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CHAPTER VI. 



SHADE TREE PLANTING 



REPARATIONS for planting shade trees begin with 

 choosing the actual specimen from nursery stock and 

 continue until the digging of the hole into which the tree 

 is to be set. Each part of this program calls for the 

 exercise of care, but there is no mystery about any 

 feature of it. The one thing to be borne in mind is that 

 each step is important. Nothing should be neglected and 

 nothing left to chance or even to guesswork. Correct 

 planting is half the battle. 



In the sense of establishing shade trees in city streets, 

 planting necessarily means transplanting. To undertake 

 to raise a tree from its beginning is a needless expenditure 

 of time and effort. Trees of suitable size may be had of 

 nurserymen at slight cost and with a saving of several 

 years in the time required for development. It is possible, 

 when technical knowledge is at hand, to satisfactorily 

 transplant trees taken from the woods, but these are 

 less likely to withstand the shock of moving than those 

 which have been raised in nurseries, as the nursery trees, 

 if well grown, have been replanted or root pruned every 

 year or two, and have by this means been forced to form 

 a compact root system that is not too large for the limited 

 area of street environment. Forest trees, with their 

 longer roots and fewer fibrous roots near the trunk, are 

 more difficult to transplant and have less certainty of 

 living than well selected nursery stock. The pruning of 

 the top, undergone by the nursery tree, is also an impor- 

 tant factor, as this frees the tree from branches for a height 



of several feet and likewise helps to bring about the devel- 

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