The Tree The Memorial That Lives 



serve. A spruce will be less successful for shade pro- 

 duction than an elm, but the spruce is admirable for 

 shelter. When a tree is part of the landscape scheme 

 of a place it should be co-ordinated and fitted in with the 

 other trees or additional objects in the surroundings. 



Trees for city street planting may be of the same kind 

 for a dozen blocks and must be evenly spaced. When 

 trees are planted along a country roadside it is better to 

 have them in groups of a few kinds and informally 

 located. 



There is another consideration that is often not given 

 sufficient thought at the time of selecting trees for plant- 

 ing and that is the permanency of the kinds of trees. For 

 this reason entire streets, sometimes a whole town, are 

 planted with short-lived and otherwise inferior trees. 



It is much more desirable to plant trees of con- 

 siderable permanency such as oak and sycamore than 

 to select quick growing, but also fast maturing, trees 

 such as silver maple and many of the poplars. 



The cultural re- 

 quirements of some 

 trees are less exact- 

 ing than others. It 

 is well to select those 

 that will require no 

 more attention than 

 the planter is pre- 

 pared to give them. 

 Beyond the first two 

 or three years after 

 planting, the oaks, 

 maples, elms and 

 sycamores require 

 very little cultural 

 treatment. 



Obtaining the Stock. 



In sections where 

 the surrounding 

 woodlands offer 



countless young evergreens and saplings at no more 

 trouble than the digging, it has been customary for tree 

 planters to go to nearby woodlots to obtain the stock 

 for planting on streets, home grounds, school grounds 

 and along country roadsides. This method has one 

 special feature to commend its practice. It provides a 

 variety of trees that are a product of the locality. 

 But it is an improvement on this practice to buy from 

 some nearby nurseryman the same variety of trees 

 especially grown for the purpose of transplanting. In 

 the nursery the trees are handled with the express pur- 

 pose of preparing them for transplanting. This method 

 of handling furnishes a tree that begins growth with 

 less set-back than when the same size tree is taken directly 

 from the woods. 



There has been perfected special machinery for the 

 transplanting of large trees from woodlands but this is 

 quite aside from the ordinary tree planting. As a gen- 

 eral rule a much larger size tree can be safely taken from 

 a nursery for transplanting than from a woodland. 



RED OAKS ARE ADMIRABLE FOR STREET TREES BEING STURDY AND 

 REQUIRING LITTLE ATTENTION 



As to the size and shape of the tree to use in planting, 

 to a great extent this will depend upon the kind of tree 

 that is used and especially whether evergreen or decidu- 

 ous. In general, nursery-grown evergreen trees up to 

 five feet in height and deciduous trees of the same quality 

 up to twelve feet in height are the best sizes to plant. In 

 case of deciduous trees for lawns, either in groups or 

 planted singly, there is not the demand for regularity and 

 uniformity in shape as is required of trees for a street. 

 In fact, it is preferable to have a group of trees, the indi- 

 viduals of which are not too regular in their shapes, for 

 lawn or country road planting. For a street a tree which 

 has its lowest branches trimmed away to twelve or four- 

 teen feet from the ground after the tree has grown to a 

 fair size is the desired shape. On a lawn the lower 

 branches may be not more than four feet from the 

 ground. In the case of evergreen trees the lowest 

 branches should rarely be cut away. 



Preparations for 

 Planting. 



After obtaining the 

 trees certain prepara- 

 tions should be made 

 for planting. Whether 

 the tree is taken from 

 a nearby woodland or 

 is purchased from a 

 nursery, its roots 

 must be carefully pro- 

 tected both as regards 

 severe drying and as 

 to injury from scrap- 

 ing and bruises. When 

 trees are shipped from 

 a nursery their roots 

 are covered with 

 moist material. Keep 

 this covering around 

 the roots until immediately before planting. The roots of 

 the trees dug from the woodland should be similarly 

 covered and protected. The exposure of the uncovered 

 roots of trees for five minutes may be sufficient to injure 

 the tree beyond recovery. Care in protection of the 

 roots from sun, dry air and wind will be amply rewarded 

 in the performance of the trees after proper planting. 

 While some trees will undoubtedly grow in a poor 

 soil after they have become established, there is no ad- 

 vantage in starting the trees in anything except the best 

 garden soil. Usually that referred to as "top soil" is the 

 kind to have on hand in sufficient quantity to plant 

 the trees. 



Unless the trees have been given better than ordinary 

 handling in the operations of transplanting, their roots 

 will need some trimming. The broken and badly bruised 

 roots should be pruned with a clean cut. The top of 

 the tree can be shaped up at this time. All of this 

 operation of pruning should be made with a sharp pruner 

 such as can be secured at any hardware store if it is 



