PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 369 
had been enthusiastic in regard to the 
catalpa tree, foremost of whom was 
General William Henry Harrison, af- 
terwards President of the United 
States, who, while Governor of the 
Northwest Territory, had his — resi- 
dence at Vincennes, Ind., among the 
groves of catalpa trees on the banks of 
the Wabash River. There still remains 
in the grounds of the Harrison home- 
stead a fine catalpa tree, a successor to 
the original tree which General Harri- 
son so greatly admired. 
In 1818 Mr. Harrison delivered an 
address before the Chio Agricultural 
Society upon the subject of the catalpa 
tree, in which he urged that it be ex- 
tensively planted, foreseeing almost a 
century ago the destruction of great 
forests which then densely covered the 
entire Northwest Territory. He also 
sent trees and seeds to his home at 
North Bend, Ohio, and to many loca- 
tions in the Eastern States. These 
trees have been in evidence, and have 
enabled us to determine the wide range 
of country where it may be successful- 
ly grown. 
Several civil engineers of that period 
and the years succeeding have advo- 
cated the use of catalpa wood in canal and 
railway construction, and the cultivation 
of the timber; and when the early rail- 
ways of Indiana, Illinois and Missouri 
were first constructed, large numbers of catalpa cross-ties, telegraph poles and 
fence posts were used in these operations. Catalpa wood was the first timber 
used for these purposes in the region where the trees were indigenous, and con- 
tinued to be used so long as the wood could be obtained; but the supply was quite 
limited, and the demand was so great by farmers for fence rails and posts, and by 
the railways for various purposes, the trees were almost exterminated. 
I afterwards became acquainted with the eminent pomologist, Dr. John A. 
Warder, of Ohio, who had given the name, speciosa, to the variety, which is 
now recognized as the only catalpa of value for timber planting. Also I met 
Mr. Robert Douglas, of Illinois, and Mr. H. H. Hunnewell, of Massachusetts, all 
of whom had taken prominent interest in the catalpa. 
The knowledge that so many eminent citizens had recognized the merits of 
