110 SHADE-TREES IN TOWNS AND CITIES 



manure into the soil the following spring. The manure not 

 only enriches the soil chemically, but improves its physical 

 condition by making it more porous and less liable of 

 becoming packed and impervious to air and moisture. In 

 the case of young trees this treatment is especially bene- 

 ficial. 



Instead of manure, chemical fertilizers can be used very 

 advantageously, to stimulate the trees in their growth. The 

 following mixture is recommended by Dr. Jacob G. Lipman, 

 soil chemist of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment 

 Station : 



Acid phosphate 700 pounds 



Muriate of potash 300 pounds 



The above mixture is used in the fall at the rate of about 

 fifteen hundred pounds per acre of ground. Proportionately 

 the amount is determined for each tree according to the 

 area it is desired to fertilize. In the succeeding spring the 

 fertilizing is continued by an application of nitrate of soda 

 at the rate of 300 pounds to the acre. The latter can be 

 best applied by dissolving the chemical in water and then 

 sprinkling the solution over the area to be fertilized. 



TRAINING AND PRUNING 



In the shaping and pruning of shade-trees, one is largely 

 governed by the same points as when selecting a tree 

 for planting. A lawn-tree may branch low or may be 

 crooked and unsymmetrical. The very imperfections give 

 it its character. The tree requires very little attention, and 

 is left to grow naturally. A street-tree, on the other hand, 

 must be perfectly straight, symmetrical, and the branches 

 must begin at a height from the ground that will allow the 



