A CITY'S TREE WORK 



/ 495 



over 53,000 young trees, and during the 

 coming season we shall reforest another 

 section of the burned-over area. 



"Early in the spring twenty thousand 

 white pine seedings, 0,000 red pine, 

 3,000 Norway spruce, and 3,000 Doug- 

 las fir were set out. The cost of this 

 work, including the trees themselves, 

 was $300.45, or $6.36 per M. The 

 white pine were purchased this year by 

 the bed, we doing our own sorting and 

 grading. Only the best plants were 

 used for planting in permanent loca- 

 tions. All the culls, 

 to some- 

 over l.s,000, 

 were lined-out in our 

 nursery. Most of 

 these came 

 the summer in 

 shape and can be used 

 in the future to fill \v. 

 holes in the old 

 plantations or for 

 more planting. 



"As soon as 



amountmg 



planted next spring in order to give 

 them more room to develop. Sev- 

 eral hundred more trees, of various 

 sizes, have been contracted for and will 

 be set out here next spring. No attempt 

 was made to inventory the stock this 

 fall, but next year a careful count will 

 be taken of the stock, and the market 

 value placed on them. In this way we 

 will be enabled to see whether the en- 

 terprise has proven a success or not." 



What Fitchburg has done and is doing 

 in caring for its trees and encouraging 



thing 



through 



good 



planting was 



the 

 com- 

 pleted a twenty-foot 

 fire line was cut on 

 the south boundary 

 of the park. This, 

 together with a num- 

 ber of paths and 

 trails winding 

 through the planta- 

 tions, are expected to 

 effectually stop any 

 fires that may be 

 started here, from de- 

 stroying all the plant- 

 ings. It will be nec- 

 essary, however, each 

 year, to clean up these 

 lines and keep them in 

 good working condi- 

 tion. 



"The nursery has been enlarged by 

 taking over two of the cultivated fields 

 south of the old site. One was used 

 for planting seedling evergreens, the 

 other for large transplant trees and 

 shrubs. The trees in the old nurs- 

 ery have been cultivated and cared 

 for and show a very good growth. 

 Many of these will have to be trans- 



Nature Mirror Coggshall Park, Fitchburg, Mass. 



in its citizens an appreciation of their 

 value may readily enough be done by 

 other cities. The first essential is the 

 appointment of a shade tree or a park 

 commission composed of men with 

 knowledge of trees and having execu- 

 tive ability, and the second essential is 

 to provide the commission with a suffi- 

 cient appropriation. 



