1878.1 



AND EOETICULTURIST. 



313 



season, aud will probably resist the cold Win- 

 ters of this latitude hereafter. When planted 

 further north, the outer limbs of old trees are 

 liable to be killed by the frosts. 



When planted in groves, four feet apart each 

 way, the common Catalpa seems to grow erect, 

 tall, and well shaped. There is, seven miles 

 south of Dayton, a handsome grove of Catalpa 

 of the common variety, twelve years fi'om the 

 seed, that are over thirty feet high, and four to 

 eight inches in diameter two feet from the 

 ground. The trees are erect, thrifty and hand- 

 some. 



The remarks of the editor, in the ai'ticle re- 

 ferred to, in regard to cutting down young j 

 Catalpa trees to the gromid, after two or even I 

 three years growth, are very important, and j 

 should be carefully noted by all wishing to grow 

 fine trees of either variety. ! 



For shade or ornament, I would certainly I 

 plant Speciosa. For groves north of 40", I j 

 would plant Speciosa. South of that I am not 

 certain •, but hope to gather such information, 

 within the next four months, as will enable me 

 to determine. In tne meantime, I shall be un- 

 der very great obligation to any one, having any 

 facts or information, pertaining to the Catalpa, 

 if they will communicate them to me at Dayton, 

 Ohio. 



[The bark of the two forms are very different ; 

 we are much obliged to Mr. B. for the oppor- 

 tunity of seeing the specimens. There is no 

 doubt about there being two distinct varieties. 



The point of oiu* former remarks was in re- 

 lation to a prevailing impression that the 

 smooth barked form was not hardy. It is really 

 one of the hardiest of the indigenous trees of 

 Pennsylvania. It is quite possible, as Mr. B. 

 points out, that the rough barked variety has 

 some special merit ; but this Ls a matter for 

 actual testing, and cannot be improved by 

 urging that its neighbor, which we have all of 

 us known to be so good, is all at once worthless. 

 If we are not mistaken, the writer of tliis re- 

 cently saw some noble Catalpa trees of the 

 smooth barked variety, at Rochester, New York, 

 and surely a tree which does well in that climate, 

 deserves to be called " Hardy," as well as its 

 rougher barked neighbor. It is possible there 

 may be some situations better adapted to one 

 form than the other ; all this is a matter for ex- 

 periment ; but that a tree which has for hun- 

 dreds of years ])een a hardy denizen of our 

 Northern forests, should all at once be thoudit 



" too tender for a timber tree " is absm'd. Mr. 

 Barney's paper gives the exact facts, and is just 

 to the point. — Ed. G. M.] 



EDITORIAL NOJ^ES. 



The Red Wood in Australia.— While Cali- 

 fornians are hankering after the Eucalyptus, the 

 South Sea Islanders are said to be making ex- 

 tensive plantations of the Red-Wood, of Cali- 

 fornia, — Taxodium sempervirens. 



American Forestry. — The London Journal 

 of Forestry thinks that the work recently 

 compiled by Dr. F. B. Hough, is a marked com- 

 pliment to British foresters in this that he has 

 copied " so largely from British works on fores- 

 try and the experience of British foresters " — and 

 it has just reason to be proud. It is to be hoped 

 some day, American experience may claim the 

 same compliment in some work devoted to prac- 

 tical American forestiy. There is an immense 

 amount of useful experience in America, run- 

 ning over a hundred years back awaiting some 

 friendly hand to take advantage of. 



In contrast the Nebraska Farma- thinks 

 it is time to ask something about " American 

 Forestry, now that Dr. Hough is to visit Europe 

 at an expense of $6,000, in order to teach Ameri- 

 cans how to plant forest trees. Nebraska and 

 Kansas can communicate more practical infor- 

 mation on that subject, free of charge, than Dr. 

 Hough will learn and communicate in a life- 

 time." 



With which we quite agree. We very much 

 doubt whether Dr. Hough or any other gentle- 

 man, however excellent, can tell us more than 

 the many complete works on Em-opean forestry 

 already tell us ; while on the other hand the 

 actual facts of growth, the adaptation of soils 

 I and climate to special kinds, and hundreds 

 1 of other practical points that we want to 

 i know, can only be learned by seeing Avhat has 

 been actually done in our own country. An 

 American " Forester " would learn more by a 

 visit to American nm'series, and American For- 

 estry plantations in six months, than he could 

 by plodding over Europe all his life-time. We 

 do not dispute that there may be some profit in 

 the end of such a visit, but it is a beginning at 

 the wrong end. 



The Red Pine. — A correspondent of the 

 Michigan Fanner, thus writes of this Pine. 

 There is not much demand for this tree, in the 



