SELECTION OF TREES FOR STREET USE « 



Longevity. — The ideal street-tree must also be of 

 medium growth and long-lived. The desirability of having 

 good-sized shade-trees, as soon as possible after planting, is 

 admitted; but it is unfortunate that the trees growing most 

 rapidly are not the most desirable. They are short-lived, 

 the wood is soft and easily broken by the wind, and money 

 spent on them is worse than wasted. 



FEW SPECIES ANSWER REQUIREMENTS 



Although we have more than five hundred native species 

 of trees, they do not all possess the same kinds of useful- 

 ness. Many of them are valuable for their timber, others are 

 cultivated for their fruit, and a great number are desirable 

 for parks and lawns. That comparatively few are adapted 

 for street use will not be a surprising fact if some of the 

 qualities that shade-trees must possess are recalled. Only a 

 limited number of trees are sufficiently hard to withstand 

 city conditions, easy to transplant, straight and symmetrical 

 in growth, immune from insect attack, free from the litter 

 of flowers and fruit, and long-lived. 



