FORESTRY AND ARBORICULTURE. 67 



irregular collection of all sorts of trees — good, bad and indif- 

 ferent — will be the result ; whereas, in the hands of a properly 

 constituted body, the streets can be planted uniformly with 

 the sort of trees best adapted to the particular situation 

 and desirably varied as the work proceeds in different local- 

 ities. 



Tearing up trees from the swamp or hillsides, stripping 

 them to bare poles and squarely cutting of their tops, so 

 commonly practised in planting the maple and some other 

 species, cannot be too severely condemned. The trees tlius 

 treated may at first put out luxuriant heads, and for a time 

 appear to do well, but, as the branches fork at the place 

 where the top was cut off, a large exposed space is left in 

 which water collects, rotting the centre of the tree and 

 sooner or later causing deformity or death. This is the 

 principal reason why so many maple trees of a certain age 

 are failing all over New England. 



It would be much better to plant nursery grown trees in 

 our streets. We are far behind the rest of the world in this 

 respect. In Germany and France, and even in Japan, 

 trees are selected and planted with the utmost care. There 

 is no reason why our cities and towns and perhaps the local 

 improvement associations should not establish nurseries for 

 the special purpose of producing suitable trees for streets 

 and roadside planting. 



In the streets of many of the cities and larger towns the 

 old trees, which in many cases seem to have been planted 

 with great care and good judgment, are now disappearing 

 through loss by old age, the march of improvement and the 

 demands of commerce. In such streets as are devoted to 

 business purposes, often too narrow already, it is not to be 

 expected that trees will ever be planted. There are, how- 

 ever, entire streets, with either decrepit and miserable apolo- 

 gies for shade trees, or often none at all, where there is 

 abundant room to plant them, and where they would greatly 

 improve the appearance of the street, as well as add comfort 

 to all persons frequenting it. But even if the abutter or the 

 local improvement society, or even the town or city authori- 

 ties themselves, plant street trees, there are many vexing 

 obstacles to the accomplishment of the best results. 



