6 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



Nut-bearing trees, the. Chestnut, Butternut, and Hickories, are available for 

 highway planting. They are handsome, large trees, each species having peculi- 

 arities of habit that make it worth the notice of an observant traveler, particularly 

 in winter, when the pleasing arrangement of their limbs can be better seen and 

 studied. Their branches may suffer to some extent from boys in quest of nuts ; but 

 that is liable to happen wherever these trees may stand. In some European 

 countries the roads are lined with fruit trees. But there it is well understood that 

 the fruit, though it overhangs the highways, belongs to the farmer, whose property 

 is respected accordingly. In this country, where widely different ideas prevail, it 

 might be necessary to concede the traveler's claim in case friiit trees were planted 

 along or within the " right of way." 



N3treet Planting-. 



Tnere are many reasons why trees should be planted in cities and villages. 

 During the hot days of summer the streets which are shaded by trees are preferred 

 to those which lack this protection. The temperature is much lower; and as the 

 pavements are not exposed to the glare of the sun, there is less of reflected heat. 

 The streets that are lined with shade trees are more attractive to the eye ; and their 

 superiority is readily apparent when compared with those on which there are no 

 trees. The shaded streets being cooler they are more desirable for residences, and, 

 other things being equal, property is more valuable and commands higher rents. 

 The air is purer by reason of the foliage, which inhales carbonic acid and exhales 

 oxygen. The leaves absorb the poisonous gases generated in hot weather by the 

 decomposition of animal and vegetable matter, and thus an active source of 

 disease is eliminated. During hot summer days the diseases incidental to that 

 season are not so prevalent in streets and localities which are protected from the 

 heat of the sun by large overhanging trees.* At a meeting of the New York 

 Medical Society a resolution was passed in which the opinion was expressed 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." 



: The city of Washington is justly known as one of the most beautiful cities in 

 America on account of the seventy thousand trees that adorn its streets ; and there 

 are many New England towns famed for their attractive appearance, due largely to 



* See "Vegetation a Remedy for the Summer Heat of Cities." By Stephen Smith, M. D. LL. D, 

 Appleton's Popular Science Monthly, February, 1899. 



