PLANTING 



PLANTING 



2659 



for its special conditions, (c) All streets, of course, 

 should be well constructed. Macadam and tarvia are 

 good materials. However, there are many streets which 

 do not need such expensive improvement. The prob- 

 lems of street construction are generally fairly well 

 studied, but of course, final and perfectly satisfactory 

 results are never achieved, (d) Besides the trees in the 

 street, there are many other things to be considered, 

 such as guide-posts, letter-boxes, and especially tele- 

 phone, electric-light, and trolley poles. All these furnish- 

 ings should be made as satisfactory as possible. Espe- 

 cially in the matter of poles the ideal is to reduce their 

 number to the minimum, (e) All streets need to be kept 

 in good repair and to be kept clean. These are always 

 important matters, but they cost considerably more 

 care, labor, and money than most persons imagine. 

 Village improvement can nearly always make con- 

 siderable progress in this one point of keeping the streets 

 clean and in good condition. 



Transportation may be reckoned as the second great 

 problem of village improvement. The development of 

 attractive railroad station-grounds, by proper planting 

 of trees, shrubs, and grass is a matter always to be 

 looked after. In rural communities, at the present time, 

 with the large development of trollej" service, the 

 design and location of first-class trolley waiting stations 

 becomes a matter of great importance and should 

 receive careful attention. 



Schoolhouses and school-grounds constitute a very 

 important type of public property, and every campaign 

 of village improvement should look after them care- 

 fully. School-grounds should be kept clean and orderly 

 and should have some tree plantings. Wherever pos- 

 sible there should be grass, but the improvement of 

 school-grounds with flower-beds is almost out of the 

 question. Perhaps the most insistent problem of the 

 improvement of the school-grounds themselves, lies in 

 securing adequate area, which should be from 2 to 5 

 acres for each school instead of the K acre commonly 

 allowed. 



Playgrounds are very much needed in every village 

 and rural community. The problems connected with 

 them are, (1) to secure the necessary allotment of land; 



(2) to have this ground properly planned and developed, 



(3) to have the play properly supervised. The embel- 

 lishment will consist chiefly of large trees for shade and 

 to improve the appearance. Flow r er-beds and borders 

 are quite out of place on playgrounds. 



t.**5. Plan of country road, showing suggested arrangement of 



trees, shrubs, and flowers. . 



Reservations of several sorts are needed in every vil- 

 lage. These should be primarily for recreation, but 

 should include also places of historic importance or 

 those of great scenic beauty. 



Public buildings, including churches, libraries, grange 

 halls, town halls, and the like, must be of the best char- 

 acter in order to secure proper results in village develop- 

 ment. All these public buildings should be studied with 

 reference to adaptation to use, proper location, group- 

 ing with other public buildings, good architectural 

 design, and substantial construction. The grounds 

 about these public buildings should be developed to the 



best possible advantage. As a rule, shady lawns with 

 good substantial trees give the best result. 



Home-grounds are of prime significance in every com- 

 munity and every village-improvement society should 

 undertake to secure the best treatment of them pos- 

 sible. Neighborhood competitions are useful to this end 

 but sound horticul- 

 tural instruction is 

 always necessary. 



The more strictly 

 horticultural phases 

 of village improve- 

 ment, therefore, are 

 the planting and 

 care of trees, the de- 

 velopment of grass 

 areas, especially 

 lawns, home-garden 

 improvement with 

 some emphasis upon 

 front yards, and 

 school-garden enter- 

 prises of several 

 sorts. 



In the care of trees 

 on public streets and 

 grounds, a com- 

 petent tree-warden 

 is greatly to be de- 

 sired. When state 

 legislation provides 

 for such an officer 

 he should be chosen 

 with great care and 



2996. Plan for country road four 

 rods wide. 



supported with reasonable appropriations of public 

 funds; and in states where tree-wardens are not pro- 

 vided for by law such legislation should be secured as 

 soon as possible. The Massachusetts law is perhaps as 

 good a pattern as any. 



Street trees are subject to severe injuries even beyond 

 the liability of other shade trees, such as the damage 

 from leaky electric wires and gas-pipes, gnawing of 

 horses, and sometimes the attacks of ignorant linemen 

 putting up wires. Add to these the usual menace of 

 insect attacks, such as elm leaf-beetle, leopard moth, 

 forest caterpillar, gipsy moth, and the like, and it will 

 be seen that the protection of valuable street trees is 

 a real undertaking. (See Diseases and Insects and 

 Arboriculture.) The improvement of home -grounds 

 and similar areas is treated elsewhere. (See Landscape 

 Gardening.) 



The peculiar agent of village improvement is the 

 village-improvement society, but other organizations 

 are equally useful. Woman's clubs and boards of trade 

 are usually effective. Very often smaller groups which 

 undertake to cover only a single street or a single small 

 neighborhood accomplish the most intensive and satis- 

 factory results. As a rule it is undesirable to form a new 

 organization in any community for village improve- 

 ment. It is better policy to seek the cooperation of the 

 various existing societies. In certain circumstances 

 these can be federated in a way to cover the problem 

 satisfactorily. 



Four factors must always cooperate in order to secure 

 satisfactory results in civic improvement of any sort. 

 These factors are (a) local initiative, (b) expert advice, 

 (c) time, and (d) money, (a) It is always necessary to 

 have some energetic local society or group of men and 

 women who will stand behind any improvement proposi- 

 tion. Without this local initiative nothing can possibly 

 be done. (6) In addition to this it is usually desirable 

 and sometimes positively necessary to have work under- 

 taken on the basis of practical plans drawTi by experts 

 from outside the community. The outside assistance is 

 valuable even when no more expert than advice which 

 might be secured within the community itself. Good 



