14 College of Forestry. 



all of these states there are laws which have heen broad 

 enough to have encouraged the establishment of public shade 

 tree departments in towns and cities. It is hoped that this 

 bulletin will be found useful by all who have control of 

 public shade trees in the towns and cities of !N"ew York 

 State, whether it is the superintendent of streets, the com- 

 missioner of public works, the superintendent of parks, or 

 the shade tree commission. 



THE POSSIBILITIES OF SYSTEMATIC STREET 

 TREE PLANTING. 



Area Available for Tree Growth. 



The problem of the development of streets in a munici- 

 pality in such manner as to accommodate traffic has com- 

 manded the attention of public officials ever since towns, 

 villages and cities have been built. In fact, civilization is 

 largely a matter of improved highways. 



In solving this great problem of highway development 

 from 15 per cent, to 40 per cent, of the entire area of the 

 improved portion of a city has been dedicated to public use 

 in the form of streets. It is estimated conservatively that 

 within the cities of the State there are 20,000 miles of 

 streets capable of sustaining a growth of 5,000,000 shade 

 trees. The construction of thoroughfares for purely utili- 

 tarian purposes has been provided for usually in a very 

 efficient manner. Pavement, curbs, sidewalks, drainage and 

 street lighting have been considered carefully and expendi- 

 tures for their provision have been made liberally, but the 

 planting of shade trees along streets and roadways is a form 

 of improvement that, while it is of incalculable value, has 

 received comparatively little attention from a municipal 

 standpoint. The result is that this great area of public 

 highways in New York has been planted in a haphazard 

 manner. 



