34 The Rural Library. 



young street trees are exposed. Some idea of it may be gained by 

 inspecting the trees on any given street, and noting how few show no 

 sign of stunted growth, scarred trunk, mutilated top, or blemish of 

 some Isind. The most common damage is the gnawing of the bark by 

 horses, or of the branches if within reach, but up to a certain age 

 mischievous boys are far more destructive. If the sapling gets safely 

 out of its swaddling clothes it is next attacked at the roots by trenches 

 for sewers, gas pipes, water pipes, and electric cables, or by changes 

 of line or grade in laying curbstones or flagging. In later years the 

 largest limbs will be cut oft to open a view, or the top mutilated by 

 telegraph line-men and their wires. Again, under ordinary conditions 

 the trees suffer constantly from lack of moisture, because the pavement 

 or the beaten ground sheds most of the rainfall ; from lack of food, 

 because the roots cannot penetrate the hardened subsoil ; from poison 

 by gas, because the small service pipes soon become rusted through ; 

 and from want of air, because the soot and dust of the city stops up 

 the pores of the leaves. The unhealthy condition resulting from 

 these and other causes invites grubs and borers, bugs and caterpil- 

 lars, scale, spider and fungus, all in great profusion. In the streets 

 these insect pests are safe from their natural enemies — the birds — 

 and from the poisonous spray of the gardener's syringe. 



This brings up the important questions : What kinds of trees are 

 best suited to withstand these untoward conditions ? What methods 

 of treatment are most likely to protect them from injury and disease^ 

 and secure healthy growth and long life ? Of course no list can be 

 equally suitable to all localities, and no rules equally applicable every- 

 where, or even generally acceptable among experts. But the good 

 and the bad points of certain standard kinds may be broadly noted, 

 and good average conditions of cultivation indicated. The trees 

 most commonly used are probably the best under average conditions. 

 Their presence in every town and their general appearance indicate 

 special adaptability. "Nothing succeeds like success," and the 

 points contributing most to this success are, ease of propagation, 

 cheapness of nursery culture, quickness of early growth, endurance 

 under careless transplanting, prominence of good looks and absence 

 of bad habits, the ability to pick up a living on a scanty diet, and 

 patience under abuse of every sort. 



