218 PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 



issued. Altogether 50,000 copies were sent out, while it has been printed in 

 various daily papers, in whole or in part, so that many thousands of copies 

 have been circulated. 



Inquiries for the booklet have been received from Rome, Berlin, London 

 and many portions of Europe and from Australia and New Zealand, besides 

 the demand from America. After revising and adding much new matter the 

 subject was continued in the magazine ARBORICULTURE in 1903, sixty thousand 

 copies being distributed, and now the many thousands of inquiries from all 

 parts of the world demand a tenth edition and I am now adding to the text 

 much new matter with numerous half tone engravings and all obtainable 

 information in regard to this most valuable, economic tree, making it as com- 

 plete as possible to this date. 



THE CATALPA SPECIOSA. 



There is such a close resemblance between the various forms of Catalpa, 

 both those of Asiatic origin and the American trees, that a close study of the 

 variations has not been made until quite recently. 



The fact that the two principal forms indigenous to the United States 

 are so similar in many of their characteristics, and the hybrids are so numer- 

 ous, make it a difficult matter even for experts to determine precisely where to 

 place them botanically, except when they are in flower. 



It is not strange, therefore, that early botanists failed to discover and 

 describe Catalpa spcciosa. 



In 1818, Thomas Nuttall had heard that there were two varieties of 

 catalpa, but he had never seen speciosa. The southern form, Catalpa bigiwn- 

 oides, has a great range, being found upon the hills as well as river bottoms 

 throughout most of our southern states, while Catalpa spcciosa was confined 

 to a very limited tract along the overflowed lands of the lower Wabash 

 river, apparently distributed solely by the backwaters up the nearby creeks, 

 and down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, as far as New Madrid, Mo. In 

 Southeastern Missouri the two forms meet, both being found growing to- 

 gether with many hybrids. The beauty of the flowers has alone prevented 

 the extermination of the Catalpa 'spcciosa. Its extremely valuable character 

 was known to the earliest settlers of the Northwest Territory and to the 

 Indians before, and as the tree does not easily propagate in nature, and the 

 demand was great for durable timber, the original forests were practically 

 destroyed. Gen. Wm. H. Harrison and a few other enterprising pioneers car- 

 ried the seeds and trees to distant points for ornament and shade. Some of 

 these stocked the home of General Harrison, near Cincinnati, and the sur- 

 rounding country. From these early plantings others have been distributed 

 through the United States, until specimens of the Catalpa are found in every 

 state, as well as Canada and Mexico. Probably the greatest number of large 

 trees in the United States are about Cincinnati. Ohio: North Bend, Ohio, 

 the home of General Harrison, being but 19 miles distant. This was also the 

 home of Dr. John A. Warder, whose interest in the Catalpa was very great, 

 and who described and named the large growing variety Catalpa spcciosa in 1853. 



