MODERN FORESTRY 



sive plantings of the hardy catalpa for the pur- 

 pose of procuring railroad ties. These were 

 begun some eight or ten years ago and are 

 doing as well as could be reasonably expected. 

 Most of these catalpa groves, however, have 

 been too closely planted for best results, as is 

 very evident now. In the future these trees 

 will not be planted nearer than eight by eight 

 feet. Even then thinnings will have to be 

 made in the somewhat early history of the 

 plantation. Considerable European larch was 

 planted twenty or thirty years ago, and there 

 are now several very fine groves of it, though 

 small in size. The black walnut, too, was simi- 

 larly planted years ago, but here, again, the 

 trees were set too near together and the devel- 

 opment has been much slower than anticipated. 

 This tree can hardly be said to have come into 

 a marketable condition in any of these plant- 

 ings. It is especially valuable only after it 

 reaches a large size. The black walnut grows 

 well enough in any situation in Illinois, and is 

 esteemed exceedingly valuable for posts and 

 railroad ties ; but on the rich black loams, orig- 

 inally prairie, the trunk-boring insects destroy 

 it, while upon the drier clayey or gravelly 



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