CHAPTER XXII 

 STREET PLANTING. 



WHILST the cultivation of trees in the streets of large towns and cities 

 undoubtedly presents many difficulties not encountered under the ordinary 

 conditions of parks and gardens, it cannot be said generally that the 

 authorities who have control over these matters have risen to the level of 

 their opportunities. An enormous number of new varieties and species of 

 hardy trees have been added to our collections during the last fifty years, 

 yet it is very rarely indeed that one sees any attempt made to go outside 

 a certain restricted group of common trees for the adornment of streets. 

 The only consideration appears to be "Will it grow?" That, of course, 

 must always remain the most important consideration, but it need not be 

 the only one. 



The three commonest trees planted in towns in the S. of England 

 are plane, horse-chestnut, and common lime, not one of which can be 

 regarded as a perfect tree for ordinary streets. 



For many parts of London the plane has proved to be the greatest 

 boon to the street planter. It thrives in Central London and in city 

 yards as no other tree has yet been found to do, and for such places it 

 would be absurd to decry its use. But in the outer suburbs, where the 

 atmosphere is better, and the streets often narrow, the plane is riot a 

 suitable tree. Naturally one of the noblest in its proportions of all 

 deciduous trees, and one of the largest, it is -very much out of place 

 occupying two sides of a street, the whole width of which would not half 

 accommodate a fully grown tree. Yet even in the outer suburbs of 

 London, in districts as yet only half built over, and where many streets 

 still have orchards and gardens at their sides, the imagination of local 

 authorities often fails to rise beyond the plane. 



With respect to the horse-chestnut the same objections as to size 

 obtain. The tree does not bear pruning so Well as the plane, owing to 

 the soft nature of its wood, which enables fungoid parasites to find an 

 easy entry at the wounds, unless great care is taken. On the other 

 hand, the foliage is perhaps the handsomest of all trees commonly grown 



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