ORNAMENTAL AND SHADE TREES 



1063 



TO THOSE who are accustomed to distinguishing 

 trees by their permanent characters, it is just as 

 easy to tell trees apart in winter as in summer. 

 There is the hackberry, for instance. It can be told from 

 others by the peculiar warts upon its bark. The various 

 maples are recognized by their buds the Norway maple 

 with its large, reddish-brown bud; the sycamore maple 

 having a bud the same size and form as the Norway, but 

 green in color ; the sugar maple with its extremely pointed 

 bud; the ash-leaf maple having a green stem; the red 

 maple with a light gray bark like that of the beech, 

 while the silver maple can be readily told by its curved 

 tips ; and all the maples can be told from other trees 

 except the horsechestnut and ash by having their 

 branches opposite each other. The horsechestnut and 

 buckeye can easily be told apart and even if you consider 

 some of the less common trees, you can generally find 

 some peculiarity which will stand out above all others. 

 The blue beech has a fluted trunk that gives the impres- 

 sion of well-developed muscles. The pines can easily be 

 distinguished by the number of leaves to each individual 

 cluster the white pine, five leaves; the pitch pine, three 

 leaves, and the Scotch and Austrian, two, but the former 

 has its needles very short and twisted while the latter are 

 long and coarse. So it is through the whole list, and the 

 various details make a most interesting study for the 

 observant pedestrian at any and all seasons of the year. 



Before the new enamel labels were adopted the port- 

 able lead labels disappeared almost as rapidly as they 

 were put on the trees, but the enameled ones are guaran- 

 teed to stay, as they have no financial value to those who 

 would try to sell them. For very young trees that could 

 not bear the weight of the label, a wire arch stuck into the 

 ground at its base is used to bear the label. The larger 

 trees wear their labels directly on their trunk. Among 

 the evergreens that we labeled are the pines, larches, 

 spruces, hemlocks and cypress, while the broadleaf class 

 includes many varieties of the maple, oak, buckeye, ash, 

 beech, birch, willow, sycamore, poplar, linden, elm, mag- 

 nolia, hickory, cherry, mulberry, locust, walnut, butter- 

 nut, Kentucky coffee tree, sassafras, gum, tulip tree, 

 Osage orange and dogwood. 



Many parks all over the country are now labeling their 

 trees and every park department is having its own system 

 of labeling as well as its own form of label. Some of 

 these labels are unique and very original. Some arc 

 costly and some very reasonable. Our enamel labels in 

 Brooklyn cost fourteen cents apiece. American For- 

 estry would be glad to hear from its readers and park 

 sujjerintendents on this subject and learn what others 

 are doing in this important form of education. 



AIJVICE FOR NOVEMBER 



CUT around the base of the trees to be moved 

 this winter and fill trench with straw or leaf 

 mold. This will enable the removal of the tree 

 with a frozen ball. 



2. Prune and spray same as last month. 



3. Collect all fallen leaves from the lawns and, instead 

 of burning them, heap them in a pile, mix in some manure 



and turn the compost over three or four times a year. 

 This will form an excellent mulch for your trees and 

 shrubbery beds. 



4. In specially exposed places, protect rhododendrons 

 and other tender evergreen specimen plants with ever- 

 green boughs. Do not resort to this unnecessarily. 



TAKING THE CROOK OUT OF A TREE 



EDITOR American Forestry: "Being engaged in 

 forestry work, I was recently asked my opinion 

 of a method of getting the crook out of a young 

 and growing tree. The tree in question was purchased 

 for an oriental plane and has been planted in front of a 

 property as a shade tree. The tree has a crook in the 

 stem about six feet from the ground in the shape of a 

 modified S, that is, the crook does not, of course, make 

 such sharp curves ; however, they can be plainly seen and 

 the owner was advised by a nurseryman's agent to slit 

 the bark for about six inches lengthwise of the stem and 

 ori the outside of the curves and on both of the curves ; 

 this proceeding, it was stated, would cause the stem to 

 straighten out in a few seasons. As above mentioned, 

 I was asked my opinion of this treatment and my advice 

 was and I had never heard of employing any such 

 method to straighten a tree. Further, that I personally 

 did not approve of wounding the bark of a tree for any 

 such purpose or, for that matter, for any purpose, as to 

 do so would only be inviting fungus attack and diseases of 

 other kinds which might eventually kill the tree. How- 

 ever, I put it up to the owner of the tree to decide what 

 he should do and told him that while I had never heard 

 of using such a method, that did not say that such a 

 method would not be effective; I could not make any 

 statement as to its efficacy as I was not in a position to 

 say one way or another, but I did advise him, should 

 he decide to try any such treatment, to be sure and steril- 

 ize any wound he might make on the tree by giving same 

 a coat of good paint, coal tar, or some one of the other 

 recognized agents for this purpose. 



"I would be pleased to have your opinion on this sub- 

 ject, through the Shade and Ornamental Tree depart- 

 ment of American Forestry, as I may have a similar 

 proposition put to me at some future time, and should the 

 owner of the tree above mentioned follow either course 

 of advice he has had, especially the former, which I do 

 not approve of, I am situated so that I could watch devel- 

 opments and perhaps learn something of value along this 

 line, and I also believe that any information you may be 

 able to give on this subject through the magazine would 

 prove interesting to a number of other readers. 



H. D. Lippincott." 



THE remedy 



THOMAS B. MEEHAN, an expert nurseryman, 

 was asked by American Forestry to answer Mr. 

 Lippincott's question and he did so as follows : 

 "If you slit the bark of a tree, the new growth will 

 bulge out along the line of the slit, healing the wound 

 in one season, but this new growth extends out beyond 

 the normal growth of the tree. Supposing then you 



