356 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



would be disposed to regard the species indigenous, as it grows 



plentifully along the streams in that vicinity. The following 



from the Hope Radical will be of interest: 



Mr. John H. Smith was born in 1817, and came to Hempstead county in 

 1824. In 1831, while a boy of 14 years of age, he carried the mails from 

 Washington, this county, to Natchitoches, La., a distance of 180 miles, on 

 horseback. It required ten days in the saddle to make the round trips, two 

 trips each month. On the Red river he passed a catalpa tree hedge on his fre- 

 quent trips, and on one occasion filled his pocket with the fluffy seed, and care- 

 lessly scattered them in the old court yard in Washington, where they grew, 

 and from that accidental seeding, the catalpa tree owes its present extensive ex- 

 istence in Hempstead county. 



If Mr. Smith's account be correct, the oldest trees found in 

 Hempstead county are not over 50 years old, and as there are 

 several about there four feet in diameter, we have another proof 

 that this species makes rapid growth. The trees grow tall and 

 develop a long trunk, which maintains well its size. 



It was the impression of botanists that this species occurred 

 native in Southeast Missouri and along the low country of North- 

 east and East Arkansas, but Mr. John Teas, of Carthage, Mo., 

 who went to that region and investigated, came to the conclusion 

 that it was not indigenous, and that opinion probably still 

 remains. 



Not fully convinced, we left the question open in a consider- 

 ation of the "Forest Trees of Arkansas" in the Forestry Bulletin for 

 June. Since the publication of that account investigations in 

 Prairie county, Ark., prove beyond a doubt that it grew in the 

 woods when the country was first settled. Mr. G. W. Letterman 

 informs me that he finds it plentiful in the woods on Black river 

 in Arkausas, considerable timber having been shipped from that 

 region and still plenty of trees remain. Specimens three feet in 

 diameter and 200 years old were secured for the American Mu- 

 seum of New York City. 



Crataegus arbor escens, Elliott, overlooked in enumerating the 

 Forest Trees of Arkansas in the Forestry Journal, is common in 

 the low ground throughout the State, attaining a diameter of 

 8 inches and a hight of 30 feet. 



Crataegus cordata, Ait., common along the streams and 

 swampy places in northwestern Arkansas. Does not bloom until 

 May in this region. Escaped notice until this spring. Attains 

 a hight of 15 feet. 



Sophora ajfinis, Torr. & Gray, credited to Arkansas by the au- 

 thority of Lindheimer, has been rediscovered by the writer and 

 also by G. W. Letterman in Nevada county, Ark., on the border 

 of prairies near Prescott. Mr. Letterman secured specimens 1 

 foot in diameter. 



