366 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[December^ 



Forestry. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



ED IT O RIAL NOT lis. 



THE HARDY CATALPA. 



BY SUEL FOSTER, MUSCATINE, IOWA. 



Ill the Gardener's Monthly of November 

 Mr. Horace J. Smith has informed us of the large 

 C'atalpa in Fairmount Park, and in your note of 

 this ohl C'atalpa you sa}', "What will theso Wes- 

 tern friends think who believe Southern Indiana 

 produces the only hardy Catalpa?" And yet 

 neither Mr. Smith nor yourself have told us 

 whether the Fairmount tree is of the common 

 late blooming colored flower, or the hardy, 

 the early blooming, the large white flower, with 

 large seed pods. The same remark in regard 

 to those of Southern Indiana. Who can tell 

 which variety they are ? 



I infer that you think it hardy. We know that 

 many fruit and forest trees are called hardy at 

 Philadelphia that are not considered hardy in 

 Iowa and Xorthern Illinois, where occasionally 

 we have a Winter that will kill Smith's Cider, 

 Tulpehocken, Baldwin, Newtown Pippin, all 

 the Heart Cherries, and Peaches, and half the 

 Pears and Plums. How is it possible for you to 

 tell the hardy Catalpa from the tender, when 

 both stand the Winters of Philadelphia ? Dr. 

 John A. Warder, of Ohio, was at my house this 

 Fall, and he says that at Dayton, where he dis- 

 covered that there were two distinct varieties of 

 the Catalpa, they had not discovered the differ- 

 ance in hardiness, because both stand the Win- 

 ters of Dayton. 



We have been too slow in making the impor- 

 tant distinction between fruit and forest trees 

 that will live or die when those severe trying 

 Winters come, and come they will, and kill the 

 common tender Catalpa and our tender fruit 

 trees, which may be hardy with you. Dear-bought 

 experience is valuable, and we have it. 



[Mr. Barney taught us how to distinguish the 

 Catalpas by the roughness or smoothness of 

 the bark. The hardy Catalpa at Fairmount Park 

 is the tender one. — Ed- G. M.] 



Catalpa Planting in the We.st. — We are 



glad to learn that Robert Douglas, of Waukegan, 

 is engaged in the delivery and planting of lU0,OO(i 

 Catalpa trees for the Fort Scott Railroad Com- 

 pany. The Railroad Company lias done a good 

 thing, not only in plantini; for its future timber 

 supply, but also in selecting the Catalpa for the 

 purpose. We have had occular evidence that 

 the timber as posts is ^s near indestructible as 

 timber can well be, while the rapidity of its 

 growth is enormous. A tree on our own premi- 

 ses, cut down eight years ago, showed an aver- 

 age annual increase in diameter of three-quarters 

 of an inch a year. Some of the annual rings 

 were half an inch thick, making an inch in the 

 total diameter of the trunks. The trunk was 

 made into fence posts. One taken up last Win- 

 ter was as clean as a new post. To be sure, 

 seven years is not much, but many kinds of 

 wood would have shown some signs of decay at 

 least in that time. ^ The good point in this tim- 

 ber is that while hard and durable, it will hold 

 nails, and this is a good character all hard woods 

 do not possess. 



That Hardy Catalpa.— The Rural World 

 says that only the newly discovered variety of 

 Catalpa is hardy north of Indianapolis, and 

 those nurserymen who say it is, and sell accord- 

 ingly are "swindlers." AVhat is the mystery 

 behind all this plain language ? Are we enter- 

 ing on another white-willow campaign ? 



Profits of Forest Culture. — We have re- 

 peatedly shown that if forest culture were carried 

 on as a business, there is nothing that would 

 be more profitable when well managed. It 

 would not pay when bungled any more than any 

 other. To merely plant a lot of trees and wait 

 till they are saw-logs will never do, except for 

 one who is willing to die for his country, or 

 merely desires to preserve her in the dim future 

 from becoming an " arid waste." Forestry, when 

 conducted as it might be, ought to be able to 

 pay all expenses in a few years after planting, 



