80 FARM FORESTRY 



trees the wood is very tough. It is used chiefly in the manu- 

 facture of agricultural implements and carriages and for 

 cooperage and saddletrees. It is propagated by seeds. These 

 ripen in May and should be collected from the ground and at 

 once planted in the nursery in drills 8 to 10 inches apart. The 

 seed should not be allowed to dry out. The young seedlings 

 can be transplanted when a year old. It can be grown in pure 

 stands or in mixture with hardy catalpa, ashes, locusts, coffee- 

 tree, black walnut, black cherry, red cedar and European larch. 

 It should be planted 4 to 6 feet apart. The tree is seriously 

 affected by insects, especially the elm leaf beetle and other 

 leaf destroyers and by borers that girdle the inner bark, killing 

 the trees. In many regions it can be grown only by con- 

 stantly combatting such insect pests. 



Coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioicus). The coffeetree is 

 widely distributed throughout the eastern part of the country. 

 It is nowhere abundant, occurring only as solitary individuals 

 among other hardwoods. Forest-grown trees make a height 

 of 60 to 100 feet and a diameter of ij^ to 2 feet. Under very 

 favorable conditions the height growth for the first 30 to 40 

 years often amounts to I to 2 feet a year, while the annual 

 diameter growth is about y\ to y 2 inch a year. On poor 

 soil it is a slow-growing but long-living tree of small size. 

 The wood is heavy, moderately hard, very stiff, and of coarse 

 texture, and durable in contact with the soil. It shrinks and 

 checks considerably in drying, but works and stands well and 

 takes a high polish. It is used for cabinet work, rough lumber 

 and fence posts. It grows best on the richest bottomlands and 

 in moist ravines. It will grow, however, on the dry sandy 

 and gravelly soils of uplands. It is a hardy tree and will stand 

 the cold winters of Minnesota and the hot summers of Okla- 

 homa without injury. The comparatively large seed is pro- 

 duced in a pod which hangs on the tree often until far into 

 the winter. They should be collected and the seeds removed 

 and stored in a cool, dry place. Before planting in the spring 



