84 THE CONNECTICUT POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The Street Shade Tree Problem. 



Hon. James Draper, Worcester, Mass. 



Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen : Standing here with 

 this beautiful demonstration of your handiwork as Pomolo- 

 gists and iiorists, I am satisfied that you believe in the beau- 

 tiful here in Connecticut. It seems a little out of place to 

 bring a gentleman from Massachusetts to talk about shade 

 trees, when you have such beautiful illustrations of it here 

 in the Connecticut valley. The name and fame of Xew 

 Haven through the work of Loomis has gone out throughout 

 the land, and years ago I remember seeing the beautiful elms 

 of East Hartford and Glastonbury, planted there a century 

 or more ago, and we find all through this section evidences 

 that there is something beautiful in the tree located by the 

 highway. This is a pretty broad subject to touch in the lim- 

 ited time at our command, and I think it phould be consid- 

 ered in three divisions ; first, the division where it is under 

 the control of the municipal authorities ; second, in the towns 

 .and villages where the village improvement societies are 

 .taking a hand ; and third, the country roadsides where the 

 tree wardens have come in to take up their w^ork. In the 

 city of Hartford, your trees are under the control of the high- 

 way department. Now it seems to me that is a decided 

 -misfit. You may be fortunate in having a man who is an 

 •expert in road building and everything pertaining thereto, 

 and that has a love for the tree and for its preservation, but 

 those cases are rare. The road must g"o where it is wanted, 

 and that stands first, and the trees in the second place ; so I 

 believe it should be under an entirely separate administration, 

 and that would be the park commissioners. W'e plant our 

 trees from 35 to 50 feet apart, and the- wider distance is 

 preferable. We would plant them a little thicker and take 

 out every other tree, but it is pretty hard to get people to 

 do that. Now comes the question of what variety to plant, 

 which applies to the country as well as the city. I believe 

 if you have got the proper width of street, there is nothing 



