T$g8. 



GARDENING. 



361 



children grow up without the refining 

 influences of nature's floral gifts, and as 

 a consequence their own natures are 

 dwarfed and their lives blasted, 

 -'(jod help ih«' boy who »]o,-s not know 



Where all the w Hand berries gr 



Who does 001 — the forest's glow 

 When leai es are red and t'ellov - 

 Whose childish reel can never stray 

 Where nature does her charms dis] 

 For ^urii n he] pless i>m . 1 sa y, 

 1 lod help ih" little fellow." 



Trees are not only for ornament and 

 shade, but for purifying and cooling the 

 air in summer. The exhaling power of 

 leaves has been most carefully investi- 

 gated, and the most careless observer has 

 noticed its effect in cooling the air when 

 passing through a wooded road on a 

 warm day in summer. 



It is also a well known fact that trees 

 radiate heat in winter, and that themore 

 there are in a neighborhood the more 

 equitable is the climate. It is as much 

 the duty of city and town authorities to 

 plant trees as it is to build sewers, for 

 both are sanitary measures, and it ought 

 to be a matter of pride to the citizen to 

 see that his street is not only healthful 

 but beautiful. 



Trees, as a rule, have been planted too 

 thickly in most of our older cities. Large 

 elms and maples are frequently seen 

 crowded together, ten and twelve feet 

 apart, and as a consequence they are 

 misshapen and form a shade so densethat 

 neither sun nor air can reach the houses. 

 Experience has proven that it is a mis- 

 take to plant four rows of trees on any 

 street that is less than one hundred feet 

 in width, and that next to the folly of 

 not planting at all is that of over-plant- 

 ing. Human beings require sunshine and 

 air, but in many streets in our older cities 

 these are excluded through the over- 

 planting of trees, or the failure to remove 

 them when they have grown so large 

 that their top branches intertwine. 



The American elm is the most beautiful 

 tree for street planting, but in some local- 

 ities it is so infested with insect pests that 

 we should encourage the selection of other 

 varieties when practicable. In Central 

 New York the white maple is extensively 

 used, and if it be given the proper care 

 when young, it makes a noble tree at 

 maturity. In many localities the syca- 

 more is a great favorite, but it will not 

 grow in the northwest. The linden, 

 hackberry, Norway maple and the white 

 ash are fine street trees, especially for 

 narrow streets. 



There should be a definite plan for all 

 municipal improvements, and in the 

 department of tree planting this can only 

 be obtained through a commission hav- 

 ing absolute authority to plant, prune 

 or remove trees whenever or wherever, in 

 its judgment, it is deemed advisable. 



The Board of Park Commissioners of 

 Minneapolis has authority under the 

 park act to plant trees on any street and 

 assess the cost of the same on abutting 

 property. This authority, as a rule, is 

 not exercised except when petitioned to 

 do so by a majority of the residents of 

 the street. The cost of planting and car- 

 ing for the trees for three years is about 

 $0, but this sum is undoubtedly under, 

 rather than over, the actual expense. 

 The city being underlaid with gravel, it 

 is necessary to remove at least five yards 

 of this material, which is replaced with 

 the same quantity of rich loam in which 

 the tree is planted. It would be a paying 

 investment for the owner of the property 

 if double the amount of loam were fur- 

 nished and charged for. Each tree is pro- 

 tected by a guard, which serves the 

 double purpose of protecting the bark 



from the rays of the sun and from the 

 teeth of the horses. Many of the streets 

 have been improved with uniform rows 

 of trees, and the number of petitions for 

 thus improving thoroughfares increases 

 each year. 



Some of the older trees which were 

 planted before the care of this work was 

 assumed by the Board of Park Commis- 

 sioners show the usual haphazard way 

 in which planting was done when each 

 owner of a 40-foot lot exercised his own 

 will. Some planted four or five trees, 

 each of a different variety, and never 

 cared for them. Others did not plant 

 any, and a few set and cared for trees 

 which have grown to be fine specimens 

 of their kind. 



Up to the time the park commission 

 became the custodian of the street trees, 

 more had been planted and had died, 

 either through ignorance in planting, or 

 through neglect, than were then grow- 

 ing. The loss since that time has been 

 less than two per cent. 



