APPLETONS' 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



FEBRUARY, 1899. 



VEGETATION A REMEDY FOR THE SUMMER HEAT 



OF CITIES. 



A PLEA FOR THE CULTIVATION OF TREES, SHRUBS, PLANTS, VINES, AND 

 GRASSES IN THE STREETS OF NEW YORK FOR THE IMPROVE- 

 MENT OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH, FOR THE COMFORT OF 

 SUMMER RESIDENTS, AND FOR ORNAMENTATION * 



By STEPHEN SMITH, M. D., LL. D. 



ONE of the most prolific sources of a high sickness and death 

 rate in the city of New York is developed during the summer 

 quarter. It has been estimated that from three to five thousand per- 

 sons die and sixty to one hundred thousand cases of sickness occur 

 annually in this city, from causes which are engendered during the 

 months of June, July, August, and September. An examination of 

 the records of the Health Department for any year reveals the im- 

 portant fact that certain diseases are not only more frequent during 

 the summer quarter than at any other time, but that they are far 



* In 1872, while a Commissioner of Health, I had occasion to examine and report on 

 the causes of the high death rate during the summer months in the city of New York. The 

 chief cause was determined to be the excessive heat which characterizes those months. It 

 was recommended in the report to the Board of Health that legislation be secured empow- 

 ering and requiring the Department of Parks to plant and cultivate trees, shrubs, plants, 

 and vines in all the streets, avenues, and public places in the city. A bill was drafted 

 and introduced into the Legislature, but it did not become a law, and no further effort has 

 been made to secure such legislation. Meantime, two tree-planting societies have been 

 established, one in the Borough of Brooklyn and the other in the Borough of Manhattan, 

 which are endeavoring to awaken publio interest to the importance of planting a suitable 

 number and variety of trees in the streets for purposes of ornamentation. The aim of this 

 paper, which is largely based on the report of 1872, is to revive the project of giving the 

 Department of Parks jurisdiction over the trees in the streets, and require it to plant and 

 cultivate additional trees, shrubs, plants, and other forms of vegetation for the improve- 

 ment of the public health and for the purpose of ornamentation. 

 vol. lit. — 31 



