April 1902.] The Hardy Catalpa. . 137 



THS UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS FOREST. 



The following description of this catalpa plantation is an extract 

 from a letter received from Dr. T. J. Burrill dated February 24, 1902 : 



"Replying to yours of the 23d instant, I will say that we have a plantation of 

 catalpa trees on the grounds of the University of Illinois, in connection with ex- 

 perimental planting of many other varieties. In 1871 seds were planted of 

 Catalpa bignonioides, or the tree native to the southern and eastern portion of 

 the United States, but at this time the difference between this species and that 

 now called C. speciosa was not recognized. Ten years afterwards seeds of the 

 latter were obtained and planted in nursery rows. When two years old the seed- 

 lings were removed to the experimental plantation and planted 4x8 feet apart. 

 They have since been thinned out from time to time, so that the trees now stand 

 about 8x16 feet distant. The first-mentioned variety was injured, however, five 

 or six years after the date of planting, by frost, so that in nearly every case the 

 heart of the trees now standing is decayed. Nothing of the kind has happened 

 to C. speciosa. As is the case with many other trees when planted by them- 

 selves, these have not developed in the latter years very rapidly. The average 

 diameter of trunks one foot above the ground is, in the midst of the plantation, 

 about five or six inches, while those at the end of the rows are eight to ten 

 inches. Some of the same trees planted out by themselves, cultivated for a few 

 years and then left in the sod, are usually about one foot in diameter. At the 

 present time the trees in the plantation of C. speciota are fully as large as C. 

 bignonioides." 



THE YAGGY FOREST. 



The catalpa plantation owned by Mr. L. W. Yaggy is situated in 

 the Arkansas river valley, four miles west of Hutchinson, Kan. The 

 soil is a loose, sandy loam, with occasional patches of clay. The 

 water-table lies from six to twelve feet below the surface, and the 

 trees have never suffered from drought. The oldest plantation, of 120 

 acres, was set in 1890. Eighty acres were planted in 1891, and 240 

 acres in 1892. The latest plantation was set out in 1895, and the land 

 in trees amounts to about 500 acres at the present time. The trees 

 were grown from seedlings on the plantation and set] out when one 

 year old. At two years the trees were cut back to the ground and al- 

 lowed to sprout during one season. The next season all sprouts were 

 cut away except the most vigorous one on each stump, which was 

 allowed to remain to form the final tree. Cultivation was continued 

 until the fourth year. In the youngest plantation the roots are five 

 years old from setting, while the trunks are three years old. This is 

 the finest of the several plantings, the trees being straight, well- 

 pruned, and with high crowns. Some of the trees were cut back to 

 the ground in the winter of 1900-'01. In such cases, where but one 

 sprout has been allowed to grow from each stump, sprouts will aver- 

 age eight feet in height. Some of the trees, at the age of three years 

 from the cutting back, are large enough for post timber. The first 

 thinning of the oldest part of the plantation was done in 1897 and 1898. 



