WHO SHALL CARE FOR STREET-TREES 239 



and removed under the direction of the commissioners. 

 Wherein these commissions differ from other similar bodies 

 is that they have the power of initiative in the matter of 

 planting. They decide that a certain street is to be planted 

 and determine the species of tree. An advertisement of 

 the intention to plant is inserted for two weeks in the public 

 newspapers, and all persons interested in the improvement 

 are given an opportunity to be heard. After the work is 

 done the commissioners meet and certify a list to the re- 

 ceiver of taxes on which are given the names of the owners 

 in front of whose property trees were set out and the cost of 

 the work. These assessments are entered by the receiver of 

 taxes on the annual tax bill and are paid the same way as 

 any other legal lien. The cost of pruning, spraying, remov- 

 ing dead trees and repairing old ones is provided for by a 

 general appropriation. 



These laws give the shade-tree commissions the power to 

 pass ordinances for the planting, protection, regulation, and 

 control of street-trees. These ordinances have been ex- 

 tremely efficient in securing the protection of trees. They 

 do away entirely with the abuses of public utilities corpora- 

 tions who in the past have so ruthlessly mutilated and de- 

 stroyed trees along highways for the passage of overhead 

 wires. In fact some of the most important work of a shade- 

 tree commission is to protect the trees already existing in a 

 city. 



Massachusetts. The laws of Massachusetts in regard to 

 the planting and care of shad^-trees in towns and cities 

 are among the most progressive in the country. The 

 "Tree Warden Act" of 1899, provided that every town must 

 elect a tree warden, and defined the duties and powers of the 

 office. This act did not apply to cities ; but by the laws of 



