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the middle western states large plantings of Catalpa speciosa were 
made forty or fifty years ago to furnish fence posts and railway ties. 
Unfortunately the friends of Catalpa speciosa put too high a value on 
the wood of this tree and less is heard of it now than formerly as a 
timber tree. Of the remarkable durability of the wood when placed 
in contact with the soil there can be no question; and no tree with 
perhaps the exception of the Locust (Robinia) which is hardy in the 
northern states can produce as good fence posts in as short a time, 
and unlike the Locust it is not attacked by borers which too often ruin 
that tree, but the wood has proved too soft for railway ties and it is 
no longer planted to supply them. The other American species, Catalpa 
bignonioides, probably originated somewhere in the southeastern part 
of the country, but it has been so spread by escapes from planted 
trees that it is no longer possible to determine the location of its first 
home. It was for many years one of the common planted trees in the 
middle and southern states, and specimens are still occasionally seen in 
southern New England. Now, however, when one wants to plant a 
Catalpa-tree in this country he finds in nurseries only C, speciosa. The 
more southern species is a smaller tree with shorter-pointed leaves; it 
grows less rapidly and blooms two or three weeks later than the north¬ 
ern species. The flowers are smaller, in shorter and more compact 
clusters, and the pods are smaller with thicker walls. There is a dwarf 
form of Catalpa bignonioides (var. nana) which grafted on the stem 
of one of the tree Catalpas has in recent years been largely planted 
in this country for the supposed decoration of gardens which are more 
or less formal in character. It is not known where the dwarf plant 
originated, and if it has ever flowered the fact is not known at the 
Arboretum. The fact that it is universally sold in American nurseries 
under the name of Catalpa Bungei causes confusion for that name 
properly belongs to a tree from northern China. This Chinese tree has 
narrow, long-pointed dark green leaves, small yellowish flowers and 
small pods. It has been growing in the Arboretum since 1904, and was 
perfectly hardy until the winter of 1916-17 when one of the trees was 
killed to the ground and others were more or less injured. They have 
now recovered, but this Catalpa has not yet flowered in the Arboretum. 
Compared with the American species it has no value as an ornamental 
tree. Another Chinese species, Catalpa ovata, was sent many years 
ago to this country from Japan where it has long been cultivated. It 
is a small tree with comparatively small, dark green leaves, many- 
flowered clusters of small, yellowish spotted flowers, and slender pods. 
This tree, which will grow in regions too cold for the American species, 
has been somewhat planted in the United States, although as an orna¬ 
mental tree it does not have much to recommend it. In this country 
it has proved most valuable as one of the parents of the natural hy¬ 
brid, Catalpa hybrida, which appeared several years ago in the Teas 
Nursery at Baysville, Indiana, and is often called C. Teasn and “Teas’ 
Hybrid Catalpa.” This is a fast-growing and hardy tree with flowers 
like those of C. bignonioides, the American parent, although smaller 
but in larger clusters, and leaves in shape resembling those of C. ovata. 
The two species introduced by Wilson from central China, Catalpa 
Duclouxii and C. Fargesii, are still living but give little promise of 
ever becoming valuable additions to the number of summer-flowering 
