SELECTION OF TREES FOR PLANTING 43 



the grass, and produce undesirable dampness by inter- 

 fering with speedy drying-out after rainfall. It may often 

 be much better to have trees of more upright growth. 

 If the upright trees lack the over-arching beauty of the 

 others, they offer compensation in their individual state- 

 liness, and by serving as a beautiful frame for setting off 

 their environment. A thoroughfare lined with trees of 

 this type offers a vista not possible with the trees which 

 arch the roadway from curb to curb. A variation is the 

 use of trees of a type to be kept closely pruned into small 

 size and formal shape. For exclusive business streets and 

 those where narrow sidewalks and poor growing conditions 

 are a handicap, this is particularly desirable. It is much 

 used in European cities, where careful attention has been 

 given to tree planting. With proper attention and care, 

 trees of small size will thrive in small patches of soil 

 where larger trees, with their spreading root systems, 

 might languish. The effect of these formally pruned trees 

 is dignified and decorative, and gives a fine touch of green 

 to a street lined with high-class shops or handsome houses 

 in solid rows. An important advantage of this type of 

 planting is that, in the event of the death of one of the 

 trees, replacement is easy when nursery stock is kept for 

 the purpose. European cities provide for replacements by 

 keeping a supply of fair-sized trees in -municipal nurseries 

 for emergency use. Since all the trees are kept pruned to 

 small size, little time is required before a transplanted tree 

 has developed a crown uniform with that of the older tree. 

 Clean habits are as important in trees as in human 

 beings. Some trees are entirely lacking in observance of 

 the proprieties as to causing litter through blooms or 

 fruit or through the breaking and falling of fragile twigs 

 and branches. These trees are to be avoided for the sake 

 of neighborhood pride in good housekeeping. The Caro- 



