RACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 



369 



had been enthusiastic in regard to the 

 catalpa tree, foremost of whom was 

 General William Henry Harrison, af- 

 terwards President of the United 

 States, who, while Governor of the 

 Northwest Territory, had his resi- 

 dence at Vincennes, Ind., among the 

 groves of catalpa trees on the banks of 

 the \Yabash River. There still remains 

 in the grounds of the Harrison home- 

 stead a fine catalpa tree, a successor to 

 the original tree which General Harri- 

 son so greatly admired. 



In 1818 Mr. Harrison delivered an 

 address before the Ohio Agricultural 

 Society upon the subject of the catalpa 

 tree, in which he urged that it be ex- 

 tensively planted, foreseeing almost a 

 century ago the destruction of great 

 forests which then densely covered the 

 entire Xorthwest Territory. He also 

 sent trees and seeds to his home at 

 North Bend, Ohio, and to many loca- 

 tions in the Eastern States. These 

 trees have been in evidence, and have 

 enabled us to determine the wide range 

 of country where it may be successful- 

 ly j^rown. 



Several civil engineers of that period 

 and the years succeeding have advo- 

 cated the use of catalpa wood in canal and 

 railway construction, and the cultivation 

 of the timber ; and when the early rail- 

 ways of Indiana, Illinois and Missouri 



were first constructed, large numbers of catalpa cross-ties, telegraph poles and 

 fence posts were used in these operations. Catalpa wood was the first timber 

 used for these purposes in the region where the trees were indigenous, and con- 

 tinued to be used so long as the wood could be obtained ; but the supply was quite 

 limited, and the demand was so great by farmers for fence rails and posts, and by 

 the railways for various purposes, the trees were almost exterminated. 



I afterwards became acquainted with the eminent pomologist, Dr. John A. 

 Warder, of Ohio, who had given the naine, speciosa, to the variety, which is 

 now recognized as the only catalpa of value for timber planting. Also I met 

 Mr. Robert Douglas, of Illinois, and Mr. H. H. Hunnewell, of Massachusetts, all 

 of whom had taken prominent interest in the catalpa. 



The knowledge that so many eminent citizens had recognized the merits of 



