Bureau of Forestry has made a special study of the Hardy Catalpa, and recently published an interesting little book describing the tree, by Mr William L. Hall. The following paraThe following paragraphs are an abstract of the report:* Forest planting on the prairies west of the Mississippi River began with the earliest settlers. To plant trees for protection from sun and wind seemed one of the first and most important things to be done, and with the building of a house and the breaking up of a garden patch it formed a part of the settler's first summer's work. Each year thereafter, as time and means permitted, the plantation was increased. Scarcely a decade passed before extensive groves for the general purposes of shelter and ornament appeared on almost every farm. The success of these proved that

*The Hardy Catalpa By William L. Hall, Superintendent of Tree Planting. With 30 full-page plates. Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bulletin No. 37.

the want of the natural forest could in part be supplied by planted timber.

The growing of forest trees for other farm needs, such as fuel, posts, and poles, was also practiced by many settlers, for the prices of these materials were extremely high in the districts far from the natural forest. The idea of growing posts and poles to sell, however, did not meet with approval for a number of years. It was too long an investment to be attractive in a country just settled. About twenty-five years ago a few men, impressed with the prevailing high prices of such materials and believing it possible to produce them in plantations within fifteen or twenty years, began to plant timber as an investment. Their example encouraged others to plant for the same purpose, and as a result of the work there are now in the Middle West quite a large number of commercial plantations, in some of which the marketing of products has already begun.

brought it into general recognition. In the regions named it took the lead as a commercial tree, especially for such purposes as fence posts, telegraph and telephone poles, and railroad ties.

As

Its value for most of these purposes has been quite fully demonstrated. a post timber it has given excellent satisfaction. It ranks with Black Locust and Osage Orange in durability, while it surpasses them in rate of growth, form, penetrability, and freedom from checking. Altogether, as a post timber suitable for growing in a large section of the Middle West it has no equal. For telegraph and telephone poles its only deficiency seems to be a tendency toward crookedness, but possibly this can be overcome by special treatment.

A

As a railroad-tie timber the Hardy Catalpa has not had sufficient trial to demonstrate what its rank should be. Experiments have left no doubt as to its resistance to decay. The only question lies in its resistanee to wear. So far as tried, it does not stand the wear and tear of a railroad track so well as White Oak, especially under heavy traffic. In the Middle West, however, the traffic on many railroads is comparatively light, while the decay of timber is particularly rapid. Under these peculiar conditions Catalpa will probably outlast Oak as a tie timber. The main commercial plantations of Catalpa are in Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska. Kansas especially has a number of large and highly successful plantations.

N interesting account is given in a late number of the N. Y. Tribune of some recent explorations in the heart of Tibet by a Russian subject, G. Z. Zoubikov, who succeeded in residing quietly at Lhassa for some months. Zoubikov's success deserves especial credit in view of the recent unsuccessful attempts to enter Lhassa by Sven Hedin and Colonel Kozloff.

M. Zoubikov is a Bouriat and a graduate of the Oriental Faculty of the University of St Petersburg. As a born Buddhist and familiar from childhood with Tibetan, he found no difficulty in passing for a llama. He brought back a great number of photographs and other illustrations of the life of the country, and his book, which will soon be published, will contain much information hitherto unobtainable.

M. Zoubikov made an extended report of his journey at a meeting of the Geographical Society a few days ago. He was immediately awarded the