AMERICAN FOREST TREES 477 



counterfeit is easily detected, since the artificial color which may be 

 imparted to catalpa is about the only resemblar"^ to mahogany. 



In the lower Mississippi valley some success, but on a very small 

 scale, has resulted from attempts to induce catalpa to grow in crooks 

 suitable for small boat knees. The young trunk, after being hacked on 

 one side, is bent and induced to grow the crook or knee. Natural crooks 

 have been utilized in the manufacture of knees for small boats in Louisi- 

 ana. 



Probably ninety per cent of all the catalpa ever cut has gone into 

 fence posts. It is habitually crooked. A straight bole is the exception; 

 though in plantations trees are crowded and pruned until they grow 

 fairly straight, and sometimes trunks of forest grown trees of large size 

 are nearly faultless in their symmetry. 



It was once believed in some quarters that catalpa would solve the 

 railroad tie problem by growing good ties quickly. It must be admitted, 

 however, that hi spite of extensive plantings, the railroad tie problem 

 has not yet been solved by catalpa. 



COMMON CATALPA (Catalpa catalpa) originated many hundred miles 

 outside the range of hardy catalpa, to judge by the localities hi which 

 it was first found by white men. It is supposed to have been in- 

 digenous in southwestern Georgia, central Alabama, and Mississippi, and 

 northwestern Florida. Its range has been greatly extended by planting, 

 and it grows in most parts of the country east of the Rocky Mountains, as 

 far north as New England. It has been planted in many parts of Europe. 

 Its leaves, flowers, fruit, and the tree itself are smaller than hardy 

 catalpa. The pods hang unopened all winter. The trunks sometimes 

 are three feet in diameter and sixty high, but are generally small, 

 crooked, rather angular, and poor in appearance, but the leaves and 

 flowers are ornamental. The wood is durable in contact with the ground, 

 and its largest use has been for posts, crossties, and poles. 



DESERT WILLOW (Chilopsis linearis) does not even belong to the 

 willow family, notwithstanding its names, all of which are based on the 

 presumption that it is a willow. The shape and size of its leaves are 

 responsible for that misapprehension. The very narrow leaves may be 

 a foot long. It is called flowering willow and Texas flowering willow. 

 Its flowers are always emphasized when it is compared with willow, for 

 they are totally different from the willow's characteristic catkins. The 

 flowers appear in early summer in racemes three or four inches long, and 

 continue open during several months in succession. The fruit is a pod 

 seven or nine inches long, and as slender as a lead pencil. It is this pod 

 which gives the plainest hint of its relationship to the catalpas, for it 

 is hi good standing in the family with them. The seeds resemble very 



