SELECTION OF TREES FOR PLANTING 



63 



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U . 



CAROL! J^$|^ POPLAR 





Carolina Poplar. Choice of the Carolina Poplar in 

 the eastern states is chiefly influenced by its rapid 

 growth, and this very rapidity of development carries with 

 it one of the factors which make the choice unwise. Its 

 rank growth involves short life, and it is necessary to 

 remove this tree at about 

 the time more slowly grow- 

 ing species would be coming 

 into their full usefulness and 

 beauty. The Carolina Pop- 

 lar, like certain other trees, 

 litters the street with falling 

 flowers, seeds and leaves. 

 After a few years of growth 

 under humid conditions, its 

 wood becomes brittle to 

 such an extent as to cause the breaking of limbs and 

 branches, adding another source of litter. The persistent 

 and widespreading roots of the trees penetrate sewers 

 and drain pipes and are a frequent nuisance in this 

 respect; while the main roots are so near the surface as to 

 cause cracking of sidewalks and derangement of curbing. 

 The only excusable location for the Carolina Poplar is 

 the congested business street, where it is to be kept severely 

 pruned into formal shape and small size, or the western 

 half of the country. In congested streets the Ginkgo is 

 better. Real estate operators have been liberal users of 

 the Carolina Poplar in suburban residential allotments 

 because of their cheapness and ease of culture, but the 

 planting of the tree for this purpose is shortsighted and 

 adds no permanent value to property. In the drier 

 regions of the west, where but few trees thrive, it can be 

 used to advantage, and under these conditions its most 

 serious defects in regions more favorable to plant growth 

 are overcome by the adverse conditions. 



