142 TREES AND TREE-PLANTING. 
seasons they are succeeded by capsules, or seed -pods, 
which closely resemble those of the common cabbage, 
but on a larger scale. 
The first tree of this species planted in New England 
stands in front of the late residence of Mayor Babcock, 
in Washington Street, Hartford, in the State of Con- 
necticut. It is of large size, and when in bloom is one 
mass of sweet-scented, beautiful flowers. It is over 
eighty years of age. 
The wood of the catalpa resembles that of the syca- 
more, but is susceptible of a much higher polish and has 
not the reddish tinge, being a grayish white. Ifthe bark 
be bruised in the spring a very venomous odor is exhaled. 
In a thesis at the Jefferson Medical College of Phila- 
delphia, the bark of this tree was maintained to be a 
tonic, and more powerfully antiseptic than that of the 
Cinchona officinalis. It is a very good and sure antidote 
for the bites of snakes. The honey collected from the 
flowers is very poisonous, and produces effects closely 
allied to the effects of the honey collected from the yel- 
low jasmine. The flowers are also valuable as a rem- 
edy for asthma. 
It is usually grown from seed, but will readily grow 
from cuttings. The tree is of very rapid growth until 
it has reached the height of twenty feet, which it attains 
usually in about ten years. In free, rich soils the trees 
continue flowering every year, making a splendid ap- 
pearance, not only from the large size and lively color of 
the blossoms, but from the fine pale green of their leaves. 
