April 1902.] The Hardy Catalpa. 141 



Horticultural Department. 



ALBERT DICKENS, M. S., Acting Horticulturist. 

 G. O. GREENE, B. S., Assistant. 



The Catalpa Plantations at the Agricultural College. 



THE earliest planting of catalpa by the Agricultural College was 

 made in 1872. The trees were a part of a mixed planting made on 

 the old College farm. Prof. E. Gale, in a report made to the State 

 Board of Agriculture, and published as a part of the Transactions of 

 the State Board of Agriculture, 1872, page 430, says in regard to the 

 soil: "The land selected for this purpose was that least adapted to 

 the cultivation of cereals or root crops of any now broken, up on the 

 College farm. This selection, all things considered, was thought 

 best, for it is, in general, this quality of soil the high, gravelly and 

 broken ridges which should ultimately be planted to forest." 

 Speaking of the planting as a whole, he says: "As was anticipated, 

 the ^growth of the young trees has not been as vigorous upon this 

 soil as it would have been upon lower and richer land, but still 

 abundantly sufficient to give the most encouraging promise of future 

 success." Speaking of the growth of the catalpa, in this planting, 

 he says: "The catalpa has made a growth of from twelve to twenty 

 inches from seed." 



In part II of the Fifth Biennial Report of the State Board of Ag- 

 riculture, 1885-'86, page 159, in "Notes from the Experimental Tree- 

 planting at the Agricultural College," Prof. E. A. Popenoe says 

 regarding the catalpas planted in 1872: "Catalpa speciosa. On 

 poor gravelly clay soil, planted much more closely than the white 

 ash, not thinned, excepting by the removal here and there of trees 

 for posts. Stand about twenty-five feet in height, and have an aver- 

 age circumference of about fifteen inches ; the largest trees twenty- 

 two inches at four feet from the ground. Trunks more likely to 'fork 

 or carry large branches below than those of white ash." 



It will be noted from the foregoing quotations that the catalpas, 

 even on this exceedingly poor soil, were being cut for posts when not 

 more than thirteen years from planting. Having been planted so 

 long before the establishment of the Experiment Station, accurate 

 records are wanting. Some posts have been cut nearly every season ; 

 in 1901 sixty-five were cut from this planting. It is evident from the 

 information available that the ground has paid as high a rental as 



