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356 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



trees set out. This law specifies that elms must be planted at least seventy feet apart; 

 that maples "or other forest trees" shall not be set nearer than fifty feet, except locusts, 

 which may be set at intervals of thirty feet. Fruit trees must be planted at least fifty 

 feet apart. Proper penalties are prescribed for anyone who shall injure a tree ; or who 

 shall hitch a horse or any animal to, or leave the same standing near enough to 

 injure, a tree used for shade or ornament at "any school house, church, or public 

 building, or along any public highway." 



The kinds of trees mentioned in the law are well adapted to highway planting; and 

 the distances apart at which they must be set are based on the space which each 

 species is known to occupy. Nothing has been found that will equal our American 

 elm and hard maple for wide roads and double rows. As our elms often attain a 

 spread of one hundred feet it is evident that the seventy feet demanded in the law is 

 none too wide a space. The trees should be allowed to assume their full size and 

 natural shape without crowding or interference from each other. Transplanted, or 

 "second growth," hard maples along a country road attain a large size and beautiful 

 appearance which requires all of a fifty foot space. Other species — oaks, basswood 

 (or linden), white ash, locust, willow, horse chestnut, black cherry, buttonball (or 

 sycamore), beech, and the two soft maples — can be used with good results in order to 

 obtain variety. By planting the scarlet oak, red maple, and pepperidge (or sour gum) ; 

 the brilliancy of the autumn coloring can be enhanced by the bright reds which the 

 leaves of these species afford. 



In some localities the elms have suffered so from insects that it may be necessary 

 to discontinue planting them unless some simple, inexpensive remedy can be found 

 which will be available for highway trees in the open country. The spraying engines 

 that have proved successful in the cities would be too expensive to operate on 

 country roads. The white or silver maples have been attacked by insects lately, both 

 in the Adirondack forests and in the village streets. The horse chestnuts have been 

 defoliated, also; and it may be that other species of trees will be attacked in time. 



There are some forest trees which are not adapted to roadside planting, because 

 they assume a different form when grown in the open, the branches growing lower 

 down, and the trunk failing to reach its usual height, although it may attain a large 

 diameter. For this reason, the birches, especially the yellow birch, are not desirable 

 for shade trees or roadside use. 



Nut-bearing trees, the chestnut, butternut, and the hickories, are available for 

 highway planting They are handsome, large trees, each species having peculiarities 

 of habit that makes it worth the notice of an observant traveler. Their branches may 

 suffer from boys in quest of nuts; but that is very liable to happen wherever 

 these trees may stand. 



