STREET AND HIGHWAY PLANTING. 1-> 



done to the roots. The tree treated according to this system shows but 

 a slight decrease in size from the trees which have grown as they would. 



One advantage of this tree which is rarely mentioned is, that in 

 maturity, the head becomes quite open, so that the shade cast is light, 

 though entirely sufficient to all demands. 



The tree is a rapid grower and forms a specimen of considerable size 

 in a very short time. Mature individuals need a great sufficiency of 

 room for their development and should not be crowded. From actual 

 experience it has been found that at three years of age trees planted 

 thirty-six feet apart were too close. It is to be desired that fifty feet 

 be the minimum distance and sixty or seventy-five feet is not to be 

 thought undesirable. 



Acacia decurrens mollis is a form quite similar to the foregoing. 

 The chief popular differences are the more glaucous color of the foliage 

 and the later blooming flowers. These flowers are not so showy as 

 those of the dealbata form, as they are of a very much lighter shade of 

 yellow. Indeed, at times they appear as merely a yellowish white. 



The same requirements for planting, pruning both of tops and roots, 

 and so forth, are needful as in the case of A. decurrens dealbata. 



Acacia longifolia (Plate 1, No. 3) is one of the acacias to be avoided 

 in street work. When young it is quite similar to A. melanoxylon 

 which is desirable, but when the mature head begins to form, which it 

 does at an early age, the character of the tree begins to show. The 

 trunk rarely assumes an upright position and usually twists into some 

 horizontal shape, dividing into two or three large limbs which sooner 

 or later become so heavy that they break from their own weight. This 

 is very frequent since the wood is extremely brittle. As there are so 

 many better acacias, this one may be quite ignored for street work. 

 The most like it is the following : 



Acacia melanoxylon (Blackwood) (Plate 1, No. 4) is perhaps the 

 most common of all the acacias in the southern part of the State. It 

 is a rapid grower and easily and cheaply raised from seed. Its blossoms 

 are quite insignificant, although the seeds and seed-pods are quite in 

 evidence later on, and the foliage is quite a dark green and very fresh 

 in appearance. This dark color is objectionable to many and certainly 

 is bad when emphasized by the close planting which commonly prevails. 

 If plantings are made with but twenty-foot spaces between trees in 

 five years time the trees will be almost a solid hedge. Although the 

 citizens do not hesitate to complain both vehemently and long on account 

 of the funereal darkness, they rarely make any move to remove the 

 alternate trees. 



Because the blackwood will stand a maximum of abuse, it has been 

 woefully neglected. Because a seedling eighteen inches high will make 

 a tree of some fifteen to twenty feet, speaking conservatively, in five 



