

EXPERIMENT STATION 



OF THE 



KANSAS STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, 



MANHATTAN. 



BULLETIN No. 108 APRIL 1902. 

 THE HARDY OATALPA. 



HORTICULTURAL AND BOTANICAL DEPARTMENTS. 



THE BOTANICAL DEPARTMENT. 



H. F. ROBERTS, M. S M Botanist. 



The Hardy Catalpa (Catalpa speciosa) as an Economic Tree. 



INTRODUCTION. 



ALTHOUGH the merits of catalpa timber have been sufficiently rec- 

 ognized in the past by individual botanists, foresters, and business 

 men, the majority of the publications calling the attention of the pub- 

 lic to its value appeared before practical experience in growing the 

 tree in forest plantations had made it possible for a comparative study 

 of methods of management of such plantations to be made, or any 

 conclusions to be drawn as to cost of raising the trees or the possible 

 profits. Since the information now become available, through ex- 

 perience gained at several large commercial plantations in this state, 

 appears likely to be of value to the economic interests of the West gen- 

 erally, it seems desirable to publish all the accumulated data available. 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 



The fact that there were two American forms of catalpa appears to 

 have been noticed by the earlier botanical explorers. Thomas Nuttall, 

 "Genera of North American Plants," vol. I, p. 10 (1818), was appar- 

 ently the first to report the presence of Catalpa speciosa in the region 

 where it now seems to have been indigenous, viz., along the rivers and 

 in the bottom lands of that belt of country in the Mississippi basin 

 trending southwest from southern Illinois and Indiana, through western 



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