VOL. LXIV
INDIANAPOLIS, OCTOBER 9, 1909.
NO. 40
The  Pure Hardy  Catalpa.
By Dr. G. Henri Bogart, Brookville, Ind
There is nothing-, which can be put
into the ground, which will yield greater financial returns than Catalpa Speciosa, tho, there has been no greater
source of loss and disappointment, than
the attempts to secure the advantages
of its growth. From an extensive and
expensive   investigation    of —
the catalpa plantings of
Indiana, I am convinced
that 90 per cent have been
failures from the ignorance
of nurserymen, as to species, and hybridization.
There are three varieties,
and numberless hybrids.
Catalpa Speciosa, the
valuable variety, grows
erect, tall, and makes an
average growth of an inch
trunk diameter, annually.
Catalpa Kempferii, the
Japanese, is a dwarf,
grows only to a height of
about twenty feet, and has
a growth habit, similar to
the old blue plum. It is
valueless, commercially.
Catalpa Bignonoides, is
the common variety, gnarled, of slow growth, and no
economic value.
With this small class to
select from, it would seem
a simple matter to secure
good results, which would
be true, were it not for the
susceptibility of catalpa for
crossing.
The blooms are shaped
like a great pea bloom, and
when an insect creeps
clown the deep throat for
nectar, he dusts his back
with pollen, and fertilizes
the next flower.  A Speciosa -
may be pure stock and the seed seem
all right, and yet if crossed by insects,
the seed will sprout into worse than
worthless hybrids.
The supply of pure seed is quite limited. The Speciosji is a scant bearer,
while the Japanese is practically limitless.
The best catalpa grove, I have been
able to find in Indiana is near Summit-
ville, four acres, planted 1892, kept
culled and the remaining trees are
valued at $5,400 by the owner.
This grove does not seed, and Mr. J.
E. Smith, of Muncie, has to go to a
limited tract in the wild Wabash speciosa, for the seed he uses on his farm,
and he has to go personally, at that.
The best recent grove in the state, is
that of William Wible, of Sullivan. This
Krove was planted In May, 1905, and
when photographed, for my report to
the State Forester, in June, 1908, the
trees averaged four and a half inches
■n diameter and were twenty feet high.
Mr. Wlble's grove was planted under the
auspices of Frank V. Felt, of Greenfield.
The supply of Specio3a is limited, tho
Planters who have recently learned the
facts of hybridization, are installing
groves for seed. The seed from the
Binford grove has given the Greenfield
nurseries exceptional advantage.
The price of genuine Speciosa, is
much more than many nurseries quote,
but the cheap stock is worse than none,
if furnished gratis. If one would gather his own seed, and I would not think
of trusting any other plan, he must
not only be sure that his tree is genuine, but also that no other variety
grows within bee flight. Even tho the
tree be right, the seed test right, and
the care be right, the result will be partial failure,  at least, if the  pollen    be
the suckers are very difficult to transplant, whicli is the direct opposite of
my limited experience with young seedlings.
For the reason that the plant is an
undergrowth it is best to give them
shade for the first two years of their
life and this can be done with boards
laid on some kind of a support that will
bring   them  about  a  foot  or  so   above
Finest Catalpa Grove in   Indiana, near Summit ville.
crossed.       The  returns will  justify  the
trouble. Be  sure  in  securing  stock
that you get pure seed.
Scientific boards notwithstanding, a
convention of Philadelphia physicians
has adopted resolutions commending
the stand of Doctor Wiley with respect
to the use of food preservatives, and
more especially benzoate of soda.
From the very first moment of Doctor
Wiley's crusade against such commercial products, he has been hampered
in his endeavors to get the simple,
plain, unvarnished truth concerning
benzoated compounds before the people in an understandable and intelligent manner.
With a wheat crop in excess of 25,-
000,000 bushels, the farmers of Pennsylvania are rejoicing this year. These
figures without a doubt are impressive.
Tin y place the Keystone State, known
for its manufacturing and mineral industries, among the first rank in
wheat-producing States.
How  to Grow the Papaw from Seed.
Editors   Indiana   Farmer:
Knowing the increased scarcity of
this excellent fruit, and the growing
taste of the people for it, I feel like I
should give my method of starting it
from seed, this being the only way
that  it can  be successfully grown,    as
the seedbed; or by open ended barrels
or boxes placed over them.
As these protectors were rather
costly, and usually lasted but one season, I conceived the idea of planting the
seeds in rows east and west, and planting large rice pop corn between the
rows, which gave the required shade
and at the same time produced a paying crop. For the second year's protection I also use the corn, getting it in
as early as the ground will do, so as to
protect the young leaves from the hot
sun. By this method I have grown about
1,000 to 1,200 plants, which passed thru
the hot dry summer of 1908 without other watering than that given by nature.
As the young seedlings appear to transplant well, they may be best and most
economically raised by planting the
seeds very thickly in the rows, and afterward transplanting the spring they
are two years old.
If one is expecting to start plants, he
should save seed only from fruit that
is smooth and of good size and flavor;
these should at once (before they dry)
be placed in the ground in some place
marked by stakes, or a box with top
and bottom removed, so they can be
readily found in the spring, and also
be exposed to the action of freezing.
Choose some place protected from
chickens and the tramping of other animals, and in the spring when the
ground is in shape for corn planting,
place the seed in the rows some three-
fourths of an inch under ground, and
in straight rows made with a garden
twine; and with stakes driven at each
end ,so the twine can be replace'd as a
guide to locate the rows whenever you
wish to cultivate, as the young plants
will not appear until early in
July. By this means weeds can
be kept down and cultivation given
with safety to the coming plants.
— I used a light mulch of
straw to hold moisture,
while the seeds were germinating (as this is nature's way), but this may
not be needed.
The plants will come up
all thru July and August,
but tho earlier ones will be
the most likely to live over
the first winter, the lati*
coming ones not being mature enough to stand the
cold weather; or were lifted from the ground by the
action of the frost. To
some extent this can be
prevented by covering
lightly with a litter of
clean straw, but this would
not save those whose wood
hail not had time to mature, because of late germination.
I have had very little experience in transplanting,
and that only with one
year old volunteer plants
that I cared nothing for;
and then only to test their
living powers. These plants
I exposed after digging to
the sun for five to ten minutes then placed them in
the ground where they all
lived thru the summer of
1908    without    cultivation,
      irrigation,     or     protection
from the sun. These
volunteer plants came from seed
thrown away by some fruit eater, and
the only protection they had in their
first season's growth was that given by
some young seedling persimmons, the
seed of which were planted that same
spring. This would lead one to think
that shading was not needed, but I
think it best, as we do not often have as
good a season in which to grow young
plants as we had in 1907.
I have never grown the papaw to
fruiting age, but am told that it requires from five to six years from seed,
but would take longer if cultivation and
other conditions of growth were not
looked  after. The  best  fruit  grows
on upland clay ground, and on plants
exposed to the sun, and this is the verdict of all papaw lovers that I have
talked with. The largest "bushes"
grow in river bottoms, but the fruit is
not so good, nor is it as large as that
grown on higher ground. There ls an
impression that all "white" fruit is of
little or no value; and that the reverse
of this is true of the "yellow." The
truth is that you can find the good and
the bad in both colors. The white
ones as a rule are the late ones, the
fruiting time of both colors taken together, being from about August 25 to
some time in October; but varying from
year to year on account of heat and
moisture.
Arthur W. Osborn.
Henry  Co.