DAMAGES FOR SHADE TREES. 473 



ESTIMATING DAMAGES FOR INJURED SHADE TREES. 



Prof. S. B. Green, St. Anthony Park. 



It is quite a difficult matter to determine the value of shade trees. 

 There have been, however, many court decisions rendered on this 

 subject. The amount of damages of course would depend largely 

 upon the size of the trees, their kind and place, and also greatly 

 upon the appreciation of the jury in such matters. 



It is customary in Massachusetts where electric lines have to 

 take trees along their right of way for them to pay $io to $15 each 

 for large trees that they remove. But where the trees are es- 

 pecially valuable they have paid from $200 to $300 for a single 

 tree. In the case of small trees I presume it would be fair to 

 count the value of the tree and the labor of planting, to which 

 should be added $1.00 or $2.00 for each year's growth. 



A recent case of award of damages for this kind of injury 

 was had at Kansas City, Mo., where Mrs. Ella S. Betz was awarded 

 $200 against the Kansas City Telephone Co., whose employes 

 had cut the top out of one of her shade trees. In this case the 

 tree was a fine poplar about six inches in diameter, and it inter- 

 fered with the stringing of the telephone wires. 



A ST. LOUIS IMPROVEMENT PLAN. 



The St. Louis improvement league for the past two years has 

 been offering prizes amounting to $100 in cash for the back yards 

 showing the greatest improvement along the right of way of the 

 Suburban railway. In doing this, the league has had in mind the 

 ultimate making of this right of way one of the picturesque park 

 places in the city. Carrying out this idea, the committee has pre- 

 pared suggested plans as to how this scheme might be carried out. 

 One of the greatest strides toward securing this parkway will be 

 for the alleys to be narrowed and the fences and sheds supplanted by 

 hedges or trailing vines. In awarding the prizes the view of the 

 contestant's yard from the right of way determined whether he 

 would be entitled to a prize. All the improvements had to be made 

 during the past summer. The league hopes that property owners 

 will become interested in making this section, which is now an eye- 

 sore, one of the most beautiful landscapes in this country. In the 

 detailed plan, as suggested by the league, the alley, including the 

 railway right of way, which is at present sixty-four feet wide, the 

 alleys on each side of the car tracks being from twenty to twenty- 

 five feet in width — it is proposed to narrow down to about twelve 

 feet, leaving a grass plot on each side of the car tracks, to be 

 beautified with low shrubbery, flowers and grass. 



