CITY FORESTRY AND SHADE TREES 157 



land, villages were built on the hilltops to be safe from 

 attack by the Indians in spite of the fact that the 

 poorest farm land was to be found on these dry thin- 

 soiled ridges. "With the arrival of less strenuous times 

 and general national prosperity, some thought can be 

 given to the appearance of our cities and it is coming 

 to be realized that beauty is an advantage worth 

 possessing. In the past trees have been sacrificed for 

 utility; if a sidewalk needed repair the roots of all the 

 nearby trees were hacked off without considering 

 whether or not the trees would die; if a telephone 

 line was to be strung the branches were cut to suit 

 the needs of the wires and rarely was the height of 

 the poles arranged to save a row of shade trees. For- 

 tunately this era of our civilization is now passing. The 

 appearance of the cities is being studied. Most of the 

 large cities have park boards, shade tree commissions, 

 city planning (committees, etc., and all such organ- 

 izations recognize the importance of trees in developing 

 a beautiful city. Whether singly or in groups there 

 is nothing which relieves the bleakness and adds to the 

 charm of streets like well chosen lines of trees. Bacon 

 in one of his essays says that when a nation becomes 

 prosperous the first evidence is that splendid buildings 

 are erected while later on they commence to "garden 

 finely as though gardening were the greater art." This 

 observation seems equally true regarding shade tree and 

 park improvement, for schemes for paving streets and 

 for erecting municipal buildings usually precede park 

 and shade tree work by some years, 



Valne of Shade Trees. The need of trees in our 

 cities is more than an attempt to satisfy the love of 

 the beautiful, for by sheltering the paved streets from 

 the intense heat of the sun and by evaporating large 



