142 Horticultural Department. [Bulletin 108 



good land has paid in farm crops. The trees have not renewed from 

 sprouts as readily as have the trees on lower, richer land, but have 

 done fairly well in this respect. At this date, November, 1901, 

 nearly thirty years from planting, and with good rent for the past 

 sixteen years, this plat of ground of about three-fourths of an acre 

 contains 350 trees, which would cut at least 610 good posts. This 

 does not represent all the value of this planting, for the soil is evi- 

 dently very much better than when the trees were planted. The 

 leaves have given texture to the soil, which now. shows some consid- 

 erable humus in its composition. The ground is now practically 

 under forest conditions, and seedlings of box-elder, mulberry, elm, 

 ash, oak and red cedar are found growing among the catalpas. Plate 

 I shows one of the best of the trees now growing in this planting ; it 

 is twelve inches in diameter and over thirty-five feet high. Some 

 idea of the growth of underbrush and young trees may be had from 

 the same plate. 



In the spring of 1888 the horticultural department of the Experi- 

 ment Station planted about two and sixth-tenths acres of the old Col- 

 lege farm to catalpas. The soil of this plat, while not so decidedly 

 poor as that of the planting of 1872, is very thin, and is underlaid by 

 a hard, poor subsoil. Plantings were made four feet by two feet ; 'four 

 feet by four feet, and four feet by eight feet. All were given good, 

 clean cultivation for two years. The third season the trees set eight 

 feet by four feet were cultivated ; those set closer were large enough 

 to make cultivation difficult. The ground was well shaded and fairly 

 well covered with leaves, so the lack of cultivation did not seem to 

 affect their growth. Each season the trees were trimmed to prevent 

 their branching too low for the formation of good posts. Results 

 show that the time required for trimming was well spent. 



In the rows set four feet by two feet, many of the trees died or were 

 cut out within a few years after planting, before the wood was of any 

 value. Subsequent thinnings gave wood and stakes enough to pay 

 for the work. This planting, for the last eight or nine years, has been 

 practically a four-by-four-foot planting. The trees which were re- 

 moved seemed to have little effect in causing a taller, straighter growth ; 

 the trees in the four-feet-by-two-feet block showing little difference in 

 height and somewhat less in diameter ; in other words, the additional 

 trees were of no benefit, but, on the contrary, were a detriment. In a 

 part of this planting where the trees had been left at the original dis- 

 tances until 1900, the trees in one of the four-foot rows had more than 

 twice the amount of posts and wood as the trees two feet apart. 



Comparing the plantings originally 4x4 and 4x8, the* thinner 

 plantings have given the best results. Ten rows, 4x4 feet. 117 feet 



