ii6 General Care of Trees 



materials, and in lime perhaps causing death. Bolts should 

 be used with large washers and nuts, and possibly with a 

 movable chain or link attachment between the braced 

 branches to allow for wind motion. 



A living brace may also be made by grafting an existing 

 branch, if one can be found young enough and in proper 

 position, into the branch to be braced, or vice versa. This 

 "ingrafting" is often seen in nature and answers well the 

 purpose of support. 



Treatment of Street Trees. Regarding the care of street 

 trees in particular, we may add a few remarks on general 

 policy. 



The selection of suitable kinds — and that implies the 

 removal, more or less rapidly, of unsuitable ones — is the 

 first care. 



The proper spacing of the trees is the next care, and that 

 implies the removal of such as are interfering with or crowd- 

 ing those which are selected to remain. The distance for 

 best development should be about equal to the height of 

 the tree, hence the width should vary with age, or else 

 should be chosen with reference to the ultimate height of 

 the tree. As a rule, thirty to forty feet will make a finally 

 accepted distance. 



Trees which have become hopelessly decrepit and unsym- 

 metrical should be removed to make room for better ones. 

 This may be done gradually, by setting new ones before 

 removing the old ones, but the effect of the older, taller 

 neighbors upon the smaller new comers should be kept in 

 mind, and a species should be chosen which can bear the 

 shade. 



In city streets, where the natural enemies of insects, the 

 birds, are largely absent, and where the health of trees is 

 often precarious, and conditions are favorable to insect 



