CITY FORESTRY AND SHADE TREES 161 



park plan may be nnder expert supervision from the 

 beginning. 



The duties of a city forester are many and varied. 

 When work of this kind is begun one of the first 

 things usually done is to take a census of all the shade 

 trees in the city on a map showing the streets and 

 blocks. Each tree is plotted on this map and its 

 species, condition and distance from the curb, side- 

 walk, other trees, etc., is shown. "With such a map in 

 hand accurate information concerning streets and dis- 

 tricts is available so that a beginning can be made where 

 most needed. 



Choice of Trees. Another part of their work is the 

 establishment of a municipal nursery where planting 

 material for parks, playgrounds and streets can be 

 raised for much less than private nurserymen would 

 charge. The laying out of such a nursery and the prop- 

 agation of species suited to the local conditions require 

 a great deal of technical knowledge. The choice of 

 trees for city planting is a question which requires a 

 great deal of thought for trees, like human beings, have 

 their peculiarities which may make some of them quite 

 unfit for shade or park purposes. In the past many 

 streets have been planted with trees that apparently 

 were desirable only to find out thirty or forty years 

 later that they possessed certain habits which made them 

 objectionable. Among such undesirable trees the follow- 

 ing might be mentioned: 



The Silver Maple. Fast-growing but very brittle and 

 easily broken by wind or sleet. Grows in a straggly 

 fashion; is comparatively short-lived and subject to 

 insect and fungus attacks. 



The Carolina Poplar. Possesses all the above objec- 

 tionable points and in addition has the disagreeable 



