DISEASES OF TREES LIKELY TO FOLLOW INJURIES. 153 



damage to the tree limited oul}^ by the length of time which their 

 owners are pleased to spend in conversation with the girls in the 

 kitchen. Last of all comes, perhaps, the doctor, whose visits, if 

 they are not freqnent, are proportionally long. He, at least, 

 ought to know that trees cannot be wounded with impunit3% No 

 wonder that the bark is not only soon removed and the wood 

 exposed, but since the horse is an animal which prefers the softer 

 bark to the harder wood, the fresh borders of the wound are 

 repeatedly attacked until deformities of enormous size are pro- 

 duced, and apart from the danger of fungus groAvths, the nutrition 

 of the tree is seriously deranged. A visit to Oxford Street, 

 Cambridge, where on one side of the street the trees have not 

 been protected, and wounds more than two feet long have been 

 made by horses, will show that I am not exaggerating. If I 

 mention this particular street, it is because I have to pass through 

 it every day. Other equally bad instances might be named. 



Surely there can be no excuse for such senseless and wholesale 

 violence, especially since the remedy is so simple and so inex- 

 pensive. The trees planted along the streets are not the private 

 property of the house-owners, with which they can do what they 

 please. The public has the right to demand that the trees be 

 properly guarded and protected, since otherwise it is not pos- 

 sible to secure the requisite shade in summer. But apart from 

 the public rights in the matter, it is for private advantage as well 

 that our trees should be kept in good condition, since the attrac- 

 tiveness of any street as a place of residence depends largely 

 upon the beauty of the trees. Not a few of our New England 

 towns owe their prosperity as summer resorts to the arching elms 

 and well-rounded maples, whose loss no money could replace. It 

 would be both just and wise for every thickly settled town and 

 village to have laws compelling house-owners to place proper and 

 sufficient guards round the trunks of trees growing b}' the road- 

 sides, or if it be considered inexpedient to place this apparently 

 slight burden on private individuals, it is at least the duty of 

 municipal and town governments to provide guards and railings at 

 the public expense. It is strange that there should be any person 

 who lives in his own house, who would not willingly do all he can 

 to beautify it by keeping the trees near it in the best condition. 

 But, unfortunately, there are many such persons. Where houses 

 are rented, the tenant is naturally little inclined to any expenditure 



