DISEASES OF TREES FROM MECHANICAL INJURIES. 163 



The streets of Boston and the suburban towns are notoriously narrow, as 

 are also the sidewalks, and in consequence the trees are more subject to 

 injury than in regions where the streets are wider. In most of our streets 

 the trees are very near the edge of the sidewalk, if they do not project" into 

 the street itself. Those on the corners of the streets are almost sure to be 

 grazed by passing vehicles, and as wagon after wagon passes along, the 

 grinding process is kept up until the wood is exposed. It is perhaps 

 fortunate that such trees are short-lived, for they become very unsightly, 

 and when they die, the curbstone can be replaced as often as is necessary. 



Walk along any of our streets where the trees are placed on the edge of the 

 sidewalk and notice the effects due to our general negligence. In some 

 instances you will find that the house-owners have placed guards around the 

 trunks, and the trees are symmetrical and have attained a good size. But 

 in most cases, they have been left to take care of themselves. Bright and 

 early the milkman comes along and jumps off with his can, leaving his 

 horse to make a scanty breakfast by gnawing the bark of the nearest tree. 

 Later on come the butcher and the grocer, whose horses lunch upon what 

 was left by their predecessor, inflicting an amount of damage to the tree 

 limited only by the length of time which their owners are pleased to spend 

 in conversation with the girls in the kitchen Last of all comes, perhaps, 

 the doctor, whose visits, if they are not frequent, are proportionally long. 

 He, at least, ought to know that trees can not be wounded with impunity. 

 No wonder that the bark is not only soon removed and the wood exposed, 

 but since the horse is an animal which prefers the softer bark to the harder 

 wood, the fresh borders of the wound are repeatedly attacked until defor- 

 mities of enormous size are produced, and apart from the danger of fungus 

 growths, the nutrition of the tree is seriously deranged. A visit to Oxford 

 Street, Cambridge, where on one side of street the trees have not been 

 protected, and wounds more than two feet long have been made by horses, 

 will show that I am not exaggerating. If I mention this particular street, 

 it is because I have to pass through it every day. Other equally bad 

 instances might be named. 



Surely there can be no excuse for such senseless and wholesale violence, 

 especially since the remedy is so simple and so inexpensive. The trees 

 planted along the steets are not the private property of the house-owners, 

 with which they can do what they please. The public has the right to 

 demand that the trees be properly guarded and protected, since otherwise 

 it is not possible to secure the requisite shade in summer. But apart from 

 the public rights in the matter, it is for private advantage as well that our 

 trees should be kept in good condition, since the attractiveness of any street 

 as a place of residence depends largely upon the beauty of the trees. Not 

 a few of our New England towns owe their prosperity as summer resorts to 

 the arching elms and well-rounded maples, whose loss no money could 

 replace. It would be both just and wise for every thickly settled town and 

 village to have laws compelling house-owners to place proper and sufficient 

 guards round the trunks of trees growing by the roadsides, or if it be 

 considered inexpedient to place this apparently slight burden on private 

 individuals, it is at least the duty of municipal and town governments to 

 provide guards and railings at the public expense. It is strange that there 

 should be any person who lives in his own house, who would not willingly 

 do all he can to beautify it by keeping the trees near it in the best condi- 

 tion. But, unfortunately, there are many such persons. Where houses 

 are rented, the tenant is naturally little inclined to any expenditure how- 



