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1123 ANNUAL REPORT. 
ber was known only to grow in a semi-mild climate, he did not suppose it. 
could be found so far north, though he thought it must belong to that spe- 
cies of timber. After making other unseccessful efforts in classing it, the 
matter was forgotten until the spring of 1873, when I was in the capitol 
grounds at Indianapolis, Indiana, I discovered trees of a kindred character 
and appearance to the long forgotton unknown timber on Lake Minnetonka. 
I eagerly asked the name of the trees and were informed that they were the: 
Catalpa, which, to my own satisfaction, solved the Minnetonka problem. 
Upon my returning home to this city, I immediately ordered a few Catalpas 
from J. S. Shearman, of the North-Western Nursery, at Rockford, Ill. I 
only retained one, which is alive and in my grounds at this time, and though 
it has never had half a show for its life, I do not think a bud has ever been 
destroyed. Each year it sends out its bloom. My immediate neighbor, 
Mark T. Berry, Esq., has one from the same lot, which, in like manner, has 
also for the past three or four years sent out its annual blossoms. There 
are other Catalpas in the gardens of some of our citizens, but in some 
instances they have not proved as hardy as could be wished, but evidently 
they belong to a more tender variety. 
During the past year I had sent me by a gentleman from Ohio samples of 
the two varieties of Catalpas, to which I called the attention of Mr. Tuttle, 
one of the parties who cut and manufactured the timber from Minnetonka. 
He immediately recognized it as identical with the strange wood which we 
had not been able to classify for so many long years. How, or in what way 
this little grove of Catalpas originated on the shores of the lake; solitary 
and alone, we have never been able to determine. 
The hardier variety of the Catalpa, as well as that of the more tender, is- 
a timber of great merit. Quick in growth, of lasting durability, beautiful 
as shade and ornamental trees, it is admitted by the most skeptical that it 
is hardy as far north as latitude 42°. 1 do not recommend it as hardy in this 
climate, though it may be. I only speak of my own experience, and with 
my humble experience in the propagation of trees in this section of the 
Northwest. I should not hesitate to plant this variety of timber could I 
personally superintend the necessary cultivation in order that they might. 
reach maturity. 
DISCUSSION. 
Catalpa. 
Mr. Sias. Have seen fine trees growing well in Olmsted 
County. They are hardy on high ground and northern exposure, 
They bloom finely. 
Mr. Carter. I have had it several years, and it kills down. 
yearly. It grows rapidly during the summer. 
Mountain Ash from Seed. 
Mr. Brimhall. Would like to hear how to grow Mountain 
Ash from the seed. 