A commission having charge of the 

 trees in the city of Washington has abso- 

 lute control and care of them. It is 

 decided to use a certain variety on a 

 street, that variety is planted and there 

 is no appeal from its decision. As a 

 result, there is no city within my knowl- 

 edge having so many unbroken rows of 

 healthy trees. 



Other cities in this country have under- 

 taken the control of street ornamenta- 

 tion with great success, and it is to be 

 hoped that all will follow their example. 

 Asa rule, the roadways on our residence 

 streets are too wide and there is not 

 space enough given for trees and other 

 ornamentation. Fine effects are pro- 

 duced on an eighty foot street by making 

 the roadways thirty feet wide, leaving 

 twenty-five feet inside the curbing on 

 each side, six feet of which next the lot 

 line is for a walk and nineteen feet for 

 grass and flower beds, or groups of orna- 

 mental shrubs, and shade trees planted 

 from forty to fifty feet apart. 



Many object to having so much space 

 between the trees when they are young, 

 and this accounts for their crowded con- 

 dition in manv of our older cities. To 

 overcome this, some writers recommend 

 planting rapid growing varieties between 

 the more slow growing, which are to be 

 removed when the branches of the per- 

 manent trees have grown to fill the 

 space. 



Another plan which I have seen in an 

 eastern city gives a park-like appearance 

 which is very pleasing. Thisgives aside- 

 walk next to the lot line six feetin width, 

 a planting space for grass and trees six 

 feet, two roadways eighteen feet wide 

 and a center planting space of twenty 

 feet filled with grass and shrubs, orgrass 

 and beds of flowers. There is no neces- 

 sity for a roadway of over thirty feet in 

 width on any residence street of sixty 

 feet; one that is wider is entirely out of 

 proportion. 



There is not enough attention given to 

 the ornamentation of streets. There is 

 no reason why the residence portion of 

 our cities and villages should not be made 

 as attractive as a park. A few ordi- 

 nances regulating the alignment of build- 

 ings, the setting of trees and care of 

 planting spaces, would accomplish this 

 desirable result. But, better yet, by the 

 education of the people through* such 

 organizations as the Village and Neigh- 

 borhood Improvement Association, the 

 Brooklyn Tree Planting and Fountain, 

 and the Park and Outdoor Art Associa- 

 tion. 



CHARLES M LORING 



WORKERS IN HORTICULTURE XV. 



Charles M. Loring, whose horticultural 

 endeavors have won for him the presi- 

 dency of the American Park and Outdoor 

 Art Association, is one of the substantial 

 business men of Minneapolis. Mr. Loring 

 was born in Portland, Me., November 13, 

 1833, and acquired his education in the 

 public schools of that city. His father 

 was the captain of a vessel of the mer- 

 chant marine, and in his youth the son 

 accompanied him upon many voyages. 

 In 1855 Mr. Loring married and moved 

 to Chicago, going thence to Minneapolis 

 in 1860 and engaging in general mer- 

 chandizing under the name of Fletcher & 

 Loring, subsequently large manufacturers 

 of flour He was at one time oresident 

 of the Minneapolis Board of Trade, served 

 four terms as president of the Chamber 

 of Commerce, declining a re-election, and 

 was for eleven years president of the 

 North American Telegraph Company, a 

 position which he resigned a year ago. 

 Mr. Loring did his first work for horti- 

 culture in 1865, by inducing the city 

 authorities.to improve a small triangular 

 piece of ground in the center of the city. 

 In 1870 an improvement association was 

 organized of wbich he was elected presi- 

 dent. For many years he labored to 

 secure an act of the "legislature to author- 

 ize the organization of a Board of Park 

 Commissioners, and, when successful in 

 1883, hewas made president of theboard, 

 a position which he held until 1894, when 

 he resigned because of his ownership of a 

 large tract of land which would be bene- 

 fited by a contemplated action of the 

 board. Mr. Loring has seen Minneapo- 

 lis grow from a town of 2500 inhab- 

 itants to a city of over 200,000, and to 

 his efforts may be credited a large part of 

 its beauty. While he has not delved in 

 the soil, few men have done more in the 

 interest of good horticulture. 



Fruits and Vegetables. 



AN ASSORTMENT OP STRAWBERRIES. 



The past season was an uncommonly 

 good one for strawberries. There was an 

 abundance of moisture, with a cool tem- 

 perature, conditions which suit the straw- 



