222 PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 



coming quickly to maturity, producing merchantable sawing timber and sev- 

 eral cross-ties in from fifteen to twenty years. 



The Indian tribes who dwelt in the valley of the Wabasli, or traversed 

 this region, sought such trees as could be easily wrought with their rude im- 

 plements, and those which were most enduring, from which to fashion their 

 canoes, and the Catalpa was their favorite wood. 



Usually those woods which are dense, and slow to mature, have great 

 durability, while the quick growing trees with softer wood soon perish. The 

 reverse is the case with Catalpa, its chemical constituents being permanent 

 antiseptics preserve the fibers from decay. 



The early white settlers in the valley of the Wabash were instructed as to the 

 valuable qualities of the Catalpa and they made use of it in constructing their 

 houses, boats and stockade forts, which have endured through more than a 

 century. 



General William H. Harrison often spoke of the Catalpa and urged its 

 cultivation, since he had known of its many valuable qualities during his resi- 

 dence at Vincennes. He had seen this wood sound and bright more than 

 a century after it had been placed in the stockades, and he used Catalpa for 

 posts in his fence ninety years ago, some of which are still standing. 



The author procured one of these posts for the New Orleans Exposition 

 in 1885 ; it was sound and good for many years' additional service. 



On the line of the Evansville & Terre Haute Railway I found a large 

 number of Catalpa posts which were set fully half a century ago, and are 

 still in use. 



Evidences of the durability of Catalpa wood are numerous as well as con- 

 vincing. 



The earthquake at New Madrid, Missouri, in 1811. threw down many 

 Catalpa trees and others were killed, but left standing. These were sound 

 and well preserved a few years since as mentioned by Mr. Barney in his book. 



WHY CATALPA IS DURABLE. 



Trees have the capability of appropriating from the soil such pigments 

 as will give them color, flavor or /other peculiarities. Upon the same soil 

 one tree will take up such materials as will produce a red apple, another 

 green, another yellow. The butternut stores up a valuable dye. etc. The 

 Catalpa takes those antiseptic substances which, in concentrated form, resist 

 the microbes of decay. These are built into the fiber wood, and when once 

 dry are incapable of solution in water. Millions of dollars are expended in 

 chemical treatment of wood to increase its durability. These chemicals, in 

 solution, are forced into the cells of the wood, and for a long period ward 

 off the fungii which cause rot or decay, but, in time, the elements dissolve 

 and wash out these artificial materials, leaving the wood unprotected. 



Catalpa is permanently protected because nature has enabled the tree to 

 make these antiseptics a part of the wood itself. Scientists have expended 

 much time in attempting to explain why some Catalpa trees arc decayed while 

 still living. It is simply that when the san is flowing freely, the antiseptic 

 materials are greatly diluted, and. if a limb has died and remains attached 



