446 PRACTICAL ARBORICULTURE 
ELIAM E. BARNEY. 
Elam E. Barney was a native of Jefferson County, New York, and was born 
October 14, 1807. In early life he was a school teacher, first in New York State, 
and afterwards at Granville and Dayton, Ohio, where he made his final home. 
In 1845 the railway car works were established which have since become 
so noted as the Barney & Smith Manufacturing Co. Mr. Barney was inter- 
ested in many other business enterprises, banks, railways, etc. 
In handling vast quantities of fine wood used in car construction and rail- 
way operation, Mr. Barney was alert for any wood possessing unusual qualities, 
in this way learning the value of the Catalpa. 
He found it to be of extraordinary growth and of remarkable durability ; 
and thus induced others to consider these important characteristics and culti- 
vate the trees. He wrote many articles for The Railway Age and other papers 
upon this subject, and advocated the planting of Catalpa trees by railways. 
Mr. Barney’s experiments to test the strength of Catalpa wood are worth 
much to the corporations which use so much wood for ties and timbers. 
The pamphlet published by Mr. Barney in the 70's is still a standard work 
upon this subject, and has supplied many articles, from which ARBorICULTURE has 
taken extracts freely. 
Mr. Barney expended large sums in securing specimens of wood, in col- 
lecting and distributing seeds, and in disseminating valuable information upon 
the subject of Catalpa. His death occurred December 17, 1880. 
