254 



Garden and Forest. 



[JtTLY 25, 1 8 



various desert products, such as fibrous plants and other 

 growths now deemed worthless, and for sheep pasturage, 

 etc., thus corresponding to the uses of the rocky hills 

 and pastures that form a large proportion of the area of 

 the latter section of our country. Valuable uses are con- 

 stantly being found for land once worthless — as in the 

 Cranberry bogs of Cape Cod and the great Henequen 

 plantations of sun-parched 'Yucatan. Some time the day 

 may come whefl it will be said : There is no desert ! 

 The encouragement of irrigation will hasten that day for 

 our country. 



Trees in Washington. 



MR. PETER HENDERSON, in the last number of 

 Harper's Magazine, describes the tree-planting 

 which has been accomplished in the City of Washington 

 during the last fifteen )'ears. No less than 1 20 miles of 

 streets, or 240 miles of trees, have been planted in that 

 time ; and in no other American city has street planting 

 ever been attempted on anything like the same scale, or 

 has produced results immediately so satisfactory. An ex- 

 amination, however, of the list of trees which have been 

 planted, shows that the Commission who have controlled 

 these plantations have been governed by the desire for im- 

 mediate effect rather than for the permanent embellish- 

 ment of the city. White Maples, for example, line fifty-five 

 miles of streets, or nearly one-half of the distance planted ; 

 sixteen miles are planted with the Cottonwood, and ten 

 miles with the Ash-leaved Maple or Box Elder. Tliese are 

 all excellent trees for the prairies of Nebraska or Kansas, 

 where trees are needed that can grow rapidly in a dry soil, 

 and where all other considerations are secondary to imme- 

 diate results, but they are entirely out of place in a city of 

 the architectural pretensions and of the climate of Wash- 

 ington. They are trees with brittle branches, and neither 

 long-lived nor in any way suited to adorn the capital of a 

 country hke the United States, rich in trees unsurpassed in 

 beauty and variety. Indeed, it would be difficult to select 

 three deciduous trees in the forests of this country less 

 fitted for this particular purpose. They are very easily 

 and quickly raised ; they are readily transplanted, and they 

 grow with great rapidity. They soon become unshapely 

 and unsatisfactory, however, and any city where the 

 streets are planted with them will have a cheap appear- 

 ance, whatever may be the character of its buildings. The 

 number of fine trees which could be used to adorn appro- 

 priately the streets of Washington is considerable. The 

 Tulip tree is perfectly at home in that climate. It is one 

 of the noblest trees of the American forest. There are 

 few more beautiful trees anywhere. The Commission 

 have planted only 1,712 Tulip trees. Some of the 

 American Oaks are admirable street trees, notably the 

 Pin Oak, the Red Oak, the Willow Oak, the Scarlet Oak 

 and the Shingle Oak. These all thrive in the neighbor- 

 hood of Washington,, and they are all trees which can be 

 easily grown and transplanted. They grow rapidly, too, 

 as does the Tulip tree, although less rapidly in youth than 

 Cottonwoods and Soft Maples, but they go on increasing in 

 beauty for a century, and might be expected to last in 

 \\'ashington for a much longer period even. The Commis- 

 sion have planted 273 Oaks all told, including some worth- 

 less European varieties. Only 832 Sugar Maples have 

 been planted, although this is one of the best street trees 

 in the United States, while ten miles of Norway Maples 

 have been planted, in spite of the fact that it is in every 

 way an inferior tree, and often disfigured in this country in 

 summer by thrip. The White Poplar of Europe is one of 

 the ugliest trees ever introduced into this country ; 1,863 o*^ 

 these have been set along the Washington streets, or 600 

 more than the number of Honey Locusts used; yet the 

 Honey Locust is an excellent street tree — in many respects 

 one of the best which has ever been tried in this countr)^ 

 for the purpose. The trees to which we have here called 

 attention — and there are many others ■which might have 



been selected in preference to those employed by the Com- 

 mission — have all been successfully planted in towns in 

 different parts of the country. In the town of Flushing, in 

 this State, for example, where, perhaps, more than in any 

 other in this country which we can now recall, there are 

 lessons in street planting to be learned, both in regard to 

 what trees to plant and what trees not to plant, there are 

 rows of noble Tulip trees, and Pin Oaks, Willow Oaks and 

 Lindens, which speak for themselves, and show how beau- 

 tiful a well planted street can be made. 



The trees planted in Washington have been badly se- 

 lected, and the permanent results of these plantations can- 

 not fail to be disappointing; the methods, however, of 

 planting, of pruning and of protecting the trees adopted by 

 the Commission, as described by Mr. Henderson, are 

 admirable, and far ahead of anything which has been done 

 in urban planting in this country. It is not surprising, 

 therefore, that the immediate results obtained are so 

 satisfactory. 



IT now seems probable that the postage on seeds, cut- 

 tings, bulbs and roots will be reduced to at least 

 eight cents a pound, which is half of the present rate, and 

 the Postal Improvement Association, to whose efforts 

 this reduction is largely due, still hope that the rate may 

 be ultimately fixed at four cents, as it was made originally 

 in the Senate Bill. By some oversight the words " plants 

 and trees" were omitted in the bill, and it is to be hoped 

 that it will be amended so as to include both of these, 

 although, perhaps, the word "plants" would cover the 

 entire case. It is a matter which should not fail for lack 

 of definite language, and certainly there is no souiid re a 

 son why plants should not share the advantages accorded 

 to seeds and bulbs. If the Government can afford to 

 carry one it can equally afford to carry the other. And 

 there are special reasons why plants should have the 

 preference. They are more perishable, and in places re- 

 mote from express, the mails offer the oidy chance for 

 speedy delivery. It has been urged by some nursery- 

 men that a lower rate of postage would encourage the 

 dissemination of undersized trees and thus injure the busi- 

 ness. But with postage at one-half or one-fourth of the 

 present rate, much larger trees could be sent for the same 

 amount. To the argument that packages of small trees 

 or shrubs are too bulky for convenience in the mails, it 

 may be replied that we have seen mail packages of forest 

 tree seedlings which occupied less space than the same 

 weight of ordinary seeds or bulbs. In short, if cheap 

 postage on seeds, bulbs and cuttings is a measure of 

 public utility, a similar reduction on plants must prove 

 even more beneficial to the people at large, and the Post- 

 office Department can carry the latter with as little 

 trouble and expense as it can carry the former. 



We have reason to believe that the forest tree seedlings 

 posted jn one dollar packages by Robert Douglas & Sons 

 have had a marked influence on forest planting. These 

 seedlings are now growing in hundreds of places where 

 not a tree would have been planted but for the oppor- 

 tunity thus afforded by the mails. We can think of no 

 agency more effective in stimulating an intelligent and 

 practical interest in forest planting than these cheap mail 

 packages, and the enterprise deserves all possible encour- 

 agement. 



If the reduction of postage on plants will enlarge this 

 business in forest tree seedlings it will confer a benefit on 

 the whole country, and certainly it -would be a public 

 wrong to neglect this interest while favoring others no 

 more deserving, to say the least. If plants were over- 

 looked by a mistake in framing the bill, there ought to be 

 little difficulty in correcting it. If the word was left out 

 advisedly and for the sake of crippling one branch of 

 business in the interest of another, there is still more urgent 

 reason why the people should demand its restoration, 

 in the name of fair dealing, as well as for the general 

 a:ood. 



