STREET TREES.

By F. L. Mulford, Horticulturist, Office of Horticultural and Pomological Investigations.

CONTENTS

	Page
Importance of Shade Trees	[1]
Public Control of Street Trees	[6]
Planning for Trees on City Streets	[8]
Spacing Trees	[9]
Conditions for Tree Growth	[10]
Kinds of Trees Suitable for City Streets	[14]
Qualities Necessary	[14]
Trees for Different Regions	[20]
Descriptions of Street Trees	[20]
Culture of Street Trees	[43]
Selection of Individual Trees	[43]
Preparation of Holes	[44]
Planting	[45]
Pruning	[50]
Stakes and Guards	[51]
Later Care	[52]
Care of Mature Trees	[53]
Pruning	[53]
Feeding	[55]
Spraying	[55]

[IMPORTANCE OF SHADE TREES.]

THE COMFORT to be derived from shade trees has long been recognized. The early settlers of this country saved fine trees about their homes, on the village greens, along the country roads, and in the fields. Later, as villages grew, the householders planted trees adjoining their properties, and the result has been the beautiful elm-shaded villages of New England, the maple-shaded towns of New York and the Ohio Valley, and the oak-shaded streets of the Southeastern States. ([fig. 1.])

With time, the villages and towns became cities, and the woodlands were largely destroyed. Conditions for tree growth were less favorable in the cities, and nurseries had to be depended upon for planting material. With these changed conditions the native trees of a region became less dominant in the city planting and were largely replaced by those trees listed in nursery catalogues which took the fancy of each property owner along the street. ([fig. 2.]) The quickest growing trees were considered first, and as some of these made a big showing the first few years and were easily transplanted, they have become the dominating trees in street planting from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. (Figs. [2], [10], and [13].) A few have planted better and more lasting trees (figs. [1], [3], and [4]); but the tree growth on the streets of the average town or city is ragged and unkempt in appearance, while that of the suburb or small village is not much better unless the planting has been done under municipal control and the plantings on a street have been confined to a single kind of tree.