TREKS FOB T<>W\s. 



87 



supply of plant food. With half the quantity of kainit the above is also 

 useful for poor soils deficient in lime, provided rhododendrons are not 

 planted in the same border. Otherwise superphosphate of lime at 1 lb. 

 per 10 square yards and i lb. of sulphate of potash are beneficial and safe. 

 All these substances should be added to the soil at the time of preparation 

 prior to planting, or they may be given in the autumn when moving the 

 soil round established trees. As a spring dressing to stimulate lagging 

 growth, either sulphate of ammonia or nitrate of soda at the rate of 6} lb. 

 per 10 square yards will usually help, but the first has given the best 

 results with deciduous trees and shrubs in my experience. For old 

 exhausted plantations a thorough renewal of the soil is sometimes the 

 only efficacious means. 



In conjunction with the healthy vigour induced in young deciduous 

 trees by enriching the soil, the method of pruning requires consideration. 

 It has been tco frequently the custom to let trees in towns grow in an 

 unrestrained manner until they were becoming too large, and then they 

 have been cut back in a somewhat reckless fashion, with the result that 

 bare branches or stumps have been unpleasantly conspicuous with dense 

 masses of small growths at intervals. Judicious hard pruning when the 

 tree is young and in good health produces better formed specimens and 

 a more vigorous annual growth. Examples of this can be seen in many 

 avenues of young planes which have fresh growth yearly 4 to 6 feet in 

 length, with leaves double the size of those borne by unpruned trees. 

 The lime and the ailanthus respond in a similar manner to liberal root 

 treatment and hard pruning. One point must, however, be emphasised 

 here : namely, that in pruning the natural habit of the species or variety 

 should receive due attention. Unfortunately there is a marked tendency 

 to reduce all to one standard, a formal conical head, which, though it 

 may offer some advantages, entirely deprives trees of their natural beauty. 

 Geometrical forms and rigid outlines may be admissible under some 

 conditions in gardens of formal design, but if we really wish to render 

 our parks and open spaces attractive by the extension of tree cultivation, 

 it can only be accomplished by avoiding as far as possible all such 

 monotony. 



Concerning the trees which are grown in towns and those adapted for 

 trial under similar conditions much might be said ; but as this paper is 

 intended to be suggestive rather than exhaustive it will only be needful 

 to point out those that have given the best results, and to indicate the 

 directions in which others should be looked for. 



It has already been pointed out that we are mainly dependent upon 

 deciduous trees for town planting. The conifers afford us little help : 

 although a few names are given in the following list, the trees are not 

 reliable except under special conditions. The holm oaks and the hollies 

 are our principal evergreens amongst trees, though we have abundance 

 of evergreen shrubs which will endure a town atmosphere fairly well. 



All the trees named in the following lists are to be seen in the Kew 

 Arboretum, which might almost be termed a suburban park now the 

 metropolitan district has so greatly extended in that direction. A large 

 proportion may also be seen in Victoria Park, though naturally it could 

 not be expected that they would be found in such a flourishing condition 



