EXPERIMENT STATION WORK, LI. 9 



STREET TEEES; CARE AND PRESERVATION. 



The increasing number of State and municipal laws which are being 

 enacted for the care and preservation of street trees is ample evidence 

 of a growing public interest in this matter. It should be borne in 

 mind, however, that the shade-tree laws of any community can not be 

 thoroughly effective unless the public is familiarized with these laws 

 as well as with the important sources of injury to trees. Adjacent 

 property owners in particular should be equipped with this knowl- 

 edge, since prompt action on their part will often prevent forms of 

 mistreatment or injury which may temporarily escape the notice of 

 the tree warden. 



The sources of injury to street trees are undoubtedly more numerous 

 in the cities and large towns than along village streets and country 

 roads. Nevertheless, the increasing number of overhead electric wires 

 in the latter thoroughfares is resulting in much serious damage. This 

 source of injury and also the effect of 

 illuminating gas escaping into the soil has 

 been discussed in previous bulletins of this 

 series. 6 



In a recent bulletin of the New York Cor- 

 nell Station, A. D. Taylor discusses many 

 ways in which trees are injured through ig- 

 norance and neglect; as, for example, in the 

 course of construction work, by piling build- 

 ing materials against them, in moving build- 

 ings, in attaching guy wires, and in grading FIG 1 _ The correct method 



Streets. of attaching a guy wire. 



The piling of brick, lumber, and stone slabs close against the trunk may 

 cause injuries which allow decay to enter at that point. Tying guy wires for 

 the purpose of supporting derricks or telephone poles is a common practice, 

 and will cause no injury to the tree if properly done. It is done so often with- 

 out protecting the tree, however, that serious injury results. The correct 

 method of attaching a wire of this kind to a tree is to place a number of small 

 strips of board against the trunk, parallel to its axis, and then bring the 

 pressure of the wires to bear directly on these (see fig. 1). If the trunk is 

 forked the wire may be carried between the branches near the crotch and 

 attached to a crosspiece, which, being placed transversely to the axis of the 

 two branches, brings the pressure to bear on each, and no mechanical injury 

 is caused to the tree. When the pole to be guyed brings little prec?ure to bear 

 on the wire, a lag screw may be placed in the side of the tree and the guy wires 

 fastened thereto. In any case the growth of the tree may continue without the 

 common danger of its being girdled. * * * 



Compiled from New York Cornell Sta. Bui. 256. See also Massachusetts 

 Sta. Bui. 125. 



6 XT. S. Dept Agr., Farmers' Buls. 210, p. 20 ; 316, p. 12. 

 83022 Bull. 36009 2 



