THE RURAL LIBRARY SERIES. 



CHAPTER I. 



The Use of Shade Trees. 



TREES, other than fruit trees, are planted mainly for two 

 purposes, ornament and shade. For ornament alone we 

 desire trees that are beautiful in color or shape of leaf, color 

 of bark, habit of growth, character of flowers or oddity of 

 habit. Cut-leaved trees and those of a graceful, weeping habit do 

 not cast a great amount of shade, nor attain great size ; neither 

 are they able to withstand neglect or abuse. They may be said to 

 belong to a higher order than other trees, and with their higher 

 structure comes a greater and more complex development of parts, 

 which necessarily renders them more delicate and susceptable to in- 

 jury, climatic conditions and changes. A purple beech or cut-leaved 

 birch would be as much out of place, even if it could be made to grow, 

 in a crowded city street, as would a mammoth oak in the back yard of 

 a 25 X 80 foot city lot. For shade purposes, then, it is desirable to 

 secure trees which present characteristics somewhat different from 

 purely ornamental trees. Some of them have directly opposite char- 

 acteristics, others similar ones; as the character of the one class 

 approaches that of the other the trees may be used for the one pur- 

 pose or the other. Shade trees may be used for ornamental pur- 

 poses, but the purely ornamental trees, so called, are not generally 

 adapted for shade or street planting. 



The chief requisites o f a shade tree ar e that it be large and shapely, 

 with aDundant i'oliage, so that the sun does not shine through to any 

 extent. A street tree must possess, in addition to the above qualities, 

 a disposition to ^^rfinfrlf'"'^ easily when of good size , ability to grow 

 well in poor, d ry, hard soil, be_cagaliJb_jofjsvithstanding co ld, heat 

 and dust, and have few or no enemies. Along a country road or wide 

 village street the soil is usually better than in a city street, where either 

 the good surface soil has been removed in grading, or sand or other 



