60 Forest Club Annual 



crowns, giving good shade, and would add beauty to any one's 

 property. Excellent specimens of Red Oak may be found at 

 824 South 18th Street and at 15th and C Streets. Other spe- 

 cies suitable for street and shade trees in Lincoln are the Ashes, 

 Elms, Linden, Hackberry and Sycamore. Some of the most 

 common trees which should not be planted except for unusual 

 reasons are the Box Elder, Silver Maple, Carolina Poplar and the 

 Cottonwood. Where nothing else will grow these species have 

 their uses, but otherwise they should be forbidden. 



The shade tree should be thoroughly suited to the local 

 climate and soil conditions. Besides these absolute requirements 

 other desirable qualities by which a street tree should be chosen 

 are: 



1. Form of tree under normal conditions; should be chosen 



for particular environments. 



2. Long-lived trees. 



3. Rapidity of growth. 



4. Quality of shade produced. 



5. Beauty of tree. 



In the past but little skillful care was given to the trees of 

 this city. On one lawn, however, there was observed a recent 

 well directed effort to improve a misshapen tree. In several 

 instances, rotten trunks had been hollowed out and filled with 

 cement to prevent further decay. These trees had been care- 

 fully and skillfully pruned, and after coating the cut with tar 

 a painting of white lead was applied. It appears that most 

 owners of trees as well as the pruners employed have no knowl- 

 edge of proper pruning ; frequently long stubs were left when 

 removing the branches. Instances were found where the bark: 

 had been peeled for a considerable distance on the bole, because 

 no under cut had been made when the limb was removed. 

 Many trees had two main stems when one might have been 

 secured had the tree been treated at the proper time. To keep 

 these large forks from splitting apart some have bound them 

 together with wire and nearly, if not quite, killed the tree. In 

 a few instances, however, an iron bolt has wisely been placed 

 through these two forks and afterwards painted. Many cases 

 of injury to the trees are caused simply by driving nails into 

 the tree trunk to fasten a wire or a clothes line, or for the pur- 

 pose of hitching a horse. A very common injury is caused by 



