by the weakness of our trees, caused by bad treatment and un- 

 sanitary conditions. The vitality of our trees is lessened by careless 

 transplanting, bad soil, lack of moisture, etc., and thus they beome a 

 ready prey to fungi and insect foes. This is especially true in our towns 

 and cities. Here a lack of light, sour and poorly aerated soil, smoke 

 and dust in the air, so weaken many trees that they have little power 

 of existence and are speedily overcome. When these conditions can- 

 not be corrected, the most resistant trees should be selected. Those 

 of vigorous habit, with smooth, shining leaves, are best. The Caro- 

 lina poplar and the silver maple will often thrive and do well where 

 the white elm and the sugar maple will drag out a feeble, sickly exist- 

 ence. 



Neatness in trees. This is a quality of no little importance. We 

 all like a neat tree. There are trees, with large, coarse leaves which 

 begin to drop early in the season and make an annoying litter upon 

 the lawn. The cotton woods are of this class. They drop their 

 leaves unseasonably and many small self-pruned branches fall from 

 these trees and add to their untidiness. 



The male or staminate form of the Ailanthus, often, called the 

 "Tree of Heaven", is objectionable on account of the disagreeable odor 

 of its flowers. 



Some trees have rather brittle wood so that branches are likely to 

 break off in time of storm. The silver maple and some of the willows 

 may be cited as examples. The persistent pods or beans of the 

 catalpa fall from the trees and disfigure the lawn in early spring. 



Other trees have the bad habit of sending up shoots or suckers 

 from the roots. The silver poplar and some forms of the European 

 elm have this disagreeable tendency. 



A good habit of foreign trees. Most of the introduced trees and 

 shrubs commonly grown in Ohio hold their foliage longer than native 

 species of the same class. So marked is this peculiarity that late in the 

 fall nearly all foreign trees can be recognized as such. As a rule the 

 European maple, ash, and elm hold their leaves for at least two weeks 

 later than the American species of these respective sorts. The same 

 is true of the horse chestnut when compared with the Ohio buckeye 

 and the oriental plane tree when compared with our sycamore. 



How to Plant. Planting a tree is usually regarded as a very 

 simple matter sucn as building a fire and a few other things every- 

 body knows all about. The fact remains, however, that there is much 

 careless tree planting, and even worse lack of care after planting. 

 Many have told us just how planting should be done. It may be 

 well to know what should not be done. 



