CITY STREET SHADE TREES. 



143 



may be brought on the table resembhng- so 

 many bits of baked fowl's skin. Armillaria 

 rnellea Vahl., a very abundant species in 

 Western Ontario, is recommended by some 



mycophagists. I should like to see a receipt 

 for cooking it that would produce a palatable 

 dish. John Dearness, 



London, i6th Feb. 1901. 



CITY STREET SHADE TREES. 



jITY improvement is the watch- word of 

 the city to-day. Next to good, clean 

 streets, nothing improves the ap- 

 pearance of a city and makes it more 

 attractive than fine shade trees. Even a 

 stately mansion looks naked without them. 

 London is very well supplied with shade trees, 

 but they are not all that they might have 

 been ; and there has been a liberal expend- 

 iture of denunciation as to their treatment, 

 with a bewildering diversity of opinion as to 

 what that should be. Much of that has aris- 

 en from a failure to distinguish between 

 things that differ. There are a diversity of 

 trees, and there are a diversity of purposes 

 for which trees are planted, therefore there 

 should be a divercity of treatment ; but my 

 subject is city shade trees exclusively. 



Shade trees are not for ornament only ; 

 utility is combined. During our hot sum- 

 mer months shade becomes a necessity for 

 the comfort and well being of the citizens, 

 hence it ought to be regarded as a public 

 duty by every one owning land facing on 

 streets to plant trees as soon as the condi- 

 tions will permit. And when once planted 

 they should never be cut down if it can be 

 avoided. As it takes trees a long time to 

 attain to their best, they should be guarded 

 with the greatest of care. An abundance of 

 foliage in a city is well known to be condu- 

 cive to the health of the residents of that city 

 but the free circulation of pure air is a ne- 

 cessity for the attainment of vigorous health. 

 All know how agreeable shade is on a hot 

 day when travelling the street, and every 

 one instinctively makes for it when the op- 



portunity presents itself, and it matters little 

 to the pedestrian what kind of shade it is so 

 long as it is dense. Yet to the residents in 

 that locality it may of the greatest cons.»- 

 quence, as health is more important than 

 shade, and the one is often secured at the 

 expense of the other. If we take a glance 

 at the treatment usually given to city street 

 shade trees we will get a forcible illustration 

 of how it is done. 



When a treeless lot is bought and a house 

 erected thereon, trees are planted to relieve 

 the present nakedness and secure future 

 shade and ornament. Our wide boulevards 

 require two rows, and more are often 

 planted between these and the house, as suits 

 the fancy of the owner. The saplings grow 

 and send out branches seven or eight feet 

 from the ground. These are allowed to re- 

 main, and receiving the first flow of sap, grow 

 most rapidly, which checks the growth of 

 those above and causes the trees to grow in 

 width more than height, which in young trees 

 is thought to be an advantage, as it forms a 

 fine round head, giving more shade and that 

 sooner. But trees if they live, will grow and 

 keep growing, and in time their lower 

 branches become thicker than the trunk of 

 the tree above them, the foliage becomes 

 more dense and closer to the ground. No 

 air circulates beneath them. Sun and air 

 always excluded, the soil becomes cold and 

 sour, so that grass cannot grow, and is 

 given over to moss, moulds and fungus. 

 The house is affected by its surroundings, 

 and the health of its inmates suffer. Atten- 

 tion is directed to the cause, when it is dis- 



