158 



Garden and Forest. 



[April 3, 1889. 



for immediate work when the tree is planted in its perma- 

 nent position. The ground should also be prepared the 

 previous season, broken up and deeply trenched by hand, 

 if practicable, with the surface-soil left on the top. Next 

 to trenching, the best practice is to dig holes for the trees 

 in autumn. If the trees are to grow to large size, a hole 

 three feet deep and twenty feet across is none too large. 

 The soil should at once be returned to the holes with the 

 surface-soil on the top, unless it is thin and gravelly, when 

 good peat or mould should be thoroughly mixed with it. 

 By planting-time the prepared soil will have firmly settled 

 and small holes can be dug in the centre of the large ones. 

 These should be considerably wider than the spread of the 

 roots. One man should then hold the tree in an erect po- 

 sition while another spreads out the roots in their natural 

 position, when finely pulverized soil should be dropped 

 upon them, and, by a gentle movement of the tree, every 

 cavity about the roots should be filled. It is essential that 

 the soil be brought into close contact with the roots, and 

 when the hole is nearly filled the earth should be trodden 

 down, working from the outside of the hole toward the 

 trunk of the tree. After this, the remaining loam should 

 be thrown in and rammed down solid. No water should 

 be poured about the newly-planted tree, but tall trees 

 should be securely staked to prevent swaying and loosen- 

 ing the roots. 



Trees will often survive when planted with less atten- 

 tion to details than is here recommended, but careless 

 tree-planting is wasteful and disappointing. To be reason- 

 ably certain of having healthy, vigorous and long-lived 

 trees, the work must be done thoroughly and intelligently. 

 The rules here given are not new, but thousands of trees 

 are lost every year by neglecting them, and they can 

 hardly be repeated too often. We add a few other general 

 directions which every novice should heed. Make a care- 

 ful study of your ground, and decide exactly where each 

 tree is to be planted before you send your order to the 

 nurseryman. Never buy your trees first and then hunt 

 for a place to put them. Never let the roots of trees, and 

 especially of Conifers, become dry for an instant. It is 

 good practice to dip the roots in thin mud as soon as they 

 are unpacked, and then to keep them covered until the 

 tree is planted. Dry weather and a moist soil are better 

 conditions for transplanting than rainy weather and a wa- 

 ter-soaked soil. It is generally a waste of time and 

 money to transplant large trees. A tree with good roots 

 and two or three feet high will soon overtake one that is 

 transplanted when twenty feet high, or more, and will 

 make a more beautiful specimen. 



Special cases demand special treatment. Maples, Elms 

 and Lindens, for example, have shallow roots, and larger 

 trees of such species than of the more deeply-rooting kinds 

 can be successfully transplanted. Trees with tap-roots, 

 like Oaks and Hickories, should be planted when very 

 small. Larches should be planted very early, because they 

 are among the first trees to start into growth. It is safest to 

 transplant Tulip-trees and Magnolias just after the buds have 

 started, otherwise their fleshy roots are liable to decay 

 while dormant. As a rule. Conifers can be transplanted 

 later than deciduous trees, because they begin growth 

 later. Better plant one tree well than a hundred without 

 deliberation and care. Even a well-selected and properly 

 planted tree will prove a disappointment if it is neglected. 



A considerable share of public attention here has been di- 

 rected of late to the trees in Central Park, through the 

 efforts of a public-spirited, but in this instance imperfectly 

 instructed, body of citizens, who have formed an organiza- 

 tion to look after the interests of the upper part of the city. 

 An expert representing this association has recently made a 

 report concerning the cutting down of the trees in the park, 

 and as this report has been circulated, and as the state- 

 ments which it contains are calculated to bring discredit 

 on the park officials among persons who are not familiar 

 with the circumstances, it is proper to state that if they have 



erred at all in cutting it is in the direction of omission and 

 not of commission. Many of the statements made by the 

 expert of the West Side Association have no foundation in 

 fact. In some cases he has failed to discriminate between 

 the necessary pruning of trees and shrubs and their de- 

 struction ; and he has made no distinction between the 

 cutting out of dead trees and the cutting down of living 

 ones. 



The condition of things in Central Park, so far as the 

 trees are concerned, is this : More trees were properly 

 planted when the park was made than could grow event- 

 ually in the space allowed to them. It was intended, of 

 course, that all these superfluous trees should be removed 

 as necessity dictated. 13ut this thinning, which the poor 

 nature of the soil overmuch of the park made all the more 

 necessary, was neglected for years, and the trees were 

 allowed to grow up huddled together, without sufficient 

 room, light or nourishment. Some native trees died from 

 this cause, as well as many foreign trees which are now 

 known to be'unsuited to this climate, and which were 

 planted in large numbers ; and dead and dying trees even 

 were allowed to remain to the detriment of more promising 

 neighbors. 



Two or three years ago the Superintendent found that a 

 general system of cutting would have to be inaugurated 

 all over the park, or that in a comparatively short time there 

 would be few trees left. He sought and obtained the ad- 

 vice of experts, and proceeded with great caution to the task 

 which public ignorance in such matters, and public clamor 

 have made disagreeable and difficult. The cutting, up to 

 this time has been confined principally to the removal of 

 dead Conifers, particularly Norway Spruces, which are 

 scattered all over the park, and to a few glaring cases of 

 overcrowding about which there could be no possible 

 question as to the propriety of removal. The number of 

 trees which have been cut is large, perhaps, in the aggre- 

 gate, but no proper impression has been made upon the 

 plantations, and the work has been allowed to languish, 

 probably because the fear of public outcry was too strong 

 for the Commissioners. There are hundreds of good 

 people who cannot be made to vmderstand that an intel- 

 ligent lover of trees will feel impelled to cut away an 

 offending one whenever its removal will add to the 

 beauty, the health and the longevity of half a dozen 

 others. At the present time dead trees, or trees so nearly 

 dead that a few years more will finish them, are allowed 

 to disfigure the park, and a half-dead, misshapen Spruce, 

 fast pushing really fine and vigorous deciduous trees out 

 of shape is a common sight. Few parts of the park are 

 not disfigured or injured by sickly, misshapen, or dis- 

 eased trees, and it is the duty of the Commissioners to 

 cause such trees to be removed. What they need is the 

 support and encouragement of the public and the wild 

 assertions which have been made in this city during the 

 past month about destroying the trees in the park will, if 

 they have any effect, retard well-advised and well-consid- 

 ered plans for its improvement. 



The most important and valuable piece of work per- 

 formed up to this time by the Board of Forest Commission- 

 ers of this state is the preparation of a bill (Senate Bill 

 number 354) which will, if the Commissioners succeed in 

 securing its passage, prevent railroad corporations from 

 obtaining a location over the state-lands now held in the 

 forest-preserve, or which may at any time in the future be 

 joined to it. This is a matter of public importance deserv- 

 ing the careful attention of the members of the Legislature, 

 and the support of all persons interested in the develop- 

 ment and prosperity of this state. 



The most immediate danger which now threatens the 

 north woods comes from the railroads. A number of pro- 

 jects to extend lines already operated in the wilderness 

 and to build new ones are now^ on foot ; and their pro- 

 moters are pushing them vigorously. The preservation of 

 any portion of the Adirondack forests is due to their re- 



