22 



About Philadelphia, Mr. Meehan, editor of the Gardener's Monthly, con- 

 siders it perfectly hardy, and indeed the writer himself long ago noticed 

 that it was becoming naturalized there and springing up spontaneously. 



From Eli K. Price, Esq., Chairman of the Committee on Trees arid 

 Nurseries in the Fairmount Park, and a devotee to sylviculture, the fol- 

 lowing facts have been kindly furnished: 



"I have been here since 1815, and have known the tree as common 

 since that time." He then quotes a catalogue of Dr. Muhlenberg's, dated 

 1791, which included the catalpa, but not native. "There is one growing 

 before my window on the north-west corner of Washington Square, with 

 a girth of eight feet, four feet from the ground. Tins was probably 

 planted in the spring of 1816. We have one in the 



Fairmount Park, a larger catalpa, on the west side of the Schuylkill, now 

 surrounded by a dense growth of its seedlings." 



This is a pretty good showing for that side of the mountains; let us 

 trace its westward migrations, and look at its deportment on tne other 

 slope, in the valleys of the St. Lawrence, the Ohio, the Mississippi, and 

 the Missouri, the Platte and the Ka\v rivers, for, with the men of the 

 East, this south-eastern tree has also followed the Star of Empire, reach- 

 ing out into the borders of what used to be called the Great American 

 Desert, or what is now more appropriately named, smiling Kansas. 



At Rochester, New York, it is not considered perfectly hardy, for it 

 "suffers in severe winters," as reported by Mr. William Barry; though 

 it lives, grows finely, and perfects its seed, by which it has been identified 

 and distinguished from the western form. 



At Painesville, in the north-eastern part of Ohio, Mr. J. J. Harrison 

 says his trees have not suffered, but appear to be hardy, perhaps pro- 

 tected by the lake influence. His plants were imported from France, 

 and the fruit and seed bear a close resemblance to those received direct 

 from Georgia and Alabama, where, it is most probable, M. Michaux ob- 

 tained the seeds he sent home to France, whence their progeny have 

 now r been returned to us. 



In the north-western part of this State, however, at Toledo, Ohio, as 

 reported by Prof. E. W. E. Koch, the catalpa is killed to the ground al- 

 most every winter. All through the southern part of this State, and in 

 the adjoining portions of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky, 

 the tree survives, and thrives, though in the middle range of counties. 

 and generally on the parallel of 40 degrees and northward, the young- 

 plants are sometimes cut to the ground. A similar report may be made 

 for Michigan, for Northern Indiana, and Illinois, for Wisconsin, for lov.a. 

 Nebraska, and for Kansas, at least North of the Kaw River, as well as 

 for the North part of Missouri, and even in St. Louis, in latitude 36.37, 

 where thousands of this kind of catalpa are to be seen in the streets and 

 parks, it is reported, upon the best authority, that they have suffered in 

 severe winters. 



Let us now look at the more satisfactory record of the Speciosa Catalpa, 

 so far as it has been possible to trace its history and behavior through 

 the forced migrations it has made under man's 'interfering agency. As 

 informed by Mr. Jos. S. Fay, of Massachusetts, this tree was carried from 

 CincinnatVOhio, twenty-six years ago; it has thriven and grown to good 

 size at Fahnouth, near the coast, and maintains its high reputation there. 

 Some other trees were planted in the same neighborhood forty-five years 

 ago, and have attained a large size without injury. 



Seeds taken from Kentucky to Michigan grow well, and are perfectly 

 hardy on sandy uplands in Washtenaw County, while those on clay lands, 

 especially whore low, had been injured ; so writes Mr. Joseph Bennett. 

 Some of 'this lot of trees were taken to Nebraska, and were planted on 

 the high exposed rolling prairie, near Omaha, where, in the hands of 



