Vol. LXVII No. 3064. 
NEW YORK, OCTOBER 17, 1908. 
WEEKLY, $1.00 PER YEAR. 
TIMBER AS A FARM CROP. 
Catalpa in Connecticut. 
Fig. 374 shows my Catalpa grove in Riverview 
Park. I set out 1,100 trees the first of May, and every 
one lived. Hundreds of people have been here to see 
them, and as they are along the main traveled highway 
I found it cheaper to make a signboard telling what 
they were than to put on an extra man to answer 
questions. I have been two years reading up on this 
kind of tree, and personally believe they are the best 
thing we can procure to cultivate with a view to good 
returns for our land and labor in a reasonable time. 
How they will go through the Winter is yet a ques¬ 
tion, but I believe in them so much that I expect to 
set many more in the Spring. Wet or dry, and we 
have had both here this Summer, does not seem to 
stop their growth. Many of mine have grown six to 
seven feet this Summer, and their broad, rich leaves 
and vigorous appearance are a beautiful sight to look 
upon. CHAS. Q. ELDREDGE. 
Connecticut. 
Durability of Catalpa Posts. 
As you have asked for information as to the dura¬ 
bility of Catalpa fence posts, I wish to give what I 
have learned about this business during the last six 
years. During the past four years I have set 150 acres 
of my own land here in the richest section of Ohio to 
Catalpa trees. I did not invest this large amount of 
money without carefully investigating the Catalpa tree, 
and what it was good for. I have made four trips into 
the Wabash region, in southern Illinois, where the 
Catalpa trees were formerly very abundant. I find in 
this region, where the Catalpa has been known and 
used almost exclusively by the farmers for the lasf 
50 years, the universal opinion is that the Catalpa is 
the best post timber they could use. I found, also, by 
personal investigation, that there is a very great differ¬ 
ence in the durability of fences in the same neigh¬ 
borhood and on the same farms. I found fences 20 
and 25 years old with 
most of the posts sound, 
and other fences, at 1C) 
to 15 years, with most of 
the post decayed. I 
have found this same 
variation in the durabil¬ 
ity of locust and oak 
posts and have come to 
the conclusion that it is 
largely a matter of the 
time of year of cutting 
and .he seasoning of 
post timber that deter¬ 
mines its durability. I 
have found one instance 
here in Ohio where lo¬ 
cust posts rotted entirely 
off in four years’ time; 
yet this does not con¬ 
demn the locust post, as 
we know that on an 
average, it is a very dur¬ 
able timber. 
I have already started 
some tests to determine 
the durability cf Catalpa 
posts where set green, 
and the same posts thor¬ 
oughly seasoned. I found one man in Illinois who had 
set a green round Catalpa post about seven inches in 
diameter for his mail-box support. This post rotted 
entirely off just under the ground in six or seven 
years, the exact date not being certain, but not longer 
than seven years. This post was perfectly sound and 
hard above ground, and I got the man to reset the 
same post for his mail box. I have a record made of 
the dates, and as this post has now been reset one 
year, the experiment is well under way. Without 
question Catalpa wood above ground is extremely 
durable, as hundreds of miles of old Catalpa rail 
fences in this Wabash Valley region are standing at 
THREE-YEAR CATALI’A TREES IN OHIO. Fig. 373. 
the present time, dating back as much as 70 years, 
some of them. 
The durability of Catalpa wood in the ground is a 
secondary consideration with me, as I have found that 
Catalpa wood is eminently adapted to make into ax 
handles, and, in fact, handles of any kind, and for 
such uses as this will be worth two or three times as 
much as for fence posts. There is a fungus disease 
that sometimes affects the growing wood of the 
Catalpa speciosa, but more frequently the hybrid types 
of Catalpa, that is hardly noticeable to the eye, but 
which renders the wood utterly worthless, and doubt¬ 
less in many instances where Catalpa posts have de¬ 
cayed unduly soon, this fungus condition of the tree 
when cut is responsible for its quick decay. I have 
now growing 150,000 Catalpa trees, and the majority 
of my three-year-old trees measure from nine to 12 
inches around, just above the ground. My trees are 
planted 1,000 to the acre, and at five years’ growth I 
shall commence to thin them out, using the best cut 
for ax handle material, and the top making a light 
fence post. Do not be deterred from planting Catalpa 
trees because now and then an instance of quick decay 
is found in a fence post. It is the most valuable wood 
that we can grow quickly enough to make a profitable 
use of high-priced farming land. At Fig. 373 is 
shown some three-year-old Catalpa trees. 
Ohio. H. C. ROGERS. 
FARMHOUSE HEATING. 
Experience With Various Systems. 
I have had experience with almost every system of 
warming a house, from the primitive way in the old 
log house, where the fire extended nearly across one 
end, where we rolled in a “back log” three or more 
feet in diameter and on top of this one a little smaller 
and the third one on top of the other two, put on 
a "forestick” a foot and a half in diameter and then 
piled on four-foot wood until we had a fire, as the 
chorus of one of our songs used be “Build on a fire 
high as your head and a good deal higher.” Our 
houses were so open that one would freeze one side 
while burning the other. We never suffered in those 
days for want of ventilation. By and by we got a 
stove; I well remember the first stove I ever saw, a 
very rude affair. Years after we got a self-regulator 
or sheet-iron chunk stove; later a base-burning coal 
stove, next a hot-air furnace and my house was finally 
warmed by city steam furnished by steam company 
through street mains five miles away. For many 
years I was in the hardware and stove trade and had 
much experience in putting in heating plants. With 
whatever system is used certain principles are in¬ 
volved. The system itself must depend on personal 
choice or convenience and on the expense involved. 
The economical way to burn coal is to run the fire 
as low as possible and 
have it warm the house. 
The heat comes from the 
union of carbon with the 
oxygen of the air and 
the gases generated are 
all carried out of the 
chimney. Now if neces¬ 
sary to run the fire high 
to do the warming much 
more heat is carried out 
with the smoke than if 
fire is run low. It fol¬ 
lows that the large heat¬ 
ing plant is more eco¬ 
nomical to run that the 
smaller one. So what¬ 
ever system is chosen 
always get one of large 
size. 
If a furnace is chosen, 
never buy a “combina¬ 
tion furnace,” one partly 
of cast iron and partly 
of steel or sheet iron. 
These metals do not ex¬ 
pand and contract alike 
with heat and cold, and 
in a short time the ce¬ 
ment is broken and furnace leaks gas, a fatal 
defect. Choose one all cast iron, made very heavy, 
and so made that the edge of all upper pieces rests 
down in a groove in the lower ones. If so made it 
will be self-sealing and dust will fill groove, and it 
would not leak gas if not cemented when put together. 
Be sure there is plenty of radiating surface, so as to 
A YOUNG ORCHARD OF CATALPA IN CONNECTICUT. F 
