero at the time the 

 letter was written, February 6, I907. They are 

 on the grounds of Mr. George A. Roof, who 

 writes : "I have four catalpa trees that I bought 

 twenty years ago for speciosa. There has been 

 so much talk about spurious stock, and I was 

 intendingiq.plant a lot of the seeds, but wanted 

 first to know whether I could reco-mmend them 

 as genuine. I therefore sent two seed pods, 

 about eighteen inches long, to the experiment 

 station at Ft. Collins, Colorado, 'for -exaniiila- 

 tion. Professor Longyear wrote me they were 

 genuine speciosa, and referred me to Mr. W. 

 G. M. Stone, of the Colorado State Forestry 

 Association. 



"The pods hung on the trees until we had 

 pretty severe zero weather. I inclose a few 

 seeds, but they may not germinate. The bark 

 on my trees is very rough. Are the trees gen- 

 uine speciosa?" 



There is not a particle of doubt as to the 

 genuine character of the seed, and from de- 

 scription the trees are true. Three of the trees 

 are but nine inches in diameter ; the fourth tree 

 is fourteen inches, and is forty feet high. 



Evidently, from the correspondence, the trees 

 have been very much neglected, in fact, have 

 had no care whatever ; but they have lived for 

 twenty years, while the temperature becomes 

 extremely severe. 



Other correspondents report a number of 

 trees growing well at Traverse City, which is 

 nearly 45" North lat. 



At Saginaw, lat. 43^° North, there are many 

 trees, while about Detroit, Grand Rapids, Kal- 

 amazoo and Muskegon we have reports of other 

 trees. , 



It would seem, therefore, that the residents 

 of the lower peninsula of Michigan have great 

 encouragement, and need not hesitate to plant 

 the catalpa in large numbers, providing the true 

 speciosa variety is secured. The sandy soils of 

 Michigan are specially favorable to the produc- 

 tion of catalpa timber as it was in pine growth. 



It is not expected that any tree will grow so 

 rapidly where the summer growing season is 

 very short, as the same species wiU do where 

 the season is nearly all summer, as in the Gulf 

 States. However, the importance of the sub- 

 ject is so great that no opportunity should be 

 lost in securing sufficient data and in planting 

 groves in every portion of the State. 



A SERMON IN A NUTSHELL. 



If a bale of cotton won't buy as much meat 

 now as a bale of cotton would ten years ago, 

 better raise feed crops, fatten meat, and let the 

 old bale of cotton go to thunder. It breaks 

 backs, anyhow; and it breaks pockets, and it 

 keeps the children out of school and cheats 

 then*- out .of their education. There's a whole 

 lot to be said against a bale of cotton before 

 much can be said for it. — Shipper's Guide. 



Not five per cent, of the Cotton States' 

 total area is devoted to the production 

 O'f that staple, and when the area 

 planted to cotton is increased with 

 greater rapidity than the increase of 

 population in the United States, then oi 

 necessity the price of the staple must be 

 reduced proportionate to the quantity of 

 cotton once produced. It is so with all 

 agricultural products of the South. 



There is, however, one product of the 

 soil within the Southern States which 

 can never be supplied in too' great quan- 

 tities, and for which the demand will 

 for all time increase more rapidly than 

 the supply, and that is the forest. 



