The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1882-02-02
cATAlPA sPecs0sA, o. WESTERN
CATAlPA.

CATAlPA.
We call particular attention to this
valuable tree. Its hardness has been
tested up to 49, north latitute. IT is
more upright and symmetrical in its
Catalpa &C. Bigninoides), which will
not endure our western winters north
of 40o.
We have personally examined into,
| and found positive proofs in numerous
cases Of this timber having stood ~
fence posts for great number Of years
without decay, and after weeks OF
travel and months of close investiga-
ton have tecome convinced that this
| tree is the only Catalpa tree to oe found
i'm our western forests.
We make the following quotations
from the pamphlet published by f. f.
Barney, Dayton, Ohio.
ITS DURABILITY.
Vim. X. Arthur, formerly Sup't. IL
linOis Central railroad, informed me
that he had visited with a friend the
old homestead, and took up Catalpa
gate post his friend had assisted his
father To set forty-six years before.
They found il as sound as the day II
was set. no signs OF decay whatever
Judge Cpsher, formerly OF Indiana,
ia fOrmed ne that old citizens Of Vim
cennes had stated to him that the old
stOckade, built by the first French set
tiers of that place, was largely from
Catalpa trees, which grow native in
the forests there, ana that when re-
moved from the ground nearly one
hundred years after they had been set,
were perfectly sound, and gave no M
dications OF decay. L. NJ. Allen, OF
Nincennes. writes: During the last
thirty years l have seen much OF
CatalDa. in fence posts and timber OF
buildings i'm contact with the ground,
and esteem II the most durable OF all
timber; i'm fact, 1t may be regarded as
imperishable under or lying on the
ground" Catali,a posts set by General
Harrison about the Governors house,
i'm 1898, Mr.. Pidgeon says were taken
up few years ago, aud being sound,
were reset in another place. The early
settlers of Knox county, Ind, found u
Catalpa log that had fallen across
stream, and used As foot bridge until
il was fiattened on top by the pressure
Of the feet. An old Indian. in answer
to the question, how long the log had
been there replied: MY fathers
father crossed on that log" thus ma
king II hundred years old. In South
ern Illinois was another Catalpa tree
fallen across tree still sound. A man.
now living, says that forty years ago
an old man told him that he crossed
on that log when a boy. making II
nearly or quite one hundred years old.
This log was sawed into boards, and
one of them, perfectly sound, was ex-
hibited ut the Centennial by Prof
Burrill. of the Illinois Industrial
University. Large Catalpa trees, back
of New Madrid. on the Mississippi
river, in Southeast Missouri, killed by
the eruptiOns in 1911, l am informed
in letter received August 10th, from
a gentleman living there, are still
standing, perfectly sound, after 90
years, and To use his expression, plen-
ty ofthen. Mr. J. G. Teas and others
went to New Madrid last winter to
examine these trees and confirm the
statements in this letter. One of these
was recently cut down, and seven feet
of the but and seven feet off the top
sent to me. The top, though worn TO
q point by the action of the wind and
rain, is perfectly sound. The butt,
though showing on the outside the
result of long exposure, is As sound as
it was sixty-nine years ago, when
killed by the eruption. AT Poplar
Bluffs, Henly, the ferryman, had
canoe made of Catalpa, three feet
across the gunwales, perfectly sound,
after u constant Use Of twelve years.
Capt. kurtZ knows OF Catalpa trees
iltaI hy etn leo m fhs. haitian nf fh,.
Wabash river, i'm the January Hood of
1S2s, still standing and sound after
fifty years. Prof John COllet says:
This timber j. universally accredited
with wonderful power TO resist decay
and time, and that rails made by Col.
Decker in the year 1870, were in use
forty-eight years afterward. and that
after diligent inquiry with those Ia
miiiar with cataipa timber for great
number of years. could find no one
willing To say il is liable Ia rot" Fiji
teen years ago, W L. Howell. of this
vicinity saw in the Rural NsW Yorker
a statement that catalpa was the most
durable wood known, and especially
valuable, and eXcelling black locust,
red cedar and mulberry, in that it had
no sap wood so that trees Of three or
S''"'h ~ -" w ."
set in the ground for fence stakes. hop
or bean poles. The above named trees
have larger proportion of sap wood
while young, and therefore are of far
less value while young. Mr.. Howell
says he has verified this statement
most fully, Oh his farm near the Sol
dier's Home, on which large number
of catalpa trees are growing.
Small catalpa Limits and sprouts of
two years growth, placed in the
ground TO support peas and vines. and
used for that purpose year after year,
show no signs Of decay.
Mr.. J. +. Talent, Of Burlington,
Iowa, writes that some years ago he
observed that the trunks of two catal-
pa trees which had stood in the ground
for more than twenty years, used for
clothes-line posts, showed no signs oil
decay, and began to study up the tree
from, books, from which, and personal
in. al al Ilsls