i 5 6 



FLORA AND SYLVA, 



other hardy plants of fine form. Where, as 

 so often occurs in country places, there is any 

 kind of water, artificial or natural, there'we 

 shall find the best home for them. Some, like 

 this noble, wild, and native Dock which we 

 illustrate, cannot be grown anywhere else. 

 And this is true of most of our native water- 

 side plants ; they want water, and, moreover, 

 they want the rich soil that has been gathered 

 beside water from the action of stream or river, 

 or the decay for ages of soil and leaf. In such 

 a place we may put plants without the usual 

 wearisome routine of the garden, that is to say, 

 they are so vigorous that they will take care of 

 themselves and settle matters with the wild 

 plants near. It is not only a comfort to have 

 got rid of the ceaseless trouble of keeping 

 the plants free of weeds, &c, but the effect is 

 better if they are let alone, and any stout 



weeds, sedges, or grasses coming near only add 

 to the- good effect. In such places the only 

 thing we have to think of is good grouping, so 

 that each kind may be held together and seen 

 to the best advantage. 



It will be understood that this refers en- 

 tirely to free-growing things that can take care 

 of themselves in any rough waterside places, 

 such as Rhubarbs, Cow Parsnips, Giant Knot- 

 worts, Giant Meadow-Sweet, Goatsbeard, pe- 

 rennial Sunflowers, or any coarse perennials 

 thrown out of the garden. Such waterside 

 effects should be considered quite apart from 

 those that might be grown in carefully kept 

 ground where we might have our Irises and 

 marsh plants. Some of the larger ferns, how- 

 ever, like the Royal Fern and Giant Horsetail 

 (Equisetum maximum), would be quite able to 

 take care of themselves among bolder plants. 



THE HARDY CATALPA (C. speciosa). 



One of the most interesting discoveries of 

 our own time in trees is that of the greater 

 Catalpa, which is distinct and more of a forest 

 tree than the old Catalpa so well known in 

 London, and, indeed, often planted in old 

 London gardens, as fine specimens may still be 

 seen in the suburbs and some of the outer 

 streets. In some ways there is much difference 

 between the two trees which was not noticed 

 at first, even by planters in their native coun- 

 try, but eventually the difference has been 

 made clear by Dr. John A. Warder, of Ohio, 

 editor of the Western Horticultural Review. 

 The hardy Catalpa is so far taller than the old 

 Catalpa, which does not grow beyond 50 feet 

 high, that it sometimes reaches over 100 feet 

 in forests, although in open planting not nearly 

 so high. Here we have tried it only as an or- 

 namental tree, but the Western Americans 

 have recently begun to look at it from an 

 economical point of view, and that is its use as 

 an enduring timber for railway ties, of which 

 manymillions are used there. We haveplanted 

 it in England, though not very successfully, 

 not knowing its natural habitat, and on poor, 

 cold upland soil, while it naturally grows in 

 rich bottoms and alluvial soil by streams and 

 rivers. In our country, with a weaker sun- 



light, it is all the more necessary that the tree 

 should be planted in free rich soil near water, 

 or in very rich moist soil. We shall be very 

 glad to hear from any of our readers how it has 

 succeeded in their case. It is important to get 

 the true tree, because hybrids and trees of the 

 old Catalpa have not seldom been sent out in- 

 stead of it. There is a full and interesting 

 account of the tree in the Bulletin of the Kan- 

 sas State Experimental Station, No. 108, 1902, 

 from which the following conclusions are 

 taken : — 



History. — Two species of Catalpa are 

 native to the United States : C. catalpa, indi- 

 genous in the south-east, and C. speciosa in the 

 central west. Planting of the south-eastern 

 species in the west long caused confusion be- 

 tween the two trees, since both were planted 

 together indifferently, under the supposition 

 that they were of the same species. The low, 

 scraggy habit and the tendency of the tops to 

 winter-kill, peculiar to C. catalpa, was a sup- 

 posed characteristic of all Catalpa trees. C. 

 speciosa is distinguished from the other native 

 species by greater stature, hardiness north of 

 the forty-fourth parallel, north latitude ; larger 

 flowers, fewer in panicles, and appearing about 

 two weeks earlier than those of C. catalpa; by 



