STREET TREES. 25 



Trees need food as much as animals. In the forest they 

 get what they require from the decaying leaves and other 

 Jitter; along unpaved roads they usually are fertilized from 

 til.- organic matter washed into the gutters, but on paved 

 streets all this is gathered up and taken away. This de- 

 ficiency can easily be supplied, however, by a little old stable 

 manure spread over the open space in spring Feed your 

 and worked into the soil with a fork or rake, or trees - 

 it can be heaped about the tree over winter and removed in 

 the spring. If the exposed manure is objectionable a com- 

 mercial fertilizer may be substituted. For light soils mix 

 equal weights of nitrate of soda, acid phosphate, muriate of 

 potash, and ground bone and apply in the spring at the rate 

 of from 1 to 1% pounds of the mixture to 100 square feet of 

 exposed soil. This equals from l 1 /^ to 2 ounces for a tree 

 with a footing of 8 square feet. For heavy clay soils mix 

 -2 parts nitrate of soda, 3 parts acid phosphate, 1 part muriate 

 nf potash, 2 parts bone meal. Apply at the same rate as the 

 above. In either case distribute the fertilizer evenly and 

 mix it thoroughly with the soil. Be careful not to use too 

 much else the tree roots may be burned. Where it is inad- 

 visable to break the sod, or to work the soil, beneath a tree 

 make holes with a crowbar about six inches deep and two 

 or three feet apart and fill them with this mixture. 



The task of nourishing a tree properly is not so simple as 

 these instructions seem to make it, but nothing more specific 

 can be said without considering the natural soil and the kind 

 of tree. The essential point is that trees need nourishment 

 and need reasonable care. Thin foliage, slender branches, 

 and dead tops (commonly called stag-head) are all signs of 

 -tarvation and must be heeded or the whole tree will die. 



