FIFTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 97 



the right to stop any tree planting- on the roadside passing 

 their land, which assumed right many men exercise, so that 

 continuous lines of tree planting along the highways cannot 

 be done. This has been the case in our town, and I presume 

 it is the case in every town. 



There should be a law in tliis state which would give tree 

 wardens, or improvement societies, the power to plant out 

 continuous lines of trees, or to make any improvements which 

 they consider advisable, to beautify the highwa}s. There is 

 much, however, that can be done along our highways where 

 trees have come up without planting and which are doing fairly 

 well. Such of these as are adapted for a permanent place 

 should be marked by the warden, and that mark placed upon 

 a tree should guarantee it perfect protection. There are 

 many places where a number of these young trees have sprung 

 up, and are growing, which should be properly thinned out, 

 and let others stand, not always in a straight line, but let them 

 stand so as to form little clumps or groves. In regular 

 planting there are many places where the straight rows may 

 be varied to small clumps of trees, and in some cases an ever- 

 green or a Cut Leaf Birch, or a Purple Beech may be added, 

 whereby the monotony of single lines of one kind of tree will 

 be avoided, and^will also add to the beauty of the landscape. 



Then again, there is a great variety of soils, exposures, etc., 

 which will require trees best adapted for the places in which 

 they are to grow. When roads run over hills and into val- 

 leys, there are many places where the soil is thin and dry and 

 poorly adapted for the growth of certain varieties of trees, 

 while in many of the low places the ground is wet and the 

 Sugar or Norway Maples, Lindens, or Tulips would not 

 grow, while the Swamp Maple, Elms, Pin Oak, and many vari- 

 eties of W'illows would grow finely. Where the soil is thin on 

 the knolls, such fast growing trees as the Carolina Poplars, 

 Oriental Planes, and Silver Maples should be set, and with a 

 little rich fine dirt used in setting them out, to start the trees, 

 they would grow' and do fairly well. In planting out a line 

 of trees, this adaptability of trees to location and soil should 

 be studied, and followed, tliat the planting may be successful. 

 Then again, it is not enough that highways shotdd be planted 



