KBPORT OF COMMITTEE ON ORNAMENTAL LIST. 35 



Mr. Benjamin: I was up in the northern part of the state a 

 few weeks ago, and I saw many trees there that would make 

 large saw logs, and on the way down I took up some small 

 birches, and I thought if they were easily transplanted I would 

 get some more and plant them. The only trouble is in keeping 

 the boys from peeling off the bark. 



Mr. Loring: Don't put out the white birch when we have 

 such good trees as the elm and linden. The white birch is en- 

 tirely out of place when we can get such trees. 



The President : I live about a mile from the city limits of 

 Albert Lea. The soil is sandy, we have good roads, and it is nat- 

 ural for people to drive out our way. We have recently finished 

 the work in our present location, and we are now interested in 

 improving the highway. I have some idea of planting some 

 pines like Mr. Dartt. How would a row of ponderosa pine 

 do on either side of the street? 



Mr. Loring: You ask that question of me, and I will reply 

 by saying that if I lived there I would be very much opposed to 

 it. I have seen rows of pine trees on avenues down in New 

 England, but it does' not seem to me as though they are really an 

 avenue tree. Such grand effects as we get in New England — as 

 every New Englander knows — wherever you go 'you find those 

 grand old elms reaching their tops together over the road in 

 ■the most graceful and beautiful manner, and if I planted a street 

 tree I should not want to plant anything that would stick up like 

 a tin soldier. Nearly all the states in the Union have adopted 

 some method to encourage the planting of trees. The state of 

 Pennsylvania gives fifty cents for every tree planted. They rec- 

 ommend the planting of trees seventy feet apart. Some of our 

 people think it is entirely too far apart. They do not realize that 

 some trees spread from sixty to seventy-five feet. The park 

 board of Minneapolis adopted the system of planting thirty-three 

 feet apart to conform to the length of the blocks. They soon 

 found that that was entirely too close, the trees ■ becoming 

 crowded, and now they have adopted a distance of forty feet, 

 and they know that that distance is really not enough. The park 

 commission of Rochester, N. Y., adopted a system of fifty feet 

 apart, and the commission has taken entire charge of tree plant- 

 ing in that city.. In some of the eastern cities, Springfield, Mass., 

 for instance, they are taking out the trees that are planted nar- 

 rower than thirty or forty feet. All through the country, wher- 

 ever we go, not only in the east, but in the west, we find trees 

 planted ten to fifteen feet apart, elm trees that today should make 

 a beautiful appearance, but they will never become what an elm 

 tree should be. We have a tree that many people are prejudiced 

 against, and that is the silver leaf maple. It is one of the most 

 beautiful trees that grows. It does not grow any faster than 

 the soft maple, but it is a very beautiful tree, and if it is proper- 

 ly cared for when set out and properly trimmed it will have an 

 eft'ect that many people do not dream of. The reason why it 



