SHADE TREES. ' 33 



iiijured by cold in the winter while in the nursery, but not after 

 the}^ had become established. He would not include the horse 

 chestnut, nor any of the maples, among trees for street planting. 

 He thought there was much force in the objections to trees in city 

 streets, and that great care was needed in city planting, particu- 

 larly to avoid crowding the trees, so as to shut out the light and 

 air and make the streets muddy. This is especially needful in 

 retentive soils, where the streets are muddy for a long time after 

 a stonn, under thick foliaged trees like rock maples. In New 

 Haven, which has been mentioned by the essayist, tree planting in 

 the streets has succeeded, because it has been conflned to the elm, 

 which does not produce so dense shade. It behooves us both in 

 street planting and in laying out grounds to recommend sufficient 

 distances. Mr. Strong would plant rock maples and also the 

 Norway maple where the streets are wide enough, and the soil dry 

 enough. 



James Cruickshanks had had experience with the sycamore 

 leaved maple, and corroborated what Mr. Barker had said. At 

 Woodlawn Cemetery he had observed that they did well for a year 

 or two and then grew smaller. The tendency to winter-kill is 

 done away with at the sea-shore, if the trees are not so near as to 

 be injured by the spray. Both this and the horse chestnut are too 

 dense for street planting. The elm is the best for this purpose, 

 but they must have room, and you can grow nothing near them. 

 He had measured an elm in Hartford, one hundred and thirty 

 years old, which was thirty-one feet in circumference. Judgment 

 is needed in planting trees in cities, especially in the business 

 portions. A few trees and shrubs will enhance the value of a 

 place more than the same amount expended in an}^ other wa3^ 

 Mr. Cruickshanks thought it would be well to offer a premium for 

 shade and ornamental tree planting. 



Charles M. Hovey said that he had been both amused and in- 

 structed by what he had heard of the discussion. He did not agree 

 with Mr. Strong in his estimate of the rock maple, and he was 

 surprised that no mention had been made of the silver maple, 

 one of the most desirable trees for shade, of which he (Mr. Hovey) 

 planted a long avenue in 1844. He thought the rock maple the 

 best of all street trees. Instead of making the street muddy they 

 bad precisely the opposite effect. Mr. Hovey alluded to a large 

 tree near his own grounds, under which he had often stood for pro- 

 5 



