SHADE TREES. 31 



like those held here, which are visited by many who reside miles 

 away from Boston, and whose business brings them to the city 

 every day. Those held here are sustained much better than 

 can possibly be done by any local society ; but we could meet at 

 stated times and discuss such subjects as are of interest to the 

 town or city in which we live. 



One word as to what we shall plant, and I will no longer tax 

 your patience. The trees adapted for shade in our streets are 

 few. The American and English elms are favorites, and where 

 they can be protected from the canker worm, which is the only 

 objection, are noble trees and the best adapted of the elms to 

 this purpose. Of maples the rock or sugar maples are best for 

 streets or lawns, and are much sought for, the only objection to 

 them being that they are comparatively slow growers. Aside 

 from this they have no superiors, and are clean, handsome trees. 

 The red and white maple are both good street trees, of rapid 

 growth, and fine symmetrical form, and their autumn hues are 

 unequalled. In speaking of the maples, a writer in one of our 

 journals says that there is a little poetry in "all the colors of the 

 rainbow" as applied to Scottish foliage, even in the zenith of 

 its autumn brillianc}', but here, as every observer knows, especially 

 in the mountainous districts, where sugar maples abound, the 

 expression needs no poetic license. Almost all these colors may 

 be found in this single species, to say nothing of the birches, elms, 

 ashes, and oaks, with their hardly less varied tints. European 

 travellers tell us that it is worth a vo3'age across the Atlantic to 

 behold the splendors of the ripening foliage of our forests. A 

 visit in the autumn to the thriving village of Maplewood, where 

 the streets are beautifully shaded with very fine specimens of the 

 rock or sugar maple, or indeed any of the towns where this variety 

 is largely used for shade trees, will satisfy you that this is no 

 overdrawn picture. Lindens have been favorites for this pur- 

 pose, and have been largely used, and in fact in the new town 

 of Linden you may see long rows of them planted through the 

 different streets, which seem to be in a thriving condition. But I 

 should not recommend it for this purpose, as it seems, like the 

 mountain ash^ to be subject to the attacks of the borer, and it is 

 not a clean tree. In the village of East Saugus you may see on 

 the inside of a fence, near the railroad station, a row of tulip 

 trees, some eight or ten in number, and I should think forty to 



