November, ipip 



BETTER FRUIT 



Page 15 



Roadside Planting of the English Walnut 



By A. L. Peck, Professor Landscape Gardening, Oregon Agricultural College 



I PRESUME that I have been called to 

 write on roadside planting because 

 of the fact that the English walnut is 

 considered a good roadside tree. I am 

 willing to agree that this species can be 

 used to good advantage in a good many 

 instances. We cannot, however, plant 

 or advocate planting any one species 

 without making a great many reserva- 

 tions and expecting, in the development 

 of plantations, to modify and to change 

 materially as we encounter various con- 

 ditions. It is in order, therefore, to 

 look into the history of the development 

 of roadside planting in order that we 

 may properly understand the movement. 

 Many years ago, in Europe, it became 

 evident to the rulers and to those de- 

 pendent upon wood for fuel that means 

 of increasing plantations of trees must 

 be found. In the desire to use every 

 available foot of ground for this pur- 

 pose, the land lying along the roadways 

 was naturally planted. In flat countries 

 the farms were all divided into rectan- 

 gular areas and the roads were natur- 

 ally long and straight, and we have that 

 famous picture in our minds of lengthy 

 rows of trees of the same size and of 

 the same form, and these plantings 

 pleased us. 



This idea of planting a single or dou- 

 ble row of trees along the roadway was 

 in vogue when the colonies were devel- 

 oping on the Atlantic seaboard. Natur- 

 ally they planted as the Europeans had 

 planted years before them, and then 

 many of the towns took up the same 

 ideas. 



They planted trees in rows along the 

 side of the road. People persisted in 

 planting in this way until such a 

 method became almost a strict law or 

 custom, and today we feel that if we 

 are going to plant in an organized way 

 along the country road, that we must 

 have a magnificent row of trees on 

 either side. 



This method is good, and can be used 

 in a great many places. We must not 

 feel, however, that this is the only way 

 to plant roadsides. Many of our road- 

 sides are located through hilly country; 

 much of the land on either side is likely 

 never to be improved; the wild woodsy 



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ideas are brought right to the edge of 

 the road. Tourists and people motoring 

 for pleasure want to see these woods. 

 The scenery along the way makes the 

 drive interesting because of its variety 

 and because of the beautiful views in 

 the distance. It would appear to any 

 one then that the formal planting of 

 rows of trees would not fit into sur- 

 roundings such as have just been de- 

 scribed. 



It is the idea then that considerable 

 damage may be done by the over- 

 enthusiastic planter unless some means 

 are taken to make him understand the 

 fitness of things and the reasonableness 

 of planting. 



Take the English walnut, which all 

 of you admire so much, and imagine it 

 planted along the roadside in a hilly 

 country where you will find large rock 

 outcrops along this road, and tangles of 

 underbrush, large masses of Douglas fir, 

 the Oregon maple creeping in, unusually 

 dry, shallow soil in places; wet, spring 

 land in others, and in the distance of a 

 few miles to find a very wide range of 

 conditions. 



You who have cultivated the English 

 walnut know its requirements. You 

 know that if you are going to make a 

 satisfactory planting you must have the 

 soil and other conditions conducive to 

 its growth. From a practical stand- 

 point, then, it will appear to you that 

 the indiscriminate use of your favorite 

 tree would be a failure along a road 

 running through a variety of soils and 

 conditions. The same, of course, is true 

 with all other materials, and it is be- 

 cause of this variation that I believe 

 that someone who understands the na- 

 ture of all our different plant material 

 must be placed in a position where he 

 can influence to a large extent the 

 choice of materials and their location in 

 order to make this move a success. 



A landscape architect is so trained 

 that he should know what materials 

 ought to be used under certain condi- 

 tions. He can choose from a wide field 

 of experience in solving planting prob- 

 lems and in introducing the necessary 

 variety that makes the entire composi- 

 tion a pleasing one. The plant material 

 must be of a kind that fits into its sur- 

 roundings. 



Adaptability of the plant to its sur- 

 roundings, then, is of very great im- 

 portance. Merely the idea of succeeding 

 in planting hangs upon this adaptabil- 

 ity. There is, however, a greater ques- 

 tion, that of iiesthetic value; a plant 

 must fit into its place and harmonize 

 with its surroundings or it is a failure. 

 Landscape architects recognizing this 

 factor would carefully design a road- 

 side planting, varying its material as the 

 topography and general environment of 

 the road changed. Definite plans, after 

 careful study of a roadside district, so 

 that those who are going to work out 

 the planting plan would be able to fol- 

 low this development even through the 

 course of a number of years before the 

 , planting is completed. The idea of a 



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definite plan on paper specifying and 

 outlining this work is very important, 

 and insures the ideas of some one man, 

 studying the proposition at one time, 

 will hold through to the end. A unity 

 in the planting may thus be attained, 

 whereas otherwise such a thing is en- 

 tirely lacking. 



This planting plan should not only 

 call for the location of planting, but it 

 should also specify where openings or 

 vistas are to be made or preserved. 

 People drive through a country and call 

 it beautiful and interesting, or other- 

 wise, because of the scenry which may 

 be viewed from the road. If these 

 views, then, are all masked by planting 

 we lose the most valuable asset to the 

 road. 



Judicious cutting and preserving of 

 open spaces would therefore be as nec- 

 essary as good planting. 



It is evident, then, that many prob- 

 lems, large or small, bear upon this 

 question of roadside planting. We 

 know that tastes of people differ. Some 

 tastes being good and others otherwise. 

 If we allow enthusiastic planters of 

 various tastes to leave their marks along 

 the highway we are going to have a 

 sadly mixed up condition of affairs in 

 the course of a few years. Many of you 

 would want to plant English walnuts, 

 but there are other people who like 

 equally well the cut-leaf weeping birch, 

 or the blue spruce, or the weeping wil- 

 low, or the so-called monkey puzzles. 

 Such mixed up array of material would, 

 of course, prove a failure when we con- 

 sider its value from an aesthetic stand- 

 point. The sporadic efforts of school 

 districts or communities must be defi- 

 nitely controlled or advised, or this 

 same result will develop. 



I am convinced that there is only one 

 way to control this planting, and that is 

 through a well defined, definite head, 



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