AIDING CITIES AND TOWNS TO NAME TREES. 1 43 



common names, the Forest Service has already pubUshed " A 

 Check List of the Forest Trees of the United States." This 

 serves as a guide when once a tree has been identified by the 

 botanist. But the first requisite is that the identification should be 

 correct. It is here that difficulty is often met with ; and the For- 

 est Service now offers its technical knowledge to city authorities. 



There are two ways in which assistance may be given. Where 

 the work is on a large scale, a representative of the Service will 

 visit the town or city and identify the tree by examination on the 

 spot. In most cases, however, identification by correspondence 

 will prove entirely adequate. This will require merely that speci- 

 mens of the trees be sent to the Forest Service, together with a 

 rough sample plat showing their location, the plat and specimen 

 being numbered to correspond. 



For such indentification a full set of specimens, illustrating ma- 

 ture foliage, and, if possible, specimens of the flowers and of the 

 fruit (as the botanist call the seeds) should be sent. Fruit speci- 

 mens are very essential, but flowers may be omitted if they can 

 not be readily secured. Two or three specimens of branches in 

 leaf, ten to twelve inches long, taken from dififerent parts of the 

 crown, so as to exhibit all of the leaf forms common to the species, 

 will answer for the foliage. One or two specimens of the foliage, 

 flowers, and fruit may be placed between sheets of ordinary news- 

 paper or blotting paper about twelve by sixteen inches in size. 

 Thirty to fiftv specimens and sheets may thus be piled one on top 

 of another, and the whole bundle placed between two stiff pieces 

 of mill board, pasteboard, or thin picture backing, a little larger 

 than the sheets of paper carrying the specimens. The package 

 must then be well tied and wrapped, when it may be sent by mail 

 if under four pounds in weight. If, before sending, the specimens 

 are changed to dry sheets of paper once in twenty-four hours, 

 keeping them constantly under a weight of from forty to fifty 

 pounds, thev can be thoroughly dried within two or three weeks, 

 when thev will not be so heavy and will still be in excellent condi- 

 tion for identification. 



