CITY FORESTRY AND SHADE TREES 157 
land, villages were built on the hilltops to be safe from 
attack by the Indians in spite of the fact that the 
poorest farm land was to be found on these dry thin- 
soiled ridges. With the arrival of less strenuous times 
and general national prosperity, some thought can be 
given to the appearance of our cities and it is coming 
to be realized that beauty is an advantage worth 
possessing. In the past trees have been sacrificed for 
utility ; if a sidewalk needed repair the roots of all the 
nearby trees were hacked off without considering 
whether or not the trees would die; if a telephone 
line was to be strung the branches were cut to suit 
the needs of the wires and rarely was the height of 
the poles arranged to save a row of shade trees. For- 
tunately this era of our civilization is now passing. The 
appearance of the cities is being studied. Most of the 
large cities have park boards, shade tree commissions, 
city planning committees, etc., and all such organ- 
izations recognize the importance of trees in developing 
a beautiful city. Whether singly or in groups there 
is nothing which relieves the bleakness and adds to the 
charm of streets like well chosen lines of trees. Bacon 
in one of his essays says that when a nation becomes 
prosperous the first evidence is that splendid buildings 
are erected while later on they commence to “garden 
finely as though gardening were the greater art.” This 
observation seems equally true regarding shade tree and 
park improvement, for schemes for paving streets and 
for erecting municipal buildings usually precede park 
and shade tree work by some years. 
Value of Shade Trees——-The need of trees in our 
cities is more than an attempt to satisfy the love of 
the beautiful, for by sheltering the paved streets from 
the intense heat of the sun and by evaporating large 
