214 LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 



We have seen the Catalpa employed to great advantage 

 in fixing and holding up the loose soil of river banks, 

 where, if planted, it will soon insinuate its strong roots, 

 and retain the soil firmly. In Ohio, experiments have 

 been made with the timber for the posts used in fencing ; 

 and it is stated on good authority that it is but little 

 inferior, when well seasoned, to that of the locust in 

 durability. 



Michaux mentions that he has been assured that the 

 honey collected from the flowers is poisonous ; but this we 

 are inclined to doubt ; or at least we have witnessed no ill 

 effects from planting it in abundance in the middle States, 

 in those neighborhoods where bees are kept in considerable 

 numbers. 



The Catalpa is very easily propagated from seeds sown 

 in any light soil ; and the growth of the young plants is 

 extremely rapid. C. syringafolia is the only species.^ 



THE PERSIMON TREE. Diospyros. 

 Nat. Ord. Ebenacese. Lin. Syst. Polygamia, Dicecia. 



The Highlands of the Hudson, and about the same 

 latitude on the Connecticut, may be considered the 

 northern limits of this small tree. It generally forms a 

 spreading loose head, of some twenty or thirty feet high, 

 in good soils in the middle states ; but we have seen a 



* This was quite true when the above chapter was written. Since when, we 

 have C. ~bun(jei, C. Icemferi, and C. Mmmalayensis the first two being 

 dwarfs. 



