218 PRACTICAL, AAR BORIC ULE PUI 
issued. Altogether 50,000 copies were sent out, while it has been printed in 
various daily papers, in whole or in part, so that many thousands of copies 
have been circulated. 
Inquiries for the booklet have been received from Rome, Berlin, London 
and many portions of Europe and from Australia and New Zealand, besides 
the demand from America. After revising and adding much new matter the 
subject was continued in the magazine ARBORICULTURE in 1903, sixty thousand 
copies being distributed, and now the many thousands of inquiries from all 
parts of the world demand a tenth edition and I am now adding to the text 
much new matter with numerous half tone engravings and all obtainable 
information in regard to this most valuable, economic tree, making it as com- 
plete as possible to this date. 
THE CATALPA SPECIOSA. 
There is such a close resemblance between the various forms of Catalpa, 
both those of Asiatic origin and the American trees, that a close study of the 
variations has not been made until quite recently. 
The fact that the two principal forms indigenous to the United States 
are so similar in many of their characteristics, and the hybrids are so numer- 
ous, make it a difficult matter even for experts to determine precisely where to 
place them botanically, except when they are in flower. 
It is not strange, therefore, that early botanists failed to discover and 
describe Catalpa speciosa. 
In 1818, Thomas Nuttall had heard that there were two varieties of 
catalpa, but he had never seen speciosa. The southern form, Catalpa bignon- 
oides, has a great range, being found upon the hills as well as river bottoms 
throughout most of our southern states, while Catalpa speciosa was confined 
to a very limited tract along the overflowed lands of the lower Wabash 
river, apparently distributed solely by the backwaters up the nearby creeks, 
and down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, as far as New Madrid, Mo. In 
Southeastern Missouri the two forms meet, both being found growing  to- 
gether with many hybrids. The beauty of the flowers has alone prevented 
the extermination of the Catalpa speciosa. Its extremely valuable character 
was known to the earliest settlers of the Northwest Territory and to the 
Indians before, and as the tree does not easily propagate in nature, and the 
demand was great for durable timber, the original forests were practically 
destroyed. Gen. Wm. H. Harrison and a few other enterprising pioneers car- 
ried the seeds and trees to distant points for ornament and shade. Some of 
these stocked the home of General Harrison, near Cincinnati, and the sur- 
rounding country. From these early plantings others have been distributed 
through the United States, until specimens of the Catalpa are found in every 
state, as well as Canada and Mexico. Probably the greatest number of large 
trees in the United States are about Cincinnati, Ohio: North Bend. Ohio, 
the home of General Harrison, being but 19 miles distant. This was also the 
home of Dr. John A. Warder, whose interest in the Catalpa was very great, 
and who described and named the large growing variety Catalpa speciosa in 1853. 
