Remarks.
Prefers borders of rivers and bottom lands. Many varieties of willow grow in the United States. No one is used to any extent in construction. [p090]
CATALPA. (Catalpa.)
Many kinds of wood that were formerly plentiful are now much less so. Attention is being turned to trees that give best results under artificial conditions. Catalpa, formerly but little known, now bids fair to become of some importance in this connection.
The catalpa grows rapidly and produces a coarse, brittle, weak, but durable and desirable, lumber, well fitted to meet the requirements of railways and other branches of construction where the annual consumption is the largest. Fifty thousand catalpa trees have recently been planted by a Western railway at a cost of one cent apiece. Catalpas at Hutchison, Kansas, were large enough to cut for posts at the end of six years.[51] A sample tie recently removed from a Western railway was found to be perfect after fifteen years of service. Mr. John Brown[52] mentions specimens sixteen inches in diameter seventeen years after planting. The species Catalpa speciosa is said to be much the more desirable in that it is hardy and reaches a tall upright form.
The catalpa may be known by its showy flowers, suggesting those of the horse chestnut. These are succeeded by long pods filled with many-winged seeds and often used by children as cigars. [p091]
FOOTNOTES
[51] U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Div. of Forestry, Bulletins 27 and 37.
[52] The Forester, October, 1900, and November, 1902.
Kansas Agricultural College Experiment Station, Bulletin 108.