FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 357 



In some European countries the roads are lined with fruit trees. But there it is 

 well understood that the fruit, though it overhangs the highway, belongs to the farmer, 

 whose property is respected accordingly. 



In this country, where such widely different, ideas prevail, it would be necessary 

 to concede the traveler's right in case fruit trees were planted along or within the 

 "right of way." 



Street planting. There are many good reasons why trees should be planted in 

 cities and villages. During the hot days of summer the streets which are shaded by 

 trees are preferred to those which are not. The temperature is much lower. As the 

 pavements are not exposed to the glare of the sun, there is less of reflected heat. The 

 streets that are lined with shade trees are more attractive to the eye ; their superiority 

 is readily apparent when compared with streets on which there are no trees. Shaded 

 streets are cooler and more desirable for residences ; and, other things being equal, 

 property on these streets is more valuable and commands higher rents. The air is 

 purer by reason of the foliage, which inhales carbonic acid and exhales oxygen. 

 During hot, summer days, the diseases incidental to that season are not so prevalent 

 in streets and localities which are protected from the heat of the sun by large, 

 overhanging trees.* The leaves absorb the poisonous gases generated in hot weather 

 by the decomposition of animal and vegetable matter, and thus another factor of 

 disease is eliminated. At a recent meeting of the New York County Medical Society 

 a resolution was passed in which the opinion was expressed that " one of the most 

 effective means for mitigating the intense heat of the summer months, and diminishing 

 the death rate among children is the cultivation of an adequate number of trees in the 

 streets." 



The city of Washington is justly known as one of the most beautiful cities in 

 America on account of the seventy thousand trees planted along its streets ; and there 

 are many New England towns famed for their attractive appearance which is due to 

 the beautiful trees planted by village improvement societies. 



In street planting care should be exercised to select trees which, when fully grown, 

 will be of a size suitable to the width of the street; and in the choice of species 

 only such should be selected as are best adapted to the peculiar conditions which 

 influence their growth in cities. Some trees which can be safely used for road planting 

 in the country are too susceptible 'to the deleterious influences of the smoke, dust, 

 gas, and pavement of our cities. 



Along country roads or village streets, trees transplanted from some neighboring 

 grove or forest may be set out ; but for city streets nursery stock alone should be used. 



* See "Vegetation, a Remedy for the Summer Heat of Cities." By Stephen Smith, M.D., 

 LL.D. Appleton's Popular Science Monthly, February, 1899. 



