30 SHADE-TREES IN TOWNS AND CITIES 



found that there is little difference in the rate of growth of 

 the good shade-trees. 



In a pamphlet on "Tree-Planting on Streets and High- 

 ways," by the late William F. Fox, Superintendent of the 

 New York State Forests, is given a table of the growth-rate 

 of some well-known species of trees. Beginning with a 

 three-inch sapling, the trees here named will in twenty 

 years, under favorable conditions, attain a diameter approx- 

 imately as follows : 



Inches Inches 



White or Silver Maple . . .21 Yellow Locust 14 



American Elm 19 Hard Maple 13 



Sycamore or Buttonball . . 18 Horse-chestnut 13 



Tulip-tree 18 Honey Locust 13 



Basswood 17 Red Oak 13 



Catalpa 16 Pin Oak 13 



Red Maple 16 Scarlet Oak 13 



Ailantus 16 White Ash 12 



Cucumber-tree 15 White Oak 11 



Chestnut 14 Hackberry 10 



It will be seen from this that there is no difference in 

 growth between the hard maple and the red, the pin and the 

 scarlet oaks. The oaks make little headway during the first 

 and second years after transplanting, but after that time 

 their growth is very rapid, in many cases exceeding that of 

 the hard maples. 



Perhaps one of the reasons for the existing prejudice 

 against the oak is that it has not received as fair a test as 

 other trees. In Chapter V, the importance of developing 

 the root system of a tree by frequent transplanting in the 

 nursery is dwelt upon. It is only during the last ten or fif- 

 teen years, since the demand for oaks has grown, that nurs- 

 eries have begun to cultivate these trees on a large scale. 



