16 



SHADE TREES FOR NORTH CAROLINA. 



Species with greater spread of crown can be used to advantage only 

 when there is ample space for their development. Some species, while 

 admirably suited for formal avenues or use in parks or on estates, or 

 even for central planting in broad parking strips, are unsuited, on account 

 of their habit or exacting requirements, for general street or row use. 

 In one case, as along a macadam road, an early leafing and dense f oliaged 

 species may be desirable. Its shade will tend to preserve the moisture 

 in the road bed and thtis maintain it. On an unpaved earth road or street 

 which tends to remain muddy, a thin foliaged species whose leafage 

 appears late will be more serviceable. Although evergreens are seldom 

 desirable on highways, their use may be found appropriate in certain 

 towns used as resorts where it is necessary to secure green foliage during 

 the winter. 



Every condition Mdiich can in any way affect a tree should be con- 

 sidered before it is accepted for extensive planting in any locality, or be- 

 fore it is used under a condition in which it has not already been pre- 

 viously given full trial and found satisfactory. Trees on streets, roads 

 and in parks and other public grounds are not of temporary interest. 

 They are largely planted for the future and, if judiciously selected, 

 rightly planted and carefully attended, their period of usefulness and 

 range of beauty may be prolonged throughout several generations. The 

 elms of New England, the maples and buckeyes of New York and the 

 Middle West, and the oaks of the South, which constitute the chief attrac- 

 tion of the streets of many of the small towns, are the product of several 

 decades and the men who planted them frequently failed to see them 

 attain their glorious perfection. 



Native species, whose health, longevity and value have already been 

 tested and are fully known, are usually the best subjects for planting; 

 and it is likewise true that local-grown material, when nursery raised, is 

 usually more suitable than that from a distance. In all cases trees should 

 be accepted only from firms whose stock has recently been inspected by 

 authorities of their respective states for dangerous insects and destructive 

 diseases; and no consignment, even when shipped under the inspection 

 certificate, which shows traces of disease or is infested with injurious 

 insects, should ever be accepted. 



TIME TO PLANT. 



When the choice of a species has been made and its suitability for local 

 conditions determined, material for planting should be secured that it 

 may be ready for planting at the proper season. At the same time the 



