184 OHIO EXPERIMENT STATION: BULLETIN 332 



to fair advantage in overhauling machinery, making tree stakes 

 and tree guards, preparing cuttings, working in forcing houses, and 

 the like. 



In addition to the outside, or so-termed physical work of such 

 a department, an adequate office force must be maintained for the 

 preservation of records. In some of the eastern cities these records 

 are so complete that each tree is listed and a complete account kept 

 of all the work done upon it. Where the system of keeping the 

 records is not too complex, the work is well worth while, since the 

 data thus accumulated are found to be exceptionally valuable. 



Such an office is quite indispensable in cities where shade tree 

 work is being done, as a center for disseminating information re- 

 garding tree matters, and for receiving requests, reports and com- 

 plaints concerning them. 



COST OF MAINTENANCE 



Figures pertaining to the cost of operation and maintenance 

 of the tree activities in the various cities of the land where such 

 work is being done are difficult to obtain, since the funds for the 

 work are in many cases combined with those of other departments. 

 Moreover, where such data are available, there seems little basis 

 for comparison on account of the diversity of conditions which exist 

 and the variation in the character of the service performed. In the 

 New England cities, where the leopard, gipsy and brown-tail moths 

 and the elm-leaf beetle are present, the expense of maintaining such 

 a department is of course greatly increased. Then, again, the 

 amount of work done also has a vital bearing upon the item of 

 expense since the cost of caring for a city's trees in the best possible 

 way is much greater than if only one or two items of their care 

 receive attention, such as spraying and pruning. 



It might be of some benefit, however, to refer briefly to the 

 data concerning the work of the Newark (N. J.) Shade Tree Com- 

 mission. Attention is called to Newark, first, because of the abund- 

 ance of essential data which are available and, second, because the 

 work of this commission executed by its able secretary, Carl Bann- 

 wart, stands exceptionally high in the opinion of those versed in 

 such matters, since it handles, not one or two, but all phases of the 

 shade-tree problem in a most thorough and capable manner. 



Approximately sixty thousand trees were growing on the 

 thoroughfares of Newark in 1912, according to the commissioner's 

 report, and the total expenditures of the commission for that year 

 for both street and park work were slightly more than $64,000 or, 



