1879.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



History of the Catalpa," that we have been 

 encouraged to inquire further into the history of 

 «ome very large trees about Philadelphia. We 

 have never felt any reason to doubt that the tree 

 IS to a certain extent indigenous ; that is to say 

 has wandered by natural means and not by the 

 hand of man into Pennsylvania, and that it has 

 been in the State for countless years. Originally 

 no doubt it was a wanderer from Japan. It 

 seems to love alluvial soils, and we have scarcely 

 a ri-ht to expect to find it far away from river 

 ■courses. At any rate whether it is actually indi- 

 genous to Pennsylvania or not, we can trace the 

 history of some trees fm'ther back than Mr. Price 

 places it. Dr. Lamborn — now in Europe, or we 

 would get further particulars — some years ago 

 told the writer of an old catalpa gate post, about 

 fifty years in the ground. That tree must have 

 been a very old tree when cut down sixty years 

 or more ago. Of living trees there is one on the 

 old battle-field of Germantown not far from the 

 celebrated "Chew's House," which was at that 

 celebrated battle of the Revolution an old tree. 

 One of the family kindly measured it for us re- 

 cently, and found it at sixteen inches from the 

 ground thirteen feet in circumference. Tliis 

 •enormous tree was certainly not planted by any 

 of the Chew family, and yet the property, pur- 

 chased from Mr. Edward Pennington, has been 

 in the possession of this family since 1763. Very 

 old people now living know of this as being a 

 A'ery large tree as far back in childhood as they 

 ■can recollect. 



Another huge tree is on the Johnson property 

 Bot far from the Chew estate. "We are indebted 

 TO Mr. Norton Johnson for a recent measure- 

 ment. He finds it fifteen feet six inches round, 

 •eighteen inches from the ground. The place 

 where it grows was a piece of forest at the Bat- 

 tle of Germantown, in 1777, and Mr. Johnson has 

 uo reason for believeing it was not a part of this 

 original forest. At any rate it was there when 

 his father purchased the property in 1795, and it 

 wa-'^ a large tree beyond his own recollection, 

 •extending clearly beyond fift}' years. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Kesttucky Coffee Tree Timber. — A cor- 

 resp')ndent interested in the forestry question, is 

 desirous of knowing what uses the timber of this 

 tree has been put to, and what are the circum- 

 fttauces und M- w'li -'i i' ^ • 'in ■: d i- iM ■ A'lv fscls 



from actual experience will be valuable and 

 welcome to us. 



Red and White Pines of Utah. — Mr. Siler 

 tells us that the Abies Douglasii bears the same 

 common name of "Red Pine" as it does in 

 Colorado. Abies Engelmanni from the high 

 mountain tops, is the " White Pine " of Utah. 



Larch Timber. — A Massachusetts correspon- 

 dent says : " I think that the burden of proof 

 about the quality of New England larch timber 

 is with you. If this tree does not produce here 

 valuable timber the fact ought to be known, so 

 that people may not go on planting it. On what is 

 your opinion based? Is not your idea of this 

 timber rather got from Pennsylvania or Western 

 grown specimens than from those grown here 

 where all the conditions for the developenif.nt 

 of this tree are better than in your warmer climate 

 and richer soil ? This seems too important a sub- 

 ject to pass by vvithout some further remark. 

 Yes, there is much Essex County soil which is 

 too poor but it produces our best fruit trees, even 

 White Pine won't grow on much of it." 



[It is precisely because we thought that " if the 

 larch does not produce valuable timber, the fact 

 ought to be known," that we made the sugges- 

 tion. Our hint was offered chiefly from the fact 

 that at almost any meetings of nurserymen of 

 wide experience the under-current conversation 

 is against the great value of the larch, as com- 

 pared with the wonderful accounts of its durabilitj' 

 we find in European books and forestry. Little 

 has certainly been said publicly against it, but it 

 is clearly the duty of the journalist to give the 

 news of the day when it is likely to have a wide- 

 spread importance, wherever he may find it. 



Outside of this under-current, there are physio- 

 logical reasons, in the wide-spread injury to the 

 leaves by fungoid attacks as already noted, which 

 must aftect the quality of the timber, and this 

 fact alone should at least induce caution in se- 

 lecting it for large investments. And this is 

 rather more than a physiological deduction, for 

 those who have kept the run of periodical litera- 

 ture know that this leaf disease prevails exten- 

 sively in Scotch forests, and that where it prevails 

 the timber is considered inferior to the best; and 

 it is also well known that in Scotland where the 

 larch has been tried to a greater extent than 

 perhaps anywhere, it is not nearly as popular for 

 planting as it once was. This is all the " proof" 

 we have for advising caution in its use. It may 

 be wortli a sroal" do^il iiioiv than wo nrc i'lclin'^d 



