NEW YORK CITY'S TREES 



5G1 



About all the city can boast of now 

 is the possession of thousands of trees 

 unsightly in appearance, some of which 

 are dangerous to the public on account 

 of their weakened condition and are an 

 expensive instead of a valuable asset. 

 Had there been established a bureau to 

 control tree planting and preservation, 

 the work would have been done sys- 

 tematically, scientifically, and, above all, 

 economically. The city today would 

 possess an asset the value of which it is 

 impossible to estimate, as it is an ever- 

 increasing one. 



The beauty and sanitary value of the 

 trees rightly planted would have .been 

 universally noticeable, and the present 

 expensive care of the trees would have 

 been eliminated. The fact that the 

 trees planted on the streets since 1902 

 present no better features than the con- 

 ditions of those planted before shows 

 that a continuation of present methods 

 is but a guarantee to the city of the 

 same burden of expense in the future 

 The economy of a bureau for the con- 

 trol of tree culture is therefore one of 

 the greatest reasons for its existence. 



BUREAU OF TREE CULTURE 



A bureau of tree culture should be 

 established under the Department of 

 Parks and should, in the case of New 

 York City, consist of a forester for 

 each borough, so says the recent report 

 to the Park Commission. The super- 

 vision and direction of all features con- 

 nected with tree and plant culture of 

 each borough should be under the con- 

 trol of the forester for that borough, 

 who should work under the direction 

 and approval of the Park Commis- 

 sioner. The work of each forester 

 should generally be independent of the 

 work of the other foresters. The yearly 

 salary of the foresters should be $1,800 

 minimum and $4,000 maximum. The 

 position should be filled by civil service 

 examinations of the applicants. Each 

 forester should be a man of scientific 

 training along lines of tree culture, in- 

 cluding Forestry, Horticulture, Den- 

 drology, Plant Pathology, Entomology 

 and landscape Gardening. He should 

 have had at least three years of prac- 

 tical- exerience in city forestry. 



DUTIES OF A FORESTER 



A forester should begin the collec- 

 tion of data for a tree census of his 

 borough. This would be a complete 

 inventory of the state of work regard- 

 ing the trees and the opportunities for 

 future work. As soon as any work is 



Photo by H. R. Francis. 



A WOUND IN THE TRUNK OF AN ELM TREE. 



Probably 90 per cent of the fine old Elms along 

 Seventh Avenue on Manhattan have wounds 

 s'milar to the one here illustrated. This con- 

 dition could have been prevented by protecting 

 the trees at the opportune time. It is far more 

 economical to prevent such wounds which invite 

 disease and decay than to resort to methods of 

 tree repair which in most cases proves wholly 

 unsatisfactory. 



