514 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



has decided it, and named the hardy Western species Catalpa speciosa. Mr. 

 Fuller in his new work, referring to this "so-called Western Catalpa," does 

 not even notice the difference in the bark, although he has seen both trees 

 when of large size. I have a letter from Richard Sykes, owner of the large 

 plantations at Larchwood, planted by the veteran Jesse Fell, and in it he 

 says: " The Catalpa speciosa trees seven years old flowered and bore seed 

 which ripened thoroughly ; the pods were eighteen inches long. This is a 

 good showing for latitude 43 deg. 30 min." I have a letter from F. W. 

 Woodward of Eau Clare, Wis., former editor of the Horticulturist, in which 

 he says : " Catalpa speciosa planted in '84 is seven feet high and 2£ inches 

 in diameter. The ends of the- shoots were killed back last winter (45° below 

 zero) about three inches only. I think I can report it as hardy here. 

 Norway Spruces were so severely injured alongside of the catalpa that they 

 made no growth the past summer ; presenting only a rosette of buds at the 

 ends of the branches." Surely no tree ever had such an introduction in 

 seven short years as the Catalpa speciosa of Warder. We have nattering 

 reports of it from the East Indies, China, South Africa, Australia and 

 Europe. 



ARTIFICIAL PLANTATIONS. 



Judgment in Planting.— A correspondent of the Philadelphia Press in 

 commenting on the mistakes made in planting trees for shelter, remarks that 

 a shelter belt of trees, consisting of a single row of trees, is like an overcoat 

 without any lining or wadding. A group of trees will survive when a single 

 tree will die. Like sheep huddled together seeking each other's shade, trees 

 protect each other. The Western farmer needs to study the subject of tree 

 protection in all its bearings. It is through judicious plantings that he is to 

 mitigate the severity of the long windy winters. 



Roadside Planting. — The editor of the same excellent journal has this to 

 say about roadside planting, and the means to secure greater interest in general 

 tree-planting: We do not advise universal roadside planting. It is not always 

 profitable — it is not always in good taste. Open, sunny spaces on a highway 

 are as grateful occasionally as shade. In many cases the landscape effects 

 would be more pleasing if a group of trees were planted here and there at a 

 turn in the road than if a continuous and monotonous line of elms or maples 

 were invariably placed on either side. We agree that Arbor-day planting is not 

 forestry. But, after all, we consider the establishment of such days encourag- 

 ing symptoms of the tendency of thought. Anything which excites general 

 interest in trees is wholesome. If the children help plant trees at their homes 

 and by their school grounds with some holiday solemnities they will be led to 

 watch their growth and find what helps or hinders it. They will compare them 

 with other trees of the same species and, perhaps, be led further to compare 

 one species with another. In other words, they will be encouraged to observe 

 and be made unconsciously students of natural science. And then the senti- 

 mentalists themselves have their place in the economy of social life, and so 

 long as they are encouraging effort and thought in the right direction why 

 should the "practical man" and the man of science object to their assistance? 



