'2\ 



The variety Speciosa. or Western Catalpa: 



Tre< .More erect, naturally growing taller, and better furnished with 

 limbs when exposed to the light. In thick groves, erect, straight 

 and tall, often lit'ty feet high to limbs, which are not unfrequently 

 broken in the forests when old. In cultivation this is more hardy 

 than the species. 



H<trk- \\\ young trees is light gray, becoming darker with age. Adhering 

 closely, and moderately furrowed vertically, thicker, because it does 

 not scale off, and in old trees it may become quite dark. 



Isaiw Like the other, but of a paler tint of green; when first expand- 

 ing on young seedlings they often have a dull, livid hue. 



MOHVI-X Much larger, nearly pure white, markings in the throat clear 

 yellow and purple, very showy, and expanding from one to three 

 weeks earlier. 



l'\-n!t Often less abundant, pods usually larger and longer, 15-20 and 

 more inches, cylindrical, ("5-7 lines in diameter. They are generally 

 of a darker brown color, and usually marked with distinct parallel 

 grooves extending their entire length. 



,sv<W.s' - Decidedly winged and fully fringed at both ends heavier and 

 larger than the species, and wider, 4 lines. The texture of the mem- 

 brane- and tuft is more silky, compared with the satiny and harsher 

 tissue enveloping the seeds of the species, or common catalpa. 



RANGE AND RELATIVE HAKDIXESS. 



Let us' now take a glance at the range to which these trees have been 

 taken in their migrations, and we shall see that they differ in their rela- 

 tive hardiness. This is a very important consideration to the practical 

 tree-planter who is looking to the production of groves for economical 

 purposes. In the milder climate of Western Europe our trees may reach 

 a much higher latitude than here. Thus we find that the Georgia Catalpa 

 thrives in the South of France and in Italy. Its limbs or twigs are some- 

 times cut by frosts in Paris, where, however, it has attained fair propor- 

 tions. It has grown to a good si/e at Vienna, Austria. Dr. F. Brendel, 

 of Peoria, Illinois, to whom the writer acknowledges indebtedness for 

 man}' botanical references relating to the genus catalpa, has just written 

 that in 1S4() he collected flowering specimens in Bamberg, Germany, 

 latitude oO N., and 7<>0 feet above the sea. The trees were then about 

 ten inches diameter, and he thinks they were of the (.'astern kind. In 

 the .South of England it has grown well, blossoming in London at mid- 

 summer, but rarely perfecting its seeds. In Glasgow, Scotland, it is al- 

 most an herbaceous plant, not perfecting its woody fiber; and at St. 

 Petersburg!!, in Russia, it requires the protection of the green-house. 

 All these foreign trees are believed to be of the Georgia kind. 



In very early times, in our own country, this catalpa was planted for 

 ornament and' shade in all the towns along the Atlantic coast, and it 

 may be found even in Massachusetts, where, however, Professor Sargent 

 says, though it has survived for 7"> and perhaps for KM) years, it does not 

 always perfect its seed, and can not be considered a perfectly hardy tree; 

 nor ("iocs he recommend it to planters there, "except perhaps in favored 

 localities, like the valley of the Connecticut." 



In the later edition of Darlington's Agricultural Botany, where it is 

 described as a small tree, Dr. Geo. Thurber, the editor, adds this observa- 

 tion: " In the latitude of New York the larger branches, and frequently 

 whole trees are killed bv a severe winter." 



