78 T/ie Catalpa. 



season they ga\'e mc half a bushel each of the finest fruit. I have the Bartlett, 

 Tyson, Flemish Beauty, and Seckel, and Vicar, as standards, all of which fruited 

 handsomely this season. The Flemish Beauty yielded between one and two bushels 

 of the finest pears, some specimens ten and a half inches in circumference around the 

 swell. They ripened on shelves in a dark room, beautiful as wax-work, of superior 

 flavor, and no rotting at the core. I had Vicjirs of fine size and good flavor at my 

 Christmas dinner. For winter stock, I have set out Winter Nelis and Buerre d'Ar- 

 emburg. This fall my two Dwarf Vicars perished miserably with the sap blight, all 

 the other trees seem i-emarkably healthy. 



I have a variety of grapes coming on, but as yet the Concord is my main reliance; 

 for two seasons I have lost about half my crop by the honey bees, and next year 

 propose to treat them with bottles of switchel, which will deplete my neighbors' 

 hives, and possibly save my fruit. 



With six years of experience and observation, I have reached the general conclu- 

 sion, that an amateur horticulturist, advanced in years, should eschew experiments 

 and seedlTngs, and stock his garden with the best authenticated and finest improved 

 fruits to be found in the nurseries, and then the price of good fruit (as of Liberty) is 

 "eternal vigilance." 



West Yirgiida, January, 1873. 



The Catalpa. 



IT has always been a wonder to me, in reading lists of trees given for ornamental, 

 for street, for timber, and western prairie planting, that the Catalpa is so seldom 

 mentioned and planted — it certainly only needs to be seen and known to be appreci- 

 ated. Mr. Foster, in November number of Horticulturist, speaks of two kinds, 

 one as tender, and the other as hardy. I was not aware that there was more than 

 one kind ; the one we have is perfectly hardy here, at Cincinnati ; ours has very 

 large leaves, the largest of any hardy tree we have ; the flowers are numerous, even 

 on very small trees, quite fragrant, last some time, makes a dense shade tree, very 

 free from insects, so far as I have observed ; and above all, for value in western tree- 

 planting, it is, to the best of my knowledge, a most durable wood for posts, etc., 

 standing in the same list with Mull)erry, Locust and Cedar; and for rapidity of 

 growth, there are very few kinds that will equal it. I have one standing on my place 

 that has been planted about fifty years, it will measure fifty feet in height and eigh- 

 teen inches in diameter at the butt ; single trees are apt to grow very spreading, but 

 in close planting, for timber, they will grow straight and tall. 



Where is the native place of this tree ? I was under the impression that it was a 

 native of Iowa and Illinois, from what an uncle of mine, who moved from this place 

 to Davenport, Iowa, many years ago, told me ; he said that th^re they grew large 

 and plenty enough for making railroad ties, and were used for that purpose ; was he 

 mistaken in the tree ? I am very sure he was speaking of the Catalpa at the time. 

 In conclusion, will say that it never sprouts, but will spread to some extent from the 

 seeds. C. J. J. 



Cincinnati. , 



