EFFECT OF TREES ON SURROUNDING PLANTS. 



279 



THE MALIGNANT EFFECT OF CERTAIN TREES 

 UPON SURROUNDING PLANTS. 



By Howard S. Reed. 



A casual examination of the lawns and gardens of any 

 community will show many cases in which the ground for 

 some distance around the base of trees supports scanty vege- 

 tation or none at all. In many cases the inquirer is told that 

 special efforts have been repeatedly made to raise grass or 

 flowers around the base of the tree, but that in most cases 

 vexatious failures were the result. The more persistent gar- 



Figure 55. The effect of Kentucky coffee tree on Coleus. 



deners have usually applied fertilizers in liberal quantities tc 

 the soil and set out partially developed plants, but sooner or 

 later the vegetation languished and died, leaving the former 

 unsightly bare spaces around the base of the tree. 



The accompanying illustration shows a typical example 

 of the way in which trees often affect surrounding vegetation. 

 The specimen of the Kentucky coffee-tree was growing in a 

 garden surrounded by rows of coleus and other ornamental 

 plants. The garden had received a liberal application of 

 stable manure and the plants were given a good start In the 



