CHAPTER V 



TREES IN TOWNS 



In foreign countries with a warmer climate than ours, like 

 France, Italy, and the United States, trees are almost a 

 necessity in the wider streets of towns on account of the 

 shade which they provide in summer. They do away with 

 the hot and dazzling pavements, which are not merely 

 unpleasant but are highly dangerous to health. The New 

 York Medical Society placed on record (1) their opinion 

 " that one of the most effective means for mitigating the 

 intense heat of the summer months and diminishing the 

 death-rate among children is the cultivation of an adequate 

 number of trees in the streets." 



In the streets of our own towns the need to plant trees 

 as a protection from injurious heat is not so imperative, 

 and the arguments for the practice are mainly aesthetic. 

 Trees add much to the beauty of a city. They soften the 

 harshness of a row of bare houses. They have a restful 

 effect, yet are intensely interesting in their variety, as they 

 change from day to day and from season to season. In the 

 winter we see their beautiful outlines formed by the tracery ~ 

 of their twigs, and admire their bark. In the summer 

 they are varied in their foliage, which changes its tints 

 often to magic colours in autumn. Trees are on the whole 

 more suited for suburbs than for the central or business 

 quarters of a town. They add greatly to the happiness of 

 the inhabitants of mean streets. They have in this way a 

 hygienic effect. 



44 



