36 



AMERICAN SOCIETY OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 



A very successful tree planter whom I used to employ made determined effort to retain the normal 

 position of the tr^s with regard to points of compass, whatever may have been my wish with regard to the 

 artistic effect. He generally "cut back" much less severely than is usually the custom. He had no rule or 

 formula, that I could discover, but a sort of instinct, one might almost fancy it a sympathy, for the needs 

 and requirements of the individual specimens. And his plantings were very successful, where the subse- 

 quent care was at all adequate. This, of course, we could not always control. He would never permit the 

 rich fertilizer to come in contact, directly, with the roots, but used it on top of the "clean loam" in which 

 the tree was planted. 



Mr. Olmsted: My experience has been of rather a vague character. That is to say, I have not had 

 personal direction of tree moving, but have had practically all the experiences that have been mentioned 

 going on under my general direction. I think that there is no question but that every landscape architect ought 

 to do what he can in the majority of cases to dissuade clients from undertaking the removal of large trees, 

 and, if he cannot do that, at least he ought to reduce the number to be moved as much as possible, so as to 

 avoid the waste of money and lack of success which cannot fail to be injurious to landscape architects, as 

 well as to the practical men engaged in moving the trees. I think a great many tree-moving concerns have 

 sprung up all over the country, ready to move large trees, because they can get employment in that way 

 from clients who have money and no experience, and, from my knowledge of the results, I think they ought 

 to be discouraged. I think that there are cases, as Mr. Lowrie says, when landscape architects may con- 

 cede that the moving of a few trees is worth the effort; but I think the effort, in such cases, ought to be very 

 much more thorough than it often has been. I am rather accustomed to tell clients who want large trees 

 that it is a matter of $i,ooo to $2,000 per tree. If they can put up with that, then I am willing to have it 

 done, provided there are some chances of success. There are two trees which surprise me with the success of 

 their moving in Graceland Cemetery. They are elms and stand near the crematory. One was moved 

 fourteen miles. They were shown to me, and they are an actual success. One was eighteen inches in diam- 

 eter and the other twenty inches. They are large in appearance, atxiut sixty feet high, and with an equal 

 spread of branches. They were moved, of course, at great expense. I was told the cost. I think it was 

 $3,000. In that case, all the roots were removed, saved very carefully to the extreme end, and the result 

 was that there were over fifty large roots that were from thirty to forty or fifty feet long sticking out in all 

 directions. They were carefully wrapped in moss and burlap, and kept moist and protected from breaking 

 in the moving and were tied up to the upper part of the trunk one by one. It was a very heavy thing to 

 move, and they had to take away the telegraph wires and telegraph poles, as well as some trees along the 

 road, which, of course, added a great deal to the expense; but, with the thorough preparation of the ground, 

 and the extreme care in putting the roots in moss, and all that, and spreading them carefully, and watering 

 them thoroughly for several years, they actually were a perfect success. Wild plants were planted under 

 them — such as the aster and golden rod and ferns, and near-by were some bushes, so that the total effect 

 was remarkably picturesque and natural. I do not think anyone would suspect that they had been moved. 

 The great difficulty in moving trees is to find men who will take the necessary pains; it is almost impossible 

 to give instructions to anybody else, and the landscape architect has to direct everything himself, with 

 the sense of responsibility for the result, and practically regardless of expense. The contract system is to 

 be condemned. 



The matter of protecting the trunk from the sun has not been touched upon. I think it is important 

 in respect to any trunk, and it seems to me that if the protection could be properly removed the trees would 

 not die; but it is simply let fall off, and then very often it causes the tree to decay, and does more harm than 



