growing in the open usually produce a large quantity of seeds of 

 high vitality. 



METHODS OF PROPAGATION. 



The catalpa reproduces readily from the seed and also by sprouts 

 from the stumps of thrifty trees that have been cut. The seeds 

 grow with great vigor when planted under favorable conditions 

 and properly cultivated. The soil in the seed-bed should be made 

 as fine as possible before the seed is sown. The physical condi- 

 tion of the seed-bed soil practically determines the success of the 

 planting. The seed should be sown in broad drills three or four 

 inches in width and one-half inch deep, at the rate of thirty-five to 

 forty seeds per linear foot. The drills should be wide enough 

 apart to allow cultivation by horsepower, three and one-half feet 

 being a very satisfactory distance. 



On account of the shape of the seeds and their light weight, it 

 is impossible to sow them with a machine. In practically all 

 nurseries the seed is sown by hand. Covering the seed is an op- 

 eration that deserves special attention. The customary practice is 

 to cover the seed with about two inches of soil. This is to insure 

 the seed against drying out before it germinates. This amount of 

 covering makes a mound over the drill-row. Under favorable 

 conditions the seeds will germinate in from five to eight days. As 

 soon as the germ has broken through the seed-coat, the mound of 

 earth should then be raked off the drill-row until the soil immedi- 

 ately above the seeds is not over one-half inch deep. Mounding 

 the drill-rows in this way has a three-fold advantage. The first 

 is, that it keeps the catalpa seeds from drying out or perishing be- 

 fore they germinate. The second is, that all of the weed-seed 

 contained in the soil covering the catalpa seed has an opportunity 

 to germinate as quickly as the catalpa seed, and, in leveling the 

 mound above the catalpa seed, the weeds are all killed and the ca- 

 talpa seedlings come up in a clean, fresh soil. The third advan- 

 tage is, that if the soil has a tendency to bake and form a crust, 

 raking the mound down also breaks up the- crust which may have 

 formed up to the time when the catalpas are practically ready to 

 come through the surface. But under no conditions should the 

 catalpa be expected to grow through more than a half inch of soil. 

 The seeds are small and the germs have not the strength to grow 

 through a greater depth of soil than this. 



The seed should not be sown until the ground is thoroughly 

 warm and danger of frost is entirely past. Nothing is gained by 

 early seeding, and often the seeds perish in the ground when a 

 period of cool weather comes immediately after planting. The 



