86 SHADE-TREES IN TOWNS AND CITIES 



rather high. Of course in special cases, where an immedi- 

 ate effect is desired and the expense can be incurred, larger 

 trees may be planted with very good results. On the other 

 hand, if one plants an entire street, where perhaps few 

 houses have been built, it is clearly more economical to set 

 out small, thrifty trees that will grow to fair size by the 

 time the street will have been entirely improved. 



Transplanting Large Specimens. Very large trees, twelve 

 or fifteen inches in diameter, are sometimes successfully 

 transplanted. It is important in such cases to take up as 

 much of the root system as possible ; and there are two pro- 

 cesses of accomplishing that end. One method is to take up 

 the tree with a large ball of earth around the roots, ten or 

 twelve feet in diameter, and transport it to its new place. 

 This is best done when there is frost in the ground. Another 

 way is to dig a circular trench around the tree, about twenty 

 feet in diameter, work toward the stem by liberating the 

 fine rootlets and large roots, and then, by means of heavy 

 machinery, lift the entire tree and haul it to where it is 

 to be placed. Either of these processes is very expensive. 

 When a tree so transplanted is to be placed on a lawn, it 

 is possible to preserve all the roots; but it is evident that 

 if it were to be placed on a street all the roots would have 

 to be cut to accommodate it between the curb and the side- 

 walk, and the chances of its surviving the ordeal would be 

 very small. Besides, on a highway the tree would be a 

 source of danger, because of the loss of the anchor roots. 



In the city of Paris, in order to maintain the uniformity 

 of plantations along the streets, when trees fifteen or twenty 

 years old die, they are replaced with specimens as nearly as 

 possible of the same size. To accomplish this successfully 

 the trees are trained for that in the municipal nursery. The 



