PRESS BULLETIN 



OK THK 



Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station 



NUMBER 326 WOOSTER, OHIO SEPTEMBER 18, 1911 



BEWARE OF SPURIOUS CATALPA STOCK 



DO NOT PURCHASE SEED OR TREES THIS FALL OR NEXT SPRING 



UNLESS YOU ARE SURE YOU ARE GETTING 



THE RIGHT KIND 



The catalpa speciosa seed crop during the spring of 1910 was almost com- 

 pletely destroyed by late frosts. Very few trees of this species throughout 

 Ohio bore seed, and reports from the sections of Indiana, Illinois and Missouri 

 where these trees are native indicate that the crop there also is very limited. 

 In consequence one-year-old seedlings of the tree will be difficult to obtain 

 next spring. 



Unscrupulous individuals purporting to represent reliable nursery firms, or 

 those representing firms of unknown or unstable reputation, have in the past 

 canvassed the state, distributing stock of the spurious or common catalpa, unfit 

 for commercial use, at exorbitant prices. The investigations of the Ohio 

 Experiment Station indicate that a great percentage of catalpa stock distributed 

 in the past has been spurious, and on account of the shortage in seed last year, 

 this practice may be expected to assume much greater proportions. 



The common catalpa (bignoni aides} bears seed much more prolirtcally than 

 the commercial speciosa, and the crop of the former was good last year, making 

 this species easy to obtain and substitute for the speciosa. 



Prospective planters next spring certainly need every assurance possible 

 before being justified in purchasing seed or trees of the 1910 seed crop. 



