July 1(1. 1909 



HORTICULTURE 



41 



THE TREES OF COMMONWEALTH 

 AVENUE. 



To Messrs. Walter Hunnewell, F. G. 

 Webster, and Walter C. Baylies: 

 Dear Sirs:— In compliance with, your 

 reauest I beg to submit the following 

 statement in regard to the trees plant- 

 ed five years ago on Commonwealth 

 avenue, between Dartmouth street 

 and Jlassachusetts avenue. 



The plan of using only two rows of 

 trees on Commonwealth avenue was 

 first suggested, before trees had been 

 planted on the avenue west of Dart- 

 mouth street, by Mr. F. L. Olmsted, 

 the distinguished landscape-gard«fuer, 

 to whom the city of Boston is indebted 

 for the comprehensiveness and beauty 

 of its Park System, and by myself. In 

 18S0, at the suggestion of the late 

 Charles H. Dalton, at that time chair- 

 man of the Board of Park Commis- 

 sioners of Boston, Messrs. Olmsted and 

 ■Sargent prepared a plan for planting 

 Commonwealth avenue.. This plan 

 proposed the removal of the four rows 

 of trees then standing between Arling- 

 ton and Dartmouth streets and the 

 planting in well prepared soil of two 

 rows of trees from one end of the 

 avenue to the other. This plan was 

 approved by Mr. Dalton and other i-esi- 

 dents on the avenue but w-as not ac- 

 cepted by the City Government. The 

 artistic and practical principles on 

 which this plan was based are; 



First: In order that a dignified vista 

 of tree trunks may be secured each 

 tree should stand opposite a tree in 

 another row. and that the distance be- 

 tween the trees should be practically 

 the same. These are fundamental 

 rules now almost universally adopted 

 in formal planting of this character. 



Second: In order that uniformity in 

 size, habit, color, and character of the 

 bark and foliage, and in the time of 

 foliation and defoliation of the trees 

 may be obtained that only one variety 

 should be used. 



The committee recommended setting 

 the trees ten feet from the street line 

 rather than in the middle of the plant- 

 ing spaces that they might have as 

 much space as possible in which to ex- 

 tend their branches before the growth 

 of these was arrested by the branches 

 of the trees on the other side of the 

 central walk, and not because it was 

 believed that trees ten feet from the 

 street would, as has been suggested, 

 appear more dignified or beautiful, or 

 better suited to their surroundings 

 than trees standing twenty feet from 

 the curb. 



Commonwealth avenue from Dart- 

 niotith street to Massachusetts avenue 

 was planted in ISSO or 18S1 by order 

 of the Common Council with four rows 

 of trees, the trees in the four rows 

 standing oijposite each other, so that 

 the transverse distance between the 

 trees of the inner rows was only about 

 twenty feet, the trees in the rows be- 

 ing about forty feet apart. Between 

 Dartmouth and Exeter streets only 

 American Elms were planted, and be- 

 tween Exeter street and Massachusetts 

 avenue a large variety of European 

 Elms was used. 



There are several Elms popularly 

 called English Elms in this country; 

 among these are the Hedgerow or 

 Field Elm. now common in southern 

 England, the Scotch Elm, the Dutch 

 Elm, and the Smooth-leaved Elm, and 



ARAURCARIA EXCELSA SILVER STAR. 



The novelty depicted herewith, was 

 the recipient of an award of merit 

 from the Royal Horticultural Society, 

 of England, at a recent exhibition. It 

 was shown by Messrs. Roehford & 

 Sons. It is said that the white tipped 



character of the variety remains con- 

 stant and makes a distinct departure 

 from the typical green form. As the 

 araucaria is a very popular plant, this 

 new variety is likely, to meet with an 

 appreciative reception. 



of each of these, with the exception of 

 the first, there are many seminal va- 

 rieties and probable hybrids. These 

 species and varieties are very different 

 in habit, rate of growth, hardiness, and 

 time of foliation, and many of them 

 are unsuitcd for street-planting in this 

 part of the country owing to their ir- 

 regular habit and want of hardiness: 

 and of the so-called English Elms only 

 the Field Elm in the peculiar form 

 common in southern England has 

 )n-oved to be a good street tree in 

 Massachusetts. It is this tree which 

 was largely planted in eastern Massa- 

 chusetts toward the end of the eigh- 

 teenth century through the agency of 

 Major Paddock, who established a 

 nursery of this Elm in Milton; and it 

 is this tree which has grown to a 

 larger size in Boston than any other 

 planted tree. This particular variety 

 of Elm does not produce seeds, and as 

 it can only be propagated by suckers 

 or by grafting, it is necessary to use 

 .grafted trees as Messrs. Olmsted and 

 Sargent recommended in their report 

 of 1880. 



Before the trees between Dartmouth 

 street and Massachusetts avenue had 

 been planted for twenty years it be- 

 came evident that this plantation 

 could not be kepi much longer in good 

 condition. Between Dartmouth and 



Exeter streets the American Elms of 

 the inner rows, standing only twenty 

 feet apart, were already dangerously 

 crowded and were being destroyed by 

 the more vigorous trees of the outer 

 rows. Several of the foreign Elms 

 west of Exeter street had already died; 

 Cithers were unhealthy, and the unsat- 

 isfactory results of the mixing together 

 in formal street-planting of different 

 kinds of trees were becoming more and 

 more evident every year. 



Two courses seemed open to the 

 Park Commission— to let things re- 

 main as they were and allow the trees, 

 badly selected, planted too close to- 

 gether in insuflicient soil, with little 

 chance of surviving for another 

 twentv-five years, to die; or gradually 

 to reiiiove enough trees to make room 

 for a new plantation made with one 

 sort of tree and in a manner to in- 

 sure for these trees the longest pos- 

 sible life. 



If the Commission had adopted the 

 first plan the appearance of the ave- 

 nue would have become less satisfac- 

 tory as the trees gradually disap- 

 peared, and in a comparatively short 

 time it would have been necessary to 

 take down all the remaining trees, 

 leaving the avenue without any shade 

 until new trees had grown. By adopt- 

 ing the second plan it was possible to 



