Arboretums, Places of Beauty and Science 



399 



first editions derives in large measure 

 from its completeness. And so the col- 

 lector of trees and shrubs will do well 

 to set up an objective. It might be to 

 grow one of each of 10, 15, or 20 dif- 

 ferent species. It might be to grow rare 

 trees, like the franklinia or the off- 

 spring of historic trees, such as the 

 Mount Vernon Pecan or the Evange- 

 line Oak. Or it might be to obtain a 

 complete collection of the native trees 

 and shrubs of his county or State. In 

 the Northern States, such a collection 

 will not be excessive in number of 

 specimen plants, but farther south it 

 will entail a great many species. If the 

 objective were to grow all the species 

 of one group of trees, such as pines, 

 maples, or oaks, then the size of the 

 collection would depend upon the 

 group of trees one selects. 



Keen enjoyment comes from the 

 search for new specimens to add to a 

 collection. The collector can get some 

 specimen trees from commercial nurs- 

 eries. But for many rare types and 

 this is one of the joys of collecting he 

 will have to get seeds, possibly from 

 some public arboretum, and to grow 

 the seedlings himself. The collector of 

 native trees might collect seed or wild 

 seedlings on trips through his home 

 State, or on his travels anywhere. 

 Some of them, gathered at a distance, 

 will not grow, perhaps, but that is a 

 part of the art. 



An excellent example of a personal 

 arboretum is the Hemlock Arboretum 

 in Philadelphia. The owner, Charles F. 

 Jenkins, aims to grow all the various 

 growth forms of the native eastern 

 hemlock, which are mostly slow-grow- 

 ing or dwarfed forms. His collection 

 in 1948 included 190 specimens, rep- 

 resenting 40 varieties. 



MUCH THE SAME, except in owner- 

 ship, is the community arboretum, 

 which deserves the consideration of 

 garden clubs, service clubs, and other 

 organizations interested in the enrich- 

 ment of community life. Undeveloped 

 park areas or other community prop- 

 erty is suitable for an arboretum. A 



community arboretum should not be 

 confused with a community park that 

 is provided for physical recreation; it 

 cannot become a dual-use area, play- 

 ground and arboretum. 



Sections of new parkways on the 

 outskirts of towns and cities are excel- 

 lent for arboretums. Such parkways 

 are high-speed arteries, but arboretum 

 areas up to several miles in length can 

 be safely established on long and rela- 

 tively narrow side strips that need tree 

 planting. Eventually, arboretum areas 

 should be incorporated in the plans 

 for new highways, with provision for 

 additional land where it is required. 

 Visitors to such an arboretum need not 

 interfere with traffic on the main high- 

 way; suitable parking areas can be pro- 

 vided in places where the aboretum 

 strip is relatively narrow. A better ar- 

 rangement for wider strips is to build a 

 gravel side road through the arbore- 

 tum, parallel to the main line of travel 

 and wide enough to permit parking 

 without interference to traffic. 



Many people in towns undoubtedly 

 would enjoy periodic visits to a park 

 or parkway arboretum. School chil- 

 dren could be brought out in busses 

 for nature study. If the arboretum is 

 properly identified by signs, many 

 travelers would take time to leave the 

 highway and drive slowly through the 

 arboretum strip. 



No arboretum should be started 

 until a plan has been well thought 

 out and formalized on paper. Such a 

 plan should define the purposes to be 

 served, which, in general, determine 

 the space required, what and how to 

 plant, and the costs of establishment 

 and maintenance. The plan should 

 indicate how the project is to be 

 financed. Advice, when it is needed, 

 can be had readily from nurserymen, 

 gardeners, landscape architects, and 

 various other specialists, professional 

 and amateur. 



The person, group, or community 

 that establishes an arboretum follows 

 a long and interesting tradition. The 

 dictionary definition of an arboretum 

 as "a botanical garden of trees" indi- 



