DO NOT LET THE CURBSETTER RUIN YOUR TREES 



233 



wind with the possibihty of maiming or killing someone. 

 Needless to say, Mr. Curbsetter learned his lesson and 

 while his theory that a root may be cut and the tree yet 

 live is not infrequently borne out in practice, the same 

 holds good in the amputation of a human limb. We 

 prefer to retain all our members for life's battles, how- 

 ever, and so do trees. 



Sugar maples when grown on sidewalks do not ordi- 

 narily reach the proportion of nine feet in circumference 

 so when this old specimen was encountered in extending 

 the street, the builder showed good judgment in retain- 

 ing it despite the snug fit for the narrow planting strip. 

 The curbsetter 

 insisted on ply- 

 ing his art and 

 rather than 

 omit the curb 

 where the tree 

 projected a few 

 inches, off came 

 a sliver from 

 the base of the 

 tree ! True, he 

 did make a 

 neat, clean cut 

 and even paint- 

 ed it, but longi- 

 t u d i n a 1 cuts 

 of this sort do 

 not heal over 

 like those made 

 crosswise, and 

 so this mon- 

 arch of an erst- 

 while forest 

 must pass the 

 rest of its days 

 with its "heel" 

 chopped off 

 and give thanks 

 from its leafy 

 branches which 

 tower high 

 above the 

 house top that 

 man spared it. 



Having ob-> 



served these two cases and they may be typical with 

 every community how not to do it, let us note the 

 application of measures to preserve street trees under 

 similar circumstances. 



A European horse-chestnut ten feet in circumference 

 spared by a "break" in the curbing. 



This is the simplest form of treating a tree in the line 

 of a curb a break in the curb and one which should 

 suggest itself to any curbsetter with common sense. 

 Vehicles may scar the trunk but surely drivers will con- 

 cede its right to the slight encroachment on the road- 

 way, especially if they could see it in early May when 

 thousands of white blossoms bedeck it and in their rigid 



AN UNUSUAL AND EFFECTIVE CURB TREATMENT 



This curbing was raised into an arch to protect the roots of a beautiful Norway Maple 



before the road bed was laid. 



upright forms cause the tree to resemble a huge cande- 

 labrum. This tree also serves as a hitching post, judg- 

 ing from the chain on the side, though this practice is 

 not to be recommended. How much better for the trees, 

 and mankind, too, had the curbsetter adopted this treat- 

 ment for the silver and sugar maples mentioned in the 

 foregoing photographs ! 



The roots of this old Norway maple had forced the 

 stone curbing out of alignment and so when a change of 

 the grade in the street at this point necessitated the con- 

 struction of a new roadbed and sidewalk, the roots 

 were found to extend along the line of the proposed new 



curb. To di- 

 vert the curb- 

 ing would have 

 been a simple 

 matter but the 

 foundation for 

 the same would 

 have jeopard- 

 ized the roots. 

 The engineers 

 preferred to re- 

 tain the straight 

 line for the 

 face of the 

 curb and so a 

 reinforced con- 

 Crete arched 

 curb was con- 

 structed to 

 bridge the base 

 of the tree and 

 projecting 

 roots. On eith- 

 er side of the 

 arch it was 

 n e c e ssary to 

 build an ex- 

 tension or 

 s h o u 1 d er as 

 shown in pho- 

 tograph to 

 support the 

 curb, along and 

 under which 

 the root ex- 

 tends for several feet. The top of the shoulder is flush 

 with and forms a part of the brick gutters which have 

 since been laid, and water in the gutter may seep under 

 the arch to the roots. Thus we have curbing and the 

 roots, too ! Note the wadding of newspapers to keep the 

 concrete off the tree and provide growing space between 

 the tree trunk and the concrete arch. 



Here is another method of saving trees when in the 

 line of newly opened streets, raising the grade to con- 

 form with old conditions and diverting curb and side- 

 walk that the root system may be preserved. Inci- 

 dentally, this happens to be an uncommon though not 

 a rare tree Sophora Japonica, or Japanese Pagoda 



