A Study of the Street Trees of Lincoln 57 



crooked stem. Strong continuous winds will also cause crooked 

 stems in firmly planted trees; therefore it is advisable to brace 

 trees in exposed locations until they have reached a medium 

 sized diameter, and can well stand the strain of the wind. It was 

 found that several species tended toward crookedness more than 

 did other species, the Box Elder being the worst, with Maple, Elm, 

 Cottonwood and Ash following in order given. The height at 

 which the tree began to fork also varied with the species. Again 

 the Box Elder and Maple gave the greatest percentage of the 

 total with a very low fork height. Low forking is also chiefly 

 due to improper care of the tree while young. The side branches 

 are not kept pruned, thus giving the tree a chance to start a 

 shoot low down on the stem that forms another leader to the 

 tree. 



Unsystematic tree planting has been the common practice in 

 all parts of the city. For example : A property owner would 

 plant a few street trees without giving any attention as to 

 whether they were in line with his neighbors. This irregularity 

 of trees gives the street a very bad appearance, as in several 

 cases trees had been planted by one owner inside the side- 

 walk while those of his neighbors on each side were planted in 

 the parking between the sidewalk and curbing. The break in 

 the row of trees on this one block made a poor appearance which 

 otherwise would have been symmetrical and artistic had this 

 one property owner used a little judgment and cooperated with 

 his neighbors in the planting of the trees. If the park is too 

 narrow for successful tree growth, because of lack of surface 

 for the absorption of sufficient rainfall and of room for root 

 development, it will be necessary for the property owner to 

 plant the trees on his own land. With such conditions all trees 

 should be planted uniformly, that is, inside the sidewalk, and 

 then, there would be no cause for the irregular appearance in 

 the line of trees. 



The surface of the soil was inspected to learn whether it 

 was loose, hard and baked, or sodded. Some light might possi- 

 bly have been thrown on the subject why some trees did not 

 attain the growth they should, if the soil had been examined 

 to some depth beneath the surface. Probably the poor growth 

 of some of the trees was due to the poor soil. 



To give a fair idea of the conditions of each of the different 

 species of trees, the following descriptions of the most common 

 species will be given. These brief descriptions will be more of 



