CULTIVATION AND CARE. 



Catalpa requires especial care if the best results are to be secured. 

 Waste land and rocky hillsides are not suited to catalpa growing. 

 In forest planting for profit such sites should be planted with saw- 

 timber species and the catalpa confined to some area of good arable 

 land, set aside expressly for the production of fence posts and small 

 material. 



It is usually advisable to cultivate plantations during the first three 

 seasons, although in regions of abundant rainfall they may be planted 

 with cowpeas or soy beans or sown to crimson clover after one season's 

 cultivation. The disk harrow is the most suitable implement for the 

 first cultivation, after which a common harrow may be used. The 

 soil should be stirred often enough to maintain a good dust mulch 

 for conserving moisture. After the first year cultivation should be 

 shallow, so as not to mutilate the roots of the trees, and during the 

 third season it may not be feasible at all, since by that time the ground 

 between the rows will often be filled with a network of roots. 



Except in the South, on rich soils, where height growth is especially 

 vigorous, the young trees should be cut back to the ground during 

 late winter or early spring after one or two seasons of growth in the 

 plantation. A number of sprouts will spring up from the stump dur- 

 ing the following spring, all of which should be removed during the 

 early part of the growing season except the most vigorous one. Care 

 should be taken not to tear the bark when removing the sprouts. The 

 surviving stem should make a straight branchless growth of from 6 to 

 10 fe^t the first season, and will largely do away with the necessity of 

 pruning. Cutting back offers the simplest means of producing! 

 straight trunks, and without retarding ultimate height growth, it 

 accomplishes the same object as pruning at less expense. 



If pruning is undertaken it should be done late in the winter or 

 in early spring before growth starts. In no case should catalpa trees 

 be pruned to a whip. All trees which become severely injured in any 

 way, as by wind, fire, or animals, should be cut back to the ground 

 without delay. 



In case the trees have been planted as closely as 4 fee't apart it will 

 be necessary to commence thinning the plantation in about four to 

 six years, and before any of the stems will be marketable except for 

 stakes. If, however, a wider spacing has been used and proper care 

 and attention given the plantation, thinnings will not be needed until 

 eight to ten years after planting, when many of the trees will yield 

 one or two posts each. 



Between the ages of 15 and 20 th*e entire plantation may be cut 

 clean for posts and a new forest allowed to start from the stump 

 sprouts, or it may again be thinned and the best trees left standing 



[Cir. 82] 



