PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS UPON TREE-PLANTING. 51 



flDd here an iiiconveDience is in some degree balanced by a benefit. They 

 may keep roads muddy for a time in spring, but if evergreens, tbey tend 

 to keep the snows from melting in winter when sleighing is desirable. 

 There may also be cases in which a farm is already too much shaded 

 for the good of its crops. In short, the planter must exercise here, as 

 in all things, a proper discretion, and balance the arguments for and 

 against. It would probably result in planting by the wayside as a 

 rule, in a great majority of cases — the spaces being wider apart where 

 objections were brought on account of mud. Where this tendency exists 

 it may be in a large degree obviated by trimming up the trunks so that 

 the shadows will not remain long in a place, and a free circulation of 

 the air is permitted ; this will also remove much of the objectious about 

 the shading of cultivated land. 



ORNAMENTAL PLANTING IN PARIS. 



The number of trees in avenues in Paris, according to a statement 

 made in 1875, is 103,154. All streets more than 26 meters wide are 

 bordered on each side by rows of trees. If 3G meters wide, there is a 

 double row, and if 40 meters, there is usually a plateau in the middle, 

 with a carriage-way and sidewalk on each side. The trees are set at 

 least 5 meters from the front of the houses, and they are 5 meters apart 

 and 1.5 meters from the borders of the walks. 



The choice of species presented some difficulties, on account of the 

 nature of the soil, and the only kinds finally selected were the sycamore 

 {Platanus) and the horse chestnut {^sculus). A third kind, the Pla- 

 uera, was employed on the Boulevard de I'Hopital, and promises well. 

 The cost of maintenance is 190,000 francs per annum, including the 

 care of i)lats on which the trees stand, the removing of dead trees, &c. 

 The gardens, squares, or planted places, (besides the four great promen- 

 ades of the Bois de Boulogne, the Pare des ButtesChaumont, the Bois 

 de Vincennes, and the Pare de Montsouris, together amounting to 1,835 

 hectares,) are 74 in number, amounting to 57 hectares. 



For some years past, many of the trees in Paris have been ob- 

 served to shed their leaves prematurely. It was found to be due to a 

 great number of minute insects of the genus Asoarus^ which, appearing 

 in May and June, gathered in great numbers on the under sides of the 

 leaves, causing them to curl up and finally fall. So far as noticed, the 

 Ailanthus appeared to be exempt. The Tilia argentea and T. parmeterii 

 appeared to be preserved by a pubescence under the leaf. The JEscuIur 

 riibicunda, with its coriaceous leaves and robust habit, appears to resist 

 the attack of the insect, and to hold its leaves till winter. 



OBLIQUE PLANTING. 



Among the established rules of planting are the three following : 



1. Set to the same depth as the plant stood in the nursery. 



2. Spread with the hand the fibers of the root in their natural direc- 

 tion. 



3. It is essential that the plant should stand upright. 



A recent writer' has shown that these rules have their exceptions, 

 and, describing the usual manipulation of planting, says : 



The workman takes the plant in his left hand, holds it vertically in the middle of the 

 hole to the proper depth, and with the right hand (not particularly caring for the direc- 



i M. Regimbean, in the Ecvue des Eaux ct Forets, 1875, p. 13U. The above is but a 

 condensed abstract of this article. 



