BY SMOKE FEOM PUBLIC WORKS. 197 



Populus alba, Querciis ilex, Tilia europaea, Eraxinus, Eobinia, 

 Cytisus Laburnum, Syringa,Ulmus, Ligustrum, Vinca, Viburnum 

 Tinus, Philadelphus, Crataegus, Ampelopsis hederacea, Clematis, 

 Aucuba japonica, Ailanthus giandulosa, Ficus Carica, Cydonia 

 japonica, Hedera helix, Jasminum officinale, Ehamnus alaternus, 

 Ribes sanguinea, Sophora japonica. Ilex aquifolium, Sambucus, 

 and Leycesteria formosa. 



Of course, in naming these it must be quite understood that 

 their success in such situations is merely comparative, and such 

 of them as may be classed as flowering shrubs cannot be expected 

 to blossom at all freely under the disadvantageous circumstances 

 of their situation. 



But it may be said, are there no remedies for the pollution of 

 the atmosphere by public works and smoke-creating nuisances ? 

 This is a very delicate question, but one which will stand discus- 

 sion, inasmuch as the Puljlic Health Acts, the Smoke Consump- 

 tion Acts, the Alkali Acts (in England), all seem more or less 

 to have been framed for the suppression of such noxious 

 discharges as poison air and destroy the amenity of whole neigh- 

 bourhoods. A more stringent application of their enactments 

 and enforcement of their provisions would doubtless in many 

 places tend greatly to the mitigation, if not the abolition, of the 

 evils complained of, where the manufacturers themselves (the 

 polluters) are disposed to act fairly and liberally. But in many 

 other instances, such, for example, as calcining of ironstone, it is 

 next to impossible, without absolutely stopping the process, to 

 cure the evil. No doubt, when the injury to crops became very 

 serious the operation of calcining might be prohibited, excepting 

 during the winter season or non-growing period of the year, 

 when there would be no risk of damage to crops, whether cereal 

 or otherwise. Indeed this remedy is practised in some districts 

 where the ironstone is wrought in connection with coal, and is 

 found in too thin a state, or in such small quantities that the 

 damages to be paid for smoke pollution to crops would outrun 

 the value of the calcined mineral. The stone is accordingly 

 raised with the coal and " hinged " on the hearth till the harvest 

 is carried, when the fires are lit and the process completed. 



Much, however, might be done by artificial means to aid 

 nature in many instances when placed in situations so uncon- 

 genial to her well-being, as in the midst of towns or in their 

 immediate vicinity. A very few adventitious appliances of no 

 costly description would tend greatly to compensate to many 

 town gardens and shrubberies for the conditions inseparable from 

 their lot. These may be briefly summed up in the following 

 recommendations : — (1) Give more free space around each 

 individual tree ; (2) Prune early, regularly, and judiciously ; (3) 

 Soak well during drought the entire garden ; and (4) Top-dress 



