PRACTIGAHEL ARBORTICULTURE 255 
and with the choicest trees obtainable, success will not be assured if a starva- 
tion diet is forced upon the trees. That is, if more trees are crowded upon a 
given area than can obtain moisture and nourishment. 
(4) Experience has proven that the roots of each Catalpa speciosa tree 
three years of age demands 16 square feet surface space. 
At eight years, 64 square feet. At ten years, 100 square feet, and at 
sixteen years, 200 square feet. With less space the trees will be dwarfed and 
stunted for want of food and water. 
It will require many years for the more vigorous to overcome and destroy 
the weaker and secure sufficient space for successful vigorous growth. 
Failure to appreciate this fact, and overcrowding the trees has caused 
the loss of millions of dollars to forest planters. 
Two thousand seven hundred trees per acre! What folly! Four feet square 
on which to grow such trees as attain a diameter of seven feet, and height of one 
hundred and fifty fect. 
(5) Dense planting will not eliminate side branches. They must be 
removed by pruning. Systematically performed, before the branches have 
attained large size, this is an inexpensive operation. 
(6) Having once established a strong vigorous root system, the Catalpa 
will rapidly push up a straight stem with a few side branches. 
(7) The intermixture of Oriental Catalpa and bignonoides, with C. 
speciosa, produces numerous hybrids, all of which are inferior to the great 
forest tree of the Wabash, in proportion to the influence of the parent stock. 
(8) There are diseases peculiar to all trees; none are exempt; Catalpa 
has less than most other species of timber and is easily controlled. To prevent 
disease remove lower branches close to the trunk before they have attained 
large size. 
(9) There are less insect enemies which attack Catalpa than any known 
tree. 
(10) In exposed prairie regions a great advantage may be secured to the 
young trees by planting belts of trees more closely to break the force of wind. 
(11) The cost of a plantation is quadrupled where the 4x4 svstem pre- 
vails, or 2,722 trees per acre, over the more reasonable plan of 7x7 feet, or 
888 per acre. Upon this increased cost, interest must be considered and a 
vastly greater capital employed, while there are no compensating advantages, 
and the final income is greatly reduced from unthrifty trees. 
(12) No greater mistake can be made than to plant a forest of mixed 
varieties of trees for economic purposes. Whatever object is to be subserved, 
whether fuel, fence posts, mine timbers, cross-ties or lumber, plant for that 
special purpose, and that only, confining the forest to one species of tree, 
which promises best results. 
