WHO SHALL CARE FOR STREET-TREES 235 



returns, far exceeding expenditure; an enterprise rich in 

 utility ; not of a mechanical or directly commercial kind ; for 

 the city does not propose to open a wood yard or grow trees 

 for lumber; but it does contemplate something far more 

 useful in a beautifully environed, clean, wholesome, con- 

 tented citizenship ; for as the environment, so are the peo- 

 ple. If the one is slovenly and degraded, so is the other ; and 

 the contrary is true, as proved in every community; partic- 

 ularly in large manufacturing centres where the extremes 

 of comparison are so distressingly in contrast. 



Washington. While the idea of the municipal control of 

 street-trees is not new, it is only during the last decade that 

 the benefits derived from such a system have become gener- 

 ally recognized. In this country the City of Washington 

 offers the most mature results of the system of public con- 

 trol of street-trees. 



The department for the planting and care of trees is offi- 

 cially known as the Trees and Parkings Division of the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia, and was first organized in the year 1872. 

 At the close of the year 1909, there were 94, 799 trees along 

 the streets, all of which were planted under municipal con- 

 trol and paid for by the city. An average of eighty men is 

 employed by the department during the working seasons. 

 The annual appropriation for maintenance of the shade-trees 

 of Washington is usually $40,000. This amount is half of 

 what is appropriated in Paris for the care of fewer trees, 

 and strong efforts are made each year for a substantial in- 

 crease in this amount, it being felt that at least double the 

 sum could be used with advantage. 



Paris. The street-trees of Paris are under public control. 

 The plantations on the public highways number about 86,000 

 trees. In this figure are not included the specimens in the 



