PREFACE 



This volume is an accident, as it were, so far as iti' 

 authorship goes. The author being a forester by profession, 

 and, therefore, concerned with the utilitarian use of trees 

 rather than with their ornamental employment, the subject- 

 matter of this volume might be considered foreign to his 

 training. A forester, however, must be familiar with tree 

 life in all its phases, so as to have judgment regarding the 

 requirements of trees in health and disease and the proper 

 care of them under all circumstances. Nevertheless, it was 

 only an accident that induced the writer to devote time to 

 the compilation of the present volume. A request by a tree 

 owner for expert advice in the care of his lawn trees dis- 

 closed the fact that apparently no satisfactory, compre- 

 hensive treatment of the subject for amateur planters of 

 trees was in existence, whatever might be said of the liter- 

 ature for specialists. This induced the writer to attempt to 

 set down, as briefly as possible, what every tree owner should 

 know of the care of trees. 



The fact that the writer had for many years lived in 

 Washington, D. C, and had taken a special interest in 

 studying the composition of its many parks — indeed being 

 for some time in charge of Soldiers' Home Park, also acting 

 on a commission on the reconstruction of Central Park, 

 New York — these experiences with ornamental tree-growth 

 may entitle him to claim the necessary judgment in selecting 

 from the vast amount of information that exists on this 



