CULTIVATION AND CARE OF PLANTATION. 



Whatever spacing distance is decided upon, it should be such as 

 to allow clean cultivation with the implements used in cultivating 

 the other crops grown on the farm. It is quite a common prac- 

 tice to grow a row of corn between the rows of trees the first 

 year. The corn usually more than pays for the cost of cultivating 

 the trees and thus reduces the cost of producing the crop of tim- 

 ber. 



Thorough cultivation is very necessary in a newly established 

 catalpa plantation. Like any other tree that has been trans- 

 planted, the catalpa is set in its new location with less than one- 

 fourth of its root system to gather moisture and to nourish it un- 

 til new roots can be grown. Under these conditions, the young 

 trees require the best of treatment if they are to succeed. Trees 

 respond to good cultivation as readily as any other cultivated 

 crop, and the start they get the first season is distinctly notice- 

 able for several years. The catalpa is a tree that comes into leaf 

 very late in the spring and it is one of the very first to lose its 

 leaves in the fall. 



Cultivation is, therefore, very necessary to keep grass and 

 weeds from gaining a foothold. A sod of grass is as injurious as 

 a growth of weeds, or even worse. The cultivation must be con- 

 tinued until the trees reach sufficient growth to shade the ground 

 completely. This growth will probably be attained during the 

 third year. 



The only care that the trees will require after cultivation 

 ceases is protection against injury by fire or live stock. The dan- 

 ger of injury by fire is not great unless there is a growth of grass 

 or weeds on the ground; the litter from the trees does not accu- 

 mulate in sufficient abundance to carry destructive fires. Live 

 stock of any kind is harmful to trees if the stock is given freedom 

 to range in the plantation. Cattle, horses, and sheep are especial- 

 ly harmful on account of trampling and packing the soil about the 

 trees. Trees demand a loose, friable soil and any treatment that 

 compacts the soil is detrimental to their growth and development. 



PROTECTION AGAINST RABBITS. 



The rabbits are the most destructive enemies that young catal- 

 pa trees have. They are particularly fond of the bark of the one- 

 and two-year-old trees. There are several methods of protecting 

 the young catalpas against rabbits. In small plantations where 

 there are but a few hundred trees to be protected, a simple and 



