State Board of Forestry. 19 



in 1910 and 1911. The total number of leaves, the number with 

 one lobe and the number with two lobes were counted. The 

 trees used were sielected from four tracts of catalpa of different 

 ages. Ten consecutive trees, selected from an average row, con- 

 stitute a group, which is the unit used in this experiment. One 

 or more units were selected from each tract. Some of the units 

 were from parts of the tracts that had been cultivated and pruned, 

 and other units from parts that had not been cultivated or pruned. 

 A detail of the counts of the several groups is not given, and 

 only the totals of the several groups are given at this time. In 

 1910 ten of the 130 trees contained lobed leaves. In 1911 twenty- 

 nine of the 130 trees contained lobed leaves. Five trees only had 

 lobed leaves both years. It will be noted that twenty-nine of the 

 130 trees had lobed leaves one year and entire leaves the next. 



CULTIVATION AND PRUNING OF THE EXPERIMENTAL 



TRACTS. 



The younger plantations were cultivated with a two-horse culti- 

 vator and the older ones with a one-horse cultivator. Some of the 

 older tracts were given cultivations and hoeings that were not nec- 

 essary for the forest growth, but in order to make the tracts ac- 

 cessible to visitors it w^as necessary to keep down briars and 

 v\^eeds. 



The value of pruning is demonstrated in each tract. A part 

 of each tract is permitted to grow without pruning and the re- 

 mainder receives some kind of pruning. The purpose of pruning 

 is to obtain a straight tree and to prevent it forming a permanent 

 fork. In the main the coppice method appears to be the most eco- 

 nomical and satisfactory method of accomplishing the above re- 

 sults, especially with walnut and catalpa. 



Last spring the greater part of Tract No. 5 was coppiced. This 

 tract was planted to walnut in 1905, and since the species is not 

 well adapted to the soil the trees have not made a rapid growth 

 and a majority of them had a bushy top and only a few an up- 

 right leader. Seven thousand six hundred and forty-two were 

 coppiced and only 52 failed to sprout from the stump. 



Extensive experiments have been started in the coppicing of 

 catalpa. The purpose of these experiments is to obtain informa- 

 tion on the following points: To learn if the catalpa should be 

 coppiced when 1, 2 or 3 years old. To determine if coppicing at 

 one time of the year produces more favorable results than at an- 



